The salvation of sinners is totally,
100%, the work of God. It is not in any way, I always
say it this way, that salvation is conditioned on the Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel is the proclamation
of that fact, but also the fact that he fulfilled all those conditions.
And his fulfillment of those conditions can be summarized
in different ways, different phrases. We talk about the death
of Christ. We talk about the blood of Christ.
We talk about the cross of Christ. Most people, when they think
of those things, they think of God making an attempt to save
us if we'll let him. But that's not what it is at
all in the Bible. It's a finished work in the Bible. Christ, when
he was on that cross, and he was dying, he gave up the ghost,
and before he gave up the ghost, it says, he says, it is finished,
John 19, 30. And he's not just talking about
his suffering. Now that, his suffering was over
when he died, that's true. But he's talking about the prophecy
of the Old Testament concerning the perfection of a work. The
completion of a work. Daniel chapter 9, 24 for example
said that he would make an end of sin, he would finish the transgression,
he would bring in everlasting righteousness. That's what was
finished. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14 it says, by one
offering he hath what? Perfected forever them that are
sanctified. That means he completed it. So
that the gospel is the proclamation not just of God making an attempt
to save people, the majority of which enter eternity unsaved,
but the gospel is the proclamation of the God-man's finished work
that guarantees the salvation of those whom he perfected, those
whom God gave him before the foundation of the world. Now,
so salvation's conditioned on Christ. It's not conditioned
on man in any way. to any degree, at any stage. It's all of grace. It's all of
God. Salvation's of the Lord. The
works of man are totally, totally left out of the ground and cause
of attaining or maintaining salvation. So, no part of salvation can
be attributed to my goodness or to my power. Do you understand
that? It's all attributed to God's
goodness and God's power in Christ. And so, how then do we view these
things concerning the exhortations of Scripture? I mean, there are
commands here. Commandments, you might say.
Look at verse 20. He says in verse 20, But ye,
beloved, Building up yourselves on your
most holy faith. He says we're building up ourselves. Now Christ is the builder of
the church, isn't he? He said upon this rock will I
build my church. And what was the rock? The rock
wasn't the Apostle Peter as the Catholic Church would have you
believe. The rock is Christ. My hope is built on nothing less.
On Christ the solid rock I stand. And yet he says to us, build
yourselves up on your most holy faith. What is the most holy
faith? That's the doctrine, the teaching
of the gospel of Christ. All right? That's our faith.
We believe what God says. And then he says praying in the
Holy Ghost. There's prayer. We're to be a people of prayer,
the scripture says. We're to communicate. And then
he says in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep ourselves? The Bible also says, in fact,
right down here in the verse 24, we're gonna get to next week,
now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. We can't
keep ourselves from falling. And yet he says, keep yourselves
in the love of God. Now what is that all about? What
does that mean, all right? He says, looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Verse 22, of some
having compassion, making a difference. We'll look at that in just a
moment. Others, save with fear. Save them with fear. Can I save
you? What does that mean? Can you
save me? I'm gonna tell you something, if I could save you, or you could
save me, then we don't need Christ. So what does that mean? Okay.
He says, pulling them out of the fire. How do I pull anybody
out of the fire? The fire there is talking about
the displeasure and wrath of God. He says, hating even the
garments spotted by the flesh. Now, what does all this mean?
Well, that's why I entitled this lesson, The Mind and the Means
of Grace. All right? Now, let's look at
it from two different viewpoints. Let's look at it first from God's
viewpoint. God is sovereign. You cannot
argue that fact from the beginning. Against that fact, rather. You
cannot argue against that fact from the Bible. God is sovereign. The Bible portrays God as a God
of purpose who purposed all things before the foundation of the
world. That is a mind-boggling fact. It's so mind-boggling that
many people, most people deny it. Most people have a view of
God, and I use this analogy all the time, that he's some kind
of a cosmic chess player up there. He makes his move, we make our
counter move, and then he has to figure out what new move to
make next, all of that. And they cover themselves by
saying, well, God does it that way, but he knows, he sees the
future. So now they're portraying God
as some kind of like crystal ball gazer. That is not biblical. There's nothing in the Bible
that can show you that. There are verses that talk about
God repenting, but there are also verses that says God is
not a man that he should repent. How do you figure those things?
