Jude 1 (BSB)
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ: 2Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
It would not be an understatement on my part to state this morning that we are living in very unpredictable, unsettling times!
And much of it has to do with a virus, that has literally changed not only our way of life, but has effected our world!
Think of it, a virus, which if you never investigated what a virus is, the dictionary defines it as:
Virus - a ultramicroscopic (20 to 300 nanometers in diameter), metabolically inert, infectious agent.
My not being a scientist, may be the reason why I find it so amazing, but to me, the fact that something so apparently small could cause global pandemonium is incredible to me!
THE RESULTS HAVE BEEN DEVISTATING!
According to the World Health Organization the toll it has taken globally is staggering!
As of November 12th the death toll globally is - 5,099,383
In The US -761,354
There are 252,877,516 active cases affecting 222 countries
8,112 deaths are happening daily on a global bases due to the virus!
And I can’t think of anything in my lifetime that has pointed people to the question as to whether we are living at the “END OF THE AGE” OR AS THE BIBLE STATES IT “THE LAST DAYS!”
BUT WHAT I FIND INTERESTING – AND NOTEWORTHY IS THAT THE BIBLE BEGINS WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD “SPIRITUALLY” VERSES “SCIENTIFICALLY” AS AN INDICATION AS TO WHETHER WE ARE IN THE LAST DAYS OR NOT!
IT POINTS TO A “SPIRITUAL VIRUS” VERSES A PHYSICAL ONE:
Matthew 24:3b 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. -NIV
Paul told the Ephesians Elders in…
Acts 20: 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. -NIV
Peter in his 2nd Epistle warns…
2 Peter 2:1b There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. -NIV
And this is why Jude is moved by the Spirit to write his epistle…
Jude 1:1b 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
And is basically the gist as to why John wrote his letters…
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world -NIV
AND SO THE POINT BEING THIS, THE BIBLES GREATEST CONCERN FOR US DURING THESE LAST DAYS IS NOT SO MUCH WHAT IS HAPPEININBG PHYSICALLY, MEDICALLY, OR POLITICALLY, OR ENVIROMENTALLY, BUT RATHER WHAT IS HAPPENING SPIRITUALLY IN OUR WORLD!
BUT THE BEAUTIFUL PART IS THIS – NO MATTER WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND US…AND THERE IS QUITE A BIT!
THERE IS ANOTHER HEALTH CRISIS TAKING PLACE, AND YOU MAY WANT TO PICK UT THE COPY OF CHRISTIANITY TODAY, OUT IN THE FOYER = IT HAS TO DO WITH THIS MONTH’S COVER STORY…I MAY DELVE INTO THAT IF TIME PERMITS…
CT- Empty Pews Are an American Public Health Crisis -Americans are rapidly giving up on church. Our minds and bodies will pay the price. By TYLER J. VANDERWEELE AND BRENDAN CASE
Tyler J. VanderWeele is the Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and director of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University.
Brendan Case is the associate director for research of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University
In 2019, Gallup reported that only 36 percent of Americans view organized religion with “a great deal of confidence,” down from 68 percent in 1975.
The decline in confidence in churches has been accompanied by steep recent declines in both church membership and attendance. Barna Group found that 10 years ago, in 2011, 43 percent of Americans said they went to church every week. By February of 2020, that had dropped 14 percentage points to 29 percent.
This means that Americans’ growing disaffection with organized religion isn’t just bad news for churches; it also represents a public health crisis, one that has been largely ignored but the effects of which are likely to increase in coming years.
So what are the public health benefits of church attendance? Consider how it appears to affect health care professionals. Examined their behaviors over the course of more than a decade and a half using data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which followed more than 70,000 participants.
Medical workers who said they attended religious services frequently (given America’s religious composition, these were largely in Christian churches of one stripe or another) were 29 percent less likely to become depressed, about 50 percent less likely to divorce, and five times less likely to commit suicide than those who never attended.
