Jude introduces himself in the
first verse as the bondslave of Jesus Christ, and very humbly states that he
is the brother of James. He was the brother of James,
but in reality he was the younger brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the younger son of Mary
and Joseph He does not call himself here the brother of our Lord,
but he's called in another scripture the brother of our Lord, the
younger brother and the younger son of Mary and Joseph born to
them. This is the shortest, one of
the shortest books in the Bible, but it's a powerful book. And
when Jude wrote this apostle led by the Holy Spirit, he didn't
write just for the sake of writing. For he says in verse 3, it was
needful for me to write unto you. It was necessary for me
to write unto you because I'm writing to warn against false
teachers. In verse 4 he said, For there
are certain men who crept in unawares, who have turned the
grace of our God into lasciviousness and who have denied the only
Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ. The first question that came
to my mind in preparing this message was this. How are false
preachers detected? How can you tell if a man is
a false prophet, a false preacher? He's very religious, he's very
moral, As the scripture says, even the messengers, the ministers
of Satan, become ministers of righteousness, for Satan himself
is turned into an angel of righteousness or a messenger of righteousness. So how do you know the spirit
of truth and error? How do you know a false prophet,
a false preacher? Well, I believe the preaching
of the apostles is the test. First of all, when the apostles
spoke of God, When they preached about God, it was with the profoundest
reverence. Listen to Isaiah. Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. The Lord ruleth over the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth and giveth it to
whomsoever he will. When the apostles and prophets
spoke of God, they spoke with the profoundest reverence and
with the utmost care, considering His holiness. And when the prophets
and the apostles spoke of God's law, it was a holy, just, and
good law, never a way of life, never a way of salvation, But
rather they declared, by the works of the law shall no flesh
be justified. But that law was holy, and that
law was just, and that law was good, and that law was the schoolmaster
that brings us to Christ, our Redeemer. And when the apostles
and prophets spoke of sin, it was never a light matter. It
was called by the apostle Paul, exceeding sinful. The wages of
sin is death. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. Christ said, if you die and you
sin, you cannot come where I am. They spoke of sin in the strongest
terms. And then when they spoke of sinners,
there's none good, no, not one. There's none righteous. There's
none that seeketh after God. All have sinned and come short
of his glory. Isaiah said, From the sole of
our feet to the top of our heads is no soundness in us. Paul said,
In my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And when they spoke of
Christ, He was the only Savior. As concerning the flesh, He was
the seed of David. As concerning His original nature,
He was very God of very God. And when they spoke of salvation,
it was not of ourselves, It was by grace you are saved through
faith. When they spoke of salvation,
it was in words like this, There is none other name unto heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved. Other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, Christ the Lord. And when
they spoke of the atonement, God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. Christ gave himself to redeem
us from all iniquity and purchased for himself a people, a people
zealous of good works. A false minister, a false prophet
can be detected by the message and preaching of the apostles.
It's just like faith is revealed by the Word of God. Righteousness
is revealed by the Word of God. Salvation is revealed by the
Word of God and error is revealed by the Word of God. But the subject
on which Jude wrote, he said, it was needful for me to write
unto you, for there are certain men who have crept in unaware.
And these men are denying the Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and these men are turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. And it's needful for me to write
unto you concerning the common salvation. These men had struck
at the vitals of Christianity, and Jude wrote concerning the
common salvation, or the gospel salvation. These men had struck
at the vitals of Christianity, and Jude would not keep his silence. He wanted to declare once again
what this salvation is. Now what is it? My message has
two questions tonight, only two. The first question is this, what
is this gospel or common salvation? And secondly, why is it called
common? Now what is common salvation?
