Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): The book of Jude can bring a sense of comfort to believers as we face these dark days.

Adrian Rogers: What God does here in this little book of Jude is just to give to God's people a security blanket. The first verse and the last two verses deal with the security of the believer. That is he just wraps it up in a little blanket that I want to call security blanket. Why is this? Because you see when you read the book of Jude, if you're not careful, you just get to wondering if anybody saved even you.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring the powerful lessons and teaching of pastor and author Adrian Rogers. The book of Jude warns us of the apostasy that will take place in the last days in which many will turn away from the faith. But this book also reveals that we do not have to live in fear of losing our salvation. If you have your Bible, turn to the book of Jude beginning in verse one as Adrian Rogers begins part one of the believer's security blanket.

Adrian Rogers: I want to ask you a question. What do these schools have in common? Harvard, Yale, Columbia, William and Mary, Dartmouth, Princeton. Well, you say they're all colleges. You're right. All universities, right. But what do they have in common? You say well, they're Ivy League schools, most of them. But what do they have in common? They were all founded and built for the propagation of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Every one of them had a Bible foundation. Every one of them was founded for the preaching of the gospel and the training of ministers and godly Christian laymen to spread the gospel across America.

What a tragedy. The same thing that has happened to these schools has happened to many once great denominations. And the same thing that has happened to many once great denominations has happened, God help us, to many churches. There has been an apostasy. The word apostasy means a falling away from the faith, a turning from the faith. And that is what the little book of Jude is all about. It is a warning of the apostasy, the lapsing from the faith, the turning from the faith that is going to take place in the last days. We're going to read together Jude verses 1 through 4, all right.

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 God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now the devil has tried two ways to destroy the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, he has tried through persecution. That is he's tried to persecute the saints and to put them in danger even of their own lives, much less of their property. But persecution has not worked very well. There's a saying among missionaries that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Not only did love grow where the blood fell, but churches grow where the blood falls. I mean when we are willing to die for the Lord Jesus Christ rather than stopping the work of Christ, it simply impels the work of Christ.

And so many times when the enemy comes to try to stamp out the fire, he only scatters the embers and new fires start. So the devil backed off and he said well, if I can't beat them, I'll join them. And if I cannot work from the outside with the persecution, I will work from the inside with infiltration and I will destroy the biblical base upon which those churches operate. And that is what he has done. And you see the key in verses 3 and 4. Jude says 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 you should earnestly contend for the faith.

Now Jude wanted to write another book of Romans. He wanted to write about our common salvation. He wanted to preach a gospel message. He was all ready to do it. And the Holy Spirit said Jude, you can't preach that. You can't write that. You wanted to write about the common salvation. But you're going to have to write that we are to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints. Because you see here's the problem in verse 4 for there certain men crept in unawares. Now he's talking about the apostates and how they get in.

This word crept in means that they came in the side door. Also the word is used of a person who would slip into water without making a ripple. Oh, how clever they are. They come in very clandestinely. They come in very quietly, very stealthily. They come in and from the inside like termites destroying the foundation of a building, they work. Now Jude said I have written to warn you about this that you should earnestly contend for the faith. When he says the faith, he's not talking about faith like faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by which we are saved or through which we are saved, but he's talking about the revealed body of truth that we call the Bible.

Now this is called. You see what I have right here? That's called the faith. That is this is the revealed body of truth, the Bible. And the Bible says that we are to earnestly contend for the faith. Let me tell you just a little bit about the faith. First of all, I want to speak to you about the completeness of it. Now he says that you're to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. But literally it says once for all delivered unto the saints. And some translations give it this way.

That is God gave it and God finished it and he's not going to add anything to it. Not one jot, not one tittle shall fail from the law till all be fulfilled, but not one jot nor one tittle shall be added to the law till all be fulfilled. This is God's word and friend it is complete. We don't need anymore new revelation. Now listen to me. We live in a day and an age of charismatic excesses and a day of cultism where people are adding to the word of God and subtracting from the word of God.

I'm reminded of the man who stood up and read the scriptures and said if there are no additions or corrections, the scriptures stand approved as read. Now dear friend, there are no additions. There are no corrections. And you listen to me. Listen. If it is new, it's not true. Now God may give you new insights into the truth. God may illumine the truth to you, but God is not going to give you or anybody else any new truth. The faith was once for all delivered unto the saints. Look in verse 8 he says likewise these filthy dreamers.

Who are these dreamers? What does the word dreamer mean? Are these people who go to sleep in church, who come and sit down and look so reverent? They make the pastor think they're meditating. I know what kind of meditation you're doing. You ought to pray when you sit down. Now I lay me down to sleep. That's not what he's talking about. That's not what he's talking about when he calls them dreamers. He's talking about people who have visions, people who have extra biblical revelation, things that they have dreamed up. Now friend, the Bible is signed, sealed and delivered.