And, in perhaps the most striking finding of all, health care professionals who attended services weekly were 33 percent less likely to die during a 16-year follow-up period than people who never attended. These effects are of a big enough magnitude to make a practical difference and not just a statistical difference.
A religious upbringing also profoundly affects lifelong health and well-being. We found regular service attendance helps shield children from the “big three” dangers of adolescence: depression, substance abuse, and premature sexual activity.
People who attended church as children are also more likely to grow up happy, to be forgiving, to have a sense of mission and purpose, and to volunteer.
The most recent studies of health care professionals indicates that religious service attenders had far fewer “deaths of despair”—deaths by suicide, drug overdose, or alcohol—than people who never attended services….
. A number of large, well-designed research studies have found that religious service attendance is associated with greater longevity, less depression, less suicide, less smoking, less substance abuse, better cancer and cardiovascular- disease survival, less divorce, greater social support, greater meaning in life, greater life satisfaction, more volunteering, and greater civic engagement. The findings are extensive and growing.
WELL THE POINT BEING BELOVED THAT NO MATTER OF WHAT WE MAY BE GOING ON IN OUR WORLD pride, criticism, selfishness, worldliness, etc, etc, the list can go on, THAT HAS SEEMED TO CREEP INTO THE CHURCH TODAY, AND IT IS THIS – WE HAVE TO REMIND OURSELVES THAT WE ARE WHAT I’VE ENTITLED THIS MESSAGE AFTER…WE ARE…We are Called, We are Loved & We are Kept!
The title of my message to you this Lord’s Day Morning is simply this:
Called, Loved & Kept!
And my proposition to you this Lord’s Day Morning is this:
That no matter how bad this last day spiritual virus is, no matter how many times it mutates, you and I can remain spiritually strong and immunized against this deadly spiritual disease if we simply lay hold of, understand, and implement, these three important words, Called, Loved & Kept, Called, Loved & Kept! Within these 3 words lies the antidote for whatever spiritual virus comes down the road in these uncertain, unsettling times…
So let’s begin by considering the::
I. The Individual /Administrator/Minister/Messenger of this antidote:
A) Minister/Messenger/Administrator?
Jude 1:1a Jude,
1. Jude
Q: How does he identify himself?
Jude 1:1b Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ
Jude 1:1b Jude a bondservant of Jesus Christ,
2. Servant d????? (doulos) - a slave.
Jude 1:1c and brother of James,
3. Brother of James!
a) Recognized as the leader of the Jerusalem Church
i. When an angel lets Peter out of prison
Act 12:17 He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers what happened,” he said. And then he went to another place.
TOOLS
Act 15:13 When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me.
B) Meaning?
1. Well Matthew’s account of Jesus says this?
Matthew 13:54 And coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogues, so that they wondered and said: How came this man by this wisdom and miracles? 55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude?
2. Point being he does not identify himself as a ½ brother of Jesus but rather a bondservant of Jesus!
a) He does not identifies himself as a sibling of Jesus Christ but a slave of Jesus Christ!
Q: Reason?
2 Corinthians 5: 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.-NASB
Romans 2: 28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29a No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.-NIV
3. Biological birth, connection means nothing, it is a “New Birth” that matters!
John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.-NLT
Philippians 3: 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
2. I simply think that Jude as acknowledging this!
II. The Ingredients / of the Message that is the antidote?
A) Prescribed to?
Jude 1:1c To those who are….
Jude 1:1d To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:-BSB
Jude 1:1d called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: -NKJV
B) Particulars?
C) Point by Point!
1. Called!
a) Called -???t??? (kletois)
i. Strong's Greek 2822: From the same as klesis; invited, i.e. Appointed, or, a saint.
D) Parallel/Synonym?
2. Chosen - ??????µa? – Pronunciation -ek-le'-go-mi
a) To pick out, choose, to pick or choose out for one's self
E) Point?
