Well, if you would kindly turn in your scriptures back to the book of Jude, I just wanted to read these first three verses with you again, and pray the Lord would be our teacher as we look at what it is to have a common salvation.

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them is only writing to a particular people. The Scriptures are written such that all the world can look over our shoulder and see them. But the Scriptures are written to the children of God. It's only to the hearts of the children of God that the Scriptures will come. in mercy and grace, 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, be increased more and more.

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful This is a necessary letter. Necessity, Paul says, is laid on me. Necessity was laid on Jude. Needful for me to write unto you and to exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered, once and then with perpetual validity delivered unto the saints.

The common salvation. Jude is writing to a particular group of people. He is identifying the children of God here. There is a common salvation because there's a common origin, the electing love of God the Father, sanctified by God the Father. What mercy God has shown His people, that all of His people always love His electing love. They love the fact that there's a people in this world set apart by God the Father and given into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's a common salvation because there's a common origin, there's the electing love of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ prayed for those people in John 17. He didn't pray for the world, He prayed for these particular people. We must remember the letters in the scriptures are written to a particular people who are defined in the opening verses of the letter.

But the Lord Jesus Christ prayed again and again and again and spoke again and again of them which thou hast given me, of them which thou hast given me. Thine, all mine are thine, verse 10 of John 17, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine.

I love to think of God's electing love. All of the saints of God love to think of God's electing love. We didn't choose him, we just sang it. He has a people out of Adam's fallen race that he set apart for himself from before the foundation of the world and he gave them into the hands of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a great way of defining the children of God. They're sanctified, they're set apart by God the Father and then they're kept, they're preserved in Christ Jesus.

They're set apart and they are preserved in Christ Jesus. He says that he's kept them. The Lord prayed, didn't he? He says, I've kept them. I've kept them in your name. He's revealed himself. He's the one that manifests through the blessed Holy Spirit. He's the one that manifests the glory of God. The people who have the Spirit of God, those who are going to live godly in this world, are going to rejoice in the fact that they're set apart by God the Father.

There is a people who are set apart. They're preserved in Jesus Christ and called. This meant so much to Jude, I'm sure, as he saw all around him so, so many fall, and he saw, as the Apostle John did and the other saints did, all of those churches harassed. People say, well, let's go back to the early church. Which one would you want to go back to? You want to go back to the fighting and squabbling in Corinth? the squabbles in Philippians, the worldly wisdom and false teaching that crept into the Church of Colossae. Which one would you want to go back to? The Thessalonians who were harassed by the people amongst them saying the resurrection has already passed?

Every single New Testament letter is written in the context of problems in the Church. and they are written as an encouragement to the saints, that they and all of these problems are ordained by God and purposed by God for His glory and for their good.

The church began with opposition to it from the scribes and the Pharisees. The only time the church ever gathered together in conference was in Acts chapter 15 at the Jerusalem Council and that was to debate against these very people that Jude is speaking of here. And so we are so thankful that God has given us these warnings that this is what is normal Sadly so, and we grieve over it and we want to maintain the bond of peace and the spirit of unity and we want to be loving and we want to be compassionate in all sorts of ways to all the people that we meet in this world.

But when David went down there in 1 Samuel 17, I think it is, David went down and Goliath was mocking 1 Samuel 17, Goliath was mocking the armies of God. He was mocking God, Goliath. It was David's first public act, having been anointed. He was a shepherd boy and he was called and anointed. And then he went back to being a shepherd boy and he was sent as a shepherd boy down to his brothers and he heard Goliath speaking those great swelling words.

Just like most men do today, as Proverbs said, men will proclaim everyone his own goodness. But there is a cause, there is a cause for which the children of God, inspired by the Spirit of God, will stand like David did and fight. And his brothers, he went down there and his brothers mocked him and the other people were wondering what this, scrawny little kids doing and David says in verse 29 Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause? There is a cause. There is a cause. There is a spiritual cause. that caused Jude to write this letter.

