Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called Beloved in God, the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet, in like manner, these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires. They are loudmouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in the most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. and have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire, to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever, amen. Please be seated. Father, we come to you, and we come to you praying that and knowing that you are faithful to feed us. And we do not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God, by the Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so, Lord, we come to you hungry. We come to you knowing that our hunger will be satisfied. We come thirsting for righteousness, and only you can provide the very thing that we thirst for. And so we come now, Lord. We come now to be fed, and we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. So please open your Bibles to the Epistle of Jude. You may recall it's been named the most neglected book of the New Testament. And previously, we examined the first half of the greeting, which is Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James. Now your translation may say servant, it's slave. Jude is talking slave, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James. He is the brother of Jesus, but he's not playing that card. So his mother is Mary, his father is Joseph, but he wants people to know who he is without playing the Jesus card, so he says brother of James. And James is the brother of Jesus. Jude being brother of James makes him brother of Jesus. So he wants them to know who he is, but more than that, he wants them to know whose he is and whose he is as Jesus. And so he says, I am Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James. And I made it very clear, if you didn't remember anything, there was one thing for you to remember. If you didn't remember anything else last week, and that's where true freedom can be found. And true freedom can only be found where? As a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where Jude starts. Because when we get to verse 4, now, though Jude wants to talk about the common salvation, he has to he finds it necessary to write to them to contend for the faith. Because as he's writing to the faithful, he knows that there's fakes among the faithful. Those professing Jesus, but denying him. Professing him with their talk, but denying them with their walk, and it's not new, and it'll take us on a history lesson. Today we look at the second half of the greeting, which is, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Now this greeting is more than a greeting. This is more than a hello. This is a deep, rich theology a beautiful truth. And we will look at it being a message to and a multiplication of. A message to and a multiplication of. A message to those called, beloved, and kept, and a multiplication of mercy, peace, and love. And not only mercy, peace, and love, but mercy, peace, and love to you, if you're a believer. And it's all built on a foundation. and the foundation that it's built on is the everlasting foundation of God's love, which ironically, Jude is finding it necessary to write about because this everlasting foundation of God's love to the faithful, the fakes that are amongst the faithful are perverting that very love, which is to say it's no love at all if it's perverted. Now, Jude's greeting encapsulates within it the teaching of the perseverance of the saints. Some of you have heard of that, some of you haven't. If you haven't, you will learn the perseverance of the saints. And he does it here in the greeting in the form of a benediction. And then he re-expresses perseverance of the saints at the end in the form of a doxology in verses 24 and 25. So what the commentators would call this, starting with this doctrine and then ending with the very same doctrine at the end, it's referred to as an inclusio. You know, that's like a $50 word. But it's to say that in the message, you have bookends. What it starts with, what it ends, and then you have the message in the middle. the bookends, you know, or sometimes it's referred to in inclusio as an envelope, that which is the message is put into. And so this message about the fakes is put into this envelope having to do with God and Christ and His glory. But I think where that definition falls short is that if you have bookends, the bookends really aren't the important thing, it's the books in the middle that the bookends are holding. And the same thing with the envelope. The envelope, while it's functionally necessary and serves a purpose, the real thing is the letter that's inside it. But the point here, when we look at the inclusio, is actually the opposite. In other words, the envelope is more important than the letter in the envelope, and the bookends are more important than the books between the bookends. The most important message is the first two verses and the last two verses of Jude. Because without that, the other verses in the middle, on their own, are a situation where there's no hope without how it starts and how it ends. And that's why Jude begins and ends his letter this way. So, with that in mind, let's continue our journey through Jude