1. A Christian is a – Chosen One!
John 15: 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
1Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light
Isaiah 41:9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. – NLT
Jon Bloom -DesiringGod.org - When I read verse 16, what Jesus said about took my breath away…. They weren’t the words of some teacher with a misguided, exaggerated theological conviction. Nor of John Calvin. Nor even of the authoritative, but oft-debated, sophisticated arguments of the apostle Paul. They were the crystalline, simple, forthright, understandable words of Jesus himself: I chose you.
Jon Bloom -DesiringGod.org - As they sank in, the renewal of my mind began a transformation in me (Romans 12:2). My life was reframed. When, at age 11, I responded to a gospel invitation…I hadn’t chosen Jesus; Jesus had chosen me. The immense implication began to dawn: that God had been far more providentially involved in my life than I had understood….I CHOSE YOU!
Q: When?
Ephesians 1:4b He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, -NASB
A: WOW!
Ray Stedman - "Do you see what that does for our sense of identity as Christians? We are not afterthoughts in God's working. We are not accidental members of his body. There are no second class citizens in the church of Jesus Christ; we are all equal, chosen of the Father, selected to be members of his family, added to the new creation, the new order that God is producing in this world. What a fantastic privilege! It is not because of anything in us, but because of everything in him!
Charles Spurgeon -"If God hadn't chosen me before the foundation of the world, He wouldn't choose me now!"
F) Plea?
1. Why me?
Why Me
Kris Kristofferson, Ray Price, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Janie Fricke
Why me Lord?
What have I ever done
To deserve even one
Of the pleasure I've known?
Tell me, Lord
What did I ever do
That was worth lovin' you
For the kindness you've shown?
Lord help me, Jesus
I've wasted it so
Help me, Jesus
I know what I am
But now that I know
That I needed you so
Help me, Jesus
My soul's in your hands
a) Why?
1 Corinthians 1: 26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast, in the Lord.-NIV
Warren Wiersbe - God choses the foolish, the weak, the base (“low born”), and the despised to show the proud world their need and His grace. The lost world admires birth, social status, financial success, power, and recognition. But none of these things can guarantee eternal life. The message and miracle of God’s grace in Jesus Christ utterly confounds (“puts to shame”) the high and mighty people of this world. The wise of this world cannot understand how God changes sinners into saints, and the mighty of this world are helpless to duplicate the miracle.
Warren Wiersbe - God’s “foolishness” confounds the wise; God’s “weakness” confounds the mighty! The annals of church history are filled with the accounts of great sinners whose lives were transformed by the power of the Gospel. In my own ministry, as in the ministry of most pastors and preachers, I have seen amazing things take place that the lawyers and psychologists could not understand.
b) How?
2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
1. How? Out of His own personal and moral excellence!
James 1:18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
This is a most precious description of believers as God's creatures, who are being singled out and separated from the rest of humanity. O, how I fear I take this truth too often, too much for granted. Forgive me Father.
Why me Lord?
Try me, Lord
If you think there's a way
I can try to repay
All I've taken from you
Maybe, Lord
I can show someone else
What I've been through myself
On my way back to you
Lord help me, Jesus
I've wasted it so
Help me, Jesus
I know what I am
But now that I know
That I've needed you so
Help me, Jesus
My soul's in your hands
c) What is this calling? (entails?)
i. Heavenly calling
Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
ii. Irrevocable calling
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
iii. Hope filled calling
Ephesians 1:18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
iv. Holy calling
2 Timothy 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
v. Calling into fellowship with His Son!
1Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. -NIV
1Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.-NKJV
d) Why did God chose/call me?
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits[fn] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
Ingredient #2 of this antidote is….
2. Sanctification?
2. Love?
Synonym? Yes!
a) Meaning? The word SANCTIFICATION is rich in meaning!
i. Sanctification - Hebrew – ?????? -qadash -Pronunciation -kä·dash
a. To be set apart, be consecrated
b. To be hallowed
c. To be honored, be treated as sacred
ii. Sanctification - Greek - ?????? -hagiazo -Pronunciation -hä-ge-ä'-zo
a.to separate from profane things and dedicate to God
b. to cleanse externally
c. to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin
d. to purify internally by renewing of the soul
b) Mission?
i. Called to be loved!
