This morning I call your attention to Jude verse 4. Before we read from the epistle of Jude, we'll read from page 59 in the back of the Psalter. Two articles, 15 and 16, rather lengthy, very important articles in our Reformed Confession. Article 15 of the first head of the Canons of Dort, what peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal and unmerited grace of election is the express testimony of sacred scripture. that not all but some only are elected while others are passed by in the eternal election of God. whom God out of His sovereign, most just, irreprehensible, and unchangeable good pleasure hath decreed to leave in the common misery into which they have willfully plunged themselves, and not to bestow upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion, but leaving them in His just judgment to follow their own ways, at last for the declaration of His justice, to condemn and punish them forever, not only on account of their unbelief, but also for all their other sins. And this is the decree of reprobation, which by no means makes God the author of sin." Notice this, the very thought of which is blasphemy. but declares him to be an awful, irreprehensible, and righteous judge and avenger thereof. Article 16, those who do not yet experience a lively faith in Christ, an assured confidence of soul, peace of conscience, an earnest endeavor after filial obedience and glorying in God through Christ, efficaciously wrought in them and do nevertheless persist in the use of the means which God hath appointed for working these graces in us, ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to rank themselves among the reprobate. but diligently to persevere in the use of means, and with ardent desires, devoutly and humbly to wait for a season of richer grace. Much less cause have they to be terrified by the doctrine of reprobation, who, though they seriously desire to be turned to God, to please Him only, and to be delivered from the body of death, cannot yet reach that measure of holiness and faith to which they aspire, since a merciful God has promised, that he will not quench the smoking flax nor break the bruised reed. But this doctrine is justly terrible to those who regardless of God and of the Savior Jesus Christ have wholly given themselves up to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh so long as they are not seriously converted to God. That's the confession we make. We read now from the word of God, which is the basis of our confession. Jude, the epistle, the inspired epistle of Jude. And you notice, at least my Bible has the note, general epistle of Jude. This is not written to a specific congregation or to a specific person, but to the churches in general. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Mercy unto you in peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not. But what they know naturally as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch, also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now, unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Verse 4. The word of God comes to us from verse four this morning, for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, our sermon this morning does, in its title, focus on the words that begin with the word, who, in the text, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. That phrase speaks of an act of God, long ago act of God, an act of God even before time, in eternity, ordaining certain men to condemnation. Right away, as we consider the truth of sovereign reprobation this morning, and the truth that God in eternity has ordained certain men to condemnation, we must avoid a misunderstanding. Hopefully it's not a likely misunderstanding here in the congregation. Nevertheless, let's not see Jude here, the inspired writer of this letter. Speaking of reprobation, for the purpose of instructing the church to look for and identify the reprobate in the congregation. Jude is not saying, let me give you a list of names, or maybe not a list of names, but let me give you the ability to go on a search party. to go on the hunt, to use maybe a magnifying glass to look closely at the individual members of the congregation, and then after you've examined them, determine that you know who the reprobate are. Notice that while Jude speaks of the presence of the reprobate in the church, he does not name names. He does not say to the churches in Ephesus, and Corinth, and Lystra, and Derbe, and other places, I'm going to name this man or that man and say, here are the reprobate, ordained by God unto condemnation in eternity, who are in the church. Even the apostles, and you may have noticed that Jude makes reference to the apostles, he's not one of them, but even the apostles could not and did not name names and identify their uprobate. Jude is not an apostle, he is a servant of Jesus Christ. That's noteworthy, he is a half-brother of Jesus, but he identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. And he recognizes that he cannot presume to be able to say, I can identify certain men as reprobate. God has not revealed that to me. He has not revealed the identity of the reprobate to the elders or the deacons or to anyone else in this congregation. And that tells us that you and I may never make any judgment about the eternal destiny of anyone's soul. That judgment belongs to God. And if we do speak of any man, and we will in this sermon speak