here tonight. We'll be in the epistle of Jude is where we're going to be embarking on the journey here tonight and I have been so richly blessed as I have studied this epistle for the most part for two weeks now and I must admit to you we're not going to get much farther than verse one tonight. Jude is such a rich epistle and it's got a good word for the church, a good word for us, and the time that we find ourselves So Jude and what I want to do is read the entire epistle so we can get the context and then we'll talk a little bit about it and then we'll get on in to verse 1. Jude in verse 1 says, 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 and 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 to exhort you that you 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 Lord 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 for 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, which contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a rallying 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 feast of charity, where 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 lust, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember for 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 lust. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit, but ye beloved, building up themselves 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, saved 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. speaking on this subject here tonight at church at war and we're looking in particular at the believer's identity the believer's identity bow with me as we pray father lordy thank you so much for giving us yet another opportunity to be together in your house Father, we are so thankful for your word that you have given to us. We are so thankful for those great men of God who you inspired to write what we have here today. And Father, now as we embark on this journey through this great epistle of Jude, Father, we pray that you would strengthen our church. We pray that as we are in the midst of a war, we pray that we would be found faithful. We pray that we would link arms and that we would fight this war together against the devil who is that roaring lion that is seeking whom he may devour. Father, this is a serious time. and I pray that we would be serious as we battle in this war. Lord, we love you and we thank you for your son. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. A church at war. Well if you look at the epistle of Jude, of course it was written by Jude. We're told that in the first part of verse 1 when it says, Jude the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. Now this Jude is not, of course, Judas Iscariot. Verse 1 tells us that this Jude is the brother of James. And you can go to Matthew chapter 13 and verse 55 and find that James is included in the list of the brethren of Jesus Christ. So the Jew that we are talking about is the brother of James. He is really the half-brother of Jesus, since Jesus had no earthly father. And most scholars that we would trust would date Jews sometime between 68 and 70 A.D. It was written, they think, right after 2 James. Peter. The location that Jude was penned is not known. Some think it could have possibly been penned in Jerusalem since James, who was Jude's brother, was the head of the Jerusalem church, but that cannot be known for certain. The context that Jude was written in is prominently made up of an apostate context. There was a prominent apostate presence in the church of the first century. Jude and 2 Peter, if you look at both of those, they have many similarities. If you look at 2 Peter, the overarching theme is the apostates are coming. But as we comb through Jude, what we will find is Jude will tell us, guys, the apostates are here. They have infiltrated the church. You must take them seriously. You must take up arms. You must fight. Now an apostate is defined as a person who renounces or recants their beliefs. In layman's terms, an apostate would simply be a traitor. An apostate would be a defector. And as we know from our study through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, the first century was full of these apostates. At this A point in time, if you think about where we're at in the first century, Christ is already condescended down to earth being born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life. He died that substitutionary death on the cross and was gloriously resurrected from the grave, defeating sin and death once and for all. The message that Christ taught is now being taken all around the world by the apostles and the early church. But this message, as quickly as it was taken to the ends of the earth, was attacked by these apostates. The truth of the gospel, it was constantly attacked from those both on the outside, we're talking about the Jewish works-based salvation system and all these pagan religions of the day, they attacked the gospel from the outside. But it was not only attacked from the outside, it was attacked from within by these apostates, by these insider traitors. who would either deny the truth of the scriptures or they would distort the truth so much that it had very little impact on the life of the church. And what was so bad about the apostates, you can identify, easily identify somebody that is without. But it's hard to identify those sheeps in wolf's clothing. So that's what made it so difficult to deal with these apostates. They are the cancer from within. They are the ticking time bomb