Today, Sunday October 24
Called, Sanctified and Preserved
Jude 1:1-3 “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
Jude is writing this small letter to the called, sanctified and preserved! What a wonderful description of those who have become followers of Jesus Christ. What a special group of people to be a part of! We call these people the church or the “assembly of the called out ones”. We have been called out of our sins, out of the bondage and shame of our guilt, out of the condemnation, out of the darkness, out of chains of our addictions, and out of this present world.
I’m will never totally understand or comprehend the sovereign grace of God that calls me to salvation in Christ and how at the same time I have a free will to choose whether or not I will believe and trust Him to save me. And thank God, I don’t have to understand it to experience it!!!!! I only have to believe and by faith trust and accept this great offer of forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation!
Certainly salvation begins in the heart of God and not in the will of man (Romans 9:16). The mysteries of God's sovereign electing grace are beyond us in this life and will never be understood until we enter His glorious presence. For that reason, we are wise not to make them the basis for arguments and divisions. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God" (Deut. 29:29). Second Thessalonians 2:13-14 makes it clear that the same God who chose us also set us apart by the Spirit and then called us by the Gospel to trust in Jesus Christ. God's choosing and God's calling go together, for the God who ordains the end (our salvation) also ordains the means to the end (someone calling us to Christ). We did not understand how God's Spirit was working in our lives prior to our conversion, but He was working just the same to "set us apart" for Jesus Christ.
I’m convinced every person has been called to salvation in Christ and “the Lord is not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). And “whosoever believes in Him will be saved” (John 3:16; Romans 10:13). I have noticed in my studies that the words, “predestination and election”, in the context of the Scripture in the New Testament where they are used, are not about God pre-determining someone’s eternal salvation but they are speaking of the fact that one day every believer “will be conformed to the image of His Son and be glorified together with Him” (Romans 8:29). And every believer has been elected to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
We not only have been called but we have been sanctified. This simply means we have been “set apart” to be holy and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are also “preserved”! This means "carefully watched and guarded." The believer is secure in Jesus Christ. This same word is used in Jude 6 and 13 ("reserved") and also in Jude 21 ("keep yourselves"). God is preserving the fallen angels and the apostates for judgment, but He is preserving His own children for glory. Meanwhile, He is able to preserve us in our daily walk and keep us from stumbling. Peter put it this way: “Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:5)
Today, I trust that you have experience this “great salvation” and know that you have been called, sanctified and preserved in Jesus Christ!
God bless!