What We Have In Christ Dec. 1, 2019
Jude 1-Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:
2-Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3-Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
4-For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (NKJV)
Jude 1-This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.
2-May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.
3-Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.
4-I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (NLT)
Jude 1-Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
Jude was the half brother of Jesus, but he thought of himself only as a bondservant of Jesus Christ. This tells us how humble Jude was.
To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: (NKJV)
I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. (NLT)
Called- Think about this... The God of the universe, the God of all creation has chosen you!
Has chosen you to have a relationship with!
Has chosen you to send His only begotten son to die on cross for!
From the time that you were in the womb, all the way to the present day!
God has called you out from among others, He has put people around you to cultivate a wonderful relationship with Him in your life!
He has giving you opportunities to see His mighty works in your life!
While others may have not seen God's hand in the things that has happened to you in this life, He has given you the insight to see him working!
You have seen God's Mighty hand working in your life whether in has been the blessings that have coming to your life or whether it is tragedies that have afflicted you and yet you realize God is going to take something so tragic and turn it into something that will not only benefit you but also people around you!
All of this knowledge is because of the accumulation of years of Bible study, it is because of Sunday School lessons, hearing sermons preached or hours of personal Bible study!
What I am trying to say is we have been blessed to have all the opportunities and privileges that God has bestowed upon us and yet we so often take for granted and then we come to scripture like this and reminds us how truly blessed we are!!
Sanctified- One definition of this word is sinless.
It's one thing to realize that we are Called, that we are Set Apart, but it's hard to imagine that we are sanctified...sinless before God.
We can believe that happens when we get to heaven but it's hard to believe it is talking about us being sinless before God in the here and now!
Preserved- great definition of this word is kept.
Remember last week we talked about being thankful for what we have instead of being unthankful for what we don't have.
Today I want us to remember what God has kept from us.
I look around this world and I see a lot of things that have touched other people's lives, things that are negative, things that are tragic, things that people can't get over and I have come to realize, God has spared me from those things touching my life.
God has taken care of me and ways that I can't even imagine!
These verses in Jude reminds us of all the things each and every Christian should be thankful for!
Verse 2-Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. (NKJV)
Verse 2-May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love. (NLT)
Jude hits upon something every human being needs not just Christians but every human being no matter what their stature is in life whether rich or poor, fat or skinny, tall or short, no matter what their background is or education is or race is, every human needs these three things added to their life or as Jude puts it multiplied to their life.
Mercy-Every person at some point in their life needs Mercy
Not getting what we deserve but getting what we don't deserve!
The lawyer told his defendant, “Today, we will get you justice!”
The defendant replied, “I’m not sure I want justice, but I know I need mercy!”
Peace- And every person needs to experience peace!
Peace at home!
Peace at the workplace!
Peace in our government!
And most importantly peace within ourselves!
Love-Every person needs to experience love
My heart goes out to those people who has never experienced what love feels like!
They have never had anyone to tell them they are loved!
I believe a lot of the problems of the world could be solved as in the words of an old song..…
What the world needs now is love, sweet love!
It's the only thing that there's just too little of!
Verse 3-Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (NKJV)
Verse 3-Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. (NLT)
Jude wanted to write a letter talking about his favorite subject.
He wanted to talk about salvation!
You can tell that was his favorite subject because of the words that we've just read in verses 1 and 2.
He just expressed to us what we have because of salvation, he was thankful to God for not only his salvation but also the salvation of others!
Contend or Defend-All through history there have been times when the faith of true believers or the beliefs of true believers has to be defended!
I believe that we are living in such a time as this, that our faith and our beliefs are going to be tested.
There are people in this world that would change everything that we believe in and hold as truth.
They would change it to fit their own agenda or their own belief system.
There would be some in churches in this great country of ours, that would go as far, as change words in God's Holy Word!
We even have some in our own Southern Baptist convention that want to change things, that we as Baptist have stood against and yes they would be willing to change the truth into a lie!
They would want all of us to compromise our beliefs and our convictions just to keep people in churches or gain new members and I truly believe its about money more than its about people souls!!
Not too many years ago Even in our own Southern Baptist convention and in our seminaries young preachers for being taught that God's word was not infallible!
What's Jude is trying to remind every Christian of every generation there are times when we have to stand up for our beliefs and for our convictions
The truth has to fought for!
The truth has to be defended!
The truth has to be spread!
Our grandchildren deserve that!!
Our grandchildren deserve the opportunities and resources to follow God, just like we had because of the faith and struggles of those who were before us!!
Verse 4-For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (NKJV)
Verse 4-I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (NLT)
Just like in Jude's day, people come into the church, they may seem to be nice, they may personable.
(Satan knows right well that one devil in the church can do far more than a thousand devils outside)
Pretty soon they become to hold some kind of position in church with some kind of authority and they start to change traditions or bylaws and many times they are changing teachings or theology and it's not long before the church is not teaching are preaching the truth that is found in God's Holy Word!
It is preaching or teaching a watered-down version of God's word! It is teaching and preaching what is tickling to the ears of the congregation instead of what is preaching or teaching that will step on toes and bring conviction and repentance!
Jude is telling that church or any church to be aware of that can happen and to be ready to fight against that!!