It seems as if he was interrupted, but there is a spiritual cause, and the cause is the glory of God Almighty, the glory of God the Father, the sanctifying glory of God the Father, the preserving glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the calling glory of the blessed Holy Spirit, the mercy that God, listen to what he says, mercy unto you. and peace and love. Where's peace? The Lord Jesus Christ is our peace. Our peace is in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't look anywhere other than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ and him crucified is the gospel. It's the common salvation. It's the common savior of all of his people. It's the faith for which we are caused to contend. And what did David say? the reason for the cause, in verse 46 of 1 Samuel 17, that all the earth may know that there is love. and that this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spears, for the battle is the Lord's. There is a cause, there is a cause, the cause of God and truth. There is a cause that causes people who have this common salvation to stand up and say, this is the truth of who God is, this is the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and any denial of that is a denial of my very being. If my gospel is not a matter of life and death to me, eternal spiritual life and death, then I don't know God. Listen to that again. If my gospel is not a matter of life and death, if my gospel is not worth contending for, then I don't know God.

If I can compromise with any denial of the God of my gospel, the God who sanctifies, the God who preserves, the God who calls, the God of mercy and peace and love, If I can compromise with any denial of that God, I don't know God. This is eternal life that you know Him. Those who know Him will stand and contend.

If my gospel can suffer some change or amendment, I don't know God. We are contending, we're called upon by God to contend because there's contention. We're called upon by God to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

If my gospel requires something of me to begin my salvation, to initiate it, to maintain my salvation, or to be rewarded for my service with a higher reward in heaven, I do not know God. I can talk about Jesus all day long. I can talk about God all day long. I can talk about Lord all day long. I can talk about all the things that I have done and all the things that I want to do.

These people that Jude is writing because of the contention did all of those things. They did all of those things. If my gospel gives any glory to man or diminishes the glory of God in any way, I don't know God.

There is a common salvation because there is a common origin of that salvation. There's a common purpose in that salvation and that is the glory of God. There's a common end, ultimate end of all of that salvation and that's the new creation with glory revealed. And that's the home of the righteous, those who are made righteous in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, preserved in Jesus Christ.

It's a common salvation because there's a common means. It is the faith which was once delivered to the saints being continually delivered to the saints. I'm not saying what I say here. My opinion doesn't matter a squirt about anything. God's opinion matters. Let God be true and every man a liar.

Faith comes by hearing. And because God has set apart a people for himself, and he's preserved those people in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's called those particular people, they have a common salvation because they hear the same gospel. All of God's servants, all of God's sent ministers preach the same gospel. They always have, and they always will, and if that's not the case, then God simply is lying. And he says he can't lie. He can't lie.

There is just one gospel. I love what Isaiah 42 declares of the preaching of the gospel. You know how beautiful on the feet of those who bring the gospel of peace, bring the good news. You can read it with me in verse 7 of Isaiah 52. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him. What's the most unworthy thing about any preacher you've ever seen? That one thing that's always covered is their feet. You wouldn't want to see my feet. How beautiful are the feet! How beautiful are the paths that God causes his servants to walk in.

But you listen to me. How beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publishes peace. We're in the business of declaring the truth. We're not in the business of debating the truth. We're in the declaration business. God's in the declaration business. That publishes peace, that bring us good tidings of good, that publishes salvation, that saith to Zion, thy God reigneth. Don't you love that? That's what we're publishing. Thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. I love the sound of it. I love the thought of it. He's given power, our Lord Jesus Christ, over all flesh. I'm so thankful that he has power over mine. And I'm so thankful he has power over every flesh in this world. Thy God reigneth.

And listen to what happens from a reigning God who publishes peace and publishes salvation. Thy watchman, God's watchman, shall lift up the voice. We lift up the voice of God. We lift up the word of God. This is God-breathed, God-spoken words that we have in front of us here. They lift up the voice and listen to what he goes on to say. This is the promise of God.

