I want you to open your Bibles
with me to Jude, the book of Jude. A very small little portion of
Scripture here next to the last book in the New Testament. Jude.
The general epistle of Jude. It's not my desire in preaching to try and prove doctrine. I'm not trying to prove doctrine
this morning. I'm not trying to convert anyone
over to my way of thinking. I'm not trying to make Calvinists
out of anybody. I am a Calvinist. I don't apologize
for that. But I'm not trying to make a
Calvinist out of anyone here this morning. But I want more
than anything to boldly and emphatically preach the truth of this book. All of it. And we do not try to prove anything. God doesn't need to be proved.
But we try to declare things. We don't try to prove, but yet
we declare things. Yet, modern preaching is so corrupt,
it's so far removed from the truth that you can't help but
call attention to the absurdities that goes on in religion today.
that's preached and received by the majority. Now, I've said this so many times
before, that all we really need to do is plainly preach the Word,
go verse by verse through the Scripture, and all of these things
will be exposed. All error will be exposed if
you diligently, carefully go verse by verse through the Scripture. I've coined the phrase straight
stick preaching. Straight stick. In other words,
if I wanted to show you. The crookedness of a walking
stick. I wouldn't just get that stick
up here and show it to you and tell you this curve makes this
makes a 30 degree angle. This over here is a 25 and this
is an imperceptible 7 degree. It's crooked. Can't you see that?
All I have to do to show you the crookedness of that stick
is to get a perfectly straight one and stand it beside it. See? And then it's clear, right? I
don't have to explain it or prove it to anybody. And in order to
prove the crookedness of what we are exposed to today, all
we merely need to do is to bring out this straight stick Right
here it is. This is our straight stick. This
is our standard ruler. A ruler is the straightest stick
we know of. This is the rule of the truth. This is the standard which one
looks at if one looks at in sincerity and honesty. It will be very
clear. I can say that for the utmost authority. That if someone
looks at this with sincerity, with no guile, with sincerity,
without any preconceived notion, and in honesty, wanting to know
the truth, you'll know it. You'll know it. Stay with me. The babies will keep. They always
have. They always will. The problem
is not that most people don't see what is in the Scriptures.
That's not the problem. The problem is, people refuse
to believe it. People refuse to believe what
is so clearly seen in the Scriptures, and they are willing to believe
a lie. Now, this is a verse of Scripture,
2 Thessalonians 2, verse 11, says that, that because people
receive not the love of the truth, because they would rather believe
a lie, and receive not the love of the truth that I'm about to
preach to you this morning." It says that God sends them,
therefore, strong delusions that they will believe a lie. Strong
delusions. In other words, they become so
convinced that what they say and do is the truth that they
believe it, even to the point of rejecting the plain truth. That's the reason I believe some
of these charlatans, some of these crooked healers and all
that on TV, I believe they really think they've got the power. I really believe that some of
them believe what they're doing. Strong delusions. Now, this is the reason that
in other words man's absolute rebellion and unwillingness to
believe the truth by nature. This is the reason that God has
to work. This is the reason that it that
God must be the one to work in us both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. Why? Because we will not. We
will not by nature believe the truth. All right. Now, the first
verse here in Jude, the first verse of our text, is as clear
a declaration of the gospel of God's sovereign grace as can
be found in all of the scriptures. And there's enough right here
in this one little obscure verse to silence every gainsayer and
every critic of the gospel of God's sovereign grace. If it
was only one verse in all the Bible, this one would be it.