Well, sometimes the Bible speaks down to us. You say, well, that
ain't right. Have you ever spoke down to your
children? Have you ever tried to explain complex concepts to
your children in child terms? Of course you have. We have to. Because their minds cannot grasp
in their stage of development the complex things. Well, does
it surprise any of us that that's the same thing with God who's
so high above us? Who can know His ways? His ways
are past finding out. God is so high above us we can't
even fathom the intricacies of the mind of God. So he talks
down to us. There's a word that I don't like
to use because people think I'm just trying to be a smart aleck,
but I'm not. It's called anthropomorphism. You ever heard of that? Anthropomorphism. That's human. It's changing things
into human ideas and terms. And sometimes God does use human
terms to explain himself talking down to us. Like when we talk
about the arm of God. Well, God is spirit. See? He doesn't have actual arms like
we do. But what does the term the arm
of God mean? It means God's power. His arm. See? His reach. Things like that. So sometimes that happens. But
God is sovereign. The Bible says God, in Ephesians
111, it says, God works all things after the counsel of his own
will. I often put it this way because
I never forget. I was preaching a message on
the fall of man. And when you understand what
the Bible teaches about that subject, it's mind-boggling because
the Bible tells us that Christ was set up as the Savior of God's
people, when? Before the foundation of the
world. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, when you say He was set
up before the foundation of the world to be the Savior of sinners,
was that sometime before Adam fell? Well, of course it was. Does that mean that God ordained
the fall of Adam? That's what the Bible says. And
yet God is not the author of sin. Now go home and sleep on
that one for a while. Figure that one out. You say,
God is not the author of sin. God is all good. But that's the
way it is. Now, here's what I'm saying. I was
preaching on that. And I got an email from another preacher
in town. He heard me preaching on this
on TV. And he was appalled. He said, I cannot believe that
you think that God ordained the fall of man. And I wrote him
back. I put some scripture in first,
because that's the way to answer it. I said, I can't believe that
you think that Satan sneaked up on God and took him by surprise. Well, God knew that it was going
to happen before. My friend, that's crazy. That
is not biblical. Now, can I explain all the intricacies
of that so as to satisfy our puny minds? And the answer is
no, I can't. Einstein couldn't do it, so I
certainly can't. That's God. He's high above us. But my point is this. God works
all things after the purpose of his own will. God's sovereign
will will be done. Now, here's the objection that
comes up. Well, if that's true, then Kay, Saraw, Saraw, whatever
we'll be, we'll be. Then we'll be fatalist. All right,
kismet, the Muslims call it, you know. Nothing I can do about
it, so I'm, you know, well, okay, go out there and stand in the
middle of Slappy Boulevard and let a truck hit you. No, no. God's given us a mind. But here's
the point, here's the point. Everything that God has purposed
in his sovereign will, he has also provided the means to accomplish
that will. And lo and behold, sometimes
the means that God uses is just little old people like us. Now he does. I know this, for
example, God's going to save his chosen people. The Bible
says that. You say, well, I don't like that.
Well, OK. But that's what the Bible says. God's going to save
his people. He's going to save them on one
ground, and that's the blood, the righteousness, the imputed
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not going to save
you or me or anybody else up on any other ground. Why? Because it would dishonor him.
It would deny him. Now, if you think, and I think,
that it's gonna be some other ground, then we're what? Unbelievers.
That's what the Bible teaches. So, God's gonna save his people
on that one ground. You say, well, it doesn't matter
what I do. No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. God has also determined
to use the means of evangelism. The preaching of the gospel.
Going in all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature,
everybody who'll listen. And in that way, God's gonna
call out his elect in the power of the Holy Spirit. All right,
now, those whom God saves, he preserves. The Bible says that. He will not let them go. They'll go through life and they'll
stumble and they'll fall and they'll trip over things, but
they're gonna be looking to Christ now. by His grace, but He's not
going to let them go. The Bible says that. But, well
does it matter what Christians do then or not do? Yes, because
God uses means. Now that's what this passage
is talking about. The mind and the means of grace.