And with the voice, together, they shall sing. Who is the voice? Who is the word of God? If God speaks to you, what's he going to say? He's going to say the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he says, isn't he? That's what he says. You read about it in Hebrews chapter one.

But listen to what they do, these men who are publishing peace. They lift up with the voice, together they shall sing. We have a message that's worthy of singing about. There is a cause. For they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. They speak the same. There is just one gospel. There is one common salvation. It comes from one common origin. It's the faith, the faith. The faith is what a lovely description of the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith, the faithful one. The gospel is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith is a person. The common salvation is a person. It's a common salvation because it has a common object, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again and again in the scriptures they talk about the faith. Timothy says, Paul says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. What's the evidence of someone keeping the faith? Keeping it to the end. keeping it to the end.

Listen to how Paul begins in his letter to Titus, Paul, the servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect. according to the faith of God's elect. Someone who is denying God sanctifying a people, God electing a people, is denying the faith of God's elect because all the elect have the same faith. They have a common salvation and a common object. The elect, Isaiah 42, Mine elect is the Lord Jesus Christ and in the elect are all of the elect. They were sanctified. That's what the preservation in the Lord Jesus Christ is. They put them in there.

I'm old enough to have grown up in the days where my mother preserved fruit in jars. And if you go to the house that I was read in, there's a corner cupboard in the veranda that's sort of been blocked off. And when I was a little kid, it was full of what we call focola jars. And you had a big sort of pot that you put them in. I don't know if you remember those things, but this is a long time ago. You had a big pot with boiling water. You put all these focola jars in there and then you put a top on them. And then you put a little clip over the top. And the fruit was in there. All the peaches and other things that we grew were all in there. And that lid would sort of pop, wouldn't it, when it all sealed up, it was sealed. What preserved the fruit? What preserved the fruit? The jar did. What preserves us? Being in the Lord Jesus Christ is our preservation. Being in Him, we're set apart from God the Father. When we were doing that fruit, no doubt I did a whole bunch of it with my mother and family, but you'd be peeling these peaches and you'd cut off all the spots and you'd put that one aside and you'd reach in and you'd buck it and you'd get another one and you'd peel it and you'd put it aside. They were all selected, weren't they? They were all elected. They were all elected and then they were all put in these jars and then they were preserved and the jars kept them.

I know it's a silly illustration in a way, but it's exactly what God the Father did. He took these people, he put them in the Lord Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world, and they were preserved when Adam fell. Why wasn't this world destroyed when Adam fell? Because God's people were preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ from before the time they fell. That's why they have this common salvation.

And the Blessed Holy Spirit comes at the time of love. And He reveals the glory of our great God and Savior to us, and He keeps revealing more and more and more, and it becomes more and more amazing and more and more wonderful. It's a common salvation. We have a common salvation because we have a common God. We are preserved in a common Savior. We have a common Spirit who takes this Word and tells us again and again from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, this is about the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a hymn book. This is a hymn book. I often think of how amazing it must have been for the Apostle Paul, who knew this Old Testament off by heart. Off by heart, he knew it. And he sat there in those days after he met the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the next years and years, he would open up scriptures, and he probably didn't need them. And all of a sudden, there was a light that shone from heaven on that scripture, and this is the Lord Jesus Christ. I didn't realize. that he's the ark. I didn't realize all through, just imagine how many times Paul had these moments where he went, that's amazing, that's amazing. He's the lamb, isn't he? He was the lamb in the garden. He was the lamb that Abel brought.

I love the fact that in, Jude talks about Cain, but I love the fact that Abel, the very first man to go into heaven. Why did he go into heaven? Abel? and his offering. What's his offering? His offering is the Lord Jesus Christ. Who taught him that? Adam gave him the words, and Eve gave him the words, and God the Holy Spirit called him in love and revealed it to him. And He brought the one thing, He brought the blood sacrifice, He brought to God the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why God's servants all speak the same thing. That's why we have a common salvation, because we have a common Gospel message.

