In Matthew 8, verses 23 and following, we read of an episode wherein Jesus and His disciples got into a boat and set out for the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. in view of that danger and of their helplessness. We further read, His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, Save us, Lord! We are perishing! And Jesus' willingness and power to save were then demonstrated as He arose and rebuked the winds and the seas, and it became perfectly calm. In Matthew 14, verses 22 and following, we read of an episode wherein the disciples were in a boat, many stadia away from the land, battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary. upon Jesus' approach to the boat, walking on the sea. And Peter's subsequent leaving the boat so as to come to Jesus, we then read, "...but seeing the wind, he became afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, saying, Lord, save me!" And Jesus did save him by stretching out His hand taking hold of him. And as Matthew writes, they got into the boat and the wind stopped. In both instances, there was the present threat of physical death posed by wind and sea. In both instances, those endangered had no capacity whatsoever to deliver themselves from that peril, in both instances there was a cry for salvation, a cry for rescue to the only One who could effect it. In both instances, Jesus demonstrated His willingness, His love and power to save. And brethren, these episodes of deliverance from the physical dangers of wind and water, deliverance affected by the Creator and Savior to whom the winds and the sea give prompt obedience, these episodes reflect a far greater deliverance from our soul's danger, a danger which threatens to drown men's soul in the lake of fire forever. The analogous circumstances, the very language used, and the appeal to the Savior of the world, the appeal to our great God and Savior, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, These appeals in these circumstances reflect what Paul said, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. They reflect that whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. It was the original intent of Jude, the half-brother of the incarnate Jesus, to write to the churches a general treatise on the doctrine of this salvation. And with that, I direct you this morning to Jude's epistle. And say parenthetically, there are only two chapters to go in the first draft. Jude, having identified himself, note, Verse 1a of his brief epistle, having described his readers, note verse 1b, and having expressed his heart's desire for them, note verse 2, then informs us of his original intent. Verse 3a, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation. I pause for a few moments of exposition. The language depicts Jude, the half-brother of the incarnate Jesus, younger brother of a more renowned older brother, James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, The language depicts Jude as earnestly and aggressively engaged in a project to write on the theme of our common salvation. We can imagine that Jude may have been doing background reading in the letters of both Paul and Peter. For later, verses 17 and 18 of this letter, he makes it clear he was conversant with them. He may have been, we could well imagine, outlining and organizing the material that he intended to cover. Or, we may imagine, he may have actually begun to write about our common salvation. But, regardless of where he was in the project, he was, the language seems to indicate, absorbed in a determination to get it done. Yet, A very dangerous libertine message had begun to be sounded amongst the churches of Asia Minor. The very churches that the Apostle Peter, a few years earlier, had warned of Here we are, Jude's letter in the late 60's A.D. The warnings of Peter have come now to fruition. And this libertine, antinomian message is now making its way through the churches. Note in verse 4, for certain persons, certain persons had subtly intruded and were preaching a message which turned, quote, the grace of our God into licentiousness. The arising of such a danger produced within Jude an inner compulsion to write a very different kind of letter than he had intended. To write a letter of passionate warning against any notion of the grace of God that would cause one to go light on sin. Certain persons have crept in unnoticed. Those who long beforehand were marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. At least temporarily. Jude's intent to write, note verse 3, about our common salvation was put on the shelf. And if he ever returned to the project and completed it, the Spirit of God did not see fit to include the treatise in the New Testament canon. And thus I have a question. The question is this. if Jude had gone forward with his determination to write to the churches about our common salvation and realizing that he was conversant with the apostolic letters. Verse 17, But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." A very similar statement to what Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3. If Jude had carried out his original intent, a man informed by apostolic teaching, the question is this, what would have been some of the primary truths Jude would have expressed? What would Jude have said about our common salvation? And it is my purpose this morning to answer such questions, not answering them out of my imagination, but answering them by an appeal to the very apostolic teaching that Jude admits he was conversant with. Now, before beginning to set out some primary lines of truth that no doubt Jude would have included in his treatise about our common salvation, a couple of expository comments about this phrase, our common salvation, again verse 3. Note the adjective rendered common. Now in our lingo, common generally signifies something that is cheap, that