FBC Morning Light – November 17, 2022

Well, a good Thursday morning to you. Hope your week is going well thus far. Today we're in the next to the last book of the Bible, the little book of Jude, and another one of those one-chapter books.

You can get through those pretty quickly, can't you? Second John, third John, Jude. The Old Testament, we're going to come upon, what is it, Obadiah or something in the Minor Prophets. These one-chapter books of the Bible are fun reads because you feel like you're making great progress very quickly.

Jude 2 and the Blessing of Being Called, Sanctified, and Preserved

Well, today in this book I want to tie together Jude, verse 2, with verses 20 and 21. Verse 2 is a tremendous encouragement, it's a blessing to God's people. Listen to what Jude writes. He says, I'm writing to those who are called, that is, they're the recipients of God's saving grace through divine election.

God called them to himself. He says, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father. Now there's a difference of translation challenge there. Some of the manuscripts say instead of sanctify, they say beloved of God.

There's not a great deal of ultimate difference between the two ideas. You're beloved by God, you're chosen unto him, you're set apart unto him. The word sanctified means you're set apart unto him, but whatever the case, you're called, that is, you're graciously chosen by God unto this blessed gift of salvation.

You are set apart by God the Father, you are his beloved child who is his own, and then he says you are preserved in Jesus Christ. You are preserved, secure in Jesus Christ. That reminds me of what Jesus himself said in the Gospel of John, where he says, I have his people in my hand, and no man can pluck them out of my hand, and they can't pluck them out of my Father's hand either.

I and my Father are one, we're one and the same, and I have my children in my hand. God has you in his hand. You are preserved in Christ Jesus. This is a tremendous blessing, this verse, to you who are in Christ Jesus.

God has graciously called you to himself, he's graciously set you apart unto himself as one of his beloved children, and he has preserved you in Christ Jesus. No one can pluck you out of his hand. But then we come to the end of this book, in the last couple of the last verses, a few.

Building Up Your Most Holy Faith

And we've discovered that we can't just sit back and, shall we say, simply passively rest in the knowledge that God has graciously saved us and set us apart and preserved us. No, he calls us, Jude calls us to action.

Listen to what he says. He says, but you, beloved, the same ones he spoke of earlier, you, beloved, building yourselves up upon your most holy faith. Do you see your responsibility there? It is your responsibility, it's my responsibility, to build ourselves up upon this most holy faith.

How can you do that? You do that, of course, through your faithful participation in God's house, with God's people. You get to the Sunday school hour where you learn of God and learn of God's word, that's building yourself upon the faith, by faithfully participating in the services of the church where the word is preached and taught, and every time that happens, there is a building block placed in your life where you are building up yourselves in your most holy faith.

You also do that in your daily participation in God's word, getting into the Bible every day. You know, if you're following this Bible reading plan, that's a tremendous way to help you build yourself up upon your most holy faith.

He goes on to say, praying in the Holy Spirit, how's our prayer life? Every one of us would acknowledge that we could improve in our prayer life. Get that, I understand that. But what about a prayerless life?

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 have to really worry about doing anything, blah, blah, blah. No. Keep yourself in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

Keeping Yourselves in the Love of God

And then he says this, keeping yourselves in the love of God. Keeping yourselves in the love of God. Though God in his grace has chosen you for himself, placed his love upon you, and is preserving you in Christ Jesus, he nevertheless calls us to keep ourselves in the love of God.

Now what might he mean by that? Well, I think one key idea might be what we read in Revelation chapter 2, we're going to come to here in a few days in our Bible reading, with the letter to the church at Ephesus.

They were doing all these wonderful things, they were commended about some things, but the Lord says, you have left your first love. You've left your first love. And so it's very possible to be very religious, and to go through all the motions of religion, and not really, not really do so out of love for God.

It's possible to do the right things, to be moral and upright and a person of honesty and integrity, but not do so because you love God, out of love for God. You may do so out of fear of being caught or anything else, but not out of love for God.

No, keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep focusing on your relationship with God, loving him, living for him, keeping him the focal point of your life. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Looking for the Mercy of Christ

Keep looking for Christ's mercy. So, basically what I want to communicate here is that just because you are called by God in his grace, you're set apart by God as one of his beloved children, and you're preserved in Jesus Christ, doesn't mean you shouldn't be actively endeavoring to grow in your walk with the Lord, actively endeavoring to build yourself up in the most holy faith, actively being involved in praying, actively keeping yourself in the love of God, keeping your heart hot for God, and looking for the mercy of Christ.

Let's accept that challenge today. Our Father and our God, we do thank you for this challenge, because all of us can become a little bit apathetic and lackadaisical in our walk with you. Deliver us from that.

We pray, help us instead to be in active pursuit of our walk with you. We pray in Jesus' name. All right, well, have a good Thursday. May God bless you.