It's the common faith of all believers. It is the gospel salvation. It is the way of life. It is
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is what these false
apostles and false prophets denied. In Romans chapter 1, verse 16,
Paul wrote, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the
power, the dynamite of God unto salvation. That's what that word
power is, dunamis, dynamite. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes. to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, this gospel of God. Now, what is it? What is the
common salvation? What is the gospel of God? What
is this gospel that's the power of God unto salvation? What is
this gospel that these false prophets have denied, if not
by their statements, at least by their silence? Well, there
are a thousand answers to this question. One group says one
thing and another group says another thing. And if I were
to define the gospel tonight, if I would say, now this is what
the gospel is, you'd say, that's your opinion. And you're subject
to error just like the people whom you condemn. And you'd be
right. If I stood up here tonight and
I said, now this man says the gospel is this, and another says
the gospel is this, and another says the gospel is this, but
I say the gospel's this, you'd say, well, what makes you right
and all these people wrong? So what I'm going to do this
evening, I'm going to define the gospel in two ways. I think
this will be honest, I think this will be unanswerable. I
think if there's anybody here tonight, young or old, who really
wants to know what the gospel is, the gospel of life, the gospel
of salvation, the gospel of redemption, the gospel of God, if you really
want to know what it is, what is this common salvation, this
common faith of all the redeemed, this common faith of all the
elect, this common faith of all the sons of God, if you really
want to know what it is, you'll know when I get through. Because
I'm not going to say to you, now this is what the Baptists
believe, and this is what the Methodists believe, and this
is what the Catholics believe, and this is what I believe. I'm
going to tell you what the gospel is in two ways. And this is unanswerable. I'd challenge any professor in
the seminary, or any preacher in a church, or any evangelist,
or pastor, or missionary, to put a question mark on this way
of defining the gospel. Here's the way. Number one, I'm
going to give you the definition given to the gospel in the word
of God. And then secondly, I'm going
to give you the confession, the confessions of early believers
whom we know were saved, what they said their faith was, and
what they said the gospel was. and how they declared that they
were saved. I'm going to define the gospel
first from the Word of God, and then secondly, I'm going back
and pick up confessions of men whom we knew were saved. And
God doesn't have two ways of saving people. Now, first of
all, turn to Matthew 1.21. Matthew 1.21. You young people
get your Bibles and turn with me in the Word of God. I want
you to hear that. Get your Bible and open it to
Matthew 1.21. Now, here's the depth. What is the gospel? This
is the gospel. What is the common salvation?
This is it. This is it. In Matthew 1.21,
verse 8, let's start with verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wire, verse 18. When, as his mother Mary was
espoused or engaged to Joseph, they were to be married. They
weren't married yet. They had not come together as husband
and wife, but they were engaged. Before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example or
to bring scandal upon her because he loved her, he was going to
put her away privately. He didn't know what was going
on. He was going to put Mary away privately. He loved her.
He was kind to her. He did not want to make an example
of her, a public show and a scandal. He didn't want to hurt her, so
he was going to let her have the child quietly and let everybody
assume it was his. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thy son of David, don't be afraid
to take unto thee Mary thy wife. For that which is conceived in
her," she's with child. She's expecting a child. But
that child in her is of the Holy Ghost. That's the Son of God. That's the divine Son of the
living God. The Holy Spirit has come upon
your future bride and has put within her life, and that life
is God Almighty, who will be clothed in human flesh. Now look
at the next verse. and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus." And this word is Joshua,
and it means Savior. That's what it means. It's Savior.
"...Thou shalt call his name Jesus, which is Savior, for he
shall save his people from their sin." Who will save them? Not
the pastor. Jesus will. Not the church, Jesus
will. Not the water, Jesus will. He'll
save them. He'll save them, totally save
them, completely save them, effectually save them. From what? From their
sins. From all their sins. That's the
gospel. That's what God said to Joseph.
That's God preaching the gospel to Joseph by the mouth of an
angel. He says, May was with child,
and that child was conceived of the Holy Ghost. And when that
child is born, Joseph, you call his name Jesus, Savior, for he
shall save his people from their sins. Now then, turn to the book
of Luke. In the book of Luke, and I believe
it's in the, in the book of Luke, I believe it's in chapter of
the book of Luke, chapter 2. Now then, when the child was
eight days old, when Jesus Christ was eight days old, this child
was born to Mary, and when he was eight days old, in verse
21 of Luke, chapter 2, when eight days were accomplished for the
circumcision of the child, he was to be circumcised when he
was eight days old. Christ was born under the law,
under the law of Moses, and he had to fulfill every jot and
tittle of the law, every feast, every sacrifice, every offering,
and the token of circumcision. His name was called Jesus, which
was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
And when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses,
was accomplished, they brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present
him to the Lord. That was done to every Jewish
boy. at this particular age. As it is written in the law of
the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy
unto the Lord. Now then, verse 25, And behold,
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and that
same man was a just and devout man waiting for the consolation
of Israel. He was waiting for the Messiah.
