"Oh, to be Kept By Jesus!" - Jude 1,2

The main ideas from this information are: - The opening verses of the book of Jude contain important theological concepts about God's love and keeping of His people. - Salvation is secure in Christ and not dependent on our own efforts or works. - The gospel provides complete remission of sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. - Believers have confidence and joy in the promises of God, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. - God's people should be joyful and welcoming, showing the grace of God to others. - Christ will keep His people through every storm and will supply their every need. - Believers can have courage and take comfort in the steadfast love of their Savior. Jude, chapter one, the only chapter. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, and you've got to listen close, because these are going to hit you pretty fast. To those who are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. We trust the Lord will add his own blessings to the reading of his word today. Amen. Oh, the writers of these epistles, I'm telling you, they have a way of sneaking in the best theology right in the opening salutations of their letters. And if you read past it too fast, thinking you're going to get to the heart of the matter in a moment, you're going to miss a ton. Paul does this. Here in this epistle of Jude, we see it. They just sort of take it for granted that the Christian gospel is the gospel of God sovereignly calling his people, loving his people, and keeping them for Jesus Christ's sake. It's so common and so elementary among the early church that they use it as a simple greeting one with the other. We need not even go over it right now. You all know the truth. To those who are called, the called out ones, the ecclesia. That's what church means. It doesn't mean building. It doesn't mean orifice. It doesn't mean meeting hall. It means those who are called out. Have you been called out? Do you know Christ in the full pardon of your sins? If you do, you've been called. Why have you been called? Well, the Bible tells us that we are beloved in God the Father. Oh, he loves us, beloved. And he loves us. And those whom God loves, he predestined. How do we know that? The Bible says, for those whom he foreknew, he predestined. He foreloves. He knows in complete and total ways unfathomable to our mind, God knows. And his knowledge is a loving knowledge to his people and of his people. We're going to get into it. But I just want you to understand how theologically dense those first three verses are in Jude. And if you apprehend those, you won't stomach a false gospel. You won't countenance it. All the smiling faces on the television screen will tell you that Jesus longs to be your savior and that he'll do anything he can short of forcing you to become his own. Well, I am a wicked, God-hating wretch. And if the Lord of glory wants to save me, then by any means necessary. But why do I say that now? Because he changed my heart. Everybody out there that doesn't believe in Jesus they're not looking for Jesus. They're looking for self. They're looking for self aggrandizement. They're looking to get all the toys they can in this big toy box called earth for the 70 plus years they might have. And then that's it. That's all the farther they look. They don't look any farther past their face than their nose because it's all about gaining the pleasures of this world. Why? Because they're blinded to the things of the spirit. For the carnal mind is an enmity against God. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. All but to those of us who are saved, we read the first three verses of Jude and we see something sweet, something powerful, something profound. We are kept by God for Jesus Christ. Where else did we hear language like this? We'll get into it. But let's just touch for a second on what Jesus taught us in the gospel of John. He said very plainly that no one would be able to snatch us out of the father's hands. Why is that? Because we're kept for Jesus Christ. Salvation for the Christian is absolutely secure in Christ. I want to say it for the people in the back, as it were. For those who really need to hear me, salvation is not dependent upon you. It is entirely conditioned on the finished work and merit of Jesus Christ. Full stop. The end. Well, how can you say that, preacher? Because Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to them that believe. Oh, you're waiting for me to give you the qualifiers. You're waiting for the certain restrictions apply portion of this gospel. Well, I don't blame you. That's what you did about anywhere else. Oh, you have salvation full and free. So long as you keep my lists. So long as you do this and do that and taste this and don't taste that and touch this and don't touch this. And you better keep an inventory of all the little things going on in your life. You better really be peering inside to know whether or not. No. You're kept by God for Jesus Christ. And if you belong to him, you're kept. You're kept. How do I know? Do you believe that Jesus is who he says he is? Do you believe he went your way at Calvary's Hill? That you have nothing to merit God's favor or commendation in your own self? If you believe that flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. For no man can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Ghost. Salvation is absolutely secure in Christ. God who has called us in love through the preaching of the gospel keeps us. Now, if you hear me, he keeps us faithfully in, by, and through the merits of the finished work of Jesus. Through Christ's obedience unto death. Oh, beloved, people don't like to talk about his death. They don't want to talk about the blood. But let me tell you, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. I'm thankful that the Lord's death procured salvation full and free. And we can