This is enough. One verse in this little obscure
passage that most people overlook completely. Jude. I don't ever
recall anybody preaching from the book of Jude on the radio
or TV. Mainly because they're scared
of verse four, but look at verse one with me. Look in this one
verse of scripture and you, if you want to know the gospel,
you'll hear it right here. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James." Now, most believe that this is the cousin
of our Lord, the cousin of Christ. His name was Thaddeus, or Judas,
or Thaddeus. And he's writing a letter to
this church, or the believers, or disciples. And he says here
in verse 1, servant of Jesus Christ, brother of James, I'm
writing to them that are sanctified by God the Father. He starts
right out talking about election. Now, that's no way to evangelize,
Jude. You don't go right up to somebody
on the street and start talking about election. Well, he says
sanctified by God the Father. The word sanctified means set
apart. It's in the same sense of elect,
chosen, vessels of mercy. The Scriptures are very clear
that there's some elect, chosen people according to the foreknowledge,
or that is the foreordination of God Almighty. God, before
time began, set his love upon, set his mind, his choice upon
some people. And only those people will be
saved. Now, there's a number which no
man can number, lest anybody say that's not fair. There's
a number, the scripture says, as the stars of the sky, as the
sands of the seashore. Besides, man doesn't deserve,
no man deserves to be elected, to be saved. They all deserve
to go to hell. They're all rebels by nature,
but God in mercy and in grace to show his glory chose a certain
number of people, and they were sanctified, or that is, set apart
according to his foreknowledge. I used the term before, culled
out of the herd. A cowboy. A cowboy. He gets on his horse, his big
white horse, and he goes out into the herd, and he's got his
mind, his eyes set upon one little calf he's going to put a brand
on. He's going to put his brand on that little calf. And he disregards
the rest of the cows, the cows and the bulls and this and that
and the other. And he sets his eye on that one little calf and
follows it wherever it goes. And finally, he lassoes that
thing. And if he's a real man, he'll
get down on the ground on his back and just Put him down on
the ground and tie his legs up and stick that old hat on. That's
unfair. No, that's grace, mercy, that's ownership. That's sovereign
priority. Sovereign right of that cowboy.
He's mine. I'm going to prove it. I've got
him. I've wrestled him down. I've affectionately called him
Henry. And I've put my brand on him. And this is what God
does to His people. sets his mind's eye, his purpose,
his eternal counsels on a certain people. There's a bunch of them,
but he does them individually. He doesn't save them by number,
by masses, but individually. And through time, he calls them
out. There's that old boy. And I don't care what that old
boy does, where he goes. If he's God's, this is the good
news, isn't it? If he's God's, God's going to
have him. I like that. I don't kick against
that. I think that's just great. Sanctified
by God, set apart, culled out of the herd. The word also means
made holy. Now, what God calls holy, let
no man call uncommon or unclean, right? Why is a man, how can
anybody lay anything to the charge of God's elect when God justifies
it, huh? When God says that man is holy,
I impute, I charge to his account. The holiness, the righteousness
of he's holding his past is wiped out completely. He is holy. And
God says, I dare challenge anybody to say otherwise. Well, just
this morning and Satan and his accusers would say, well, just
this morning I heard what he thought. Did you see what he
did? Doesn't matter. He is justified.
He's under the blood. I like that. That's more than
a doctrine to me. Oh, my soul, that's my hope.
It's my comfort. And everything, God sets them
apart, culls them out of the herd, declares them holy, declares
them righteous by Jesus Christ's blood and His work. And everything
in this work of salvation, or that is bringing a man, bringing
a woman, bringing a young person, To God, this is what salvation
is, bringing a person who is dead to God, doesn't think about
God, doesn't hear God, doesn't see God, doesn't even want to
know God, just doesn't care about God, who is in rebellion to God,
living all his life for me and mine and in the lust of the flesh
in this world like a hog, you know, rooting down in the mud,
never looking up, doesn't care what's above him. Never giving
thanks for the sun that grows the food that he eats. Never
giving thanks for the water that sustains his life. Never giving
thanks for the clothes that God just grows in the field, rooting
around in the world. And here's life. That man is
dead in trespasses and sin. Dead to God. Doesn't think about
God. Here is life. Here is salvation. When God says,
wake up, quickens him. through the preaching, what I'm
doing right now this morning, opens their ears. There is a
God, isn't there? Opens their eyes to see, hey,
He's sovereign. I'm in His hands. And then points
them to Christ. Now, this is the one you need.