John McArthur - It isn’t a call of indifference. It isn’t a lottery that God held in heaven. For reasons that are outside of us, may never be known to us, God, uninfluenced, determined to set His love on us. This is staggering.
John McArthur - While we were His enemies, we were loved. Before we ever were born, we were loved. And God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, Romans 5:8.
C.S. Lewis -‘God did not make us because He was bored, lonely, or had run out of things to do. He created us to be the objects of His love! Sometimes our actions make us unlovely, but we are never unloved. And because God loves us—we have value. And nobody can take that value away. God's love revealed at Calvary fastens itself onto flawed creatures like us, and for reasons none of us can ever quite figure out, makes us precious and valued beyond calculation. This is love beyond reason. And this is the love with which God loves us.’
c) Magnitude?
1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. -NIV
i. Children of God
Alexander Maclaren has these devotional thoughts on the love that is bestowed…We are called upon to come with our little vessels to measure the contents of the great ocean, to plumb with our short lines the infinite abyss, and not only to estimate the quantity but the quality of that love, which, in both respects, surpasses all our means of comparison and conception.
Q: How do we become children of God?
a. Begotten
b. Adopted
Rod Martin – AIG - Every once in a while, I am asked, “What’s it like to be adopted?”
I was two days old when my parents chose me to be their son. Being adopted is an amazing thing. I was taken from a situation that probably would not have turned out well and was given the opportunity to grow up in a loving Christian home. I became a member of a new family. I had a new identity, a new name, a new opportunity, and eventually a new inheritance. I was chosen.
Q: What is adoption, spiritual adoption?
Bruce Hurst - Our English word adoption is filled with the ideas of love, grace, compassion and intimate relationship. In the ancient world the adopted person lost all rights in his old family, gained all the rights of a fully legitimate son in his new family and "In the most literal sense, and in the most binding legal way, he got a new father (cf 1Jn 3:1-note)."
Bruce Hurst - (Barclay). In addition, all his debts were legally canceled (cf Col 2:14-note), his old life was completely erased and he was regarded by the law as a new person (cf 2Cor 5:17-note). Similarly, in spiritual adoption, the moment undeserving sinners are adopted by their heavenly Father as His sons, their entire status is eternally changed -- they receive a new name, a new family, new rights, new expectations, but unlike human adoption they also receive a new nature, actually becoming "partakers of the divine nature!" (2Pe 1:4-note) Indeed, it is probably not an overstatement to regard spiritual adoption as the greatest benefit of "the Gospel of our salvation." (Eph 1:13-note)
John Piper - " Spiritual Adoption is one of the most profound realities in the universe. I say “universe” and not “world” because this adoption goes beyond the world. It is greater than the world and it is before the world in the plan of God (Eph 1:4-"before the foundation of the world"), and it will outlast the world as we know it.
c) Motive? Of being sanctified in love?
Ephesians 5: 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives.
2 Corinthians 11:2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.-NIV
d) Many:
i. There are various biblical symbols represent the Church.
a. Now you are the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:27)
b. You are... God's building. (1 Cor. 3:9)
c. THE MOST BLESSED? = A BRIDE!
Revelation 19:7 Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.” 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Matthew 25:1b the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
e) Meaning?
Matthew 19: 5 And said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united firmly (joined inseparably) to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder (separate). -AMPC
Romans 8: 35 Who shall ever separate us from Christ’s love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?
36 Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,
39 Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.-AMPC
f) Major question:
i. Why – how NEVER SEPERATED?
John 17: 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
a. God loves us with the same love that He loves Jesus!
g) Messianic prophecy:
2 Samuel 7: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Matthew Henry - The establishing of his house, his throne, and his kingdom for ever, can be applied to no other than to Christ and his kingdom: The committing iniquity cannot be applied to the Messiah himself, but to his spiritual seed; true believers have infirmities, for which they must expect to be corrected, though they are not cast off.