that can wreak havoc in a church. So it's against this apostate field backdrop that we find the epistle of Jude written. And it's written to the church. It's written to us. And we must listen to what it has to say. A church at war. And we're looking at the believer's identity tonight in this series of messages. So the first thing we see as we consider the believer's identity, We see that the believers are identified as slaves to Christ. Believers are slaves to Christ. Look back to verse 1 of June. It says, June, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of Now the word servant in King James and in many other translations of the Bible does not do the original Greek word that is used for servant justice. The original word in the manuscripts, the early manuscripts for servants is better translated as slaves or doulos in the Greek. It's a literal slave. And if you think about a slave, a slave has no ownership rights. They do only what their master says, when their master says, how their master says to do it. Now I know the world, especially today's world, they get torn all to pieces when we start talking about slaves. But friends, I've got news for each and every one of us. We're all slaves to something. We're all slaves to someone. Turn with me to Romans chapter 6. It is so vital to see this in its context. Romans chapter 6, Paul explains this a whole lot better than I can ever. think about explaining the fact that we are all slaves to someone or something. And in chapter 6, he really starts to, in verse 16, really hone in to this concept. He says, starting in verse 16, Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey? Against servants would be slaves. Whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God bethanked that ye were the slaves or servants of sin. But ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity and to iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness and to holiness. For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. But what fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and become servants of God, Ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life for the wages in his death But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord So some of us here tonight. We are slaves unto righteousness Some of us are slaves to sin. Some are slaves to Christ, some are slaves to none other than Satan himself. All people everywhere are slaves. And that is no different now than it was during the first century from which this epistle was penned. And you better believe that those that lived in the first century knew what a slave was. If you do a little study, what you will find is in the Roman Empire alone, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 percent of the entire population were slaves. That means that anywhere from 5 to 10 million slaves lived in the Roman Empire. They knew all about slavery. Slavery was all around them. And this word slave is no stranger in the Bible either. In the New Testament alone, slave or doulos in the Greek, it is found 127 times in 119 different verses. the apostle Paul. He gladly considered himself a slave in Romans chapter 1 and verse 1 when he says, Paul, a servant or a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated into the gospel of God. James, Jude's brother, saw himself as a slave when he says, James, a servant of God, a slave of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said that he was a slave as well. In 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 1, Simon Peter, a servant or a slave and an apostle of Jesus, We could go on and on and on with example after example of great men and women throughout the Bible that proudly wore this title of slave. But sadly in most translations, doulos is simply translated as servant. And a servant is a paid laborer. But this is completely opposite of what a slave is. A slave is someone who is owned by a master for the brevity of their life. So biblically speaking, doulos is someone who is owned by someone else, not someone who is paid by someone else to do something. This is not an employer and an employee type of relationship. It is a master and a slave relationship. And just as Paul said in Romans chapter 6, all of us start out as being slaves to sin. But if we are here tonight and we are saved, we are no longer slaves to sin. Christ has redeemed us from that powerful grip of sin. He has broken that chain of sin that held us down. He has literally purchased us with his own blood. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, a well-known passage starting in verse 19, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Friends, our master, Jesus Christ, he purchased us with his own redemptive blood. And in this transaction, we pass from death and to life, from being slaves to sin, to slaves of righteousness. So therefore, we are to glorify God, glorify Jesus Christ, our master, both in our body and our spirit. We are to live as though we have been set free from sin and are presently enslaved to Christ. Sin can no more reign in our mortal body because we are no longer slaves to it we've been bought with a price that's why the great song says jesus paid it all all to him i owe sin left a what a crimson stain but he washed it white as snow we owe it all to jesus christ he gave himself in order to purchase us as his slaves to do his great work You see Jude, Jude gladly wore this title of a slave because his master was everything to him. Which begs the question for each of us, do