is ordinary, or perhaps even inferior. We designate something that is common Because everybody has it, what's the big deal? Well, let me say that is not the sense of the term in Jude 3. The adjective common, rather, signifies that which is shared. Our common salvation is the salvation shared and experienced by all the true people of God, those in Christ Jesus. It is like unto what Peter said in 2 Peter 1.1 of a like precious faith, a faith, as the NAS renders, of the same kind as ours. Our common salvation. The word common signifies that which is shared and experienced by all who have a vital faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writes to Titus in Titus 2.11, the grace of God has appeared. Bringing salvation to all men, that is, men of all sorts as to class and status and gender and race. God sent His Son into the world that the world should be saved through Him. That is the world of Jews and Gentiles. And thus, whoever has been saved, male or female, young or old, rich or poor, American or Chinese, that one has experienced a common salvation. The same salvation. The people of God, both contemporarily and historically, and in every epoch, in every ethnicity, the people of God share together a common salvation. Now note this term in verse 3, salvation. Soteria. The noun means literally rescue. deliverance, a rescue or deliverance from that which threatens and imperils. It signifies a state of preservation and safety over against a background of danger, threat, and enemies. Related to the noun salvation is the verb to save and the title Savior. Throughout the New Testament, these terms are frequently employed with reference to, as we've already seen, deliverance from the danger of the elements, wind and water. They are also used in connection to deliverance from bodily affliction, such a case being Jairus, Mark 5 at verse 23, Jairus pled, my little daughter is at the point of death, please come and lay your hands on her, that she may get well. Literally, that she may be saved. It's the same language signifying deliverance from bodily affliction. But primarily, this word group, salvation, save, Savior, speaks of a deliverance of the guilty, depraved souls of sinners. It speaks of a deliverance epitomized in such a text as Titus 3 and verse 4, but when the kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. He rescued us. He delivered us. Not on the basis of deeds which we've done in righteousness, but according to His mercy. It is a salvation from the penalty and the power and eventually from the very presence of sin, a deliverance accomplished by and found exclusively in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And plainly, this is the kind of deliverance, the kind of salvation which Jude had intended to write about, and again, which we shall consider this morning. Now, with regard then to our common, our mutually shared deliverance from the penalty and the enslaving power of sin found in Christ Jesus, again the question, if Jude had not been interrupted by the news of a libertine perversion of the grace of God making its way through the churches in Asia Minor in the late 60s A.D., what might he have said or written about our common salvation? I begin now to answer. I propose to you that, among other things, Jude might well have started here. He might have written, number one, that the Word of God is the sufficient revelation of the way of salvation. Now, I say that based upon what the Scriptures testify to as Jude being conversant with apostolic teaching, and that is at the heart of apostolic teaching. God has not left sinners ignorant as ignorant to how He has been pleased to save sinners. Rather, in gracious, condescending love, God has disclosed plainly what He has done in His Son to rescue perishing sinners. He has disclosed such in His holy words. Paul wrote to 2 Timothy 3.15, "...from childhood you have known the sacred writings..." He's referring to the Old Testament. "...which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." That statement alone. speaks to the great deposit of truth that discloses to sinners a way of salvation. In James 1 at verse 21, the older brother of Jude says this, receive the Word implanted which is able to save your soul. Welcome that Word that discloses the Gospel, that discloses the Christ of the Gospel. Receive the Word implanted which is able to save your soul. The Word is often called the Gospel and is preached and is heard, and thus we read of Paul to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1, Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preach to you, which you receive, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved. I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. The Word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. He wrote to the Ephesians, in Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed. Brethren, any man or woman, boy or girl, concerned about his soul, concerned about the dreadful effects of sin, sin upon his legal status in the court of heaven, sin with regard to what it has done to him and in him, anyone concerned about pardon of guilt, about holy living, about eternal life. Anyone must go to the Word of God. Not to the notions of men. They must, in the words of our Lord Jesus, search the Scriptures, for they bear witness of Me. We don't need to hear about the Gospel of Judas. We don't need the Da Vinci Code and all this other pseudo-intellectual rubbish to which we've been exposed in the last few weeks. We have the sufficient inscripturated Word of God. We must read and learn of our common salvation and the way thereof in the sacred writings and further, We must go where those writings are faithfully preached, where the Gospel is clearly and in power preached of all things concerned sinners need the message preached. God is pleased to save, Paul told the