It is the faith that is once for all delivered unto the saints. It is complete. And not only is it complete, it is correct. Now you see if you are a dreamer, if you are a visionary, if you think you have some new revelation, you're going to be wrong. Because that is all subjective. This is objective truth. It is never wrong. It is always right. It is correct. You see there's a difference in being certain and being right. Did you know that? Did you know that you can be certain and be wrong? I was in New Orleans one time when I was in seminary.

I think I'd been preaching at a rescue mission. I was going back to home, I thought. But I got confused. They call it the Crescent City is built on the arc in the river there of New Orleans. And I thought I was headed in one direction away from the river, but I kept on ending up at the river and kept on ending up at the river. And I said but I just know I'm going in the right direction. I turned around again. My gyro in my mind, my compass in my mind was all confused and I have you ever just lost a sense of direction?

I was so certain I was going in the right direction, but I kept ending at the river. Do you know what I did? I just decided I'd start going by the signs and I got straight home. All I had to do is just read, you know, friend listen. Sometimes you will be dead certain you are right and you are dead wrong. That's the reason the Bible is here. That's the reason we have the faith that is not only complete, it is correct. The apostle Peter was on the mount of transfiguration. He saw the Lord transfigured before him.

He heard God speak from heaven. But then he said in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 19 we have a more sure word of prophecy, more sure than what you've seen, more sure than what you've heard, valid as it may be, more sure is the word of God. It is complete. It is correct. But now listen, it is committed to you. Now he said we are to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. Do you see it right there in verse 3? It has been committed to you. That means that you are a steward over this.

I hear people say oh, you don't need to defend the Bible. The Bible will defend itself. That sounds good. I've been guilty of saying the same thing. But oh, Jude didn't say that. Jude said contend for the faith. Stand up for the faith. Speak up for the Bible. John Calvin from whom we get the term Calvinism said a dog barks when his master's attacked. I would be a coward if I heard the word of God attack and did not stand up for the Bible. Because many of us today don't want to seem contentious and because many of us don't want to enter in anything distasteful, we are seeing the faith of our fathers.

We are seeing that eroded and disappearing. Now I want to tell you dear friend, the apostasy is very real. Jot these scriptures down in the margin of your Bible. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 3. The apostle Paul is speaking of the end time. And he says that the end time cannot come, the antichrist cannot come. All of the cataclysmic things of the end time cannot come until the apostasy comes first. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first.

The word falling away comes from our Greek word that we get the word apostasy from. The end times cannot come until that apostasy comes. Paul told Timothy the same thing. 2 Timothy 4 verse 3 for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And again the apostle Peter warned in 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 1 for there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Now that's the setting for the book. Now it's a very frightening book. And therefore uh Jude wants to give his people assurance. Now what God does here in this little book of Jude and through Jude is just to give to God people a security blanket. He just wraps this book up in some verses that deal with security. The first verse and the last two verses deal with the security of the believer. That is he just wraps it up in a little blanket that I want to call security blanket. Why is this? Because you see when you read the book of Jude, if you're not careful, you just get to wondering if anybody saved even you.

I mean because Jude is so strong, this book is so powerful. When he speaks of the apostasy and the heresy of the falling away, you might get to thinking well, maybe I could lose my salvation because Jude is going to talk about some who seem like they were once saved. But they lost their salvation. And I believe that Jude wants to make it very very clear that once you are a child of God, once you're born again, once you're born of the spirit, once you've truly become a partaker of the divine nature, you can never ever again be a lost soul.

Now let's look at those verses. 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. Three things Jude says about us that tells us about the security of the believer. The very first is this. We are called. We're called. Now in this sentence it's the last word called. But it was put last in the Greek language for emphasis. Now we put things first for emphasis. And so some translators and some of you have a more modern translation where the word called is the first word because that's being fair.

That is giving the English sense of what the Greek meant. This is the emphasis. It is the very first thing. And so what is the first reason for my security and your security? God's sovereign purpose. Now the word sovereign means the decree of a king, a ruler against whom there is no rising up. God has a purpose. And that purpose is seen in that God called you. Now this word called here does not mean call like I call Paul and I say hi Paul, come over here. No no no no. The word called means an official summons.

You see your salvation did not begin with you. It began with God. If it began with you, you might lose it. But since it began with God, you can never lose it because the Bible says he is able to finish what he begins. And God called you. You see had he not called us, none of us would have been here. We love him because he first loved us. Now I want us to think a little bit about this word calling. It means something official. It reminds us of another verse right away. Romans chapter 8 and verses 28 through 30.

Listen to it. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God who are the what's that next word? Called to those who are the called according to his purpose. Now I am talking about God's sovereign purpose. Are you listening? Those 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, that is God's son, might be the first born 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. First of all, the Bible says here that God has foreknowledge. God knows the future as well as the past and the present. God has foreknowledge. And God knows things that will transpire as though they've already transpired. And so God is the great omniscient God. Now the Bible says when God foreknows that one whom he has set his affection upon shall come to him, he predestines that person to be like the Lord Jesus. So whom God foreknows, them he also predestines. That is it is determined ahead of time that you're going to be like the Lord Jesus, that you're going to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus.