we look to Christ as our master or our boss? There's a difference. Do we look to him as our master? or a boss. Do we serve Christ because of the payment that we get or the payment we can give? You see, the whole idea of being a slave to Christ, it sets the entire context of the epistle of Jude for the believer. It prepares the church for war. It empowers us. It strengthens us. It energizes us to serve our master at all costs, at all times. Any true believer will gladly identify themselves as a slave to their master Jesus Christ. Believers are first of all identified as slaves to Christ. Secondly, believers are beloved by God. They are not only identified as slaves to Christ, but they are beloved by God. Look back to verse 1 again. Jude, the slave of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father. I'd like to point out what the New American Standard reads In verse 1, the New American Standard reads like this, Jude, a bondservant, a little bit better translation than servant, Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called beloved in God the Father. So it reads, Beloved in God the Father, the New American Standard, whereas the King James reads, Sanctified by God the Father. And these are two in the same. We are sanctified or set apart by God the Father with His perfect love. It's His love that sets us apart. When you look at the original text of Jude, verse 1, the sentence structure reads, Having been loved. which is one word in the Greek written in the perfect passive, it is a perfect passive participle, which is derived from the well-known verb that we talk about a lot, agapao. which is divine love from God given to his people. Now, a participle in the Greek describes something that has happened to a noun in the past. And the perfect tense indicates a past action with continuing results. This is why the original text reads, having been loved. God's past action of love has continuing results in the present and into the future. It continually affects everything that we are, everything that we think, everything that we do is affected by the love of God. A past action that has present results that continues into the future. Prince, the love that Jude is referring to, it is an unprovoked love. And I say that because God's love for the elect is an eternal love that he and his omniscience decided to give to us, and it was given to us without any input from us. God did not look into the future and choose whom he would love because of a choice that we would make. Because left to ourselves, we would always make the wrong choice. We loved him. Why did John say? Because he first loved us. Turn with me back to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. I want to read verse 1. What a powerful I want to show what verse 1 says about this unprovoked love and it will help us understand just what kind of love that God bestows upon us who in no way, shape or form deserves His love. 1 John 3 and verse 1 says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." John says, behold what manner of love. That word what in the Greek It can be defined as saying, from what country? This is an alien type of love. John is saying that this love, it is outside of us. It is a love that we can't understand. It is a love that we cannot provoke. And God has bestowed this alien love, out of this world love, upon us. We can't call God's love down because we don't know where the love of God is because it's outside of us. He chooses who He will love, how He will love, to the extent that He loves us. them. It is a laser beam love originated in eternity past with God the Father that is and will forever be bestowed upon those who he has called into salvation in eternity past. So if we go back to our passage in verse 1 of Jude, Jude is identifying the recipients of his letter as being beloved of God or sanctified of God. Just think about what this meant in that day. And what this should still mean to the church, to us today that is currently at war. We are warring with the devil who is roaming around seeking those whom he may devour, but yet God loves us. We are warring with the deceiver, with a murderer, with a liar. but yet God loves us. We are warring with the world system that the devil has tried to put into place that tries to pull us away from God's perfect love. What Jude is reminding us all is that we had nothing to do with God loving us in the first place, so we don't have to worry about God ever stopping. He will always love the elect because God in His will has chosen to do so and there's nothing we can ever do that can separate us from this omnipotent and perfect love. So when we are in the midst of this war, His love will strengthen us. His love will hold us. It will encourage us to keep on fighting, to keep on keeping on until we breathe our final breath. To finish out this wonderful truth, I know we flipped to a lot of different passages, but let's flip to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Man do we have return here often what a wonderful chapter that this is Romans chapter 8 and I would encourage you if you struggle with Romans chapter 8 go to Romans chapter 9 and it will help you with the struggles that you may find in Romans chapter 8. But in Romans chapter 8, it's a familiar passage. But I just love how the Apostle Paul, he builds up to, in my opinion, the climax of the whole entire chapter, which is verse 37. He starts building up to that in verse 38. Romans chapter 8, in verse 38, as we consider the love of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? Is it Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again? Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? And then Paul asks, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. And then Paul says, nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. We are more than conquerors to him that loved us. Nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from this love of God. Friends, we are the beloved of God. Not only are we beloved of God, but we are slaves to Christ. And number three, we are secured by Christ. Secured by Christ. going back to our passage in verse 1 and we will see Jude bringing this out. He says, Jude the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Now, I love how the King James translated that last phrase that I read, preserved in Jesus Christ, because that's exactly what we as believers are. We are preserved in Jesus Christ. We are kept in Jesus Christ. We are secured in Jesus Christ. You see, If you remember the context of Jude, the apostates have infiltrated the church. They went from coming to the church to being in the church. And since they are in the church, the church must engage in this battle. This is a battle against the destructive heresies. Remember that workspace salvation of Judaism and the pagan idolatry and worship of those false idols. It is a battle against worldly pleasures and the destructive world systems. It is a dangerous battle that the church should never take lightly. But even though it's a dangerous battle, friends, it is a necessary one. The church must engage. The church must fight. We must take up the Word of God. We must do more than just hold the line. We must go on the offense. And no doubt there can be fear in our hearts as we enter into this battle. I mean, a lot of Christians will not even share the gospel, much less go into a situation to where they would have to go even further than the gospel. There's going to be fear involved, especially if you think about those from which Jude was essentially and initially written to. Some of them had been saved out of Judaism. Some of them had been saved out of that pagan culture, out of that pagan lifestyle. They knew how enticing and confusing and how destructive the heresies that they were fighting were. They'd been there. They had done that. They had walked down that road. But what Jude is reminding both them and us today is that we must not fear. He is reminding us that nobody can take away what God has given and Christ has secured. The saints will persevere, salvation cannot be lost, a believer will never go to hell, and a believer will never lose this war that Jude will call us to embark on in this epistle. Yes, we might lose some battles along the way. We may get some scars along the way. We may die in this fight for our faith like some of those great reformers did. But at the end, we will be victorious through Jesus Christ and His power. We can't talk about the perseverance of the saints without turning to the gospel of John. Gospel of John in chapter 6. I want to look at two passages. Two passages that John introduces to us. John chapter 6. And I want us to take particular notice to some of the absolute statements that he makes regarding his children. Words like all. Let's go to John 6 verse 37. John chapter 6 in verse 37. It says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me. that all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up against that the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. Everyone. And I will raise him up at the last day. The Jews then murmured at him because he said, I am the bread which come down from heaven. They were totally missing the point. And they said in verse 42, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I come down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day. That's an absolute statement that will come to pass. I will raise him up at the last day. Now flip on over to John 10. John chapter 10, find a couple of verses starting in verse 27. John 10 and verse 27, Jesus is speaking again. John 10, 27 says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, not temporary, eternal life, that they should never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. There's no question about it. Those who are chosen by God, those who are drawn by the Spirit and saved through the work of Christ will be eternally kept by Jesus Christ. They will be kept by the same power that saved them in the first place for all eternity. Edward Mote who was a great Baptist minister. He understood this when he wrote the hymn, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, a well-known song. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. But on what? On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is seeking sand. Verse 3 says, His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is my hope and stay. Verse 4, when He shall come with trumpet sound, oh and then may in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne." Out of all the truths that we find in the Scriptures, I don't find a more refreshing truth than to know that because Christ's righteousness has been imputed unto me, I will stand faultless before the throne of God. He will not see my unrighteousness. you'll see Christ and His righteousness and His blood that was imputed unto me. This allows us to fight that much harder. It gives us the energy to go that much longer. And it gives us this unbelievable intensity from which we will serve our