of certain men by name as reprobates, that's only because of the clear testimony of God's Word. And as far as the revelation of the reprobate, well, that for us waits until the day of Jesus Christ. But there is not that reason that we identify them by name. There is a reason that Jude here speaks of the truth of reprobation. And let no one say here this morning, because we don't know specifically by name who the reprobate are, this is a truth that we don't need to consider. This is a truth that is unimportant for us to know. That is not the attitude of Jude or of the Holy Spirit who inspired Jude to write this verse in the Bible. Jude has a reason, and I want you to know that it's a practical reason for bringing this up in a general epistle to the churches. His reason is not abstract. His reason is not a mere intellectual curiosity on his part or on the part of the members of the congregation. He is not thinking when he pens this letter, well now, There may be members in the congregation, new members or older members, who have a curiosity about the eternal decrees of God. What is this election? And especially, what is this reprobation? And because people might have this curiosity, I'm going to write to them about that. You know, Jude brings up this truth in order to point out a reality. a very sad and very important reality that the members of the church need to know. That reality is that some of the reprobate are confessing, outwardly confessing members of the visible church of Jesus Christ. Some of them, may be born into the church. Some of them, and this is what Jude has reference to when he speaks of men who have creeped in unawares, they have snuck into the church. Some of them have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, liked from a natural point of view what they have heard about the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins, and have determined to attach themselves to the church. That happened then, and it is what can be expected today, too. We must live in the light of the reality that there are some who confess Jesus Christ with their mouths, and confess that they believe in the forgiveness of sins, but they do not truly believe in Jesus Christ. And that becomes evident when one carefully inspects their doctrine, what they really believe, and their life, the way that they live on a daily basis. So you have this reality in the church that there are people who say that they believe in Jesus, but they don't really believe in Jesus. And now Jude is saying to the church of Jesus Christ, this is profitable for you to know. This is for the benefit of the church to know that this is a reality. Not everyone in the visible church is elect of God. Not everyone in the congregation receives the grace and the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. To have genuine faith. And not everyone in the congregation receives the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit to turn away from sin and to live a new and holy life. We need to know this. Not to identify and then make a judgment and damn certain people in the congregation. But this is addressed to the true members of true faith in the Church of Jesus Christ for two very important practical reasons. One, to be aware of the danger, and two, to know what our calling is. The danger is that there are reprobate in the church, who the devil wants to use as an influence for evil. And beloved, we don't need to know who they are, but just the knowledge. Isn't this practical? Isn't this helpful for us to know? Just the knowledge that there are, in the visible church, those who do not receive the grace of God in His Holy Spirit, who do not hold the faith, the truth of Jesus Christ dear, who don't want to live according to that truth, it's important for us to know that they're there. and to know that the devil has a purpose under God's sovereign control, of course, to use them to attack the faith of the church and to attack the life of the people of God in the church. So that, and did you notice that here in Jude? These men may, in the beginning, creep in unawares. It's as if they sneak in through the back door. But the devil isn't content with that, just to have them in the back of the church He wants one day for them to be vocal and to be loud and to be prominent at the center of the church spreading lies and filth through their teaching and their life. It is because of that danger that the calling of the epistle of Jude found in verse 3 is earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Jude says, I wanted to write to you a letter of a positive theme about the common salvation, the salvation that is shared by all the saints in the church of Jesus Christ. But because I became aware of the danger of these evil men and their influence in the church, I am now writing to you about this calling. Live in the light of this truth as office bearers in the church. Live in the light of this truth as believers in the church. There are men who are devoted to evil, who will attack you. and who will seek to destroy you and the church of Jesus Christ." You understand then that Jude hasn't left off the theme of common salvation. He's writing for the sake of our common salvation. He's writing so that we will contend for the faith and so that we will enjoy the assurance that he gives in verse 24. that God will preserve us, that he will keep us from falling and