He was waiting for the Redeemer. He was waiting for the Christ,
and the Holy Spirit was upon Him. And it was revealed unto
him by the Holy Ghost that he would not die till he had seen
the Lord's Christ. God told Simeon that back some
time before. He sent word to him that he would
not die until he had seen the Christ, the consolation of Israel,
the Redeemer of Israel, the Savior of sinners. You're not going
to die till you see Him. And he came by the Spirit, verse
27, into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child
Jesus to do for him after the custom of the loft, Simeon took
him up in his arms, this great old priest, and he said, as he
praised God, Lord, now let us, thy servant, depart in peace
according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen the gospel. Mine eyes have seen the Savior. Mine eyes have seen the way of
salvation. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Here he is. It's Christ. It's
a person. It's not a doctrine. Salvation's
Christ. The gospel is not a plan. It's Christ. It's a person. The
gospel's not a plan. It's not a proposition. It's
not an invitation. The gospel is Christ. It's the
declaration of a fact that Jesus Christ came down here into this
world as our Redeemer and suffered in our place and bore our sins
and paid our sin debt. That's the gospel, Jesus Christ.
All right, now turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5.21. I'm defining
the gospel according to the Word of God. This is what the Bible
says the gospel is, 2 Corinthians 5.21. Now listen to this. For he hath made him to be sin
for us." Now, who's the he? That's God the Father. God the
Father hath made, who is the him? That's Christ. God the Father
hath made Christ to be sin for us. That's you and me. His people.
Who knew no sin. Christ knew no sin. He had no
sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. That's the gospel. Now, 1 Corinthians
15. What is the gospel? What is the
common salvation? Here, Paul defines it. Brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel. This is the gospel, which I preached
unto you, and which you received, and wherein you stand, and by
which you are saved. If you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you believed in vain, here's the
gospel I delivered unto you. First of all, that which I also
received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures, that he was our sacrifice, that he was our scapegoat, that
he was our sin offering. that he was the blood on the
altar, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
and that he was buried and rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. That's the gospel. Now, 1 Timothy
1, verse 15. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. The Apostle Paul writes here,
and he says, This is a faithful saying. It's a true saying. It's
a saying that cannot be denied. And it's worthy of universal
acceptation, it's worthy of acceptation by all men, that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. Now that's the gospel. That's
the gospel. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Lord, thou let
thy servant depart in peace, I've seen thy salvation. He hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." Now then, there are four things that belong essentially
to the gospel of God. It cannot be the gospel of God
if it does not have these four things. I'll give them to you
briefly. Number one, it's vicarious medium. Now the Bible plainly declares,
if it says anything from Genesis to Revelation, without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission. That's what happened to Cain.
He says over here in Jude, I read a moment ago, that on the way
of Cain, that's the way of bloodless religion. Cain brought not an
offering of blood, but he brought an offering from the field, an
offering of his own hands, without the shedding of blood. Turn to
Leviticus chapter 17. Any religion that is a bloodless
religion is a religion that cannot save. Any message that is a bloodless
message is a message it cannot save. Any gospel that's a bloodless
gospel is a gospel that cannot see. For one of the necessary
essentials of the gospel of God is a vicarious medium. Listen
to this, Leviticus 17 11. For the life of the flesh is
in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that maketh
an atonement for the soul. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. It's the blood that cleanses,
it's the blood that redeems, it's the blood that atones, it's
the blood that puts away sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Another thing that belongs essentially
to the gospel is this, its necessity. It's necessity. Paul said, if
any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. There is
none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. We can be tolerant of anything
but another gospel. There can be no other gospel.
