Jude is a single chapter. We'll be looking at verses, verse
1 and 2. We'll read verse 1 through 3,
and then we're going to We're going to be reading toward
the end of this chapter. Scripture here says, 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 called, mercy
unto you and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave
all diligence to write of you of the common salvation, it was
needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints." I entitled this message, The Comfort of the Saints. and to comfort and to contend
for the gospel. The comfort of the gospel and
our contention for the gospel. Now, this letter of Jude, though
small, is to be given just as much honor as any other of the
epistles written. You remember Jude. This one was
written by Jude, but it was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. It
was inspired and written to us who believe on Jesus Christ.
And this little book, this little chapter is full of comforts. I love how the apostles first
of all send comfort. I imagine that we could not take
rebuke unless we had first been given comfort. We could not be
exhorted to do anything unless we are first comforted. He comforts
his people by these first couple of verses, and in verse 4, I
mean, sorry, verse 3, he gives us an exhortation. An exhortation,
and that is to contend for the gospel. Now, Jude was an apostle
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was one of the 12 brother
of James. And notice what he says of himself.
Look at verse 1. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ. That word servant means slave. That's what it means. Bond slave. I believe this has reference
to that in the law of Moses when a man of Israel were to take
another Jewish slave. And that slave were to serve
him for six years, and on the seventh year he was allowed to
go free. But you remember, if he had married a wife while he
was a slave and had children, those children and that wife
was not allowed to go free. So if he loved his master and
he loved his children, he loved his wife, you remember that that
master would take him and bore his ear out with an awl to mark
him as a servant. A willing servant. A loving servant
of his master. This is what every believer in
Christ is this morning. That's what you are. If you're
a believer in Christ, you are a slave to Christ. You are a
servant of Christ. a willing servant. This is not
something that... We're free from bondage. Free
to do what? Free to serve. Free to worship
God. Free to love Him. We have a loving
master. Is this not your experience? Is Christ not a loving master?
A sweet master? Not a hard task master like the
law? Christ is our blessed Master
whom we serve. And here Jude is writing to saints. Look at this. Jude, a servant
of Jesus Christ, brother of James, to them that are sanctified by
God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. This
letter is written to saints in Jesus Christ so as to give us
comfort. Comfort. to give us assurance
of our salvation. What believer does not need comfort
and assurance? I'll tell you this, if we think
we have no need of comfort and assurance, we are in trouble. We have not rightly judged ourselves
and our needs. Every believer needs comfort
and assurance to know this, that our salvation is sure and steadfast,
unmovable, because of this. It is founded in God. Here's
my comfort this morning, is that my salvation is not founded in
me. It's not founded upon me. It's founded in God upon Christ. There's your comfort, is that
our salvation is in the threefold person of the Trinity of God. The three sacred persons of the
Trinity all have their personal work in our salvation, and which
Jude mentions here. He says, the Father. What does
he say of the Father? He says, sanctified by God the
Father. Saints are sanctified ones. That's what it means it's not
some superhuman saint, some superhuman Christian, as though he has some
holy character better than the rest, or he does some kind of
miracles or anything. Saints are simply those who are
sanctified by God the Father. All of you who are believers
in Christ, you are saints. You are saints. Not you will
become saints. You are saints because you are
sanctified by God the Father. Saints are not made by their
actions, but rather because of God's work and sanctification.
Here's the work of the Father. He sanctified us in that He set
us apart unto Himself. This speaks of your election. You believer in Christ. I like the way he phrases that.
Common salvation. This is not some special group
of people. This is all the saints. All those
who believe in Jesus Christ. You have been sanctified by God
the Father. He is sanctified. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Christ. There's the sanctification. Chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world that we should be holy. You know what
saints are? They're set apart for one reason,
that they should be holy. Holy Saints, without blame before
Him. Let this be our comfort. In the
midst of all that you face, in the midst of all of your troubles,
this should give you great comfort, to know that the Father has sanctified
you from eternity. And this should move us to praise
Him. We should praise the Father,
having chosen us in Christ. You know, I don't want this doctrine
just become one in my mind. I want this to be in my heart.
I want us to see that my election was out of love. Not my love
for God, but His love for me. This should be real to us. It
should be a vital doctrine that we should cling to constantly. Whether times of joy or pain,
and especially in doubt or shame, we must cling to this doctrine. It is our only hope. "'Tis not
that I did choose thee, Lord, that could not be. This heart
would still refuse thee. Hast thou not chosen me?" John says this about the election
of the Father and the salvation, that is, behold what manner of
love What manner of love is this?
