So today I'm just going to look
pretty much at the first verse, but I think that we will take
the time to read the whole chapter because it'll give us a bit of
a context in which to begin our study. So we're going to Jude,
and normally you don't have to say chapter one because it is
only one chapter, but I might say that anyway, Jude chapter
one and verse one. This is the word of the Lord.
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 unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation. ungodly men, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the
people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that
believed not. and the angels which kept not
their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment
of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and
the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over
to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth
for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise
also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion,
and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when
contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses,
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord
rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those
things which they know not. but what they know naturally
as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe
unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam, for reward, and perished in the gainsaying
of Korah. These are spots in your feasts
of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without
fear. Clouds they are, without water,
carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of
the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom
is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch also,
the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of
all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed,
and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken
against him. These are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great
swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because
of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the
words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the
last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These
be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit. But ye, beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith. praying in the Holy Ghost,
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And if some have compassion,
making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them
out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh,
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and
majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. And amen. So here we are, tucked away almost
at the end of our Bibles. is the little epistle of Jude. It's a single chapter and it
is written by one of the lesser known of the Lord's disciples. However, Jude's purpose in writing
is to strengthen and encourage the church when it is attacked
by false teachers teachers who preach false doctrine. And it's
clear from Jude's powerful criticism of such men that there were some
at least at the time of his writing with whom he contends because
of the damage that they do to the true church and to the true
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jude's accusations are serious. His writing is polemic. It's even angry. He speaks of ungodly men who
have crept into the church, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. and denying the only Lord God,
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, lasciviousness means filthy
conduct, even filthy sexual conduct. And using the cloak of religion
to abuse the vulnerable and exploit the weak. And the implication
is, that such men have attacked both the members of the church,
that is the Lord's little ones, and also the doctrine of the
church, legitimising what they are doing by the preaching that
they make. And Jude is fierce in his criticism
and in his condemnation. Now we're going to be coming
back to that on another occasion when we go down through the chapter.
Let me say a little bit about the timing. It's not easy to
tell when this epistle was written, but it seems to be later in the
lifetimes of the apostles. perhaps towards the end of the
Apostolic Age. So Jude was one of the Apostles,
but it may well be that some of the older Apostles had already
died or certainly that they had moved away as they had started
to take the Gospel out into the world as the commission was given. These false teachers, I say that
it was perhaps later in the time of the apostles because these
false teachers had had time to become established in the churches
and Jude calls on his readers to return to the words that had
been spoken by the apostles and to remember the words that had
been spoken by the apostles. So there had been apostolic preaching.
These men still had had time to come in and the apostle Jude
here asks the readers to remember what the earlier apostles had
been saying, what they had heard these apostles preaching. So
it may well be that this epistle was written prior to the destruction
of Jerusalem in AD 70, because there's no reference to that
in the passage. And yet, late enough to have
seen the passing of some of the older apostles. Be that as it
may, it's not certain. What we can tell is that the
short epistle ends with a beautiful doxology of praise to the Lord,
so that the opening section of the book and the closing section
of the book contain some of the most elevated language of sovereign
grace and glory that is found in the whole of scripture. The
author introduces himself as Jude. He says that he is Jude,
the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. So this is
Jude, or sometimes Judas, it's the same name. Not, of course,
Judas Iscariot. So Judas Iscariot was the Judas
who betrayed the Lord and took his own life. But this is Jude
the brother of James. Now there were also two Jameses
amongst the disciples. So there were two Judases and
there were two Jameses amongst the Lord's disciples. There was
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and there was James and Jude,
the sons of Alphaeus. And this is the Jude that is
the son of Alphaeus and brother to James, who's not the brother
of John. And I mentioned yesterday that
the Jude that we are speaking of seems also to have been called
Libaeus and surnamed Thaddaeus. So he's got a number of names
in the Scriptures when we get the lists of the disciples at
different times in the Gospels. Furthermore, there's only one
incident recorded about this Jude in the Gospels, and that
is in John chapter 14 and verse 22. The Lord had just finished the
Last Supper with his disciples and he is explaining to them
that he is about to leave them but that he will manifest himself
to them after his death. And during the Lord's speaking
to his disciples about this matter, Jude asks him a question. And
this is the Jude who wrote this letter, this little epistle.
It's the only time we hear about Jude saying or doing anything
in the whole of the Gospels, and this is it. He asks the Lord
a question, and this is his question. Lord, how is it that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? How is it
that we are going to be able to see you and the world isn't? And that's a great question.