King. This wonderful truth, it fuels us to never quit. It fuels us to never throw in the towel and it makes us impossible. impossible to surrender. Believers are secured by Christ. Believers are the beloved of God. Believers are slaves to Christ. And number four, believers are irresistibly called by God. They are irresistibly called by God. Look back to verse 1. Jude, the son of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called, and called. The fact that we are called is really the main thrust of the entire verse of Jude chapter one. It is the literal root of our identity tree in Christ. And I say that because if you look at the construction of the sentence in the Greek, what you will find is called is the main theme of the entire verse one. Without being called, we cannot be sanctified. Without being called, we cannot be preserved in Jesus Christ. Without being called, we are not saved. Verse 1 would be better read by saying, because you are called, you are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. It all starts with this irresistible call of God to salvation. This calling is a part of that wonderful doctrine of election. We don't have time to dive into that. Our pastor dived into that a little bit a few weeks ago, but I would like to point out that most Bible scholars call this calling an efficacious call. and that efficacious calling is the whole point of verse 1. It is the drive of the entire verse. Efficacious simply means an effective call or an effectual call. This is a perfectly productive call of God to us and to salvation. It is a call to salvation that is 100% of the time irresistible. All those who are called to salvation by God, yes, we are drawn by the Spirit, we are saved through repentance and faith, and we are eternally preserved by the omnipotent hand of our Lord. Now, the New Testament The New Testament speaks of two callings. You have this effectual calling, and then you have a general calling. This is a general call to salvation. It's an external call. That effectual call, it's an internal call. Now, this general call has been coined as the call of the preacher. It is simply a presentation of the gospel. This is what we do when we present the gospel to those of whom we are around. You will find this general call spread throughout the gospels. This is what Christ was talking about in Matthew chapter 22 and verse 14. He says, For many are called, but few are chosen. That's a general call. Many are called into salvation through the presenting of the gospel. Many, not all, are generally called to salvation. Many will hear the gospel proclaimed. But when that gospel lands on that hardened heart that Jeremiah 17, 9 says is deceitful, and above all things desperately wicked, it is not productive. That's where this effectual call, or this internal call to God and to salvation comes into play. It is necessary for salvation. And people do fall off the cliff here when they refuse to accept this doctrine. But do not miss what I say next. When you go back to the epistles, every single epistle in the New Testament, when they talk about a calling of God, it's talking about the effectual calling of God, this irresistible call of God unto salvation. Every single time in the epistles, it's an effectual call. And why is that? Because the epistles were written to Christians. They were written to us. They were written to the church. God has effectually called us unto salvation. God has awakened our dead heart through the new birth. Only Christians have been drawn by the Spirit to the well of life where we can take a drink of the water of life. and all of this calling happens without input from us. God doesn't ask our opinion. He didn't look down through eternity past and see what kind of decision that Josh was going to make before he called me into salvation. He called me to salvation in eternity past, not looking to any of my will or anything that I would do. Again, this is an alien It is outside of us, independent of us. This effectual call is a call, 1 Peter 2.9 tells us, out of darkness into the light. This effectual call is a call unto God in Acts 2.39. This effectual call is a call into fellowship with Christ according to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 9. This effectual call is a call of belonging to our Lord in Romans chapter 1 and verse 6. This effectual call is a call into God's kingdom and into God's glory in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 10. This calling is a blessing to the church, not a condemnation. This calling should be unity, not division. Just think about what this calling means to the church as we are currently fighting this war. Since we are effectually called by God, we cannot be defeated by Satan. This calling for the church is a calling to victory before the battle even begins. And that, my friends, is exactly why Jude, before he gets into this war that we must fight, that's why he identified us as the called. We're the called by God unto salvation, which puts us in a war with Satan. Believers are irresistibly called by God. We are slaves to Christ. We are beloved by God, secured by Christ, and we are irresistibly called by God the Father. So how is it that we can apply this message here tonight? There are several ways that we can go with this, but I believe all of us can first apply this message by having an application of thankfulness. We can be so very thankful. James chapter 1 and verse 17, a well-known verse, says, every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness. neither