and take a closer look at this greeting and the wonderful truth it contains, beginning with a message to. Let's see who it's to. We know who it's from, Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James. But it says it's to those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. So the letter doesn't name the specific audience. However, God has graciously preserved the letter sovereignly in that, even though there is an original audience that we don't know, that's not really the important part. The important part is that it's not only for whoever the original audience is, but it's also for us here today. A message to those called. Let's start with those called. So he's not referring to everybody. This isn't a letter to anybody and everybody. It's to a limited group. To those called. And we're gonna dig deeper into this, but I'll just put it right up front. This call would be referred to as the effectual call. the effectual call, not just an external call or an outward call. You know, when you call for volunteers, that's an external, outward call. And out of 100 people, 10 volunteer. So you had an outward call to 100 people. The 10 that volunteered, that was an effectual call to them. They actually signed up. So there was a call to everybody, but only 10 came forward. It was effectual for those 10. So the outward call goes to many. The effectual call inward goes to a chosen few. There's a good example of this. I want you to stay in Jude. while at the same time going over to Acts 17. Acts 17, 30, we get a good example of the call and it being outward and inward, external and effectual. Acts 17, 30. Which reads, The times of ignorance got overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he's fixed a day on which he'll judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, we will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with him. So we see an example of the outward call to a mixed group. And within that group, some mocked him, Some said, well, we'll hear you again about this. And some joined him and believed. Some rejected it outright. Some questioned it without fully rejecting it, but not fully receiving it. And others fully received it. In Matthew 22, 14, Jesus said, many are called, but few are chosen. And in that example, you had the same message going to all the people who heard it, and yet not all believed, some believed. For some, it was effectual with an inward call, not just the outward. And so that brings up the question, what makes the effectual call effectual? Because this is a letter to those who are called. Now, as we continue in this message, this is the part of the message that we'll spend the most time on, to those called. And we've got to cover four bases here, and we're going to invest our time in it. The first is, who chooses who? And then we're also going to have to look at when does it happen and why does it happen, this choosing. Who chooses who? So, let's start at the top. In the effectual call, there's the gospel. We saw that in Acts 17. you have men who believed. And on a surface level, as you're looking at that crowd, you have some who chose to reject. You had some who chose to think about it a little bit more. You had some who said, I'm choosing to believe what I heard. So does man choose God? Is it man's will? Is it man's goodness to be able to discern what's been put before them and then say, yes, I agree? Or Does God choose man? Is it actually God's will? His sovereign power? That's the first question. Who chooses who? And we're going to jump right to the point here. In John 15, 16, Jesus said, you did not choose me, but I chose you. You didn't choose me. I chose you. Stay in Jude, but now move to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, and we're going to look at verse 4. Who chooses who? In 1 Thessalonians 1.4 it says, For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you. Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. So first of all, God is choosing here. He has chosen you, and they're saying, and we know it because it was effectual. It was effective. And here, in verse 5, you can see the signs of an effectual call. Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. So the call is the gospel. If there's no gospel, there isn't a call to begin with, whether it's ineffectual or effectual. It comes from the gospel because the gospel is the power of God to salvation. Though it's foolishness to those who are perishing, it's the power of God to those who believe. And this is a description of the effectual call. Now, if you were to reverse engineer this, to where Paul was talking to those who weren't unconverted but they heard the gospel, verse 4 and 5 would read something like this. For we know, brothers, you're not loved by God, that He hasn't chosen you, because our gospel came to you in word only, with no power, not by the Holy Spirit, because there's no conviction. Man choose God, or God choose man? God chooses. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13, it says, listen to this, we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you. He chose you as the firstfruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in truth. To this He called you through our gospel." So the call is through the gospel. That you may obtain glory, the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what Charles Spurgeon had to say about all this? He says, I am certain that if God had not chosen me, I would never have chosen God. God doesn't look for someone who's going to choose him. I'm looking. Is someone going to choose me today? Let me monitor this. Oh, that person's close. Are they? Are they not? I don't know. Maybe they will. God isn't searching for that. It's not going to be found. There is no one who's searching after God. And we could have a seven-hour sermon marathon right here, right now, going through all those verses. And while I'd be willing to do that, I'm sure that'd be too much for this time and place, so I will restrain myself. But in Romans 9, 16, it says, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. On God, not man. In Luke 13, 23, someone asked Jesus, will there be many that are saved? How many will be saved? Will it just be a few? And Jesus said, strive to enter the narrow door. Many, I tell you, will seek to enter and not be able to. Another example of an effectual call is in Luke 8. I will have you turn there while holding into Jude, Luke 8. I think I may have said 18. Luke 8, 49. In Luke 8, 49, we see a dead girl who Jesus commands to rise. In verse 49, it says of Luke 8, while he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, your daughter's dead, don't trouble the teacher anymore. Because the girl's father came to Jesus in order to heal her. because she was dying. And now the news comes that she's not dying, she's dead. And Jesus, on hearing this, said, do not fear, only believe, and she will be well. And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him except Peter and John and James and the father and the mother of the child. And they were all weeping and mourning for her. But he said, do not weep, for she is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him, knowing she was dead. But taking her from the hand, he called, saying, Child, arise. And her spirit returned. She got up at once. And he directed that something be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed. And he charged them to tell no one what had happened. So he comes. And there's this dead girl. And Jesus commands this dead girl to rise. He calls to her to rise. He commands her to do something that she can't do. I mean, on a number of levels, we would think and say, well, that's kind of cruel. She's not able to rise, and you're telling her to rise. But then the Spirit enables her to move from death to life. And she does rise. And she does take food to eat, as she's directed to. She freely rose. She freely took food. She made that choice. But here's the point. It came after Jesus' call. It came after. Her choice isn't what caused her to rise from the dead. Do you understand that? Her choice reflected life that was already given to her in the first place. Her choice wasn't the cause of life, it was the evidence of it. And Jesus calls this dead child to rise. The thing that she can't do And it's effectual, it actually happens. And the method that he uses to have her do the thing that she can't do is to command her to do the thing she can't do, causes her to do that very thing. The power of God. God chose what to do. And we respond. All effectual, not man. God does the choosing. Jesus chose to do it. And God does the effecting. Bringing about the very thing that he commanded. So God does the choosing. Now it's the when. Now's the when. When did God choose? When was the choosing done as to who would receive the effectual call? In Luke that we just read, Jesus made a decision that he was going to go there and he knew what he was going to do. He knew he was going to call. So clearly there was some pre-planning, some pre-intention of what he was going to do before he did it. Right? So when did he make the decision to, at some point in the future, make that call? We're going to go to Romans 8.28. Your fingers should be warmed up now. Still hold your spot in Jude. But in Romans 8.28, when did God choose? Who would receive the effectual call? In Romans 8.28, It reads, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Okay, so we have the called here, and in Jude, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. Called, so those who are called, this would be the same audience that Jude is writing to, according to his purpose, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. Those whom He justified, He also glorified. So as you're looking here, those who are called, there's something that happens before they're called. A decision is made and it's the word predestined. God pre-planned what he was going to do. Sometime before the call that's effectual, he decided that he was going to do it. Now, let's work through this for those who are called, those who have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And perhaps you know the day or the time frame, but as you're thinking about that for yourself, maybe it was a year ago, five years ago, 20 years ago, whenever that was, and the call was effectual through the preaching of the gospel and you repented of your sins and put all your trust in Christ, the only one who can save, and it was effectual for you, the question becomes, when did God choose you prior to that moment that that call would be effectual? When did God decide? So let's say it was on a Monday. How far in advance did God decide to do what he did? Was it Saturday