You know, I don't think we have any real understanding of this
kind of love. Our love is always based on something,
isn't it? We love people based on either
their relationship to us, or how they treat us, or how...
His love had none of that. His love was solely based on
His own self. His Son. His love for His Son. His love for His glory. He chose
us. Behold what manner of love this
is! That the Father hath bestowed
on us sinners of the greatest sort, wicked and vile people, corrupt
in every part, and God bestowed His love upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God. And this love is not just Like the world says, they believe
love of God just overshadows everybody, and you've got to
reach up and grab it. You've got to make it yours.
No, the Scripture said, Behold what manner of love the Father
hath lavished on us, poured out on us, on purpose, an effectual
love, a love so high and so great that He even loved sinners. He loved us not based on what
we could do or would do for Him. He loved us for no other reason
than His own grace and mercy. And let this comfort know this,
He sanctified you in love, and that love is immutable. I know this, we have sinned this
week. We have sinned even in our worship. We have sinned in everything
we have done. We have sinned against our God,
and yet none of our sins have ever removed us from the love
of God. Why? Because He's already in
love removed them from us. Those sins have no bearing on
the love of God for His elect. Why? He sanctified them. He made them holy and put them
in union with His Son. And there's nothing that will
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. What Paul says in Romans chapter
8. Does that comfort you? Do you find some assurance in
that? You should. Because God doesn't
change. He said Behold, I am God, I change
not. Therefore, you wicked sons of
Jacob are not consumed. I change not. Second of all,
this should comfort you. You are preserved. You are preserved
in Christ Jesus. Let this be your comfort. The
cause of God's electing and sanctifying love for His children was never
found in them, but in this one thing, this one person, His Son. Have God sanctified you, but
did not sanctify you in union with His Son, He could never
love you. Therefore, when God sanctified
you, it must have been in Christ. It must have been in Christ so
that He could love you because the only lovable one was His
Son. The only one that could merit
the love, the only one that deserved the love of God was His Son.
And God, willing to love us, loved us only in His Son. Therefore,
He preserved us in Christ Jesus. Where were you before the world
began? I'll tell you this, I was in Christ Jesus. I was in union with Him. God
put us there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Only through Him, and only through
His blood and righteousness Could God ever accept us? This is how
we know the love of God is sure and eternal, because it's founded
in Christ, in our union with Christ, who is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. You got that? Because you're
in Christ, the love of God is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. Remember that the Father chose
you in Him before the world was, and you were preserved in Him. You were kept in Him. You were
guarded in Him. You were protected in Him. It
is like that refuge, like the ark, like Noah in the ark. When
Noah was in the ark, he was protected from the wrath of God that fell
on all the rest of humanity. And so it is, we were preserved
in Christ from before the foundation of the world. I'll tell you this, there was
a time where I had no experimental union with the Son of God. There
was a time when we were all outside of Christ. We were without Christ
and without God in this world. We had only one nature, the nature
of the flesh and sin. And we had no right to claim
the election of grace or the redemption of Christ. But even
then, I was in Christ in the mystical union. in the spiritual union that the
Father had put us in there. And we were preserved in there.
Do you think there was any chance then of you never, ever missing
this? No, that's what that word preserved
is there to tell you. It's to tell you, look, you were
always in me. You were always the apple of my eye. You were
always the love of my heart. That's what God is saying. You
were always in Christ Jesus. We were his elect preserved in
Christ. But I tell you this, we were
not preserved from the fall, were we? We were not kept from
the fall of Adam. We as believers by nature were
children of wrath, even as others. We fell in our father. Wherefore,
as by the disobedience of one many, were made what? Sinners.
We were partakers of his nature. We were born dead in sins. We're under the condemnation
of God. Our Lord said this, that the
world was condemned already. He said, I came not to condemn
the world. The world was condemned already. It was condemned the
moment Adam sinned. It was condemned. The whole race
was condemned. Now listen, this morning I cannot
and will not give any comfort to those who have not experienced
the union, the vital union of the Holy Spirit in the new nature,
the new birth. If you've not been born again,
none of these things belong to you. They all may be in your
head, but they don't belong to you. They only belong to those
who are in Christ Jesus in a vital living union with Him. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
But what of the unbeliever? He that believeth not shall be
damned. There is no preservation for
the unbeliever. There is no being kept. There
is no union with Christ. There is no comfort outside of
Christ. So what is the purpose of preaching?
It is to tell sinners to flee the wrath to come. Repent. What do you repent from? You repent from your own self.