Now when God foreknows and God predestines, then God calls. And God sends the gospel to that person so they can hear it, so they can believe it, so they can receive it. And so God calls that person. Then the one that God calls, he justifies. Now what does it mean to be justified? It means to be made like the Lord Jesus Christ and God makes you in his sight absolutely totally righteous, justified by the grace of God. Somebody said just as if I had never sinned, justified. All right. And then those who he who are justified, the Bible says he has glorified, not will glorify, has glorified.

Because God lives in eternity, it's already done friend. In God's mind God sees you already glorified. You say well, I don't think I understand all of that. I'm glad you don't because I don't either and I wouldn't want you to get ahead of me. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have any confidence in a God I could understand. I am glad that there's some things about God that I don't understand. But dear friend, there are some things that we do know. And I'll tell you what we do know. That which has been settled in eternity cannot be undone in time.

Amen. And that that has been decreed by heaven cannot be annulled by hell. God has called you. And those that God calls will come. Well, you say now wait a minute. That's wonderful for those who are called, but maybe I'm not one of the called. What will I do, pastor? He doesn't call me. Hey, I've got good news for you. Do you want to come? You may. You say that that's so wonderful. Let me give it to you in a verse. In John chapter 6 and verse 57 Jesus said all that the Father hath given me will come to me, shall come to me.

As a matter of fact, it's stronger. All that the Father hath given me shall come to me. They're coming. That's one of the exciting things about preaching the gospel. Folks, they're coming. All that the Father hath given me shall come to me. But now listen to the second part of that verse. And him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. You want to come, come and he'll receive you. Isn't that beautiful? Anybody wants to come to the just get up and come. He will receive you and the Bible says hallelujah, whosoever will may come.

Now listen friend, that's true. God has a sovereign purpose. But the reason that I'm so secure is that my salvation did not initiate with me. It initiated with God and it did predestine that I'm going to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. He foreknew me. He predestined me. He called me. He justified me. He glorified me already in his sight. And so our salvation number one is rooted. Our security blanket is this God's sovereign purpose. Second reason. Not only God's sovereign purpose, but God's special people. Now look again in verse one. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified.

Look at that word sanctified. Bible scholars tell us that 's not the best translation. It should be rather than sanctified, it should be beloved. And some translations have it that way. Perhaps yours does. It is the same word that begins verse 3. Beloved, it's the same word. They're translated beloved. Now sanctified is good, but beloved is better in this particular instance. Because it tells something of the nature of God's special people. Now folks, God loves the lost. But the saved are his beloved. You say well, what's the difference? Well, I want to tell you. See that young guy sitting there on the front row?

I love him, but Joyce is my beloved. And there's a difference. And I like the difference. She is my beloved. She is special. Now God loves the world, but friend when we get saved, we are made accepted in the beloved. And who is the beloved? The Lord Jesus. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And we are accepted in him and therefore God sees us as God sees him and God's name for his own dear children, we are his special people. We are beloved. Now this word beloved is what we call a perfect participle.

What does that mean? What it means there's finished action in the past that has a result on the present. It is something that cannot be changed. It is fixed. It is settled. Because it is settled in the past, it affects us right now. We are God's beloved. Every now and then I'll say something profound and I'm about to do it and I want to warn you, okay? Now listen. You're a child of God. Now pay attention. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. I want to tell you something else. There is nothing you can do that will make him love you less.

Isn't that a beautiful thought? Nothing you can do that will make him love you more. And there is nothing you can do that will make him love you less. Because dear friend, he can't love you anymore and he will not love you any less.

Guest (Male): Isn't it a comfort to know that God's love for us is not dependent on us? We're going to hear part two of this important lesson tomorrow, but today maybe you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ. Go to our website lwf.org/radio and click the tab that says find God's love. You'll see some resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith.

Carrie Vaughn: Hi, this is Carrie Vaughn and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you. To give a gift today, call 1877 Love God. That's 1877 Love God or write to us at Love Worth Finding, box 38-600 Memphis, Tennessee 38183. You can also connect with us online by going to lwf.org/radio. There we offer helpful resources inspired by the timeless teachings of pastor Adrian Rogers. Additionally, you can sign up for daily emails, donate to the ministry and learn more about how to become an ambassador of the word.

Thank you so much for listening today. Be sure to join us next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding.

Guest (Male): Is there a difference between praise and thankfulness? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: Uh yes, there is a difference. Praise is uh reverencing God for who he is. Thanksgiving is recognizing what he has done. And the two are inextricably interwoven, but they're not exactly the same. And both are absolutely necessary. And the person who is not praiseful will never be thankful.

Guest (Male): Adrian Rogers preached on gratitude nearly every November during his time as a pastor. And we've taken several of his messages and condensed them into a 30-day devotional guide that we're calling Thanksgiving Grace. For your gift to Love Worth Finding during this Thanksgiving season, we'd love to send you a copy of this new resource. Ask for Thanksgiving Grace, a 30-day devotional on gratitude when you call with a gift at 1877 Love God. And thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.