Stay Alert! Series

Let me try to explain it this way. They, just like anyone else who is a Christian, were walking through life, doing their own thing, dead in trespasses and sin, but then God’s Holy Spirit intervened and does something in their life… maybe makes them unhappy in their sin, and begins to convict them, and show them their state of being lost. Then He gets them to such a low point in their sin, that He begins to take them places and put people in their path who are able to tell them the remedy for their sin – the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and through the preaching of the word He enables them, by faith, to cry upon the name of the Lord and be saved. They were called. Isn’t that what the church is? The Greek word for church is Ecclesia it literally means the “called out ones”

And so God calls them and loves them and sanctifies them. He calls them not because of the way they looked, or not because of the way they talked, or not because they had good thoughts from time to time, or because of good living, or because their parents were Christian. It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. While we were yet enemies of Christ and still in our sins He loved us. So if you are a Christian, then you are called and you are loved, and guess what? You’re kept or preserved in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And so Jude reassures the believers that they are not in danger of falling away, but there are those in the Church that are not yet saved, there are those who need to hear the Gospel preached, Romans asks us, “For how shall the believe unless they do not hear?” And if those people are in the church and they are not hearing the true gospel of Jesus Christ, but a humanistic, man centered, self serving gospel… then they will believe that they are saved, but in reality be lost. And that’s a dangerous place to be… to believe that you’re saved and on your way to heaven, when in reality you are as lost as can be. Jesus put it this way, “Many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, Did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name and do many wonderful works in your name?” And then He will say to them, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I NEVER knew you.” And you notice that He says, He NEVER knew them, not that He knew them and they fell from grace.

In vs. 3 Jude begins to tell his readers why he wrote the letter.

I think it’s interesting that Jude originally wanted to write a letter concerning the common salvation of Christians; the Holy Spirit inspired him to write something else.

Instead of the common bond of salvation Jude was compelled to write a letter urging believers to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the Saints. In other words, it’s something that can’t be added to, something can’t be taken away form it. There’s no new doctrine. In-fact if someone comes up with a new teaching that has never before been taught from God’s word then you’re probably dealing with the kind of people Jude mentions in the next verse. Many cults start this way. The religion of Islam started this way. And so have many so-called ‘movements’ of God.