So you have God in His sovereign mind using His appointed means
through the preaching of the gospel and the perseverance of
the saints to save his people. All by his power, all by his
goodness, all by his grace. Now here's the second point of
view I want you to look at this through. He's given us the minds
and means of grace too. And the mind of grace is summarized
in this one word in verse 20, beloved. Beloved. The apostles often addressed
the church of God as beloved. Here's what he said, if you're
in Christ, if you believe in him, if you're washed in his
blood, clothed in his righteousness, if you've been born again by
the spirit and you're looking to Christ alone for all salvation,
that's the evidence that you're beloved of God. And the love
that he's talking about here is the unconditional love of
God to his people. That means it's not an earned
love. If God loves me, I didn't earn it. If God loves me, I didn't
deserve it, and still don't. Still don't earn it. I tell people
all the time, I've preached the gospel for over 30 years now,
the true gospel. I spent a lot of years preaching
the false gospel, too, until God saved me. But I preached
the true gospel for over 30 years. I thank God for that. That's
by his grace. But if God were to judge me right
now based upon the efforts and works of my preaching, I'd still
be damned. Again, my hope is built on nothing
less than what? Jesus blood and righteous. That's
it. That's the only claim to fame I have. That's the only
glory I have. Paul the Apostle, he said that,
you know, Paul, we would look at Paul compared to other preachers,
we'd say Paul was probably the top other than the Lord himself,
right? Wouldn't you? Paul said, God
forbid that I should boast or glory save in the cross. I still, like right now, I still
have no righteousness. but Christ imputed to me. Now I have a lot of things that
I could talk about attributed to God. The fact that I know
him and love him and follow him and believe in him and I've repented
of my dead works and I love the fact that I can understand a
lot of the scriptures and all that. That's a gift from God.
But none of that makes me righteous. It's Christ alone. So that's
the beloved thing. See, it's unconditional love.
We love Him because He first loved us. And look over at 2
Corinthians 5. Let me just give you an example.
Now, I've got several passages there in your lesson that you
can look at. But let me give you an example of what He's talking
about now. When He says beloved, beloved of God, with that unconditional
love, but now it's not an empty love. It's not a love that leaves
people to perish. It's not an unlawful love because
it's based on a just ground. Hearing is love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. It's based on the righteousness
of Christ. So it's a just love. It's a holy love. It's not a
weak love. God's love provides everything
necessary to save His people. Just like you love your children,
right? Your grandchildren. Would you
do everything in your power to ensure their well-being? Now,
here's the difference between you and God. You're limited in
your power. I'm limited in mine. But God's
not. He's unlimited in His power.
There's power in the blood. We sang that a couple times. There's power in the blood. Well,
look over here at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14. Paul says, for the
love of Christ constraineth us, motivates us, energizes us. Now, what love is he talking
about? Is he talking about our love for Christ? No. Now, do
we love Christ if we're saved? We do, but our love's not perfect
love. We struggle, see. The moment
you struggle in any area of obedience to God's revealed will shows
that your love is not perfect. Because if your love was perfect,
your love for him was perfect, you'd have no struggle at all.
For example, somebody harms one of your family members. The Bible
says, love your enemies, do good to them that despitefully use
you. Pray for them. You say, well, I try to do that.
Well, if your love for him was perfect, you wouldn't even have
to try. You'd just do it. Without even thinking. Without
even wrestling. That's what Christ did. Perfect
love. But what he's talking about here
is Christ's love for his people. How do you know that? Well, look
at verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us because
we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead. His love for us sent him to the
cross to die for all his people. Who is the all there? You know
the original reading of this in the original language would
say something like this, for the love of Christ constraineth
us because we thus judge that if one died for all, then all
have died. That's what the verse really
says. All have died. In other words, when Christ died,
all for whom he died, they died with him. And that's explained
in Romans chapter six and I'm going to be dealing with that
next week when we talk about the truth shall make us free
in the main worship hour. So what Paul's saying here, it's
the love, it's the unconditional, free, unearned, undeserved of
Christ for me, evidenced by his death on the cross to establish
righteousness for me and to save me, that's what motivates me,
that's what constrains me. Now, when we seek to obey any
commandment of scripture, If it is truly the love of Christ
that constrains us, motivates us, energizes us, we cannot do
it in a legal, mercenary way. In other words, that means this,
that whatever I try to do, attempt to do, struggle to do, endeavor
to do, to obey God, to please Him, whether it's worship, whether
it's charity, whether it's good works, It's the love of Christ
for me that constrains me and motivates. It's not legalism,
it's not law that constrains me. How many preachers today call
themselves Christian, try to get people to give to the church
upon constraint of punishment? Give or burn. Give that money
or God'll take it out the back door in a pine box. You ever
heard that? You know what I'm saying. And
some of them may not state it that way, but it's sort of implied,
isn't it? Now, we certainly know that a person who's so materialistic
that they don't seek the Lord, that they're lost. We know that.