Corinthians, by the message preached. I offer to you that's where we begin. We begin with a sufficient Bible. If Jude were to have finished this project about our common salvation, I offer to you that he would have likely begun there by reminding us that it is the Word of God which is the sufficient revelation of a way of salvation that satisfies His holiness, His righteousness, and manifests His grace. Now, secondly, Jude may well have written, secondly, of this line of truth, that sin, sin is the enemy from which we must be saved. The Bible's teaching about our common salvation presupposes that man has a deadly enemy which imperils him. The theme of rescue, the theme of deliverance is senseless without the reality of a lethal enemy. It makes no sense. would be folly if there were no lethal enemy to those to whom it is addressed. As it would be ridiculous to have emergency squads and fire departments if there were no dangers, if there were no accidents, if there were no fires. So it would be absurd for the New Testament writers to reveal God's way of salvation if there were no mortal enemy to our souls. notwithstanding the native indifference, the self-righteous smugness and or the dullness of men to recognize the danger which threatens them, the New Testament sounds the alarm against the one lethal enemy of men, sin. And sin in all of its dimensions and consequences. Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, prophesied that the Lord God has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, has raised up a horn of salvation for us, and the result? Salvation from our enemies. Matthew records what the angel of the Lord revealed to Joseph. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins. Sins being that which maim, destroy, and kill. a man's soul. Sin, essentially, bringing together in compendious form a great body of teaching. Sin, essentially, is any violation of the law of God and such a violation evidences the attitude that says, I am going to be the boss of my own life. I'll do as I want. I'll live to please myself. I'm a law to myself or, again, as the bumper sticker I'm seeing more and more says it, it's all about me. What a confession of biblical truth that is at the heart of human depravity. It's all about me. As the Apostle John writes, sin is lawlessness. That is, not only an actual law-breaking, but an attitude of self-centeredness, of defiance of divine authority that is then expressed in actual transgression. The dimensions of sin, they include, as surely Jude knew conversant with apostolic teaching, The guilt of sin, which comes to us by being the posterity of Adam. The guilt of sin. It includes man's native, thorough depravity and corruption. It includes man's actual transgressions of God's law and the realm of his thoughts, his attitudes, his words and his deeds from within. Remember what Jesus said in Mark 7. from within come, and then he lists all the actual transgressions that arise from the foul human heart. The dimensions of human sin include enslavement to sin, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, include sins arising from the idolatrous love of life in this world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. Sin in all these dimensions is our mortal enemy. And then there are the consequences of such sin. The penalty of sin Paul writes to the Romans, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. The penalty of sin is the wrath of God. We shall no longer be slaves to sin. The consequences of sin therefore being its power and its bondage, chains around our dispositions, our thoughts and our words and our ways outside of Christ. We can do nothing but sin. We are bent to sin and love sin and in service to sin. We are guilty. We are thoroughly corrupt and enslaved to our sinful ways. There is moral pollution, extensive moral corruption. Sin is the enemy of every man. And the succinct testimony of the Bible is this. The soul who sins will die. The wages of sin is death. All have sinned. The hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. As Solomon says, insanity. is in their hearts. It's an upside-down world because of sin. I offer to you, that's a second truth that Jude would surely have written if he was writing a systematic treatise on our common salvation. He would surely have identified the enemy from whom we must be saved, that enemy of sin. Now, thirdly, Jude would surely have written this if he had read any imposed letter to the Romans. Romans 5, for instance. He would have picked this up. Man cannot save himself from his mortal enemy's sin. The Scriptures teach that not even the best of men Not even the most refined and cultured of men, not even the most moral and religious of men, not even the most educated and powerful of men can rescue themselves from the clutches and the consequences of their sin. Helpless, hopeless, dead, enslaved. That's some of the biblical terminology that describes a sinner before his master's sin. No more than an exhausted man can save himself from drowning in a turbulent sea. Can a man save himself from sin? No more than an unconscious, profusely bleeding drunk can save himself from the criminality and the injury wrought by his drunken driving and the accident which resulted. Can a mortal man save himself from the guilt and the corruption of sin? He's helpless and he's hopeless. Those are Paul's words. Dead in sin. What can a dead man do? Nothing. This is emphatically taught in the three parallel accounts of Jesus dealing with the rich young ruler. This promising young man had at least a passing concern for his soul. And thus his question to Jesus, Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life? This young man, apparently, had a high degree of moral respectability. After Jesus responded, if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments. You shall not commit murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. Love your neighbor as yourself." After our Lord so responded, the young man said this, "'All these things I have kept,' and Mark adds, "'from my youth up.'" Did Jesus dispute that? No, He didn't. Jesus did not dispute His claim. indicative of the reality that at least as to the letter of the law, this man was very moral. Yet, as the account unfolds, it was the application of the Tenth Commandment that lanced the boil and allowed to flow the moral pus of his sin. The Lord applied the words, you shall not covet. And what happened? There was a revelation of the self-centeredness and the idolatry in the heart of that rich young ruler. And we read, the young man went away grieved. He would not follow Christ. Because the treasures of this world, they had a death grip on his affections. He had a pretty good Sunday school kid, but his heart was perverse. Upon Jesus saying, How hard is it to enter the Kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. We read as to the disciples' response. They were very astonished and they asked, then, who can be saved? Such a promising, moral, reputable man as this cannot be saved. Then who can be? This was the very best of men. A man with a passing concern for his soul, imminently moral. He had even come to the only one who could save. Jesus responded, with men, this is impossible. A man cannot save himself. from his enemy's sin. With this, it is impossible. But, Jesus added, with God, all things are possible. Brethren, the point is this. No man can save himself from the guilt of sin. No man can save himself from the defilement of sin. Sin is so polluted and leavened his humanity that even the best of men with the best of law-keeping and morality is tainted with sin. No man of himself can satisfy the claims of divine justice against him. Man cannot supply a righteousness of his own which can prevail with God. Man cannot atone for his moral crimes already committed if he never committed another sin to the end of his life. But men, this is impossible. His enemy's sin has flanked him. His enemy's sin has surrounded him. His enemy's sin has infiltrated the camp of his soul. His enemy's sin has slain him. You're dead in your trespasses and sins. That is surely a truth that Jude would have written about our common salvation. Sin is the mortal enemy and you are helpless before it. In and of yourself, it is impossible. But thank God, Jude would have surely sounded the next note of truth. And that is that God's salvation, God's salvation is revealed exclusively in His Son. God's sovereign, eternal good pleasure to save. And the necessity of saving in a manner consistent with perfect justice and immeasurable love came to expression in the incarnate person and work of Jesus Christ. God the Father sent His only begotten Son to do for sinners what they could never do for themselves, that is, to defeat their enemy's sin, to deliver from sin by His life, His death and His resurrection, to declare and make righteous, to provide justification and sanctification. That is in Christ alone. The Apostle John testifies the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Already read Paul's words to Timothy, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Jesus said of Himself, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He gave Him to do a work of obedience which sinners could never do for themselves. He obeyed perfectly the whole law of God. And He endured all the penal demands of that law that law violated by sinners, a moral debt accumulating upon the heads of sinners. By His perfect law-keeping and blood-shedding, He accomplished a perfect obedience credited to the count, to the ledger, morally insolvent sinners. We're bankrupt, insolvent, not a moral penny in our pocket. But the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, achieved by His perfect law-keeping and blood-shedding did for us what we could never do or provide for ourselves. and thus sinners may be saved. Through the obedience of the One, the many will be made righteous. This work of obedience accomplished by the Son involved His being tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. involved him being holy, innocent, undefiled, yet also involved him offering himself a sacrifice to bear the sins of many. By his sacrifice, guilt was remitted. The penalty of sin was paid. The wrath of God was averted, and not by mere fiat. But he bore it. He drank the cup of divine wrath that I should have drank and every sinner left to himself will drink. Peace with God was procured. Holy enmity against sinners was put away. We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, Peter. on whom Jude's epistle was so squarely based and dependent. Peter said Christ also died for sins once for all, but just for the unjust in order that He might bring us to God. God has demonstrated through the person and work of His only begotten Son He has demonstrated His sovereign, gracious willingness to save. He has demonstrated an effectual work unto salvation. He has demonstrated His power to save. And this provision of salvation is not found in a mere series of propositional doctrines. It is found exclusively in Christ. And in our day of pluralism, I emphasize exclusively, Christ is not one of several ways of salvation. Notwithstanding the foggy-headedness of our day, and the mushy sentimentality that denies the clear testimony of Scripture in our day. Notwithstanding that, here is the testimony of the Bible. Jesus said, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved. There is a vast difference. between a definite article and an indefinite article. And those articles are used with precision by the gospel writers. We have here a definite article, not an indefinite article that may allow you to interpret, well, it's plan A and somebody else has plan B