present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy in heaven. God will do that. But now your calling is to be aware of this. These men, they're evil and contend for the faith. So, Beloved, yes, we do consider in the light of the Word of God this morning the very sober, very serious doctrine of sovereign reprobation. Not for the sake of idle curiosity that seeks to look into frivolous things. Not for the sake of an unholy delight in the condemnation of the souls of other men. but rather in love for the faith once delivered, that is, for the truth of God. In love for the glory of God and His sovereignty in salvation and in condemnation. And also for the sake of the knowledge of the salvation from sin that we share together as saints. We consider the truth God puts before us. God says, know this. There are some men Sovereignly, eternally ordained to condemnation. So we consider the truth of reprobation. Sovereign reprobation this morning. It's an eternal decree of God. Secondly, it is a just decree of God. And then thirdly, a sobering decree. In the King James Version this morning, we read that certain men before of old were ordained to this condemnation. And we could translate that literally this way. Certain men who were of old written into this condemnation. Certain men who were of old written into this condemnation. And what we learn from that is that there is a similarity in the way that the Bible talks about reprobation and the way that it talks about election. Now the point here is not to equate election and reprobation. Must not think that way this morning. There's a coordinate decree, an equal decree of election and reprobation in the mind of God. No, the great purpose of God, the great desire of God is the election and salvation of His people through Jesus Christ to God's glory and for our comfort. But now serving that, serving that is God's decree of reprobation. And I wanted to point that out already when we sang the Psalter number based on Psalm 41. It's a truth that makes us tremble. to think of God eternally appointing Judas Iscariot to condemnation. But then it's very clear for us when we think of that example that that condemnation of Judas, that appointment of him to condemnation, served the church, served God's purpose of sending Jesus Christ to the cross to pay for our sins. The decrees are not equal, but they're similar, and that helps us to understand reprobation. The scriptures, and now I'm putting, I'm focusing on the fact that this passage speaks of names written long ago. The fact that the scripture speaks of the, the fact is that the scripture speaks of the elect as those whose names are written down in a book. Philippians 4 verse 3 speaks of names, people whose names are in the book of life. That's the book of eternal life. The book of people who have been chosen by God to eternal life in heaven. And we're all familiar with the fact that the book of Revelation at least seven times refers to the book of life or to the Lamb's book of life. And there are certain people, the scripture says, definite people whom God knows whose names are written in that book. And of course, the idea is not that God literally has a book, but this is a reference to the mind of God, the eternal, perfect mind of God. He knows each one of these people by name. He'll never forget their names. He's chosen them in love, in Jesus Christ. unto heaven as their final destination. That's election. And that election is eternal. Revelation 17 verse 8 says that these names were written in the book of life from before the foundation of the world. And the assurance then, beautiful assurance, is that God knows those who are His, not because they're in a book, but because they're eternally in His mind. And the assurance is that heaven is certainly their final destination. This decree of God Described as God writing their names in the book of life, guarantees for them that when Jesus Christ comes, He will come. And when He comes, He will die for their sins. It guarantees that they will never be able to die without faith. God will infallibly give them faith, convert them to Jesus Christ. It guarantees that they will not fail. in that faith or fall away from that faith, but that God will preserve them in that faith until they arrive in heaven. And in the Judgment Day, Jesus Christ is going to say to them, according to Matthew, Come ye, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. When God wrote your name from before the foundation of the world, He prepared the inheritance of heaven from before the foundation of the world as your eternal home. Now the truth of reprobation is similar to that. did not in the book of life write down the names of everyone. He wrote down their names though in another book. That's what this text is leading us to believe. He wrote those names down long ago. Revelation 20 verse 12 tells us that in the judgment day there's going to be the opening of books in the plural. Yes, the opening of the Lamb's book of life, where the elect are written down. And there will be a book of all of the works, all of the deeds of every human being who ever lived. And God is going to judge everyone, not on the basis of, but according to their works. But in the light of Jude 4 here this morning, I believe that we can say there is also a book. that will be opened in that day where God has written down the names He has ordained to condemnation. It's not the book of life, but we may call