Title: Jude – Celebrating Salvation
Theme: To show that we must focus more on our salvation that what the enemy is doing.
Text: Jude 1:1 - 3
Jude 1:1-3 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.
Introduction
Series in Jude
Jude
A. Half-brother of Jesus
B. Not a believer until after the resurrection John 7:5 and Acts 1:14. It is the resurrection that made the difference.
C. “bondservant of Jesus Christ (designated as Lord and Savior) in spite of being close to Him, yet they believed and followed Him.
D. His salvation was not based on being a brother or kin folk, his salvation was based on who Christ is.
“Without a doubt, Jude valued the fact that Jesus was his half-brother and that he grew up in the same household as Jesus. But even more valuable to him was his new relationship with Jesus. To Jude, the blood of the cross that saved him was more important than the family blood in his veins that related him to Jesus. Jude could say with Paul, "Even though we have known Christ according” - Guzik
Pont: Too many today are familiar with Jesus by the family. You need to know Jesus for yourself. Being in church or having family in church is not what is going to take you to heaven.
Purpose of the book: vs. 3 “contend for the faith.”
(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.
Wanted to write about the “glorious truth of salvation” but was compelled to write to encourage his readers to “contend for the faith.”
Celebrate the Common Salvation
Who we are?
“bondservant” purchased, bought with a price
I Cor. 6:20 tells us we were bought at a price. I Peter 1:19 informs us it was “with the precious blood of Christ.” We are not our own, we belong to Him.
Slave – we are either a slave to Christ or a slave to sin.
“to those who are” – to the believers. This is about the church. The church should be more focused on what God has done in us that what is happening around us.
“called” Could mean many things.
1. Called into ministry (called to serve)
2. Called to preach the gospel (great commission)
3. Called in Jude the urgent call both to salvation and to live godly lives in faith, hope, and purity.
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Point: God called you before you knew Him. He called you while you were in sin. He knew you while you were in the womb of your mother.
Here the word means the effectual calling of God that opens the heart to freely respond to the gospel. • There is a general call (Matt 11:28-30) • There is an effectual call (Rom 8:30)
https://www.danielakin.com/wp-content/uploads/old/Resource_595/Jude%201.2%20Happy%20To%20Be%20A%20Slave%20manuscript.pdf
“sanctified” set apart, beloved, loved
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
“by God the Father”
The protector.
“preserved” – kept, guarded (appears 4 times, vs. 1, 6, 13, 21)
John 17:11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, [93] that they may be one as We are.
1 Peter 1:4-5 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
“in Christ Jesus”
Only by His blood have we been saved. “Nothing but the blood of Jesus”
Why we are? Or Why we can be
(2) Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
A common greeting. Paul often times includes the word “grace” in his greeting. Jude uses the word love. Probably a reminder to the Jewish audience that they were not only called to a purpose but they are loved by God. God loves them, wants a relationship with them.
By God’s Mercy – to hold back God’s judgement. You have no right to judge yourself if Christ Himself was willing to “hold back” the judgement of God. When God forgives you, He settles it.
“Whereas grace has been described as receiving what we do not deserve.
2. Mercy is not receiving what we do deserve.”
https://www.sabc.org/uploads/1/2/2/1/12211165/_13-07-14_am_blessings_of_that_faith.pdf
Who gives us Peace – wholeness, completeness
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Illustration:
“Horatio Spafford was a wealthy Chicago lawyer with a thriving legal practice, a beautiful home, a wife, four daughters and a son. He was also a devout Christian and faithful student of the Scriptures. His circle of friends included Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey and various other well-known Christians of the day. At the very height of his financial and professional success, Horatio and his wife Anna suffered the tragic loss of their young son. Shortly thereafter on October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed almost every real estate investment that Spafford had. In 1873, Spafford scheduled a boat trip to Europe in order to give his wife and daughters a much needed vacation and time to recover from the tragedy. He also planned to join Moody and Sankey on an evangelistic campaign in England. Spafford sent his wife and daughters ahead of him while he remained in Chicago to take care of some unexpected, last-minute business. Several days later he received notice that his family's ship had suffered a collision. All four of his daughters drowned; only his wife had survived. With a heavy heart, Spafford boarded a boat that would take him to his grieving Anna in England. It was on this trip that he penned those now famous words,” (story taken from sharefaith.com) When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well (it is well), with my soul (with my soul),
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Shows us His love, we are loved
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Not added to us but multiplied, 10 time, 100 times, 1000 times, 1,000,000 times. Over and over again. Throughout life. The longer you live the more you notice the multiplication.
Conclusion
Lord’s Supper
Luke 22:17-20 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; (18) for I say to you, [140] I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." (after the resurrection) (19) And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." (20) Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
“We should remember the Supper's redemptive significance. When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching, he cried out, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). John clearly established the reason for Jesus' coming: as the fulfillment of what the Passover lamb had only foreshadowed. In Exodus 12, the lamb was sacrificed for the deliverance of one family; at the cross, the Lamb of God was sacrificed to deliver the whole world from the power and penalty of sin. The Passover lamb served as the substitute for the firstborn of Israel, but Jesus was our substitute at Calvary. Without the death of the lamb and the spreading of its blood, the children of Israel would have suffered the judgment of God. Without the shedding of the blood of Jesus and His substitutionary death, we would have no hope of salvation.
In his book The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Charles Swindoll relates the story of an eight year- old Kenyan girl, Monica, who fell into a pit and broke her leg. Mama Njeri, an older woman, seeing what had happened, climbed into the pit to rescue Monica. In the pit a black mamba, the most poisonous snake in Africa, bit both Monica and Mama Njeri. Both ladies were rushed to a medical center; Monica improved, but tragically, Mama Njeri died. A nurse missionary explained to Monica that Mama Njeri was bitten first and thus received all of the mamba's poison. When the snake bit Monica, it had no poison left. The nurse went on to explain that Jesus had similarly taken the poison of our sin so that we can live. Monica understood and readily received Christ.1
People have many ideas about who Jesus is and why He came to earth. Jesus said Himself that He "came to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). When we gather around the Lord's table, the elements speak to us of His sacrifice, His substitution, and our salvation. We celebrate our redemption in remembrance of Him.
The Lord's Supper presents the powerful message of the gospel. What a perfect time to give people an opportunity to receive the salvation purchased at the cross! Those who respond will remember that the symbols of the Lord's Table spoke to them of their need and Christ's provision.”
https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/sermon-a-call-to-remember-the-lords-supper-luke-22