The only way you're going to get to me is by a substitute,
by a blood sacrifice. And points them to Christ. They
become alive to things of God. And God receives them into fellowship.
when this life is over. Receives them. Come in now, my
son. Adopts them in the family. Makes
them a son. The rest of them, Henry, just
leave them alone. They're just swine. Leave them alone. Now
what Christ said to some people, said to his apostles, leave them
alone. They're blind and leaders of
the blind. They're swine. Don't cast your pearls before
swine. Leave them alone. They're just all going to fall
in the ditch. Let them alone. And they do they just wallow
off the precipice of a cliff and fall into judgment. But some
people by God's mercy and grace he says stop just in the nick
of time. Turns them around. Cast their
eyes upon him. Sanctify him. You get a better
picture of this thing of sanctification by God. Set him apart from the
herd. Set him apart. and made them
holy, put a brand on them, righteous, justified, holy, a brand, Christ
in them, the hope of glory, a brand upon them. And everything in
this thing of salvation, everything from the choosing, from the calling,
from the willing, from the believing, even this faith, is God's work
from start to finish. And anybody says differently
is a liar. Didn't get it from this book.
All of that is contained right there in those three, those four
words. Sanctified by God the Father. That's where it starts. And that's
where it finishes. Separated by God. Called by God. Saved by God. given faith by
God and brought to God by God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit. Now look at this. He says they're
sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. Preserved in Jesus Christ. Now you'll like this if you listen
up. Preserved in Jesus Christ. I know the debate rages on it
just goes on and on it's going to go on till the end of time
once in great is it true. Once in grace always in grace
once saved always say I turn on the radio this morning come
to church come into the church house. And I heard a man of first
words out of his mouth where this he said. Now he said. I've received a lot of. favorable mail about our studies
this week on the lie of once saved, always saved. He said,
we know that's a lie. He said, we've been looking at
it. We're going to look at it some more today. He said, I've received
a lot of favorable mail from you people in this study. Once
saved and always saves a lie, he said. Well, he's a liar. Let God be true
and every man a liar, the scripture says. That's not what this book
says, is it? Let me change a word in there
that'll change the whole meaning of what's being said. Once in
grace and always in grace. Let me change one word that'll
clear this whole thing up for you. Once in Christ, always in
Christ. There's the difference now. Turn
with me to First Corinthians chapter one. First Corinthians
chapter one. Here's the difference. This is
not a doctrine. Salvation is not a doctrine of
eternal security. Salvation is in a Savior. Salvation is not in a doctrine
of eternal security. Salvation is in a surety. Whether or not you're saved eternally
depends on who did the saving, right? If you made your decision
for Jesus, sure, you're going to make another decision later
on against Jesus. But if God made his decision
for you, you ain't going to change it, come hell or high water.
I like that. I'm not arguing a doctrine here.
When a man starts saying otherwise, he takes away my hope, takes
away all my comfort, all my assurance. Because if it's up to me to keep
myself saved, I quit. Don't you? I quit. I can't be
religious like they expect me to be. I can't be the good Christian
I'm supposed to live up to, that they say is a good Christian.
No, don't drink, don't smoke, this and that and the other.