over the weekend and he thought, you know, this is a good thing to do on Monday. I'm going to make the call effectual for this person and this person. I mean, was it pre-planned a couple days before the actual call was effectual? Maybe a week before, a month before, a year before, a decade before? How far back does this go that God had it set that this is what He would do? And in Ephesians 1-4 it says, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. And this is more than just heaven. Everyone wants heaven, but we get to heaven through holiness and blamelessness, which can only come from God. And before the foundation of the world, we were chosen, that's how far back this goes, chosen to be at the end of Jude in the doxology, the one who's able to keep you and present you blameless, with great joy. So the win is before the foundations of the world. In 2 Timothy 1.8, it puts it this way, Don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor me, his prisoner, but share in the suffering of the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ, when? Before the ages began. Which is to say, before time existed. and before time existed, what you got is eternity. When did God choose? Well, He's never not chosen. He's never not chosen. There wasn't a time that He ever went from, should I make the choice to, yep, I'm making the choice. It's always Always, eternally in God. That's why it says we're not only chosen by God, we're chosen in God. The God who's eternal without beginning and end. So this is without beginning or in choice that you have been chosen. You've never not been chosen. Do you understand? Never not been chosen. And because you've never not been chosen, never in the future will you have take backs. What a great God. So who chose? God chose. When did God choose? He never not chose. And that brings us to, well, why? Why did God choose who He chose? What's the basis of His choosing before the foundation of the world? And this is where This is where some Christians will try and backdoor, despite everything we just said, they'll try and backdoor that it has to do with man's will and ability. And it's like, well, how would they do that? Buckle up. Is it man's will? No. Is it God's will? Yes. We've read in the verses it's based on his purpose and his calling. In Romans 9, verse 11, we have the comparison between Rebekah's boys, the twins, Jacob and Esau. And though they weren't born yet, Paul writes, neither had done good or bad. And the reason is that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of their works. They weren't born. but because of him who calls. That's the why. Because of him who calls. And it's written, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated, before anything happened. Before anything happened. So the why, why did God choose who he chose? Well, it's not based on works. It's before people are born. It's because of him, and it's because of his purpose. But this backdoor comes into play because some will say that God look through the quarters of time to see who would choose him. He looked into the future. He's God. He looks into the future to see what would happen. And what he sees happening is some choose him, some don't. And the ones that choose him, he then chooses by looking ahead into time. But you see the problem with that? The first problem is that means that There was something God didn't know, and he had to look through the corridors of time to figure it out. In other words, he didn't know who would or wouldn't choose him until he looked at the film. And then seeing that, then he chooses. And it's a fancy way of saying, and reversing the scripture, And somehow, is Jesus really going to say to the disciples, I haven't chosen you, but you've chosen me? No, not at all. But people want to get God off the hook. They want to get God off the hook because this is controversial. God doing the choosing creates a lot of questions that people do not want to deal with them. And we're going to deal with them here this morning. As a little kid, I remember wanting to watch my cartoons in the early 70s in the afternoon after school. And they were preempted by all these old people arguing about something. And I kept hearing the word Watergate. And plenty of you are too young to know what I'm talking about, but it just rupted my cartoons in the afternoon. I was like seven. I was getting out of first grade and doing that. But it was on over and over again. And we only had like three channels back then, 1972. And over and over again, I kept hearing what the investigators want to know is what the president knew and when did he know it. And this is an issue here where God is on trial for being unloving. What did God know and when did He know it? And the answer is, what did God know? Everything. When did He know it? He always has and never hasn't. In Isaiah 46, I'm going to have you turn there. Isaiah 46, verse 8. With that in mind, what did God know and when did He know it? Isaiah 46, beginning in verse 8. Remember this and stand firm. Okay, don't forget this. And don't back down from this. Stand firm. Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, there is no other. I am God, there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, I will accomplish all my purpose, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country, I have spoken, I will bring it to pass. I have purposed, I will do it. So why did God choose who He chose? According to His purpose, according to accomplish what He wants to accomplish. And this whole looking through the corridors of time to see what happens makes God passive. It makes Him passive. He doesn't know what's happened, He has to see what's happened, to learn what happens. That is not our God. He declares the end from the beginning. He says, I've spoken, I will bring it to pass. He doesn't say, I kept my mouth shut, and then I looked to see what would happen, and then I remembered it. I have spoken. I will bring it to pass. How does an author know what's in the book that the author wrote? Now, you may read the book, and you know everything that's in the book. Why? Because you read the book. And you may read it over and over and over again, but ultimately the reason you know what's in the book is because you read the book. You went from not knowing what's in it to knowing what's in it by reading the book. That's not the same thing with the author. The author knows what's in the book because the author wrote the book and God has written this book. He doesn't need to read it to figure out what's in it. He's omniscient, he's all-knowing, he doesn't have to look through the corridors of time to learn what happens. He created the corridors of time in order to have what he decreed happened, happened. Time submits to him, not the other way around. This is a message to those who are called. It's to those who chose God, but only because God chose them first. But it's not only a message to the called, it's a message to those who are beloved. To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. Not just loved by God, but loved in God. And just like we didn't choose God, We did, but only because he chose us first. There was a time where I went from rejecting God to choosing God, and I truly chose God. But what I didn't understand at the time, it's because he chose me first. That's the context to understand. And I went from a time of not loving God to loving God. But the greater context in 1 John 4, 19, we love God because He first loved us. We choose God because He first chose us. We love God because He first loved us. And Jude is writing to those who are called, effectually called, beloved in God the Father and are recipients of His permanent love. In Jeremiah 31, it says, I've loved you with an everlasting love. This is the foundation of the effectual call. And it's the foundation of the next piece, which is being kept for Christ. This is the key part. We're not only beloved by God, but we're beloved in God. So not only is the choice a forever choice, so is the love an eternal without beginning and end love. And that's the basis of this call to those who are the elect, to those who are his. You are loved. You are loved. God foreknew you. And remember, God knows all things, and he's always known all things. So he's always known you, he's always known this choice, and this choice has always been on an everlasting love. beloved in God the Father. And it's not only a message to the called and to the beloved, but also those who are kept. To those who are kept. Now, if you want to geek out a little bit with the original language, it's a perfect participle, meaning the kept is kept continually, never ending. kept for Jesus Christ. This is the perseverance of the saints. And if you're not familiar with perseverance of the saints, a simple way to explain it means that, first of all, you're a saint, not a sinner, because of Christ's work and belief. You are now a saint. You have been saved. Perseverance of the saved. It means that God keeps those whom he saved. God doesn't save, you know, like catching a fish and then it flops out of the boat. The fish was caught, but it wasn't kept. Everything that God saves, he keeps. He perseveres. There's a perseverance of the saints. And some will look at perseverance of the saints and think, well, I need to persevere. And the scripture calls us to persevere. But the perseverance of the saints in Scripture is on the foundation of God and His eternal love. Which is to say it this way, those who are saints will persevere. But the question is why? Those who are saints will persevere because God makes sure they persevere in the faith. Those who are saints will persevere in the faith because God makes sure that the faith will persevere in them. And in Jude, we'll go to verse 24, that inclusio, the doxology at the end. We're talking about keep, right? It's to those called beloved in God the Father, kept for Jesus Christ. And then in verse 24, now to him who is able to keep you. It doesn't say, and now to you who is able to keep you. You can't keep you. You can't. But there is one who is able, him. He is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. And again, we're not only kept for Jesus Christ, we're kept in Jesus Christ. So, Christian, you're not only loved by God, you're kept by God, for God, the safety and security. First Thessalonians 5.23, listen to this. It's the benediction that I use regularly. It's the one that'll be used today. And a benediction is a blessing. It may be spoken by the pastor, but it's from God to his people. First Thessalonians 5.23, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless. Kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. You know, if it was