Selfish, stingy, all that. We as Christians are not to be
selfish and stingy. We're to use the things that
God gives us, even the things you work hard for, that's just
the means, folks. God's the one who gives the increase.
Remember what he said? It's God, the farmer goes out,
he plows, he plants, he prepares, he fertilizes, but it's God who
gives the increase. And we're to use it for his glory
and the good of his people, to spread the gospel, we're to honor
him, we're to help others, all of that. but not under constraint
of legalism and law and not like a mercenary, well, I'm doing
this to get my rewards. Well, you're a hireling. Remember
in the Revolutionary War studying in history, the Hessians, they
were hirelings, they were mercenaries. They fought because they were
getting paid, not because of love of country. Not because
of patriotism, but Paul says it's the love of Christ that
constrains me. Now that's what that word beloved entails. So
look at verse 20 of Jude. He says, now here's the means
now. All right, how are we to do it?
Build yourselves up on your most holy faith. Now what he's talking about is
growing in grace and knowledge of Christ. That's why we build
ourselves up. And what do we use? What instrument
has God given us to use for that? His Word. Read, study, learn
His Word. That's how He does it. His Word
is food for our souls, just like you eat food to build your body
up. His Word builds our spirit, our minds, and we grow in grace
and knowledge. We're not to be stagnant. We're
not to be going backward. You see? He's not talking about
our salvation as far as the ground of it, the cause of it, the strength
of it, the power of it, the goodness of it. That's all Christ. I'm
certain to be glorified because of who Christ is and what He
did. Not because of who I am and what
I do. But He commands me to persevere in the faith, and one of the
ways I do that is to build myself up by reading and studying His
Word. Not to be saved! because I already am by the grace
of God. Not to be righteous, but because
I already am in Christ. You see what I'm saying? It's
motivated by grace, by love, by gratitude. Thank you, Lord.
That's what we're saying. When we worship God, we're giving
him a big thank you, aren't we? For our whole salvation. So that's growing and be good
stewards, all right? Okay, praying, he says in verse
20, in the Holy Ghost. Prayer. People talk about prayer
changing things. Well, it doesn't change God's
mind. But God uses prayer as a means to bless his people,
not in changing his mind, but simply to do what he already
determined to do. Figure that one out? Go ahead. Prayer can change me. Prayer's
an act of faith, because who do we pray to? We pray to God
our Father, through Jesus Christ, our high priest, based on his
righteousness alone. I don't have any other, somebody
said, well, I can't pray today, because I've had a bad day, I
lost my temper, and I don't feel worthy. I said, buddy, you can't
pray any time. Because when you have a good
day, and don't lose your temper, and feel like you're worthy,
that's unbelief. And besides, the Bible says we
come to God in prayer in our time of what? Need. I'm a needy
sinner. The only basis upon which God
will hear and receive your prayers, whatever answer he gives, he's
determined to give, the only basis is upon the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Read Hebrews 4, 14 through 16,
that's listed in your lesson. We have a great high priest,
therefore come to the throne of grace. So prayer is not trying,
it's not rubbing the genie's bottle. Prayer is not overpowering
God. You know, people say, well, I
only get a prayer chain. Now, there's nothing wrong with asking
your brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for you or to
pray for something. But you have to understand, it's
not the power of a prayer chain that gets God to do what you
want him to do. That's not the way it's related
in the scripture. Prayer is an act of worship.
Prayer is an act of submission. And then he says in verse 21,
keep yourselves in the love of God. What does that mean? Does that mean that God saves
me and then it's up to me to keep myself where I'm lost? No.