Besides, it doesn't say that in the Bible anyway. But what
they say is a good Christian. I can't live it perfectly. Thank
God Jesus Christ did live it perfectly, and thank God I'm
in Jesus Christ by faith, and thank God said everybody in Christ
is saved. This is what the Bible says,
no matter what John Joe Blow says. I don't care if he's got
a preacher behind his name. And don't take my word for this.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1.30. Here is salvation. First Corinthians 130, of God
are you in Christ, two words, that's salvation, in Christ Jesus. Who of God, you see this is God's
work, of God are you, that is all believers, all those he gives
the gift of faith to. Who of God, Christ of God is
made unto us These things, wisdom, all we need to know. Righteousness,
all we need to have. Sanctification, all needs to
be done. And redemption, that covering,
that payment that's made. That according as it is written,
when all's said and done, after it's all over, he that glorieth
is going to be gloried in the Lord. Not in his little two-bit
confession, but in the Lord. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 5
with me. You see, salvation is revealed
in these two words, in Christ. Salvation is to be chosen by
God and given by God to his Son. God said he was going to save
the people from the beginning of time, before they were ever
born. God said he was going to save them. says that, chosen
in him before the foundation of the world. And it says he,
God gave those people to his son to take care of them, to
go and do for them what needs to be done, to live the life
they didn't live. See, they were rebels and God's
going to require that their sins be punished. Well, he's not going
to require that they be punished, but he's going to require Christ
to be punished for them. And that Christ lived that perfect
life so that God can have them. God will only take holy people. And you and I ain't nothing holy
about us. None of us. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. In every thought, word, and deed,
including the preacher. You're looking at the chief of
sinners. I don't care what you're doing right now. I'm worse than
you are. Right now, maybe not look at
outwardly, but when you look on the inside, that's where God
looks on the inside. And Christ had to live that life
to perfection in thought, in word and in deed as a man, so
God can receive men. And God says, now everybody that
I take and give to this man, put as it were, as if opening
up the heart of Christ and stuffing Him in Him, and then closing
Him back up like the bosom, the Scripture we read this morning,
under His wing in the cleft of the rock. Well, God says, I'm
going to pass by in judgment. You better be in the cave, in
the rock, the rock of ages, Christ Jesus. That rock is Christ, Henry's
sword. We better be in the cave, not
outside looking around. not outside till in the garden,
in Christ by faith. And then Christ goes back to
the right hand of the Father and sits down and makes sure,
as the mediator of this agreement, this covenant, the judge himself,
makes sure that every last one of them he did that for comes
home. There's mine. Oh, but look at him. I don't
care, he's mine. Look at 2 Corinthians 5, verse
21. This is the gospel. Well, look
at verse 17 with me. If any man be where? In Christ. He's a new creature. A new creature. Folks, the primary,
the principle, the spiritual meaning of this verse right here
means that if you're in Christ, You're considered by God in Christ. That old man's dead. God doesn't
see him. If you're in Christ, you are
Christ. God only sees Christ in you,
the hope of your glory, your glorification. If any man is
in Christ, he's a new creature. What kind of new creature? He's
a son of God. He's holy just like Christ. Not
in himself. Old things are passed away. What
old things? Sin. It's on his record. I hold all
things are become new. Look at verse 19. To wit that
God was, where? Where's God at? How do you find?
God's in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. A world
of people, that is. Not imputing their sins unto
him. Not charging them. Look at verse
21. This is it. Because God hath
made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." That verse right
there, I've just tried to illustrate to you how that God made Christ
to be us. and saw sinners and rebels and
no good, worthless people like we are, made Christ to be that
sin that must be punished and slew him in our stead because
that's what we deserve. The soul that sins must surely
die. Made Christ to be sin for us that we might be made, that
the tables might be turned, that we might be made Christ. And
God says to us, well done, you good and faithful servant. Enter
in, you holy and righteous, lovely, well-beloved son of mine. Oh,
it's not me. Yeah, it is. To who? I switched
places with you in Christ. It's called substitution. Any man preach any other gospel
in the gospel of substitution, he's lying to you, isn't he? Look at Ephesians chapter one,
Ephesians chapter one. Preserve, what are we talking
about here? One word, preserved. Any of you ladies can things?
Sure you do. You can peaches or peach preserves or whatever. Now, buddy, once you put those
things in a jar, And seal them, if they're sealed, seems like
I remember that word somewhere else too, sealed by the Holy
Spirit. But once they're put in jars
and sealed, how long can you keep them? Indefinitely? Sure,
if they're done right. If they're done right, there's
the key in it. According to the wisdom of the
woman who does this, if she knows her business now, if she knows,
if she's been canning a long time, She seals them up right,
just the right temperature, and this and that and the other.