up to me, I surely couldn't do it. And we're going to be kept blameless until Judgment Day. That's the day That'll be the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it'll be complete, a complete keeping. Our whole spirit and soul and body kept blameless. You know, Jesus puts it a different way in John 6, 37. He says, all the Father gives to me, I will never cast out. It's sort of the negative way of saying keep. I will never cast out. Meaning I will always keep. Keep continually. It's amazing. In John 17, you have Jesus' prayer, his high priestly prayer. Listen to this section of it. I'm in verse 9. Jesus, praying to the Father, says, I'm praying for them. I'm not praying for the world. So his prayer isn't to everyone, just like Jude's letter isn't to everyone. It's to those who are called, beloved in God the Father, kept for Jesus Christ. That's not everyone. And here, this prayer is not for everyone. Jesus says, I'm not praying for the world, but I'm praying for those whom you've given me, for they're yours. All mine are yours. All yours are mine. I'm glorified in them. I'm no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I'm coming to you, Holy Father. Keep them in your name, which you've given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. And so Jesus, in his prayer, he's praying that they would be kept. You remember Jesus talking to Peter? He said, Peter, Satan desires to have you. He desires to sift you like wheat. And Jesus says, but I have prayed for you. Despite all that's happening and coming at it, protected, safe, secure, kept continually. So from all eternity, God the Father has decreed exactly what will happen. God the Son accomplishes the decree, and God the Holy Spirit applies what the Son accomplished and seals it. And so, Christian, we are signed, we are sealed, we are delivered. This is a message to those who are kept. And we end with the last point, it's a multiplication of. a multiplication of mercy, peace, and love multiplied to you. If you're one of the called, this prayer is to you, this benediction is to you of mercy, peace, and love. And it begins with me, which means it's directed to God. Jude doesn't have mercy, peace, and love that he's the author of. He's received it and he can pass it on, but the ultimate source of mercy, peace, and love is God. And notice he doesn't say, may mercy, peace, and love be added to you, but instead it's multiplied to you, which gives us a sense of it being unending and unlimited. And this is a prayer that's needed to strengthen this church because of the apostasy that's in the church. You know, it's disheartening to see a world that's gone and is headed toward hell. But can you imagine dealing with that within the church? You expect it there, you don't expect it here. And so they need this. We all do. It's a multiplication of mercy. We're called in scripture to be merciful just as our Father in heaven is merciful. And they could only stand up to these fakes and these false teacher by God's mercy. A multiplication of mercy. And that leads us to peace. True peace only comes from mercy. God having mercy on us brings us to peace with him. And Jude prayed for peace because there was so much division over what's right and wrong, all this strife that was happening. And Jesus said that he gives us peace, not as the world gives peace. The world gets peace through compromise. True peace comes from not compromising and standing with the truth. And this mercy that brought us peace was demonstrated on the cross. That's why you see the scriptures, Jesus is our peace. And we have peace with God through Christ. And that peace should reign in our hearts, not any peace, but let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, the scripture says. But not just the multiplication of peace and mercy, but also love. And we're beloved in God the Father, and from that foundation, this love continues to go on and on without ending. Though God is from everlasting to everlasting, we are finite, and his love that's bestowed on us, we need those new mercies every day. And this group needs to grow in love because they're dealing with imposters who only love themselves. And they need the real deal, what love really is. And so the mercy that brings peace is on that foundation of love, a multiplication of love. Now apart from Christ, which would be the other group, not who this is written to. those who aren't called. Apart from Christ, there is no mercy. Apart from Christ, there is no peace, and there is no love. Isaiah 57, there is no peace for the wicked, says my God. And Romans 2, it says, because of your hardened and penitent heart, you're storing up wrath for yourself on the day of judgment, and there'll be tribulation and distress for everyone who does evil. Instead of mercy, peace, and love, there's gonna be war. Now, one objection we'll deal with as we bring it to a close. Someone rightfully may be thinking, if I wasn't chosen, if I wasn't called, if I wasn't loved, if I'm not kept, and it depends on God and not me, then how, how can God hold me at fault if no one can resist his will? Or, as the young children will say, and even the teenagers, not fair. Not fair. Paul addresses this in Romans 9.19, this very question. Some will say to me, why does he still find fault? Who can resist his will? But who are you, oh man, to question God? Is