You turn from your own nature. You repent from everything you
are, which is nothing but sin and corruption, and you turn
to Christ as all your hope and salvation. That's repentance. It is to rest solely on Him. We have come to faith. We who
have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are being preserved
because we were preserved in Christ Jesus from the wrath of
God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, is all our righteousness. He's
all our righteousness. God demands righteousness. Are
you perfect? God demands perfection. He doesn't
demand your best. He doesn't demand your most sincere
efforts. God demands perfection. Are you holy as God is? Every believer answers the same,
not in myself. Every believer agrees that there
is no righteousness whatsoever found in anything we have done
or said or thought or felt. Everything we touch is so full
of sin, it has contaminated everything we touch. You know, I found that
true with your your own children and and your own life at everything
we try to do with all of our souls and yet we we ruin everything but our gospel message is that
christ by his own faithfulness has made us made us wholly accomplished
for us everything God demands, everything God requires if we
are preserved in Christ Jesus, sanctified by God the Father,
Christ hath by His own self merited all that we need. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifest, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. How is it accomplished? By the
faith of Jesus Christ. Well, how does it get to you?
Unto all and upon all, them that believe. This righteousness is
given to us. It is a robe of righteousness
that wraps us around, surrounds us completely. Therefore we gladly let go of
our religious deeds, we gladly let go of our filthy garments
of sin. We gladly are stripped of everything
before God so as to be robed with His perfect righteousness.
And not only this, but we are preserved in His righteousness,
but we are also cleansed of all our sins. This is what Christ
came to do. If you're preserved in Christ,
this means that you were cleansed of all your sins. It was the blood of Christ that
cleanses us, isn't it? What cleanses you of your sins?
Right now, you have sinned, and your believers confess. If we
say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in
us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. How is He faithful and just to do so? Only by the
blood of the Son of God. I know this, many times we think,
Our forgiveness is somehow wrapped up in our sincerity. That we, when we ask for forgiveness,
that we think somehow, in some measure, our sincerity has anything
to do with that. No. He cleanses us because of
the blood of His Son. Only because of the blood of
the Son. Always because of the blood of the Son. And nothing
else but the blood of the Son can cleanse you from all your
sins. I'll tell you this, when He offered
Himself once, my sins were cleansed. Now why? Because I was preserved
in Him. Don't you know that when He lived,
you lived? When He was righteous, you were
righteous. When He died, you died. When He rose again, you
rose again. Everything that belongs to Him
belongs to you. Why? You were preserved in Him
by the will of God. And the third thing this is that
comforts you, this should comfort you. Shouldn't that comfort you
that Christ bore all your sin? All of them. Every one of them. The ones you are committing now,
even now, are borne away. And third, this should comfort
you because you've been called. Look at that. He said, "...sanctified
by God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus Christ, and called."
Cold. Don't you know that you can never
know your election and redemption except you're cold? Cold. This is the work of God
the Holy Spirit, to call sinners. It is the work of God the Spirit
and the salvation so as to apply the truths, these truths of the
gospel to the dead sinner's heart and give him life and faith. Lazarus is a wonderful picture
of this, isn't he? I love the wonderful... Our Lord
allowed his friend to die. because of the glory of God,
that the glory of God should be manifest in his death by preaching
the gospel. He was going to preach the gospel
by the death of his friend Lazarus. And he came to that tomb, Lazarus
was dead. Until when? He was called. And
when He was called, He was alive. And there was no process. There was no method in this. Why do they call Him Methodist?
They think there's a method to this. No method is one thing.
If He calls you, you live. And if He calls you, you believe. It's calling. is effectual. That simply means it gets a job
done. When He calls, you come. He's not asking. As God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, so He shined in our hearts. Was
there any debate then? Was there any speculation with
the sun and the moon when He called it? No! When He called
you, no speculation here. He called us to life. This is
the work of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 4 and verse 2 says, "...whereby
you know the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh as of God." Now what does that mean?
How many people, you go to any church you want to and ask, did
Jesus Christ come in the flesh? And 99% of them will tell you,
yeah. That doesn't mean that they're
called to the Spirit of God just because they confessed this. Listen,
we don't just confess this, we know this. We know that He is
Jesus Christ, the Son of God in the flesh. We know that He
is the Christ. That word Christ has some implications
to it. It means that He was successful
in His work. All that God promised Christ
would do, Jesus Christ has accomplished. And only the Spirit of God gives
us such faith to believe in that. And this threefold cord of sanctification
by the Father, redemption and preservation by the Son, and
the calling of the Holy Spirit can never be broken. This should
comfort you. It can't be broken. It can't
be undone. It won't be undone because everything
God does is perfect. Nothing he does needs to be redone. Now, the second thing I want
you to see is the contention, the exhortation here to contend
for the faith. Look at this in verse 3. He says... Look at verse 2. I want to finish this comfort.