Hebrews 12: 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”-niv
Warren Wiersbe - Whatever the experience, we can be sure that His chastening hand is controlled by His loving heart. The Father does not want us to be pampered babies; He wants us to become mature adult sons and daughters who can be trusted with the responsibilities of life.
Ingredient #3 of this antidote is….
3. Kept!
3. Preserved!
a) Kept (tereo from teros - a guard or warden)
i. To keep an eye on,
ii. To keep something in view
iii. To hold firmly, to attend carefully, or to watch over
iv. The idea is to observe attentively and to retain in custody
v. The idea ispeaks of guarding something which is in one’s possession
b) Certain?
i. Jesus prayed that God would!
John 17:11b Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
John 17: 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one
c) Point?
i. The perfect tense indicates we have been and are in the present state of being watched, being kept safe from harm, being preserved.
John 10: 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”-NIV
Henry Ironside - Whatever may be the difficulties of life, however great the trial of our faith, in the love of God we are preserved by the One who has saved us. He it is who, “having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). Were it not for His preserving grace not one saint would persevere. “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). There is no ground for self-confidence, or fleshly elation. Such grace calls for reverent and adoring gratitude, and a walk that corresponds to the lovingkindness lavished on creatures so unworthy.
1Peter 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Revelation 3::10 “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Close with this:
III. Adversaries/Menace to the Antidote:
A) Menace?
1. Contest!
Jude 1:3 Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.
2. Creepy Christians!!!
Jude 1:4a For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed
a) Crept in unawares (pareisduno. from pará =beside, at the side of + eisdúo = enter in <> eis = into + dúo = go down, sink) "to go down into and alongside of" and settle down alongside those already there.
Jude 1:4b —ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation.
b) Condemned!
c) Criteria?
Jude 1:4c They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality,
i. THEY CHEAPEN GRACE!
ii. THEY THINK IT’S A LICENSE FOR SIN!
a) And by doing do…
Jude 1:4d and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
i. EVERYTHING HE TAUGHT!
Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.- ESV
Mark 9:45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.
John 8: 34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35a Now a slave has no permanent place in the family…
ii. EVERYTHING THE BIBLE TEACHES!
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Q: What is cheap grace?
A: The term “cheap grace” can be traced back to a book written by German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, called The Cost of Discipleship, published in 1937. I
Dietrich Bonhoeffer – “Cheap grace” as “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”
Hebrews 10: 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.-NIV
ESV Study Bible - Such rejection of the knowledge of the truth (10:26) through willful disobedience is tantamount to trampling upon God’s Son, reckoning his blood to be defiled, and insulting the Spirit who has offered such grace; the one who does this deserves eternal judgment (v. 27).
IV. Application of this antidote?
A) Apply?
1. Called, loved and kept?
Jude 1:21a Keep yourselves
B) Application?
1. Keep yourselves = implies I have a personal responsibility, a part in all this don’t I?
Jude 1:21a Keep yourselves
Jude 1:21a in the love of God,
Q: How?
John 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
John 14:21 The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”
Altar Call
1. Antidote?
a) Called
b) Loved
c) Sanctified
2. Assured that your are…CLS?
Cheap grace seeks to hide the cost of discipleship from people. It seeks to claim that as long as we make a profession of faith, we are saved. God’s grace covers all our sins. Again, that is a wonderful truth!
Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is so much more than simply mouthing the words “Jesus is Lord.” We are not saved by a profession of faith. We are not saved by praying the Sinner’s Prayer. We are saved by a living and active faith (James 2:14-26), a faith that manifests itself in repentance, obedience and love of God and our neighbor.
Salvation is not a transaction; it’s a transformation.
Paul says it best when he says we are “new creations” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
There is nothing “cheap” about grace!
3. Applying?
a) Discipleship requires repentance and obedience. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the message He preached was a message of repentance….
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The message of the apostles after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was also one of repentance
Acts 2:38 8 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Along with repentance comes obedience. Jesus told a crowd of listeners that salvation and obedience go hand in hand: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46).