There cannot be two gospels, only one gospel. And then another
thing that belongs essentially to the gospel of God, if it is
the gospel of God, not only a vicarious medium, not only one gospel,
but it's freeness to every sinner. It's absolute freeness to every
sinner. There is and can be nothing in
the gospel of God that excludes any person because of his age,
because of his race, because of his knowledge, because of
his condition, or that would not be mercy. It's got to be
totally and unconditionally free to any man who wants it. All
the fitness he requireth is to feel your need. All you bring
to Christ is a need. All you bring to Christ is an
empty vessel. All you bring to Christ is an
empty hand. The fourth thing that belongs
essentially to the gospel is this, it's holy efficacy. That is, he is able to save. He is able to save to the uttermost. This gospel, if it's the gospel
of God, must not only have a vicarious medium, it must not only be the
one gospel, it must not only be free to all sinners, but it
must be sufficient to save without any addition on the part of anybody. I boldly declare that we are
saved by the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, by his precious
blood, plus absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. We are entirely
passive in the redemption of our soul. We are totally passive
in the justification of our soul. We are entirely passive in the
redemption of our soul. Christ did it all. If I never
lift my hand, if I never open my mouth, if I never utter a
word, if I never take a step, I'm saved by the grace of God
through the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, works will follow faith,
and true faith will produce works, but works has nothing to do with
true faith. Now then, the second way of defining
the gospel is the confession of early believers. Turn to 2
Samuel, if you will, chapter 23. I want you to listen to what
David had to say. Now, we know that David was saved,
there's no doubt about that. No question about that is that
David was a child of God. There's not a person in his right
mind that would deny that David was a child of God. He wrote
the book of Psalms. God declared himself that David
was a man after his own heart. What did David say? 2 Samuel
23, verse 1, these are the last words of David. And we find these
last words starting in verse 5. Listen, "...although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
a covenant of mercy, a covenant of grace, a covenant of love,
ordered in all things and sure. This everlasting covenant, Jesus
Christ, is the surety His blood is the blood of the everlasting
covenant, it's ordered in all things and sure, and this is
all my salvation." Not the psalms that David wrote, the covenant
of God's grace. Not the works that David did,
the covenant of God's grace. Not the kingdoms that David built,
the covenant of God's grace. Not the enemy that David defeated,
Not the kingdoms that David conquered, but the covenant of God's grace.
This is my salvation, and this is all my desire. When Abraham
went on top of the Mount Moriah to sacrifice Isaac, what did
he say? Isaac said, Father, here is the
wood, here is the altar, where is the lamb? Abraham said, and
we know he was saved, he said, My son, the Lord will provide
himself a sacrifice. Turn to Isaiah 53. We know that
Isaiah was a child of God. We know that Isaiah was a redeemed
man. He was the prophet of God. He
was a writer of Holy Scripture, and here is his testimony. He
said, not many folks believe my report, but he said in verse
5, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed." That's my testimony. I'm healed by the stripes of
the Son of God. What did the Apostle Peter say?