When he says, keep yourselves in the love of God, it means
hold it to your breast, hold it close. How do you do that? You look to Jesus, the author
and finisher of your faith. That's how you keep Christ ever
before you. There are going to be times in
your life, in my life too, that we'll get our eyes off of him
and sink into the sea like Peter did when he took his eyes off
of him. But thank God he won't let us go completely the way
of the flesh. He keeps our eyes, keep focused
on Christ, keep looking to him. That's how believers persevere.
They persevere in looking to Christ continually for all salvation. He says in verse 21, he says,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. That's how you keep yourself in the love of God. The embodiment
of the love of God is Christ. And then verse 22, and if some
have compassion making a difference, that's literally and have mercy
on some who are doubting. In other words, if I have a brother
or a sister who gets into a bad way, or if
I get into a bad way and we start doubting, getting our eyes off
the scriptures, off of Christ, what am I to do? I'm to be compassionate. I'm not to look at it and say,
well, you're going to split hell wide open or something like that.
I'm talking about one who claims to believe the truth now, not
unbelievers. But I'm to say, look, it's like
I had a fellow write me one time. He was in prison. He said he'd
been listening to messages on the internet. And he said he's
having a hard time because he doesn't see the evidences in
himself of salvation. And I said, well, your problem
is this. You're not looking to Christ. You're looking to evidences. And let me tell you something,
that's a bad thing to do. Now look, we all want to evidence
our salvation. But if that's what I'm looking
to for my assurance, that's the wrong place to look. Because
I'll be up and down. One day I feel good, one day
I feel bad. But Christ, Jesus, that's why in Hebrews 13 it says,
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never
changes. His righteousness that I stand
in before God, it cannot be contaminated or corrupted and cannot be taken
away. And so he says, of some making
a difference. In other words, those who have
gotten their focus off of him. Verse 23, others save with fear,
pulling them out of the fire. I can't save you, but I'll tell
you what I can do. As an instrument of God's grace,
I can point you to the one who can save you. And that's what
that means. I can't pull you out of the fire,
but I can show you the one who can pull you out, and that's
Christ. That's what he's talking about
there. That's the mean, see. He uses a word in season, a word
of encouragement, a word of reprimand, spoken by a brother or sister
in Christ, may be the means of pulling us out of that fire,
pulling us out of that doubt, pulling us out of that bad attitude. And so that's what he's talking
about. And then lastly, look here, he says, hating even the
garment spotted by the flesh. That the garment, is a metaphorical
way of talking about the righteousness
of God in Christ in which we stand. We wear it like a garment. That's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's our salvation. That's
the ground of our salvation. It is not a literal outer covering
like I'm wearing this coat. I can take this coat off and
on. It's a metaphor. You know, some people, they argue
against imputed righteousness. Imputed means charged, accounted.
Christ, the merits of Christ's righteousness, accounted, charged
to us, all right, in the books of God's law and justice. There
are a lot of people who argue against that because they say,
well, it's not just an outward thing, like a pasted-on righteousness. I've heard that term. My friend,
they're arguing against a metaphor. Not against truth. Well, they
are if they don't know the truth. But they don't understand what
they're doing. It's metaphorically speaking,
and I've got some scriptures listed there, the imputed righteousness
of Christ is metaphorically described as a garment we wear. And the
reason it's described that way is because it has nothing to
do with our works or our experience. It has everything to do with
one great, tremendous act. performed in time on the cross
of Calvary. That's it. The righteousness
which God imputed to Abel is the very same righteousness that
he imputes to me and it was all accomplished in time on the cross
without Abel and without me. and it's charged to me. Now when
false believers or false preachers come along and deny that, confuse
that, challenge that, you know what they're trying to do? They're
trying to spot it, stain it with the works and the experiences
of men. And if you're a child of God,
you'll hate that. Don't mess with that. Don't mess
with my ground of salvation, Christ, and his righteousness
alone. Don't spot that. Don't stain that with your profession
of work salvation, man-centered salvation, man-experienced salvation. It's all Christ. You see what
he said? We hate that. And that's what
these false preachers were doing in Jude that he said contend
for the faith against. All right, we'll close it.