Buddy, they're there to stay. They'll be kept. They're preserved.
That's what the word means, doesn't it? Kept for that person's final
usage. And look at Ephesians 1. This
is what we're saying. Salvation is to be found in Christ. Verse 1. Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the will of God to the saints which are at
Ephesus, to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Verse three, blessed be
God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Look at verse four, according
as he has chosen us in Christ. Verse six, to the praise of the
glory of his grace. This is a reason for it all.
He's made us accepted in Christ. Verse seven, In Christ we have
redemption. Verse 8, wherein in Christ he
hath abounded toward us. Verse 10, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things. In Christ. Verse 11, in Christ. Salvation is to be put by God
in his trophy case. Christ is the whole, the sum
of the whole. We are trophies of his grace.
Christ is the case that contains it all. He's the display. That's what verse 10 said, that
he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. They're all
going to walk into heaven on his arms, and he's going to show
them off. What he's done, you say, I did
this. And only those that are on his
arm, only those that are under his wing, only those who have
his robe on, dressed like him, look like him, are going to be
saved in that day, in Christ. Salvation is to be found in Christ
at the day of judgment, not having my own righteousness, not having
my own morality. Religion is throwing us a curve.
Oh, it's more than a curb, isn't it? It's a flat lie. It'll send
your soul into hell. That's saying if you live right,
if you quit all your bad habits, if you become a good Christian,
if you go to church every Sunday and join up, you know, join up
our little group, our group. Now, you've got to join ours.
And be baptized by me. I've got to do the baptizing.
And live right, and I'll send you a book. Ask for the book
later on. I'll tell you how to live right. Then you'll be saved. Saved! In other words, you do
what I say and what I think, and you live according to my
rules, and we just might let you in our little club. That
ain't salvation. That's damnation. That's certain
judgment. Because you stand before, because there's going to be a
bunch of people. Christ said, many will say unto me in that
day, well, Lord, Jesus, we love Jesus. We believe on Jesus. I'm going to say, well, I was
baptized. I went to church. I quit my drinking. Didn't want to, but I did anyway.
Quit my smoking. Made my decision. Somebody said,
you was knocking on my heart's door. I opened it. Now, I got
to... He's going to say, I never knew
you. I never did a work on you. That preacher did a work on you.
I never saved you. Saul Wetter saved you. You never
heard my voice. You heard the preacher's voice.
You made some emotional response to some, as they sang, sung,
just as I am 142 times. You went down front. You didn't
bow before God. You went to the mourner's bed. Not having my own righteousness,
that's what this verse is saying, not having my own morality, which
is of the law, or my doings, my morality, my good deeds. He
said there's none that doeth good, didn't he? Didn't he say
Isaiah 64, 6? All our righteousnesses are as
dirty, filthy rags before God. They stink, they smell of pride
more than anything. I did this, Jesus. what are coming in are those
who bow to, cling to me, and I will receive those gladly." And Jude says here in our text,
look back at the text in Jude, he says, all of God's, did you
notice one little three-letter word here? It proves this thing. We're going to do some proving.
Let's prove it. One three-letter word will prove
this once in Christ, always in Christ. One little three-letter
word in this little obscure passage over here that nobody preaches
on will prove that once saved, always saved. Look at it with
me. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James,
to them that Does that, is that present tense?
Some, uh, some, uh, English teacher, correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't
that present tense? Are? Was is back then, wasn't it?