Listen to what God says about His servants. We don't have any sufficiency in ourselves. We've got a treasure in earthen vessels. If you look hard enough, you'll see the cracks in this one all day long, and there are plenty more that you'll never see, but I promise you they're there. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. God supplies our sufficiency. We're preserved in Christ Jesus. We have this common salvation.

Who? Listen to what this God has done, the sufficient God has done. who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. We are ministers of the New Covenant. I've just been talking to you about the New Covenant. The New Covenant is in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are sanctified by God the Father, they're preserved in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're called in love by the blessed Holy Spirit. That's what they do. We're just servants. That's what God's people do. They serve the Lord Jesus Christ out in this New Covenant.

and they will not allow for one second for there to be a mixing of the old with the new. That is as successful as Cain bringing the best that he could produce to God Almighty. The New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

Why do they have a common salvation? They have a common life from God. common there is only one Ephesians 4 and I'm gonna have to close quickly but Ephesians chapter 4 in verse 1 speaks of this oneness isn't it He says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you work worthy of the vocation wherewith he called you, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring, what a lovely word, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Is that an endeavour that's in your heart? I want to endeavour to do that. I'd love for us all to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is this common salvation. There is one body and one Spirit. Even as you are called into one hope of your calling, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all.

Now listen to what this God does. Who is above all, thank God he's above all. And he's through all. And he's in you all. What is the hope of glory? What's this one hope? It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you. There is one baptism. All of God's children are immersed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's children are hidden in him. There is one. There is only one common salvation and this one common salvation is received by the common people.

Don't you love that we have a gospel that is perfectly suited to every one of Adam's children, no matter what the circumstances of their lives, no matter how much They have lived in wickedness and disobedience and disregard to the things of God and how they have lived. Listen to what Mark chapter 12 says. I love these verses. Everyone had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, walked away from Him. And listen to what verse 37 our Lord says. And the common people heard him gladly. The scribes and the Pharisees and the religious leaders wouldn't hear him at all and just came with all of their debates and all of their arguments. All the religious leaders hated what he said.

We have a salvation for common people. Just common sinners are called by God to come to this saviour. And we have a common salvation because we have all things in common. The children of God have all things in common. All that believed, listen to Acts chapter 2 verse 44, all that believed were together and had all things common. And they continue, and they sold their possessions and good and part of them to all men as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat. How did they eat? With gladness and singleness of heart. Oneness. Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved.

We have a common inheritance as well, my brothers, and I'll close with this. And sisters, I'll close with this in Romans 8. You know these verses well. If you have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have everything. You have absolutely everything. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also, this is one of the most wonderful words in all the scripture, freely give us all things. all things.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who shall lay anything to the charge of anyone who is sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus, and called by the Holy Spirit? Who shall lay anything to that charge? It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died yea, rather is risen again. Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

We have a common intercessor, a common salvation, the faith. Let's pray.

Our heavenly father, we thank you and praise you for your word. We thank you and praise you that we are again by your gospel continually reminded to take our eyes off the things of this world and to have them fixed upon your dear and precious son.

Our Heavenly Father, one day we will be given tongues that will proclaim the wonders of electing love and redeeming and preserving and keeping love, and the wonder of life-giving, regenerating love that gave us life, life from above, that we might rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ and have no confidence in our flesh.

Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank you that we have a faith that we can live in, contend for, and die in with peace and comfort that you alone can bring to your saints. Bless your word to our hearts, Heavenly Father, and cause us to honour and love our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, Heavenly Father, just to even have sweet thoughts of him in the trials of this life. For he is good and gracious, and your mercy endures forever, our Father.

May we eat and drink in remembrance and remembering the coming 2,000 years ago, and remember the coming again, but also, Heavenly Father, may we be called to remember the coming in sweet mercy and grace that gives us life in this world. We pray that your Son might be glorified in us, and amongst us, and by us, in this world, our Father. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Thanks for coming.