this the book of death. The book in which God in his eternal hatred has determined that certain men will go to eternal death in hell. That's reprobation. And this is an eternal act of God. This passage speaks of it as an act of God long ago. And we can say on the basis of scripture that there is evidence of God saying in time long before a man existed that he was going to reject that man. But if it's true that long ago means in eternity God chose certain men unto salvation and heaven, glory. Then it follows that in eternity God chose some men to perish forever in hell. It's an eternal decree. That's what it means that it's sovereign. And it is an unconditional decree of God. We must contend for the faith here. We must contend for this truth of the Word of God that we confess as Reformed churches on the basis of God's Word. And we must contend for the faith by insisting that the truth is not that God on the basis of a foreseen stubborn unbelief on the part of a certain man, or on the basis of foreseen wickedness of life, said, now on the basis of that, I choose to appoint you to condemnation in hell. No, we must maintain, as we confessed, I hope you noticed that as we read the Canons of Dor, this is according to God's sovereign good pleasure, not according to what he sees in a man. That means that we must not point, for example, to an Esau and say, yes, of course, of course God appointed him to condemnation because, as Hebrews 12 verse 16 says, he was a fornicator and a profane person. And we must not point to Pharaoh, who is another example in the Bible of a reprobate man, and say, yes, of course God appointed him to condemnation. He, after all, hardened his heart against God, and he wouldn't obey the command of God to let his people go from Egypt. And we must not point to Judas Iscariot and say it's because of that horrible sin he committed of betraying Jesus. That's the reason. God appointed him to the eternal destiny of hell. No, we must not. make election bound by the actions of men in time. It's eternal, sovereign, free election. That's the testimony of Scripture concerning all of the men that I have pointed to you by example. The testimony of Romans 9 and of Genesis 25 is not that God waited until Esau was born and had done his evil worst, that he appointed him to condemnation, but God said, before he was born, Esau have I hated. And it's not. after Pharaoh heard the word of God and hardened his heart. That's not when God revealed that he rejected Pharaoh. But before Moses had left Midian and gone to the land of Egypt to appear before Pharaoh, God told him in Exodus chapter 4, I'm going to send you there and I will harden the heart of Pharaoh. God determined to reject him in his own sovereign hatred. And then there is the case of Judas Iscariot. Psalm 41 is referred to by the Apostle Peter in order to indicate that it's not after Judas betrayed Jesus Christ and then committed suicide that God rejected him, but God determined long before In the days of David not only, but long before that, even in eternity, that he would reject Judas Iscariot and appoint him to condemnation. So beloved, if we are going to be a church that maintains the faith, that is the body of the truth of God's Word, every point of doctrine, we must maintain this point of doctrine as well. We must maintain the truth of eternal and unconditional reprobation. No one can say, no believer can say, I am a true believer who takes the Word of God seriously. No church can say, we are a Bible-believing church, we take the Word of God seriously and deny this truth of reprobation and remove it, as many want to do, from the church's official creeds. Jude 4. Romans 9. But then I've also mentioned Genesis, Exodus, Psalm, and we could add to that the very beginning, Genesis 3. From the very beginning, the Word of God reveals this sovereign determination of God to appoint men unto condemnation when he was speaking to the serpent and he said, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to divide, I'm going to put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. And this is how the human race is going to be divided. by those who have been appointed to salvation and election, and those appointed to condemnation and reprobation. And this is the way it is all throughout history. That's the testimony of Scripture. There is logic. I appeal to that logic. I find that logic convincing. It stands to reason that if God in eternity has written certain men's names in the book of life, And he has not written the names of other men in that book of life, then God has appointed them to condemnation. If there are 20 people, then we say God has chosen 10 of them. And there are 10 he has not chosen. That means God has made a decision. Even if you want to say it in a sort of passive sense, he passed them by. Nevertheless, God has made a conscious decision. Those people will not be saved. They will perish. But the point is, We do not confess reprobation merely because it is the product of human logic. John Calvin thought of this. The writers of the canons of Dort thought of this. But because Jude tells us, long ago. In eternity, God wrote certain men into condemnation. If you want to identify yourself as a Bible-believing Christian, and as someone who truly believes in the sovereignty of God, God is sovereign. God is sovereign over against man in election and in reprobation. Then we must confess sovereign, eternal, unconditional