Gonna be, will be, that's in the future. Let's say are. You
reading the same thing I'm reading? Are sanctified by God the Father. And are preserved in Jesus Christ. and are called right now. Presidents say that's reason
Romans eight Henry keeps saying whom he predestinated he he justified
whom he called whom he called he justified whom he justified
he glorified. Past tense. Done. Cause known unto God are
all his works from the beginning. Good as done. God says I said
it I'll do it. Case closed. I like that. Listen to this. You know what the word preserve
means? I got plenty of time. I wrote it down right here. You
know what the word preserve means? You're going to like this if
you listen up, you believers. Preserve means this. It comes
from the Greek word tereo. It means to watch over. It says that all of these people
are sanctified by God and are watched over by Jesus Christ. The Lord is my shepherd. Now, I ain't your shepherd. preacher, the soul winner, the
deacon, the elder. If they are your shepherd, then
naturally you'll be lost, right? You're going to fall in the ditch.
But if the Lord is your shepherd, he's called the good shepherd,
Jerry. He's never lost sheep. And those that appear to be lost,
it says he leaves the 99 and goes after him, doesn't it? Doesn't
it say over there in Luke? Until he finds it. And he won't
give up the search until he finds it. And I beg to differ with
those that say the sheep's looking for him. No. He said in that
same passage, I believe it is Isaiah 64, I'm caught, I'm found
of them that sought me not. Explain that and you'll know
the gospel. I'm found of them that sought me not. Watched over. Thou, Lord, seest
me. Now, what should be fearful to
the unbeliever is my greatest comfort. The believer ought to
say, you mean God's looking at me, what I think and everything?
And he ought to tremble in his boots and come repenting and
begging for forgiveness. But the believer sees that as
his comfort. Thou, Lord, seest me. You know
all about me, yet you still receive me in Christ. Isn't that good
news? Watch over me. Listen to this
definition. Preserve. Toreo. It means to...
Listen. Toreo. Preserve. It means to
guard from loss. To guard from losing. To guard
from losing. We read it in Psalm 91. It said,
He shall give His angels charge over the. To keep you in all
your way, they say that. All your way and another place,
John 10, he said, Lo, I will never leave. Any good ship never. I'll never leave them. Oh, for
sure, never. guards from losing. Here's another
definition, to prevent from escaping. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it
for thy courts above. I'm so prone. We're called sheep,
aren't we, Terry, in the Scripture? I was the black one. I'm the black sheep, and I'm
prone to wander. That's the way you feel about
yourself. Everybody in here is going to make it but me. I'm
going to fall, I know I am. Christ says, no you're not. Because when you're weak and
I'm strong, when I pick you up and keep you from falling, one
day you're going to glorify me more than anybody in heaven.
The woman who was forgiven much, that woman, Adulteress, whore,
said she'll love much. There's somebody singing in heaven
above everybody else. It's Mary Magdalene. Yes, sir. She's saying, I didn't keep myself,
not for works of righteousness which I have done. According
to His mercy, He saved me. It means this, too. To detain
in custody. To detain in custody, to hold
fast. Gotcha! In chains, cords. There's a rope around your neck.
Do you know that, John? David? If you're in Christ, there's
a rope around your neck, buddy. But it ain't one that's going
to hang you with. It's one that's going to keep you from falling
with. Ah, boy. Christ is called the
mediator, the surety. If those words mean anything,
it means He's going to keep His people. And anybody that says
otherwise is lying on God and blaspheming the holy name of
Christ, our mediator, our surety, right? Anybody that says that
one of God's people can fall ever, saying that Christ doesn't
do the work. He can't keep them. He's not
a surety. He's a hopes up. He's a helpless,
frustrated Jesus who's trying to save you, but you won't let
him. I don't worship a God like that, and I ain't no such animal.
That's God with a small g. But the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish. Never. They're kept. They're in captivity.
They're detained. by my honor, by my glory, by
my power, in the hand of my Father and my hand too. And no man plucked
them out of those hands. Now, yes, once in Christ, always
in Christ. Always. You know, Noah, everybody
in here knows the story of Noah. What was Noah's, what was the
safety of those people? Everybody that was in that ark,
why were they saved when that flood came along? Everybody else
was damned and everybody else drowned. What was it that saved
those people? Noah and his family. The ark. They were in the ark. And do
you know what it says? Also it says that God, it was
pitched within and without. Right? That word, pitch, is the
same word in the New Testament that's called propitiation, covering,
atonement. The Scripture says it's the blood
that makes a covering for the soul. The blood. And everybody that was in that
boat, in the ark, was saved. They say it was pitched on the
inside, got to have the blood on the inside, and it's pitched
on the outside. And it says that when God called
him in the ark, he said, come into the ark, come, and then
it says in another place, it says, God, shut him in. Doesn't
say Noah took hold of the door and shut it and nailed it tight.