That's a great, he was obviously listening to what the Lord was
saying. The Lord had just said in verse
19 of John chapter 14, he just said this, yet a little while
and the world seeth me no more. That was because he was going
to die. That was because he was going to the cross, he was going
to be killed, he would rise again but then he would ascend into
heaven. He says, yet a little while and
the world seeth me no more, but ye see me. Because I live, ye
shall live also. Jude's question then, Lord, how
is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto
the world? His question is, how is it that
we're going to see you and the world won't be able to? And this
is the Lord's reply, this is his answer. He says, the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. So that the Lord
was saying, When he goes back to heaven, the Father would send
the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost would reveal the Lord Jesus Christ
to those who were his followers, to those who were his people. In the person of the Holy Spirit,
the Lord Jesus Christ is with his people and we see him by
faith. Now, the Holy Spirit dwells with
us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
dwells in our souls, so that the Lord Jesus Christ, through
the Holy Spirit, is always with us, even although we speak of
the body, the Lord Jesus Christ in his risen body being in heaven,
yet in the Holy Spirit, he is constantly with his people, and
we see him not with the eyes of this flesh, but we see him
by faith. Though the world sees him not,
though the world knows him not, and we can deduce from this answer
that the things that are written in this little epistle are the
Lord's teaching brought to mind by the Holy Spirit for the revelation
of Christ, for the manifestation of Christ to his church. So that
even after, and if we're right in thinking that it's a slightly
later writing of this epistle, even after 30 or 40 years after
the Lord returned to heaven, Jude's recollection of Christ's
ministry enabled him to write about the Lord Jesus with an
accuracy, with a clarity, with a certainty. And his testimony
is reliable. It's a first-hand account from
someone who was in the room, and it's inspired and authenticated
with the supernatural power of God, the Holy Spirit. And this
leads me to another point that I want to draw to your attention
today, which, again, I alluded to in yesterday's note. Christ is seen by his people. He is seen by men and women and
boys and girls of faith, those who are his church and his people. It is to the church that Jude
wrote. It's to the church of the Lord
Jesus that Jude wrote and revealed these things because it's to
the church that the servants of Christ are sent to minister. Jude says that he was a servant
of Jesus Christ and he was sent to reveal Christ, he was sent
to minister Christ, he was sent to manifest Christ to the Lord's
people. He was Christ's messenger to
the church. And by him, Christ is manifested
unto us, not to the world. And this is distinguishing grace. Why do you see Christ by faith
and somebody else does not? Why is it that you see Christ
and those even amongst your own family do not? It is because
Christ has revealed himself to you through the ministry of his
servants and the preaching of his word. And the world can neither
see, nor hear, nor know the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude
says, how is it that we're going to see you and the world won't?
because the Holy Spirit teaches us through the testimony of the
apostles by faith to see and to experience the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His people have eyes to see and
ears to hear and spiritual sense and awareness to feel and to
know the presence of their Saviour through faith. Let me say this
another way, because it is important to understand the fact that here
is a distinguishing act of God in this world, to set apart his
people. Jude speaks in verse two, we're
not going to enter fully into that today, but Jude speaks in
verse two of mercy, peace and love being multiplied. But it
is only to the church That is the body of Christ. It is only
to the church, the Lord's people of faith, that God's mercy comes. Only to God's elect is peace
and love manifested in Christ. Outside of Christ, there's no
mercy. Outside of Christ, there's no
peace. Outside of Christ, there is no
love from God. Gospel blessings flow to the
Church and God's new covenant blessings are the exclusive possession
of the body of Christ and all of the promises of God are dispensed
and bestowed in Christ. Men and women and boys and girls
outside of Christ have neither ability nor hope of knowing the
mercy and the peace and the love of God. Only God's particular
distinguishing grace brings life to those who are dead in sin. And Jude's Particular expressions
identifying those to whom he writes are very precious and
informative and specific. These are the descriptions that
we find in verse one, and these are the descriptions which will
take the rest of our time today. Judah's writing, he says, to
them that are sanctified by God the Father, That's number one,
sanctified by God the Father, two, preserved in Jesus Christ,
and three, called. It doesn't say so, but we may
suggest that that is called by the Holy Spirit. Now this means
that these words that Jude is writing here, these words are
only for you. only for you if you have been
sanctified by God the Father. They are for you who are preserved
in Jesus Christ. They are for you. You have an interest in them.
only if you are called in grace by God the Holy Spirit and have
tasted the mercy and peace and love of God in Jesus Christ. So here's what we can learn from
these three phrases that the Apostle Jude leaves with us.