reprobation. And let me say, before we move on to the justice of God in all of this, from a practical point of view, this sovereignty of God in unconditional election and reprobation is important for us in contemplating our salvation. God is not bound by man and we thank God for that in election. Who here wouldn't say this morning, I am glad that God has not determined that He is going to look for me to be worthy, and if He finds me worthy, then He will appoint me to salvation, because I know I'll never be worthy. Praise God that it's according to His sovereign, free mercy and grace. But we should thank God also that He does not leave reprobation up to man. If God said, I'm going to leave it up to you, to the reprobate. And if you should show yourself unbelieving and ungodly in your life, then I will appoint you to condemnation. Well then, I'd be left asking of myself, and you'd be left asking of yourself. If God is bound by unbelief and unholiness to appoint men to condemnation, then why should I not be appointed to condemnation? But when we hear that God is sovereign, and determining whom He will love according to His sovereign, free, good pleasure, and determining whom He will hate according to His sovereign, free, good pleasure. That assures us that God is sovereign, and that He is almighty, and that we may be certain of His love and grace in our salvation. But now in all of this, we do well to recognize that this is a just act of God. And I want you to recognize here that there is a distinction. Although the text does refer to God's eternal writing men down unto condemnation, reprobation, and to condemnation in the same phrase. Those are two different things. When we speak of reprobation, that is an eternal act of God's will, determining whom he will appoint to hell or condemnation. Hell, condemnation refers to the actual punishment of the wicked for their sins. And I want you to notice a difference here. What we cannot say this morning is this, God reprobated, God appointed people to condemnation because of their sin. No, we can't say that because God was free. He was free with regard to you and me, wasn't he? To determine that even though we deserve condemnation because of our sins, he was free to determine to choose us unto salvation. And the same is true of the reprobate. God was free. He could have chosen to love them and to save them, but he chose sovereignly and freely to hate them and to appoint them unto condemnation. But we can and we must say that God condemns people, that He punishes them, that He binds them in chains of darkness, that He takes vengeance upon them and sends them to eternal hell because of their sins. And here's the difference between the elect and the reprobate. Someday, someday you believe in Jesus Christ. Someday that means you are going to stand before the presence of God in the glory of heaven for eternity. And when you are there, and you already know this, don't you? You are never ever going to be able to point at yourself and say, I'm here in this glory because of what I have done. But you're only ever going to be able to point to God and to His Son Jesus Christ and say, all glory to God, I am here because of His grace in Jesus Christ. Well, the reprobate aren't going to be able to do that. They're not going to be able to point away to God. and say, I'm in hell because of him, and it's not because of me. No. God is not the author of their sin. God is not responsible. And I pointed you to the canon's phrase, the very thought is blasphemy, in order to indicate that there is something here that we might struggle to explain. How is God sovereign in appointing men to condemnation, determining not to give them grace, to leave them in sin? How is he sovereign in that and then yet not responsible for the fact that these men are sinful and guilty? There's something difficult there. But the answer that we must give is It's blasphemy to even think for a moment. We're not even going to think that. We're not going to allow that thought that God is responsible for the sins of men. And besides that, we can add that in hell, there isn't going to be any man who is going to be able to say, he made me do it. I didn't want to do it. He made me do it. All men sin willingly. And so God reveals, you cannot question his justice in sending men to hell. Men will know in hell. It's just. I'm here because of my unbelief and sin. Jude is showing us that here in this text. He speaks very sharply about the wickedness of these men. He calls them ungodly. And he says that they are men who turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness. And then he adds, and they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. These men are against God. They're ungodly. And he gives content to that when he says, they turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. These are men who claim to confess the truth of God's grace, but they turn it, they pervert it, they corrupt it. And they say, this wonderful truth that God freely and graciously forgives sinners gives a license to sin. And that was not only their teaching and their preaching, but they practiced what they preached, verse eight. calls them filthy dreamers who defile the flesh. They defiled the flesh. They lived according to the lusts of sin. There is a thought that these were maybe men who claimed to come to faith in Jesus Christ, but they held to a certain pagan belief