No, it says, God, shut him in. Now, Henry, if I know anything
about carpentry, there's going to be a crack around that door
jamb, isn't there? Huh? You got a door, you got
an opening in any kind of a building, there's going to be a crack in
it. wind water surely water will be my knowing about water and
leaking. Every time I hear a faucet drip
I remember I'm serious. Our house got flooded. Anytime
I hear the faucet drip I panic. There was a crack in that door.
Who sealed it on the outside? Huh? God did. God took him a bucket
of pitch and pitched that baby. Not Noah, not Noah's boys. God did it. And it says that
they didn't go in on their free will. God shut them in. God effectually
called them in, shut the door behind them, pitched it behind
them. Could they have gotten out if they wanted to? No way. Besides, they didn't want to.
Huh? No, they didn't want to get out of there. They might
not have wanted to go in in the first place. You ever think about
that? Noah's boys? Oh, all things continue as they
have been from the beginning, Daddy. I don't see any rain. You're coming in, buddy. You're
coming in. And they thanked God later on,
didn't they? Here's the difference between
modern religion and the true gospel. Look at this last verse,
and we'll quit. The last part of verse 1. Preserved
in Jesus Christ. Pitched. Propitiated, atoned
for in Jesus Christ. And there's that word again. Called. Yeah, I have a bad habit. I know
I scare some of you, but I call names when I'm preaching. I do
it on purpose. Every time I call somebody's
name, they pay attention. You know that? Now, I'm not calling
names just so people will pay attention. Not all the time,
anyway. I have to call names just because
I'm thinking about various people. But every time I call from this
place, your name is drawn attention to, you perk right up. You have
been affectionately called. Right, Steve? Steve heard that. If nobody else in here did, he
heard his name, didn't he? Huh? He heard his name. Now,
this word called means more than just an outward expression of
the voice. The word called comes from kletos. I'm not trying to impress you.
I'm just trying to give you some terms here, which means appointed. Appointed. Now, listen, there's
a difference. What if a fellow comes up to
your door one day and he says, I am the district attorney from
Franklin County Courthouse and Mr. So-and-so, and we're having
a court appearance down here, and we'd like you to come up
and just sit in on it, and maybe if you will and if you want to
be a witness of things, would you like to? Would you like to
come? No. No, I'm not coming. I don't like
court law. I don't care anything about that.
No, I'm not coming. OK. And he says, see you later. Now, that is an invitation, right? But if he comes up to your door
and he says, are you Mr. Charles Ross? That's me. Boy, you'll be shaking then,
won't you? We have here a subpoena for you to come to court. You
are appointed to attend court on December the 16th, 1991, at
2 p.m. Will you come? Yeah, yeah, sure. I'll be there. You're coming, Archie Charles.