thank God that his blood will never lose its power, will never diminish in its favor. All his blood as a sacrifice went up to God as a sweet-smelling savor of life unto life. God's people have complete confidence. How is that? Well, we have confidence because the Lord commands us to fear not. And how can he say to us, feeble, fallen, wretched, fallible humans, to fear not? Unless there is an absolutely secure sacrifice in place that provides complete remission. He commands his people to fear not. I preached a message years and years ago asking the question, can your God say that? Can your gospel say that? And what is that? Fear not. There's a lot of gospels going around in this world. So-called good news reports that aren't so good. People saying things like, oh, you can know salvation and then lose it the very next day. How can you ever not fear if you thought you could lose your salvation? Your whole life should be consumed with fear because if it's about anything you have to do, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. I'm in trouble. We don't have a hope in the world without Jesus Christ. But through his obedience unto death, God's people have confidence. The Bible says we have joy unspeakable. Sometimes our hymns are a little flowery. I'll give you that. Showers of blessing. Rivers of mercy. And sometimes our lives don't feel like showers of blessing or rivers of mercy. Sometimes life is hard. I can speak from personal experience that there are ditches in this life. There are troubles to be had in this life. But does any of our current circumstance change the promises of God? Has he not laid up for us a home that is beyond comprehension? Has he not given us every spiritual blessing? Has he not seeded us in the heavenlies with Christ? Is not this gospel joy unspeakable and full of glory? Then let me sing about the rivers of pleasure when I gather together with the people of God. Let me say I've got peace like a river in my soul. For out of my belly will flow rivers of living water. It's high time the sovereign grace people turn the frown upside down. God's people who have been granted by his grace this lovely apprehension of the true and saving gospel. We ought to be the happy folk. We ought to be the joyous folk, the welcoming folk, the people who look at a wretched sinner and say, I am no different than you, save the grace of God. And you come on, you sit with me in church. You come on in here. There's a place for you to sit, that redeemer. What do you think redemption even means? It means taking that that has no value and giving it worth, redeeming it, saving something worthless and making it useful again. I'm glad that through Jesus, we can be fit for the master juice and it's high time for sovereign grace folk to start smiling a little bit. Christ has put away sin. I love that. He has put away sin. And this is why I love what Henry Mahan says about this. I was listening to him just this morning. He was preaching a message way back in 1985. And what a message it was this morning. And he said these words. He said, I don't want you to fear not making heaven because Jesus is in heaven and you're going to be there if he's there because he went your way. He went to prepare that place for you. The presence of God is heaven, beloved. OK, I'm not talking about a particular geographic location. I'm not talking about a particular anything. I'm just telling you that heaven, when we go into that next state of existence, heaven is wherever God is. That's heaven. And what a glorious thing and time and place that will be. Heaven, glorious heaven. And if Jesus is there and he went to prepare that place for us by way of the cross, then surely we're going to be there, too. Why would you fear? Because the scripture commands you to fear not. We stand fast and firm in the bold defense of the gospel. And this epistle reminds us that Christ will keep us through every storm. How many storms will this gospel carry the church through? Every storm, every one of them. Will God fail in the salvation of his people? No, he won't. You can rejoice in that. You can be excited for that. And yes, I'm not always happy, but I know deep down inside the truth of the gospel, and that is God will supply every need according to his riches and glory. He will supply. Will you always be smiling? No, I'm sorry. Sometimes life means you're going to cry. Sometimes life means you're going to get in an argument over something stupid on the way to church. Sometimes your very life will disintegrate in front of you. So don't think you're immune. You're not. But take courage. He has overcome the world. And we have a savior whose steadfast love will never fail. Oh, beloved, you need to rejoice in this. Not that the demons are subject unto you. Not that you have some sort of cool power in and of yourself, but greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. This doesn't mean that you got an extra loud shout during worship service. That's not what that entails. A lot of times people will try to use that to drum up a shout or an amen in church. But what this entails is that no matter what comes your way, no matter what transpires in your life, no matter what kind of shambles you make of your life, the Lord is the balm of Gilead, the medicine, the healer, the sustainer, who can put that broken pottery right back together and make it suitable and fitting for the master's use yet again. Oh, we're redeemed by love divine. Glory, glory! Christ is mine. All to him I now resign. Of what use it is. I have been, I have been redeemed. Hallelujah forevermore. So we praise God for the clear testimony of the saving gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. Jude believed in a God who calls, a God who loves, and a God who keeps. The salvation that is beginning to end, the work of God. It is just as Jonah faithfully declared, salvation is of the Lord. The Christian life isn't some elected class. It isn't like going and taking a basket weaving course or a swimming certification. One does not simply make a choice to repent of their dead works and turn toward Christ. If you could do that, then repentance itself would be a work. You can't do that in your own self. Christians are called by God, the scripture says. The psalmist declared it like this, Psalm 65 and 4. Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple. Paul and Barnabas, following the gospel preaching in Antioch, saw the electing grace of God at work firsthand. Luke records this in Acts 13, 48. The Bible says, and when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Oh, there is a divine appointment for each and every soul who will be called by this preaching of grace. Believers are not only called, but the Bible says we're beloved. This is what motivates God to take such an initiative in the first place. Do you realize that He does these things for us in saving efficacy because He loves His people? Now, I'm of the opinion, and I believe it's firmly grounded in the word of God, that God has never, never been in a place where He did not love His people. This is an eternal love. How do I know that? The Bible says He called us before time began, and the Bible says He did this in love. Beloved, it's an eternal love that He's bestowed upon us. Now, we recognize and apprehend and come to a knowledge of this gospel in time, and so it's easy for us to say, I remember a day when I was unfaithful, but I'm going to tell you something. God doesn't remember a day in which you were unloved in Christ. Now, that's ought to be profound. Why? Because it buttresses the main point that you have a salvation that you never earned, that you cannot keep in your strength, and that is kept for you by the power of God. So we're beloved, Ephesians 1, 3, and 6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even if He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be wholly and wholly that we should be wholly and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us out and in. In the beloved, in love, He predestined us, praised the living God for His mercy, but for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. All the eternal ones, or rather, the believing ones, the Bible says. If you read that in context, the Scripture is saying very plainly that God didn't just love the Jewish nation, didn't just have a love for a geographical people or an ethnicity, but God loved the world. He loved all types of people. He loved those people in Christ, and they will be saved. And Christ teaches us exactly who will believe in John's gospel, just three chapters later. He says, unless the Father who sent me draws him, no one can come to me. That's John 6, 44. But what does He say about those that do come? He says, and I will raise him up on the last day. We are called, loved, and kept by God for Jesus Christ. Jude summed it up on the back of a business card for us in the first couple of verses of his epistle. All right, Romans 8, 35 to 39. Hear me now, the word of the Lord. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Oh, let's talk about the naysayers. Those folks that want to go around telling you you could lose your salvation every five seconds, that every time you do just enough sins, you'll lose your salvation. And if you ask 15 of these folks in the religious world and in the religion world, you ask them, what do you got to do to lose your salvation? You're going to get 15 different answers. And who shall separate us from this love? The Bible says, shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword? Verse 37, No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Verse 38, For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Oh, beloved, it's time we cut to the chase. And we tell people truthfully, you can have joy in your heart. You can smile. And you can tell them the joy of the Lord is my strength. Why? Because I'm free. Was it not God who first loved us and called us to repentance of dead works? Our souls should burn within us as we hear this truth. And beloved, the fact that it doesn't is all the evidence that it needs to. This is the beauty of the all of God, all of grace gospel message. God's people are called before the foundation of the world, loved by God in electing grace and mercy and powerfully kept by Christ for all eternity, having their sin debt put away in his substitutionary death. In light of this wondrous display of God's pure grace and mercy, we ought not shrink back in our defense of the whole counsel of God. But for the love of all that is good, smile a little bit. There's joy for the journey. There's joy for the journey. And God's gracious people ought to be grace filled. We ought to be the people that are filled with a song in our hearts, a spring in our step because we have been saved. Beloved, we are called, loved, and kept by God. And for these blessed truths, let us praise and thank our father in heaven. Oh, the joy. Oh, to be kept by Jesus. I am kept by Jesus. Praise the living God forevermore, forevermore, forevermore. Hallelujah. All right. Lord, we pray that you'd add a blessing to your spoken word today, that you'd move on our hearts, Lord. Remind us of whose we are so that we might point others to the only salvation. And that is in the finished work in the finished work of Jesus Christ and his glorious cross. Thank you, Lord, for grace. Help your people to be gracious. Lord, help us to live lives that would please you. Because of our love for you, Lord, let us do those acceptable things. We ask, Lord, that you do that for us, that you do that through us. And help us, Lord God, to point others to the only source of eternal life. And that's Jesus Christ. Help us to love one another, oh God. And thank you for redeeming us. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the blood. We ask for these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.