The first one is that we are sanctified by God the Father. The first distinguishing feature
highlighted by Jude is our sanctification by God the Father. And this is
a work said to be undertaken by God the Father by which a
certain people are sanctified, fully and completely sanctified. For God doesn't partially perform
a spiritual work and leave man to perform what's outstanding, leave man
to perform the last part. God has worked a full sanctification. We are sanctified by God the
Father. Now what does sanctification
mean? There are two senses used in
the Bible. There is a usage of the word
sanctification, which means to dedicate or set apart for a special
purpose. And we see that, for example,
when the vessels in the temple were sanctified or dedicated
or set apart for a special purpose. And in this sense, God the Father
has sanctified his elect people in the everlasting covenant of
peace and set them apart for his special purpose, giving them
to the Lord Jesus Christ as his bride, giving them to be washed
from their sin and to be redeemed by his precious blood. So that
is one sense in which we are sanctified by God. But the larger sense, the more
predominant usage in scripture is making holy that which is
defiled. And Jude is telling us here that
Christ's people are set apart and made holy by being united
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has become their substitute,
Christ has become their surety, and as a result of these two
roles, taken and employed by the Lord Jesus Christ on the
part of his people, we are united to him and made holy in him. And actually, in this sense of
the word, we discover in reading scripture more broadly and not
just this little passage in Jude, that all the persons of the Godhead
are involved in making the people of God holy. Those chosen by
the Father are set apart for cleansing and purifying in the
blood of Christ. And Paul speaks of this in 1
Corinthians 6, verse 11. He says, So washed and sanctified,
but ye are justified. in the name of Jesus Christ and
by the Spirit of our God, so that Father, Son and Holy Spirit
gather together for this sanctifying purpose, this cleansing, this
sanctifying, this justifying, and it is a completed work of
the Godhead. The key point, the key point
in this matter, in the understanding of sanctification is knowing
where it comes from. Sanctification is not a creature
work. Despite what very many preachers
tell us, sanctification is not a work that you and I do. It
is a divine work. It is of the Lord. And as we've
seen, all the persons in the Godhead cooperate in the work,
which shows the unity of God in it. Here, in Jude, God the
Father is principally said to be the author and the giver of
it. So too, in 1 Thessalonians 5.23,
the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. So it's a completed
work. And God the Son also engaged
in making his people holy in sanctification because he gave
himself for the church that he might sanctify and cleanse it. That's Ephesians 5 and 26. And God the Holy Spirit, as we
have seen, is also involved. For Paul says, we are bound to
give thanks always to God because from the beginning, The Church
is chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. That's in 2 Thessalonians 2,
verse 13. The point is that Jude is confirming
what Paul has already taught, that sanctification is not a
work of man's obedience to the law. It is not a work of man's
good works or good intentions. It is not to do with our commitment
to Christ or our dedication to live a holy life by our own strength,
no matter how sincere we might be. Sanctification is a work
of God and it is a characteristic of saving grace and imputed righteousness
performed in the soul of a sinner by the triune God. Let me just
say again, many churches and many preachers teach that God
justifies sinners and then we must go on to sanctify ourselves
by living holy lives and doing good works. And these preachers
invariably bring the law to bear on the consciences of men and
women and boys and girls to make the law a heavy yoke for the
child of God. and they make that yoke a burden
to them after they have been released from it by Christ. Believers do not labour in Christ
for righteousness and holiness. Christ is our righteousness and
holiness and by faith we rest in Christ's righteousness and
holiness forevermore. So, the first thing that Jude
says is that we are sanctified by God the Father. The next thing
he tells us is that we are preserved in Jesus Christ. The next characteristic
that Jude applies to the Church of Christ is that our Saviour
is preserving us. No, I think this is a, this is
a blessed truth. and one that we should lay hold
upon. I think this is going to be the
value of going through this little epistle a little more slowly. I felt as we were going through
Isaiah from time to time that we were just glancing the surface
of some of these passages that had so much more in them. I want
us to think about the language that is used here. Christ is
preserving us. The Lord told Abraham that he
would be his shield and his exceeding great reward but he would be
his shield and this is what Christ is to us according to what Jude
is telling us today. Christ is preserving his flock. Christ is preserving his bride. Christ is preserving his body. Now think about your possessions,
how you look after it. Think about how the good shepherd
looks after the flock. Think about how the loving husband
looks after his bride. Think about how we take care
of our bodies, exercising and feeding and giving it rest. Christ
is preserving his church. He loves us so much that he protects
and preserves us from all our enemies, from all danger, from
all trouble. Now you might say at this point,
ah, you've gone too far. You've gone too far because I
know trouble. And I know danger. And I know that I've got enemies.
I feel those enemies in my own mind. I feel them in my own heart.
I feel them in my own conscience. And that's right. We face danger
and trouble every day. Trouble seems to be our constant
companion. And I don't doubt it. It's there,
right in the road in front of us. We know that tomorrow when
we get up, we're going to have to pass right through that trouble
one more time. But remember what we said a few
weeks ago. These troubles, they're Christian's lions in Pilgrim's
Progress. They're the lions on the narrow
path between two cliffs. And these lions look fierce.