Whom he sanctified and preserved in Christ, he calls. He subpoenas him. He appoints
them. There comes a time, there's a
point in time of general call. There's a difference between
a general and an effectual call. A general call is through providence. All men everywhere, they can
clearly see the things of God, being by the creation and this
and that and the other. Heaven's declared glory, the
firmament shows his handiwork. Man look at this glass right
here and tell if there's God. You know life can't live without
this substance right here? Life, as we know it, cannot live
without this substance here. Where'd it come from? A furrow! Only a furrow says there's no
God! Pure, crystal clear, life-giving water! You know where it comes
from? It comes down, doesn't it? Well,
who's up there? God is. Now, that's a general
call, and God commands men everywhere, you worship me. You bow down,
you repent, you know me. You follow me, you seek after
me. This is the general call. The general call. The divine,
now what that is, got to hurry. The divine, what this is, this
general call, is really, it's a judgment upon all men. Because all men and women don't
hear it. They're not going to hear it by nature. Nobody's going
to hear this general call. Nobody, by nature, hears the
general call. Nobody. Unless God calls them twice. God calls everybody by this general
call. See me in the stars, in the trees,
in the food, in the water. See me. I'm God. There is none
other. But they may know from the rising
of the sun of the east, the way there's no God beside me. I'm
God, I made you, I girded you, though you didn't know me. Bow
down and worship me." What does man say? No God. There is no
God. It evolved. It evolved. In all our wisdom,
we evolved from a monkey. They got the brains of monkeys,
don't they? Their brains didn't evolve. That's the divine general
call, and it's a call of judgment. What that says to everybody is
OK. Nobody hear it. Guilty. Right. Guilty. Everybody's guilty and under
the judgment of God, because they did not heed the general
call of God. But. God. Who is rich in mercy. does not give to some people
that justice, that judgment that they so richly deserve. God in
mercy calls them again. You know how he does it? I just did
it this morning. The gospel. Did you hear it? Did you believe it? Everything
I've been saying. Everything. He calls. He calls by pricks, by pricks
of the conscience, by pricks of the law. He calls, though, specifically
individuals, peculiar people, the Scripture says, a purchase,
a particular, particular people. He calls them by name. Zacchaeus, he went through that
crowd one day and called a name. Come down from there. I must
abide at your house today. He didn't invite himself. He
didn't knock on Zacchaeus's arse door, did he? He called that
old boy, didn't he? He walked by the receipt of customs
one day. Matthew, come on, you're mine. Well, who, who? Matthew didn't even stop to ask
who it was. He just followed. Huh? Been a fisherman all your
life? I know you love those boats and
those nets and all this and they put them down. Let's go. Let's
go. You're a chosen vessel now. You're a fish. I'm a fisherman.
I never lose my catch. Come on. He wins. Didn't he? Paul, Saul, Saul. It's hard ain't it, buddy? Somebody
in here being pricked right now, I hope. I hope. Never been pricked
before. Saul of Tarsus, good Christian
man, you know, running around. He knew what he believed, moral,
self-righteous and all that. God called him one day. Saul,
Saul. And Saul got down off his high
horse, didn't he, in the dust on his face. And God said, It's
hard, isn't it, buddy? Hard to kick against these pricks,
isn't it? Can't deny this, can't you? You're
a chosen vessel of mine, Paul. And he calls, and Jude says,
to all these, mercy, peace, and love be multiplied, abundantly
multiplied. I had three more verses to go. This was going to be a three-part
message. It looks like it's going to be thirty-three. The gospel in one verse, Henry
Verse one of this little chapter, not even big enough to be called
a chapter, is it? Over in Jude. Sanctified by God the Father,
preserved for all time and eternity by the person and work of Christ,
and called by His Holy Spirit. There you have the work of all
three. The Holy Spirit is the one that does the calling. And
every one of them, every one of them, are going to hear his
voice and come unto Christ. And I hope, oh, I hope, oh, I
hope somebody heard that call this morning. God doesn't call
by names like Christ did while he was on the earth. That was
when he was in the flesh. But God does call names. He calls
sinners. If you're a sinner, I mean a
rotten sinner, he called you. If you hear your name and see
your need of Christ, he's calling you. And you will come, and he'll
put you in Christ by faith. All right, stand with me, and
I'll dismiss this in prayer. Our Lord, we thank you for My
soul, we thank you for everything. We thank you for Jude 1. If there wasn't another verse in
all the Bible, my soul, what a verse. It's the gospel of our
salvation. Lord, enable somebody to hear
it the first time this morning. Enable me to hear it for the
second time. For the glory of God, for the
good of the people, we ask these things. Amen.