what's molded say to the molder, why'd you make me like this? Doesn't the potter have right over the clay to make out of one lump a vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God wanted to show his wrath and make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction, in order to make the riches of his glory known to the vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand through all eternity, for glory, even us whom he has called." So he had another reference to the effectual call there. He's dealing with that. Is God's calling an election not fair? Well, first we have to start off with mercy isn't mercy if it's owed. God, you owe me mercy. Well, then it's not mercy. You owe me grace. Well, then it's not grace. Mercy is not getting what you deserve, which is punishment. And grace is getting what you don't deserve, which is the reward of eternal life. And R.C. Sproul, I think, summarizes this very well. He says, when I think I'm unfairly hated, I then remember that I'm unfairly loved. See, everyone flips it around. And they start with, it's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair, and I get it, and I'm understanding, and I don't want to be flippant about it. There are legitimate questions there. But the premise is wrong. I'm unfairly hated. No, the real issue isn't that God would send people to hell, it's that anyone would be saved to go to heaven. In light of that, being unfairly loved, but they still wrestle. Final quote from Charles Spurgeon from one of his sermons dealing with this, and I think it's very helpful because this is a serious objection. Spurgeon said, now I'll ask a question. Is there anyone here this morning who wishes to be holy? Is there anyone here who wishes to be holy? Who wishes to leave off sin and walk in holiness? Yes, there is, someone says. I do. Well, then God has chosen you. God has called you. God has elected you. But another says, no, I don't want to be holy. I love my sin. Well, then why should you grumble that God has not elected you to holiness? For if God this morning had chosen you to holiness, you say you wouldn't like it. If you desire it, holiness, he's chosen you to it. If you don't, what right do you have to say that God should give you the very thing you don't want? Why should you trouble yourself about other people having what you despise? You don't like holiness. You don't like righteousness. If God's elected me to these things, has he hurt you by it? Ah, but some will say, I thought it meant that God elected some to heaven and some to hell. Well, that's a different matter altogether. You see, God has elected men to holiness. God has elected men to righteousness and through that to heaven. If you have a desire to have salvation, you are elected to have it if you desire it sincerely and earnestly. But if you don't want it, why should you object? Because God's giving to other people the thing you don't want. If you love these things, you're elected to them, and you may have them. But if you don't, why find fault with God when it's your own desperate will that makes you hate these things? Now, if you love these things, if you put all your faith in Jesus and he saved you, two things that you need to do. The first thing is, here's what you need to believe. You need to believe that you are called, that you are beloved, and that you are kept. And you need to believe that God's mercy, peace, and love is being multiplied to you. And we wrestle with whether we believe that or not. So that's what you need to believe, and here's what you need to do. What you need to do is, like Jude, look to Christ for your assurance, because those who are in Christ Jesus are safe and secure. And like Jude, you need to acknowledge that God alone is the source of that mercy, peace, and love. And like Jude, pray. Pray that God would multiply mercy, peace, and love to his saints. And pray that God would use you as an instrument of his mercy to further the gospel. Because the truth is, we're blessed people. And blessed people bless people. Blessed people bless people. And so it's from this position of strength, built on the everlasting foundation of God's love, that the saints are equipped to wage battle for souls, including those in the church professing a Christ and whom they have no part of. So the greeting's more than a greeting. You see that it's a deep, rich, beautiful truth? And so like Jude, I come to you as a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, one who is called, beloved, and kept, And I come to you and say to my brothers who are called, beloved in God the Father, who are kept, and say, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Let's pray. Father, help us to believe and help us to trust in your word, the everlasting foundation of your love. You are the one who's called us. You are the one who's loved us. You are the one who keeps us. You are the one who sustains us with mercy and peace and love that never ends and is multiplied and multiplied. You have truly blessed us with mercy's unceasing, Lord. And we pray that we would look to you and that we would have a mind, a mind that gives you all glory. a mind that realizes our salvation is completely based on you, and a heart for the loss that others would receive the blessing that we would receive by the power of the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen.