The Common Salvation

Temple Baptist Church - 10-18-2009

Jude 1-3

Introduction:

A. The Book of Jude was one of the epistles written concerning the apostasy both present then and to come. Everything God has every created has been attacked by Satan and his people.

1. Apostasy was already prevalent in Jude’s day – almost 2,000 years ago.

2. The Spirit of Antichrist was there and disciples were being drawn away.

3. Jesus warned of False Prophets – Matthew 24:11-13

4. Peter warned of False Teachers with many following their pernicious ways – 2 Peter 2:1-3

5. Paul fortold the “falling away” – Acts 20:29-30, 2 Thessalonians 2

B. The very foundation of our faith is now under satanic attack from both without and within. Jude is about infiltration! Not everyone sitting on the pews of churches are saved. Not everyone sitting on the pews of churches love the Lord. Not everyone sitting on the pews of churches love the Word of God.

C. Before we get very far into this little epistle, I want us to see the description of the saved in these opening verses. Salvation is indeed “common” to all of God’s children. By “common,” the Bible is not referring to something cheap or something that is plenteous. It simply means that salvation is the same for all of God’s people.

D. They have the same characteristics because they are born into the same family. They have the same genetics or spiritual DNA!

1. All are called from Sin to Christ!

2. All are called from Vanity to Purpose!

3. All are called from Ungodliness to Holiness!

4. All are called from Dishonor to Honor!

E. All are changed from the old man and conformed to the new man. We are all being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Not to be changed and conformed is not to be saved. I understand that there are varying degrees of obedience among God’s children, but all have the Holy Spirit and all have desire.

F. As it is God that begins a good work in us, it is He that performs it in us. This is what makes us alike though we are so very different.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (The mercy and grace of God are both the spring and fountain of everything that we have or hope for.)

G. We all have the same salvation; the same Spirit; the same witness; and the same testimony. Notice with me the reversal of order in verses 1 and 2.


1. In Our Common Salvation We Find Sanctification – The means of sanctification is Multiplied Mercy (to separate from and to consecrate to) – vs. 1 (Sympathy)

a. We Are Sanctified Through His Will - John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

b. We Are Sanctified Through His Word - John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

2. In Our Common Salvation We Find Security – The fruit of our security is Multiplied Peace (to attend to and to take care of) – vs. 1 (Serenity)

a. We Are Powerfully Kept - 1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

b. We Are Permanently Kept - John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

c. We Are Perfectly Kept - Jude 1:24 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,

3. In Our Common Salvation We Find Seeking – The basis of our calling is Multiplied Love – vs. 1 (Sovereignty)

a. There Was A Sovereign Call

1) The Call Came Through Grace - 2 Timothy 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

2) The Call Came Through the Gospel - Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

b. There Was A Sovereign Choice – Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen. (My Bible says that, though the many are called, few are saved! The difference is the choice!)

Proverbs 1:24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (God’s choosing came through our “belief of the truth.”)

c. There Was A Sovereign Conversion - Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (It is God’s way or the “highway” to hell! Our salvation is a “common” salvation.)