Turn to Acts chapter 5. Here's the confession of the
Apostle Peter. The fifth chapter of Acts, verse
29. And Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged
on a tree, and him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince
and a Savior, and to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness
of sins, and we are witnesses of these things." That's our
gospel. That's our creed. That's our
confession. What does Paul have to say? Turn
to Acts 13. Acts 13, verse 38. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, if we call the Apostle Paul up here to give
his testimony tonight, here he is. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, Jesus Christ, is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins through Christ. And by him all
that believe are justified from all things from which you could
not be justified by the law. And then in the book of I John, Let's get John the Apostle to
give his testimony. We've heard from Abraham, we've
heard from Isaiah, we've heard from David, we've heard from
Peter, we've heard from Paul. And now John, 1 John 5, verse
11, and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life's in his Son. And he that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God." Now, in closing, why is it called
the common salvation? Well, I'm sure there are many
reasons. I'm sure you could give many reasons, but three stand
out to me. It's called the common salvation
because it is that salvation in which all believers hope,
regardless of the day in which they live. Christ said, Moses
wrote of me. He said, Abraham saw my day and
was glad. And Luke wrote in Acts chapter
10, to him give all the prophets witness from the sacrifice of
Abel to the last believer, whenever and whoever that'll be. It is
Jesus Christ to whom they all look, and in whom they all hope,
and whom they all trust. There is but one Savior for all
men. There is but one Savior. God
has never redeemed men by the law, because no man's ever kept
the law. God has never redeemed men by
the works of the flesh because no flesh has ever been holy in
God's presence. God has only redeemed men by
the blood of Jesus Christ, and it's called the common salvation
and the common gospel because it's common to all believers
regardless of the dispensation or day in which they live. Regardless
of the amount of revelation they have had, God saved them by faith
in Christ. Secondly, it is called the common
salvation because it's preached to all sinners in common, regardless
of character. Now, if I'm preaching to a senator
or congressman, I preach the same gospel. If I'm preaching
down to city jail to a bunch of illiterate criminals, I preach
the same gospel. If I'm preaching in a monastery
to a group of monks, It's the same gospel. If I'm preaching
down on Skid Row to a bunch of alcoholics, it's the same gospel. If I'm preaching to an exclusive
girls' school somewhere in the East, it's the same gospel. If
I'm preaching to a school of retarded children, it's still
the same gospel. Regardless of character, regardless
of age, if I'm preaching to a group of old people in the rest home
about to perish, it's Christ. If I'm preaching to these boys
and girls seated right down here, Christ is the Savior. I don't
care how old you are, how young you are. I don't care how good
you are, how bad you are. I don't care whether you're Jew
or Gentile. It doesn't matter if you're male
or female. We have one common gospel. One gospel. It's called the common
salvation because it's the salvation in which all believers hope and
have hoped and will hope, regardless of the day in which they live.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
And as I'm preaching to these boys right here and these little
girls, I say to you, young people, you'll never know anything more
than this, Christ died for my sins. If you're getting smarter
than that, you're too smart. If you get beyond that, you've
gone beyond the grace of God. You've gone beyond the love of
God. You've gone beyond the mercy of God. Anything beyond that
is not of God. Christ died for our sins. It
doesn't matter about learning, or age, or condition, or race,
or nation, or color, or anything. It's Christ died for our sins. And then it's called the common
salvation because there's just one Savior who said, I am the
door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saying, I am the door. Who said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by me. Who said,
I am the water of life, I am the bread of life. Who said,
there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus." Now, brethren, a man has to be completely deceived
by Satan. to refuse Christ in the light
of such clear revelation. A man has to be totally deceived
by Satan to preach any other way and any other gospel when
it's so clearly defined in the Word of God. I haven't given
you tonight my definition of the gospel. I gave you God's
definition, written in the pages of God's holy And I have given
you a clear confession of faith from outstanding believers whom
God himself declared to be his children, and every one of them
professed faith in and confidence in and love for the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior. Our Father, take thy word, and
anoint it with the power of thy Holy Spirit, and strip these
scales from our eyes. And, O God, drive the darkness
from our hearts, and the pride from our hearts and our minds,
and bring us low in the dust at thy feet, confessing our guilt
and our sin and our inability. And bring us to see with eyes
of faith that salvation is not in us and what we do, Salvation
is in Christ and what He did. Salvation is in Christ, in His
blood, in His sacrifice, in His obedience, in His righteousness. And He is our High Priest. He
is at thy right hand representing us, pleading for us, praying
for us, interceding for us, and making us acceptable unto thee. And take out of our hearts that
pride that would prevent us from confessing Christ. Take out of
our hearts that pride that would make us embarrassed and ashamed
to own our Lord, ashamed of Jesus. Oh, may it never be that we are
ashamed of our Lord, but willing boldly and courageously to confess
him who loved us and gave himself for us. Christ is my Lord. Let us say with Job, I know my
Redeemer liveth. Let us say with the Apostle Paul,
I know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep all that I've committed unto him against that day. Move in the hearts of our young
people and men and women to reveal Christ and give them a holy boldness,
O God, to confess him and to say with sin, Lord, now I'm ready
to depart. I've seen thy salvation. I've
seen him. He that seeth the Son, and believes,
hath everlasting life. In his name we pray. Amen.