Look at this comfort he gives you. He said this, "...to you
who are sanctified, to you who are preserved, and you are called
mercy unto you." and no one else. You understand that? Mercy unto
you, and peace, and love. Mercy. What believer does not
need mercy? Okay, God says this, mercy be
multiplied unto you. However much mercy you need,
may it be multiplied on you. Peace. What believer does not
need peace? May the peace of God that passeth
understanding be upon you all. Why? Because you are sanctified,
you are preserved, and you are called of God, a work that cannot
be undone. And listen, you are loved with
an everlasting love. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. And all of
these may be multiplied by infinity upon you. Now then the second thing again
is the exhortation. Look at verse 3. 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
you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered of the saints. Now Jude here desires that these
believers in the common salvation, partakers of this common salvation,
that they contend for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And notice he
says, earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints. Earnestly contend. You know the
word contend here means to struggle. To struggle. To contend for the
faith. Whatever it is to contend for
the faith, I want you to know this, it's a struggle. When you contend for the faith, it's not going to be easy. Our Lord came into this world
contending for the faith, and how was His path? Was it smooth? Was it easy? Was it without trouble? Was it without difficulty? No,
and neither will our contending for the faith. What is this struggle? What is this to contend for the
faith? It is simply this. Paul said it in 2 Timothy 1.3,
hold fast the form of sound words. To contend for the faith is to
hold fast the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to declare this gospel
without apology and without variation. So what is it to contend for
the faith? These are two questions that I have for you. What is
it to contend for the faith? And two, how are we to contend
for it? It is the faith that was once
delivered to the saints. That is the Word of God. the
gospel of Jesus Christ. We as believers, we're not to
contend for our own faith. I'll tell you this, to believe
on Christ is a struggle, isn't it? You're going to struggle
against your own flesh, but you remember that our faith is a
gift of God and is preserved of God, and it is a fruit of
the Spirit. It's not a matter of our struggle
that keeps us in the faith. So it's not talking about contending
for your own faith. We don't have any faith in our
faith. But rather this is talking about contending for the object
of your faith. The object of your faith is Jesus
Christ. We are to hold up the one in
whom we have faith, and not our own faith. We're to contend for
the Word of God, for that is the power of God to everyone
that believeth. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel, Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. So how do we contend for this
Gospel? To contend, what are we contending for? We are contending
for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to hold fast to the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Why? Because there are many false
prophets that have gone out into the world. And that's what Jude
is getting at. He's going to tell you that there's
these wicked men that have gone out and started teaching lasciviousness
and all sorts of vile doctrines and murmurs and complainers.
They're the ones that cause contention and strife. This is the reason
you should contend, because there is a false gospel that is being
perpetuated in this world. And we are called to be the light
of the world. How can you be the light of the
world? Are you talking about your conduct? Are you the light of the world
by your conduct? Anybody? Anybody want to hold up their
conduct as the light of the world? Anybody want to expose everything
that goes on in your mind in front of the world? Not one Christian
would ever want to do that. That's not what Christ... We
are the light of the world because we have the light of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ in our hearts. We have this gospel. This is the light. This is the
light that is in us. It is the Word of God concerning
Christ. This is what we are to hold for.
This is what we are to contend for and struggle for. The gospel
of Christ. How do we do that? What we're
doing right now. preach the Word. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was
delivered to the saints and is now delivered to us. We are entrusted
with this sacred treasure. I don't think believers in this
generation have a real understanding of what has been entrusted to
us. I really don't. I don't think that they... I
think people take it too lightly. They take it too lightly, they
take it frivolously, as though it'll be here tomorrow if they
ever need it. That's presumptuous, isn't it? We should give everything we
have and everything we are to further this gospel. We are to contend for this gospel. contend for the faith that was
once delivered to the Saints but is now entrusted unto us. I tell you that the lack of understanding in
this world surely the church has much to blame. They've taken in all sorts of
vile doctrines. vile doctrines into their churches. They've allowed men to come in,
creep in unawares, and begin to whittle away at the truth
of God's grace, of God's gospel. But believer, we're to hold fast
to these things. We're to hold fast to these truths
and not let them go. We're to hold fast that God is
sovereign. absolutely sovereign, completely
sovereign over everything, especially salvation. We are to hold unto
the sacred persons of the blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three
are one. We are to hold fast to that without
moving. We are to hold fast that Jesus Christ is the way, the
truth, and the life, and no man comes to God but by Him. We hold
fast to original sin, that man is absolutely and utterly depraved
because of the fall, and can by no means save himself or even
believe on Christ, except God give him faith. Hold fast to
that. Let us hold fast that salvation
is by grace, through faith, and not of yourselves. Faith is a
gift of God and not of works, lest any mention both. Hold fast,
contend for that. Contend for it. We're to hold
fast in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that He is raised from
the dead, and one day we shall be raised from the dead. We're
to hold fast that heaven is real, that hell is real. We're not
to be moved on these things. Scriptures are plain and clear
concerning these places. We're to contend for the truth
that Christ has accomplished our salvation. Contend for that. Don't move. Don't be moved. We are to contend for this faith
through preaching the gospel, declaring it plainly, not debating. That's not what he's talking
about in this passage. Many people suppose that this
means to debate. You need to contend for the gospel,
so you need to sit up there and start debating people. No, not
at all. That's not what he's talking
about at all. If that's what we're doing, we've
missed the whole point. We're called to not debate, but
preach. I'm glad to answer questions.