or philosophy that said, What's good and virtuous is the inner man. The intellect, especially. Knowledge, that's what we need. That's good and virtuous. And then the flesh, the body, well, that doesn't really matter. What matters is that you build up your head in knowledge, but what you do with your body, if you pursue evil with your body, that doesn't matter. And they practiced what they preached. They sinned greatly in fornication, in pornography, in adultery, in perhaps even homosexuality, drunkenness, and all kinds of things. It was as if they were saying to people, we want you to take our teaching seriously. that you may sin and not take sin seriously because of God's grace. And so we're going to sin in as sort of egregious way as we can to try to prove it. Look, you can do these things and it doesn't really matter. And they were promoting then in the church the tolerant attitude towards sin. Don't be sensitive. to God's law when it's read. Don't be sensitive to the things that God's law condemns. And don't be so sensitive if you find that God's law touches sins that you have committed in your life because we believe in God's grace. And they claim they were teaching the truth of God, but Jude makes it very clear, no. They were denying the Lord and Master God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And what the church must preach, what Jude is preaching very clearly in the congregations of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, is that God is a righteous and a holy God. And He is a God who takes vengeance. And His vengeance is awful. He repays sin. No one must think that sin goes unnoticed by God, sin goes unrequited by God. God repays sin with the wrath of His holy justice. And the message to those who are impenitent of the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the true church of Jesus Christ is not this, because of those sins you reprobate. But the message is, know that God is a just and holy God. There is a hell. Be converted. Confess your sins and flee to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. The testimony of Scripture is that God is just in his vengeance or payback for sin, his condemnation. of sinners, but he is also just in reprobation and sovereignly appointing men to condemnation according to his own free will." I know I've said it before, but it applies here again this morning so that we may understand very clearly this truth of God's sovereignly, unconditionally appointing men to condemnation. The truth remains the same here as it was for election. God is God in election. That means he must not depend upon man. And when God says, it's not according to anything that I see in you, but according to my own standard of grace and love and mercy that I choose whom I will save, God is acting as God. He's acting justly. And the same is true when it comes to reprobation. God is not able to say to man, I'm going to leave it up to you. I'm going to depend upon what you do in responding to the gospel and what you do in your life to determine if I will hate you. But rather, when God determines for himself and says, I am God, I am God, and I freely determine whom I love and whom I will hate, and when I do that, God declares, I don't care if you men object. I don't have to answer those who deny, twist, or rise up and shake their fist in my face and deny my justice. I am God. I will do my will. And thus, when God, in eternity, from of old, wrote men's name down unto condemnation. He was acting as the eternal sovereign and righteous God. He doesn't depend upon men to make this determination. But He wants us to know of His sovereign decree appointing men to condemnation. And He wants us to know of His just judgment of sinners, to sober us. And first of all, beloved, let's be sober this morning. Sober, serious-minded in submitting to this Word of God that He wants us to know. There are many who want to be wiser than God. That's not sober-minded. Wiser than God in saying, this is a truth that we don't need to know, that we don't want to know. This is the sober-minded response of the believer. This is the Word of God to me. I must hear this Word of God. It must be preached, and I must strive to understand, to grasp this truth of God. And then let's notice too, this morning, in the light of Canaan's Article 16 of Head 1 that we read this morning, to say that this truth is sober does not mean that it's pious to have some kind of question about whether or not you belong to the rank of the reprobate as a child of God. Again, there are some who say that the fruit of preaching reprobation is that there will be true people of God who will have doubts about whether they rank among those who are rejected by God from eternity. But that's not the fear of Jude here, the servant of Jesus Christ, when he writes this. He doesn't say, I better tread carefully here. You know, maybe I should even leave this out because if I speak of this, there are going to be people in the churches, true believers who are going to fear that maybe God has appointed them to condemnation. No. The canons point out also, let's be sober minded. Maybe there is a season of less grace. Maybe there is And if you read the first part of Article 16 again, you're going to see that the canons do this. Maybe there's something in you that's the problem. An older minister, wiser minister, made this comment to me recently, and he was right in the light of the canons. It