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Well, a good Thursday morning to you.
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Hope your week is going well thus far.
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Today we're in the next to the last book of the Bible, the little book of Jude, and another one of those
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You can get through those pretty quickly, can't you?
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Second John, third John, Jude.
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The Old Testament, we're going to come upon, what is it, Obadiah or something in the Minor Prophets.
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These one -chapter books of the Bible are fun reads because you feel like you're
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making great progress very quickly.
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Well, today in this book I want to tie together Jude, verse 2, with verses 20
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Verse 2 is a tremendous encouragement, it's a blessing to God's people.
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Listen to what Jude writes.
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He says, I'm writing to those who are called, that is, they're the recipients of
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God's saving grace through divine election.
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God called them to himself.
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He says, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father.
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Now there's a difference of translation challenge there.
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Some of the manuscripts say instead of sanctify, they say beloved of God.
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There's not a great deal of ultimate difference between the two
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You're beloved by God, you're chosen unto him, you're set apart unto him.
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The word sanctified means you're set apart unto him, but whatever the case, you're called, that is, you're
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graciously chosen by God unto this blessed gift of salvation.
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You are set apart by God the Father, you are his beloved child who is
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his own, and then he says you are preserved in Jesus Christ.
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You are preserved, secure in Jesus Christ.
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That reminds me of what Jesus himself said in the Gospel of John, where he says, I have
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his people in my hand, and no man can pluck them out of my hand, and
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they can't pluck them out of my Father's hand either.
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I and my Father are one, we're one and the same, and I have my children in my hand.
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You are preserved in Christ Jesus.
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This is a tremendous blessing, this verse, to you who are in Christ Jesus.
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God has graciously called you to himself, he's graciously set you apart unto himself as
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one of his beloved children, and he has preserved you in Christ Jesus.
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No one can pluck you out of his hand.
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But then we come to the end of this book, in the last couple of the
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And we've discovered that we can't just sit back and,
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shall we say, simply passively rest in
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the knowledge that God has graciously saved us and set us apart and preserved us.
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No, he calls us, Jude calls us to action.
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He says, but you, beloved, the same ones he spoke of earlier, you, beloved,
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building yourselves up upon your most holy faith.
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Do you see your responsibility there?
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It is your responsibility, it's my responsibility, to build ourselves up upon
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You do that, of course, through your faithful participation in God's house, with God's people.
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You get to the Sunday school hour where you learn of God and learn of God's word, that's
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building yourself upon the faith, by faithfully participating in the services of the church where the word
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is preached and taught, and every time that happens, there is a building block placed in
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your life where you are building up yourselves in your most holy faith.
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You also do that in your daily participation in God's word, getting into the Bible every day.
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You know, if you're following this Bible reading plan, that's a tremendous way to help you build yourself up
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upon your most holy faith.
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He goes on to say, praying in the Holy Spirit, how's our prayer life?
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Every one of us would acknowledge that we could improve in our prayer life.
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Get that, I understand that.
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But what about a prayerless life?
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If I have the attitude that, well, you know, God is keeping me, he's preserving me, I'm saved, I'm all this, you know, so I don't
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have to really worry about doing anything, blah, blah, blah.
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Keep yourself in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
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And then he says this, keeping yourselves in the love of God.
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Keeping yourselves in the love of God.
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Though God in his grace has chosen you for himself, placed
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his love upon you, and is preserving you in Christ Jesus, he
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nevertheless calls us to keep ourselves in the love of God.
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Now what might he mean by that?
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Well, I think one key idea might be what we read in Revelation chapter 2, we're going to come to
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here in a few days in our Bible reading, with the letter to the church at Ephesus.
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They were doing all these wonderful things, they were commended about some things, but the Lord
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says, you have left your first love.
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You've left your first love.
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And so it's very possible to be very religious, and to go through all the motions of
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religion, and not really, not really do so out of love for God.
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It's possible to do the right things, to be moral and upright and a person of
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honesty and integrity, but not do so because you love God, out of love for God.
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You may do so out of fear of being caught or anything else, but not out of love for God.
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No, keep yourselves in the love of God.
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Keep focusing on your relationship with God, loving him,
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living for him, keeping him the focal point of your life.
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Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
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Christ unto eternal life.
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Keep looking for Christ's mercy.
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So, basically what I want to communicate here is that just because you are called
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by God in his grace, you're set apart by God as one of his beloved children, and you're
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preserved in Jesus Christ, doesn't mean you shouldn't be actively endeavoring to
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grow in your walk with the Lord, actively endeavoring to build yourself up in the
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most holy faith, actively being involved in praying, actively keeping
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yourself in the love of God, keeping your heart hot for God, and looking for
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Let's accept that challenge today.
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Our Father and our God, we do thank you for this challenge, because all of us can become a little bit apathetic
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and lackadaisical in our walk with you.
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We pray, help us instead to be in active pursuit of our walk with you.
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All right, well, have a good Thursday.