Men got questions. If they have questions about
this gospel, I'd be glad to answer them. But once I fully recognize
that they understand what I'm talking about, I leave them alone. The Lord said that the blind
lead the blind. They'll both fall in the ditch. We're not here to debate men,
but simply proclaim this gospel, to declare it. Would you debate
something that's true? Why would you debate something
that's true? It's true. I need not debate the truth with
you. My debating it doesn't make it any more true. And you arguing
against it doesn't make it any less true. It's true. Let God be true, and every man
a liar. We proclaim this gospel. That's
how we contend for it. Second of all, we are to build
on the most holy faith. Look at that in verse 20. Go
to verse 20. He said, But you, beloved, building
on up yourselves on your most holy faith. What does that mean?
That mean we add to this gospel? That's what he's talking about.
This holy faith that he's talking about is the same faith that
we're to contend for in verse 3. He's talking about the gospel. Add to your most holy faith.
What does that mean? It's the same thing Paul said
in, I believe it's 1 Corinthians chapter 3. He said the foundation
is laid as Jesus Christ and some men have built on that foundation
silver and gold and precious stones and other men wood, hay
and stubble. He's not talking about your works, what he's talking
about are doctrines. What do we build on this most
holy faith? We are to take the most precious
doctrines and build on this most holy faith. Has anybody learned
everything there is to know about the election of grace? Anybody's
got that to where they're very comfortable and sure about? No. So what do we do? We keep building
with those precious stones, precept, line upon line, precept upon
precept. That's what he's saying to contend
for the faith, is to constantly take that which is precious.
and build on it, learn from it, grow by it. That's what he means.
Any one of us so mature that we need not grow in the grace
and knowledge of Jesus Christ, this is how you contend for the
faith. Taking this book, reading this book, studying this book,
hearing this book. That's how we build up on this
most holy faith. And prayer, he said, praying
in the Holy Ghost. Who does not need prayer among
us? How are you to even understand
this book and build upon these precepts without prayer in the
Holy Ghost? You can't. The Holy Ghost is
the one that teaches us these things. So if we're going to
contend for the faith, we need to be a praying people. Instant
in prayer, what Paul said. Instant in prayer. How many times
do you wait until you feel like praying? And then you never pray. No,
you need to be instant in prayer. Struggle, it's a contention,
not something that comes easy. And then he says, keep yourselves
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life. What does this mean? This means
faith. You need to keep looking to Christ. This is how you contend for the
faith. Keep looking to Christ. Keep finding Christ. Every time
you come here, what do you try to find? What are you looking
for when you come here? How many people are looking for
better marriages and better lives and better riches and better
things from this book? They are looking in vain for
those things. Christ is all in this book. If
we're to contend for this faith, we've got to keep looking to
Christ. We must point men to Christ. We must find Christ.
Always Christ. Everything Christ. Christ is
all. This is what it is to contend
for the faith. Christ is all. And the last thing is having
compassion. He starts talking about pulling those out who are
as brands plucked from the burning. We're to be earnest in seeking that men should hear
and believe this cost we should be earnestly contending that
mention here this car we should not be so easily turned
away you and me times your kids been
sick didn't want to go didn't want to take the medicine Did you contend with them or
did you let them go? Would it be compassion to let them go? No, you had to contend with them.
We have to contend for the faith. Men are not going to want to
hear this. We want them to hear this. We must seek that they
hear this. We must do everything within
our power to get them here. My children are here because
I make them come. There's no other reason. I'm contending for their souls.
I long for God to touch their souls. I contend for this gospel because
it's my comfort. I contend for this gospel for
the souls of men. For the glory of God. I pray
God will help us do that.