and C. No, the definite article says there is no plan B and C. It's Christ in Christ alone. I am the door. Peter preached, there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Again, Peter, in Acts 15.11, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are, referring to Jews and Gentiles. who are saved by one Savior who accomplished one work of salvation. Paul wrote to Timothy that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus. Jesus is designated in Hebrews 2.10 the captain of salvation. Hebrews 5-9, the source of salvation. Jesus said of Himself, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through Me. Yes, that is religious exclusivism. Graciously revealed and graciously offered. to all sinners. It's not elitism, but it is exclusivism. The needs of sinful man and the character of God necessitated the atoning work of a mediator who was both God and man. Salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ alone only exclusively meets the demands of the case and is God's only remedy, God's only provision for man's desperate and dangerous demand. God being God, man being man, sin being sin, salvation could only be accomplished by the mediation of the God-man. If you understand your Bibles, you know that's the conclusion. Undoubtedly, Jude would have written in bold relief this truth. is God's exclusive provision for the salvation of sinners. Fifthly, I offer to you this. Jude would have also written that God's salvation is not some little cheap thing that leaves you to live for yourself, do your own thing, but have a few religious words to sound impressive with. No. He would have written this, God's salvation is a past deliverance, a present experience, and a future hope. Or to state it in other language, Jude would have written this, The comprehensive blessings of salvation include our past deliverance from the condemning guilt of sin, justification. Our ongoing, present deliverance from the dominating power of sin, sanctification. and our future deliverance from the very presence of sin, glorification. This threefold truth arises from the interesting fact that salvation in the New Testament is spoken of at times as past, at other times as present, and sometimes as future. You were saved. You are being saved. You will be saved. To demonstrate, Ephesians 2.5, by grace you have been saved. Titus 3.5, He saved us as to the past dimension of salvation. The believing sinner has been acquitted And he is as acquitted now as he will ever be. No degrees of justification. He has been absolved of his moral crimes. Having now been justified by his blood, Paul writes, there has been also in the past the decisive radical break with sin's power. You were sanctified. Radical cleavage. from the bondage of sin. But then again, the New Testament writers say, such as in 2 Corinthians 2.15, Paul writes of those who are being saved. Very same people that in another place, same letter, he says, have been saved. You are being saved. 1 Corinthians 1.18, the Word of the Cross to us who are being saved is the power of God. God has saved us. God is presently saving us. In what sense? In the sense of progressively making us more and more unto the moral image of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In the sense of progressively making us more holy progressively weakening the power of remaining sin within, progressively advancing us in love for Him, in glad-hearted obedience to Him, in conformity to His Son. He is saving us in the way of presently preserving us and keeping us and sanctifying us. And thus Paul prays with confidence, May the God of peace sanctify you entirely. He wrote to the Corinthians, you were sanctified. He prays for the Thessalonians in terms of this ongoing work of sanctification. May the God of peace sanctify you entirely. And then there is the future reference. While we have been saved, and are being saved. We will be saved. Romans 13 at verse 11. For now, Paul writes, salvation is nearer to us than when we believe. You'd have some reason to ask, how can that be? I have been justified. I am being saved. What do you mean, Paul? That salvation is nearer to me than when I believe? Hebrews 9, verse 28, Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation. 1 Peter 1.5, we read of a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. These texts refer to a salvation. a dimension of salvation, yet future, a salvation in connection with the second coming of our risen, exalted Savior. At the Lord's return, the wicked in wickedness will be finally and forever vanquished, and the righteous shall forever be with the Lord in perfected souls, joined to resurrected, perfected bodies. the very presence of sin and the final dimensions of the curse of sin are once and for all put away. Not only soul, but with reference to what sin has done to this dying body. That's how salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. Paul writes, our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. That's the future consummation of our common salvation. The truth that the salvation which is in Christ Jesus is a past deliverance, a present ongoing experience and a future hope, sounds a loud amen to the declaration of Hebrews 7.25. He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him. able to save completely, to the furthest extent of our humanity, the inner man, the outer man, able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him. Salvation in Christ is not some superficial, ineffectual, barely noticeable experience which leaves a man with a little bit of religious vocabulary, but still unchanged. That is not the salvation of the Scriptures. Rather, God's salvation ever distances the man in Christ from his sin. In the past, he broke with its power. He is now moving farther and farther from it, and his confidence the total removal of soul and body from its presence