They look hungry. They look hungry enough to eat
us. These problems, these troubles.
Hungry enough to devour us. but they're chained to the wall
and they cannot reach us. Even the hardships sent to try
us do us good. This is what it means to be preserved
in Jesus Christ. The very hardships sent to try
us do us good. All things work together for
our good. Are you sick? believer. Are you sick? Then Christ will
be your physician. Are you hungry? Then he will
be your bread. Are you weary? He will be your
rest. Are you lonely? He will be your
companion. Every trial is sanctified to
the sanctified. Every trouble is a blessing in
disguise to the Lord's people. Every affliction takes us closer
to Christ and every affliction takes us closer to heaven. Everything
in this world, in this life, is designed for the good of the
Lord's elect. and Christ himself has vouchsafed
our safety and our well-being because we are preserved in him. Do you think that you will fall?
Do you think that you will stumble and fall from grace? Do you think
that you cannot persevere in this Christian life, that you're
too weak, that you're too inadequate? Do you think that you're going
to be overwhelmed with the troubles that surround you? Then it's
because you've forgotten the omnipotence of your saviour and
you've forgotten his dominion over all things. So I want you
to pray today that the Lord will remind you just how powerful
he is and just how much dominion and authority he has over the
weak and paltry affairs of this world and troubles which you
have to face. In such ways is the Lord manifested
to his people. the sanctified are preserved. We are in Christ's heart. We
are in Christ's hands. We are his very body. We are
joined to him for time and for eternity. And I know your weariness
causes you to fret. And I know that our spiritual
weaknesses cause us to doubt. And I know that our flesh makes
us to cling too fiercely to this world and to the things of the
world. But our Saviour will preserve
us from ourselves just as surely as he will preserve us from our
enemies. And let me tell you this, Christ
has been looking after your wellbeing from before you were ever saved. Before you ever knew anything
about him, he was preserving you. You were being preserved
long before you were ever called to salvation and to experience
conversion. In fact, for your sake, He looked
after your parents and your grandparents as well, whether or not they
were believers, to make certain that you would be his. He looked
after you in the fall of Adam. And while he didn't prevent the
fall, he nevertheless preserved you in it and through it. until
the time of love arrived for you and he drew you to himself
by grace. The devil can't hurt you or destroy
you. Your doubts and fears and unbelief,
your slips and your falls into sin will not separate you from
the love of God. and the protection and the preservation
of the Lord Jesus Christ is yours enduringly. Even your death will
be a victory and a heavenly kingdom and everlasting glory awaits
all those who are preserved in Jesus Christ. And so Jude tells
us that we are sanctified by the Father, we are preserved
in Jesus Christ, and then he goes on to say that we are called. The Lord's people are a called
people. We are called with an internal
calling that creates a new holy nature and gives us everlasting
life. And we are called by love in
the Gospel when we are made willing in the day of Christ's power,
willing to receive the blessings of grace at his hands, which
we were never willing to receive before. It is the call of the Gospel,
the call, the call, the regenerating call, the effectual call, the
quickening call of God the Holy Spirit that calls us. and makes
us willing to receive the blessings of grace at his hand. This is
the special call that God the Holy Spirit uses to bring souls
out of darkness into light, out of bondage into liberty, off
of works and onto resting in Christ for righteousness and
holiness and peace. We are even called from desiring
to spend our days chasing the passions that used to attract
us, to prefer rather the company of the Lord's people and the
study of the Word of God and the communion of God the Father
and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and fellowship with Christ. These are the things that now
bless us and encourage us and comfort us, where once we used
to head off after the passions of this flesh. And someday soon,
we shall all be called one last time, when we shall ascend from
this world into the arms of our Saviour and into the experience
of eternal glory. Our calling, our calling is by
the Holy Spirit, primarily by the Holy Spirit, although again,
we have to say not exclusively because all of the persons of
the Godhead are involved in this. In the sinner's salvation, all
the three persons of the Godhead engage to secure and accomplish
and apply the divine purpose of grace and mercy. because this
is God's covenant work as God the Father, God the Son and God
the Holy Spirit to deliver the promised blessings of the covenant
of grace to his people according to his infinite wisdom and truth. Jude has begun this letter with
a most extraordinary statement of sovereign grace. We are sanctified
by God the Father. We are preserved by God the Son. The Father has made us holy.
The Son has delivered and now protects us. And the Holy Spirit
quickens and applies the privileges of mercy and peace and love to
our souls. These are wonderful blessings
and they are the privileges of the Lord's people. And as far as our study in Jude
is concerned, it's still only verse one. May the Lord bless
these thoughts to us. Amen.