shadow of turning. Friends, if you think about our identity in Christ, it is one of those good and perfect gifts that comes down from the Father above. We must be supremely grateful that we are slaves to our Lord. We must be supremely grateful that we are not only slaves to our Lord, but we are loved by God with a love that can never be shaken, with a love that can never be taken away, with a love that never changes, it never gets hot, it never gets cold, it's not affected by what we do or do not do. We are the beloved of God, and for that, my friends, we must be so very thankful. and not only thankful because we are loved, but we should be thankful that we are eternally secure in Christ in a world full of fear from this destructive thing that happens at school, or this thing that happens at the mall, or the movie theater, or the fear of COVID, or whatever we're dealing with. It's all insecurities in this world, but not in Christ. We are secure. He has preserved us, and he will preserve us forever. We are secure in Christ, and for that we must be grateful. This should bring the maximum amount of gratefulness and thankfulness to us. We should be thankful, first of all, for our identity in Jesus Christ. And I believe the second way we can apply just verse one is we can apply this passage with an application of preparedness. Solomon says, Me and Mary talk about this verse often in Proverbs chapter 6, verses 6 through 8. Go to the ant, thou slugger, consider her ways, and be wise, which haveth no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. Oh, how we should be like the ant that prepares when the preparation time is at hand, and then when harvest time comes, they're in the fields. Friends of fields, they're white with harvest, and we must prepare for the battle. Prepare by seeking and receiving determination. In my opinion, this is just my opinion, Any choice, anything we do is 90% determination. We have to first decide to do something if we're ever going to do it. The 10% is just a simple ability. So we must be prepared to enter into this war. We must be determined that we are going to fight, that we are going to take up arms, that we are going to study the Word of God. We're going to read up and study up and pray up. and be prepared to enter into school this coming week, students, and present that gospel to your friends who you know are not saved. We must be prepared as we go into the workplace to share the gospel in whatever capacity that we can so that those may be drawn to the faith, and God will use that general call to salvation, and we will pray that he will effectually call them so that they will be saved. We must prepare for the battle. Remember, we do not battle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against rulers of this present darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Friends, our battle is not against the people. It is not against the government. Our battle is against that which we cannot see. So as we go into the classroom, as we go into our job, our workplace, as we go to the store, as we go into our home, go into our families, our enemy is not them. The enemy is sin. It's Satan. It's the world system that Satan has developed. So we must proudly take what we have. We must proudly take the gospel. We must proudly take the truth of the word and literally change the world one soul at a time. We must all prepare for the battle that is at hand. So when we look at a passage like this, the question is, how will we respond? How will we respond? Will we respond by cowering up or toughing up? Will we respond by running and hiding or standing and fighting? Will we be a part of the offense? We've always been on our heels on the defense. You know, life is short. It's so short. And what we do with every second matters. It's of an eternal significance. What will we do? Will we take up our cross and will we follow Christ and his plan and what he is predestined for us to do? Will we enter into this battle and be found faithful at the end. Now, with this, we'll pray. Father, Lord, we are so grateful for the opportunity to open up your perfect word. And Lord, we are so grateful, Lord, for the salvation that you have birthed in us. Lord, what a blessing it is to know that we are beloved by you, that we are called by you, that we are preserved by you, that we are protected by you. Lord, it's all you. It's all for you. It's all done by you. And we are so thankful for that. And Father, it's my prayer that each and every one of us that are in this sanctuary here tonight, we would leave with a determination. We will leave with a mindset that says, I am in the Lord's army. I am going to fight. I am going to be found faithful because I love my Lord. I love the one who has sacrificed everything for me. Father, I do pray if there's anybody in this sanctuary here tonight who does not know you as their personal Lord and Savior. Father, I pray that you would work a miracle in their heart. Father, I pray that you would draw them to salvation. I pray that they would repent of their sins and look unto your Son, who is the author and finisher of their faith, looking unto his perfect sacrifice on the cross, looking to his resurrection that defeated their sin and death once and for all and proved that he was your son. Father, I pray that they would call out to you to be saved. Lord, we love you so very much and are so grateful for every second that you give us to serve you. Lord, it's in your son's name that we pray.