and its consequences. Salvation is a radically transforming work. Finally this morning, brethren, I leave you with this. If Jude would have gotten about his intent to write this treatise. Knowing his mind was informed by Paul's writings, and particularly Peter's, he would have certainly written this. God's salvation exclusively offered in Christ demands a response. Passivity, indifference, indecision, procrastination or unbelief relative to the saving work of Jesus Christ is, what we say proverbially, the last nail in your coffin. To remain apathetic. You young people, please listen. To remain apathetic. Unmoved. Determine that you're going to walk out of here and live for yourself and take your pleasures in the world and perhaps when you get old, remember Solomon, then you'll do some serious business with God. To have such a disposition when deliverance from sin, your mortal enemy, has been accomplished by the Savior and is freely offered to all who will believe, those kinds of attitudes are as foolish and deadly as if you were a drowning young person, refusing that life preserver offered to you. What kind of folly would it be? If you're going down for the last time, have you ever had water in your lungs and you thought you were drowning? In a certain way, it's a good experience. It's a good experience to know what it's like to be in the midst of dying. My son has told me on several occasions what it was like to have water in the lungs, and realize you're helpless, and if someone does not rescue you in a few moments, you're dead. He had that experience on several occasions. And in your sin, that may well be your experience now. What kind of folly would it be for one to come and offer you, throw to you that life ring, And as you're choking and gagging and dying, you're not interested. You think of an everlasting hell and what sin has wrought and the gracious overtures of the only one can spare you from drowning in the lake of fire for eternity. And you tell me, what kind of folly is it to procrastinate and to go down that last time in your sins? And the fact is, and you know who you are, there are some of you young people whose hearts are in the world. That's exactly what you're doing. You know who you are. The life ring of the gospel has been thrown. You're drowning. Impenitent. Self-forsaking. World forsaking. Life-forsaking faith. We bid you this morning take hold of that life ring. And you don't take hold of it by some little word game, by parroting some little few words of prayer. No, you take hold of it in the midst of the Spirit giving you a view of who you really are. Seeing your moral ugliness. Seeing the evil of spurning the Son of God. That's the consummate evil of all humanity. As you see yourself, in penitent faith, you are done with yourself. No more hope of saving yourself by a bunch of Sunday religion. No more hope of saving yourself by a few little external displays of morality. No, you're done with yourself. And you lose your life for His sake. That's penitent faith. A whole soul embraced. of a whole Savior who is your prophet, who is your priest, who is your king, who is your Savior, who is your Lord. A whole Christ embraced by the whole soul in a penitent, self-forsaking faith. That's the response. that the Gospel demands, and nothing less. No three steps to heaven. Pray this in your inn. Forget it. If any man will come after me, what follows are the words of what faith is all about. Let him take up his cross. What did you do on a cross? You died on a cross. You died a self. Deny himself. and follow Me." Penitent, self-forsaking, self-abandoning faith. That's the demand of the gospel. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, we could have wished Jude had opportunity to finish what he had intended. We could have wished that if he did finish it some later date, it was canonized. But whether it was or the fact that it did not happen is really a moot point, because we have the testimony of Scripture from which the man would have drawn. He would have written of the mortal enemy of sin, of man's helplessness in sin. He would have written of a gracious, willing Savior. He would have written of the demands of response to the salvation that Savior accomplished and freely offers to all who will believe in Him. There's more we could say this morning. We're going to leave it at that. And pray that this common salvation would be shared by a few more who are even in our midst, who are yet drowning. Father, we thank you that you have given us a common salvation to sound to our generation. And Lord, even as it is mocked, even as it is scorned and spurned, renew our confidence that salvation in Jesus Christ is the remedy needed by sinners. Lord, we pray this morning that if there are yet in our small company those who have heard of this common salvation, who have even testified that it has been experienced by fathers and mothers and friends, Lord, we pray this morning that you would come in power upon their hearts That You would come and disturb them in their lethargy. That You would come and alarm them in their indifference. That You would come and impart to them a sense of urgency in their procrastination. And Father, that they might once and for all flee in penitent, self-abandoning faith that they might embrace Christ as their Deliverer of all that sin has done to them and in them. And Father, that they might be new creatures in Christ Jesus. Lord, may we sound with glad and confident hearts This salvation wrought by God the Son, the week ahead in our dealings with others in the everyday affairs of life, may the message of our common salvation be upon our lips. We pray this morning with confidence in our crucified Savior who was also bodily risen raised from Joseph's tomb, ascended, enthroned at your right hand. We pray in the hope of the promise of His second coming. Amen.