is true that there are people of God who do have questions about their salvation, their election, even begin to wonder, has God appointed me to condemnation and reprobation? But he said, if you as a pastor investigate that, you're going to find that there's a good reason for that. And he doesn't mean the good reason is that there's been a preacher who's been preaching the sovereignty of God in election and reprobation. He doesn't mean that the good reason is they read the word of God and found that God is sovereign in determining whom he will save and whom he will send to hell. No, what he meant by that was, and this is what the first part of the canons is saying, you may have a true believer who is spiritually lazy. He's not attending to the means that God has given so that we may be assured of our salvation. You find out he doesn't read the word of God, hardly at all, he doesn't pray. He's not very diligent in attending worship services of the church. And really the canons point to this in the fifth head, but we can bring it up this morning. Or it turns out that this person has been living like a reprobate. He's come under the influence of the world and of ungodly men outside in the world or maybe in the church. He's practicing not what the Lord preaches, but what they preach. And then the minister in the second part of Article 16 does make that clear, has to say, point the finger at yourself, be converted, confess your sin, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in true faith. That's the kind of sobriety that this Word of God leads us to. It also leads us to be very sober and serious-minded about God and His sovereignty. Do we believe it? Do we really mean it when we say that we believe in a sovereign God? Do we really understand how great God is? How glorious He is? Then we must confess election and reprobation, that God really did in all eternity determine my eternal destiny and the eternal destiny of all men. We will be sober too if we truly grasp this doctrine and serious-minded about what a gift of grace salvation is. We can never say it enough. I know that I've called your attention to it in a previous sermon, but let's say it again this morning. I am no more deserving of salvation than those who are appointed to condemnation and reprobation. All my salvation is due to the free, sovereign grace and mercy of God. Let us be sober-minded, serious about being a thankful and gracious people Thankful to God, but also gracious to others, to those even who are lost in sin. For the grace God has given so freely to us. But then finally, let's be sober-minded about contending for the faith. I have to be brief here. But I want you to notice that although there is room to emphasize that this is a calling to Me, to the elders, to the deacons, to the office bearers. Certainly the word of God warns the office bearers, don't be on the sidelines when it comes to the truth and to godliness. Don't be lackadaisical about watching over the souls of the members of the congregation and watching for those who may come into the congregation and need admonition, reproof, and maybe even excommunication. Contend for the faith. Exercise oversight and discipline over the congregation. Certainly, that's a calling, an emphasis that's in order. But Jude does not make a special call to the office bearers in verse 3. But he writes to the churches and to the members in general. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. As men, women, young people and children, no. God in His sovereignty, yes. But the devil under that sovereignty of God desires to put evil men and women in your life. Pray God it won't happen in this church, or in any other church that you may be a member of in your lifetime. But it may happen in the university, it may happen in a college setting, and it may happen in the church that you are a part of. But the devil will attempt to use some evil person, and you won't be able to identify them. This person's been appointed by God unto wrath and eternity, but he might use some evil person. Sneaky at first. barely able to detect the way that they want you to deny the truth of the faith. Barely able to detect how they are trying to make you less sensitive to the law of God as it applies to your life. Barely able to detect as they quietly whisper, here's a sin that you don't have to really be so sensitive about. God assures you, he will keep you. And He will present you in the presence of His glory with joy forever. But that doesn't mean that you lay down your sword. But rather, that's what gives you the assurance to pick up your sword. To contend for the faith. To say, I'm not going to be lazy, non-committal about the truth and godliness. But this truth is for me to know. To know the Bible. to know every doctrine, to know the Reformed creeds, to love them, to grow in them. And may God multiply mercy and peace and love to you and preserve you and preserve this congregation in contending for the faith. Amen. Lord God, bless this word to our hearts, that it may tend to increase our knowledge of Thy glory and Thy greatness, that it may increase our love for the truth, our hatred for sin, our holy fear of Thy wrath and Thy holiness. May it increase our assurance of salvation and our love for Thy grace and mercy. that we may be merciful and compassionate to others in our testimony to them of salvation from sin through Jesus Christ. Hear us for his sake. Amen.