In the sermon 'Jude's Desire' by David Green, the speaker explores the opening verses of the Book of Jude, emphasizing Jude's humility in identifying himself as a 'slave of Jesus Christ' and 'brother of James.' This humility reflects the broader Christian identity, where believers are seen as part of God's family, with Jesus as an elder brother. The sermon discusses the distinction between true believers and apostates, individuals who deny the gospel. Jude's letter, although tough on apostasy, is underpinned by a deep love and concern for God's people, wishing for mercy, peace, and love to be multiplied among them. The speaker warns against self-righteousness and cautions against focusing solely on identifying others' errors without promoting love and encouragement. The messages of Jude remain relevant today, urging believers towards humility, love, and a deeper connection with God.

All right. Good morning to everyone and we're thankful to be able to meet here this morning. Let's go to the book of Jude. Jude and we'll look at verses 1 and 2 this morning. Jude verses 1 and 2 says, Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. So last week when we were in this text we looked at The fact that Jude wrote here, even though he was half brother to Jesus, he wrote here and he identified himself as the slave of Jesus Christ. And he wrote that he was brother of James. I'm pointing out that we're also slaves of Jesus Christ. As we think back to that message and that phraseology there.

We've had some time to really think about that and consider it. Did anybody have any questions about that or considerations that or considerations from that text. As I meditated on this and thought about it this week, I was thinking to go on into verse 2, and we'll get there here this morning. But something else struck me as I was thinking about this and considering it. Jude wrote this and he took pen to paper or ink to papyrus as or ink to papyrus as it were, and he wrote to these saints, Jude a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, A very humble way of starting out this letter.

And you and I, we also are slaves of Jesus Christ. Slaves of Jesus Christ, and we also are brothers of James, sisters of James. Jesus is also our elder brother. We're also in the family of God. We're also in this family that James was a privileged part of.

This family that Jude was a privileged part of. That's not just me saying it out of pure speculation or thought. Jesus said it. The Bible says it. There's a lot of passages we could go to, but go with me over to the book of Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew chapter 12 and I love this passage. Matthew chapter 12, beginning at verse 46, While he was still speaking to the crowds, behold his mother and brothers were standing outside seeking to speak to him. Now someone said to him, behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to you But Jesus answered the one who was telling him and said who is my mother and who are my brothers Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "'Behold my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother. You see, James and Jude, the others, they weren't part of a privileged group whose DNA matched because Jesus was born of Mary, and their mother was also Mary.

That was neat and everything, But guess what? We are also brothers, sisters of Jesus. When he taught his disciples how to pray, he taught them and he said, Our Father who is in heaven. He didn't say, now when you pray, you pray the Father of Jesus. No, no, He said address Him like this.

Our Father. Our Heavenly Father. God's grace really is amazing. What a great privilege and honor and a blessing it is to be the slave of Jesus, as we mentioned the last time, but not just the slave, but to have him as our elder brother. And not just our elder brother, but our Redeemer, our Savior, our Friend.

And as we think about this and consider, Let us not miss this and consider just how great it is to be in the family of God. As we look at this and consider this text, We see Jude as he's written this epistle, of course this being the God-breathed scripture. And he addresses these saints the way he does, Jude a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are the called beloved of God, the father and kept for Jesus Christ. We don't know whether he's writing to a specific church. We don't know whether this is written to a group of churches.

We don't know if these were saints who maybe had been scattered like, well, since he mentions James, let's just go over to the book of James. James and chapter 1 there. James chapter 1 and verse 1 it says, James a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes who are in the dispersion." Greetings. So James is writing to those Jews who had been dispersed, scattered. All we know for sure is that Jude was writing to people of God.

Whether it was a church or churches or saints who had been scattered, we don't know. But we do know that these were people of God. He was writing to believers, those who were the called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. But what he writes here is not limited to any church or churches. This is true for all.

So in other words, if this was written to a specific church in the first century, It's not limited to that church. It's just as applicable to us today as what it was for them, is what I'm trying to say here. What we find here in this letter in Jude is very applicable to us 2000 years later after the fact as what it was to that first century group of believers. And while he is very tough on the apostates, remember this is the only letter that is exclusively addressing apostates. We'll get into this a little bit later.

There are classes of people. There's believers. There's unbelievers. There are believers who are walking straight and narrow, holding onto the faith. There are believers who have drifted some.

So you might think about the the Church of Corinth. They needed to be corrected, and so Paul wrote to them to correct them. But there are, there are apostates. Now, apostates are a totally different class of people. Apostates are not just believers who have maybe gone off a little bit.

Apostates are gospel deniers. They are people who have totally denied the faith. They're a whole different class of people. Paul dealt with these types in Galatians. Remember we looked at this some in, well, quite a bit actually, when we were going through the letter that Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia.

You remember how he dealt with them in that letter. So if you go with me to the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter 1, remember what he wrote to the churches of Galatians, and he said, I marvel, Galatians 1 and Verse 6, going down to verse 9, I marvel that you were so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so say I again now, if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed." And so, Paul was tough on the apostates. He was tough on the gospel deniers.

Tougher on them than what he was on say something where a believer went into error on some other doctrine. John the same way. John, we just went through John's epistles. Remember what he said to the elect lady when He wrote to her in 2 John. 2 John in verse 9.

After he warned her that there were many deceivers going out into the world, he said in verse 7, those who do not confess Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh, this is the deceiver and the antichrist. So he's naming specifically a certain type of person. What does he say? In verse nine, anyone who goes too far, you see there's a line drawn, anyone who goes too far does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

If anyone comes to you, does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, do not give him a greeting, for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds." Certainly there were disagreements among believers. For instance, we looked at differences of whether to eat meats or not to eat meats, whether to hold certain calendar days as holy and not, no sorts of things. There were differences among believers. Paul addressed those things very differently than what Paul and John and Jude treated these apostates and their doctrines. Well, what I'm trying to say here is that Jude is writing here addressing apostates, and even though it's a very serious issue, we see that he has a great concern for the people of God.

And this is the reason why he's writing this. It's not out of pure hatred for the apostates. He doesn't start off his letter writing about how much he despises the apostates. He's writing this letter and it's starting out very, very humbly, Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. He has a desire.

His desire is this. May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. His driving force here, what's in the driving seat of this is a love for God's people, a love for the truth, a love for the Lord, a concern for the people of God. I quoted not long ago a quote from Calvin, and it was a quote that I appreciate. I only quoted part of it.

But Calvin said, A pastor needs two voices, one for gathering the sheep, and the other for driving away wolves and thieves. The scripture supplies him with the means for doing both. And we see that in the lives of John, Jude, Paul, Peter, and the others. We see that in the life of Christ, as He dealt with different people in different times. His desire for these precious ones.

These people of God. Those who are the called. Beloved in God the Father. And if you are called and beloved in God the Father, you are kept for Jesus Christ. These aren't different classes of people.

These aren't different groups of people. This is all one in the same, these are God's people. And we see that here, and his desire is, may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you." You see, he's got this letter that he's writing and it's exclusively, as I said, the only letter that we have in all of the New Testament that is exclusively devoted for calling out apostasy. The other letters that we have in the New Testament, many of them do the same thing. They call out apostasy, but That's not all that they do.

But Jude is, in fact, as someone said, this is the acts of the apostates. But he doesn't do this at the expense of love for the saints. Let us not forget that. That's why we need to pause here for a moment and just look at this verses 1 and 2. Because some in our time, and no doubt some in other time periods, have forgotten this.

That's how history has ended up with so-called Christians killing other Christians. Christians. And in our day, there are entire so-called discernment ministries in which all they do is spend all their waking time, energy, and money online and in person. Every waking hour on the internet and everywhere else, just calling out what they see, whether it's real or perceived error, in other churches and other ministries and other pastors and preachers. These heresy hounds feel that they're doing good for the cause of Christ.

But their ministries and their writings and their posts are centered around what they oppose and never what they're for. It's easy to point out the flaws in everybody else, but Never do anything good for the cause of Christ. Never do anything positive for the Lord. Never encourage anybody. We see Jude encouraging these folks here.

These folks here. We must be willing to take a stand against apostasy. We must be willing to take a stand against error. But discernment begins at home. And we must also remember that it begins with building one another up.

And understand that not everybody who's in error is an apostate. Just because somebody differs with us on the timing of the Lord's return, Just because somebody celebrates a holiday differently than we do, dresses differently than we do, sings a song differently than we do or whatever does not mean that they're a flaming heretic. We saw some of that in Paul's letter to the church at Corinth. I feared that in our day many of us would be ready and willing to cast Corinth off as an apostate church, but Paul did not do that. He still called them brothers in more than one place.

And in fact, by the time you get to chapter 11, he praised them. He praised them for what they were doing. Remember and we'll not turn there, but I mean you can if you want. First Corinthians 11 verse two, he says, "'Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, "'and hold firmly to the traditions "'just as I delivered them to you.'" What was he talking about traditions? He was talking about the apostolic traditions.

What we would call the word of God, the thing specifically he was talking about as he went on to write the head covering and so on and so forth. And so, and so when, when John told the old lady, don't receive someone into your house who doesn't hold to this teaching, He was talking specifically about a gospel denier. He was talking about apostates. And as we get on into Jude, we'll realize this, I hope. As he begins this letter, he has a great desire for the saints, to those who are the called, beloved in God, the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

As I said, if you're one of those, you're all of those. Remember Paul put it this way over in Romans 8. Romans 8 and verses 29 through 30. Because those whom he foreknew he also predestinated to become conformed to the image of his son so that he would become the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestinated he also called, those whom he called he also justified, those whom he justified He also glorified.

If you're one, you're all of these. And our God has in mind this glorification. We're not there yet, but it's coming. It's coming. You've been called.

You're beloved of God the Father. You've been kept for Jesus Christ. And one of these days, you're going to be glorified. We're heaven bound, and amen one day. All this mess, all these troubles, the apostates, the issues we have in this world, the sin that easily besets us, all that's going to be over with.

The sickness, The troubles, the trials, all that's gonna be over with will be forever in the presence of our Savior. But in the meantime, Jude's got something to address them with, but first he has a desire for them. And his desire is that may mercy, peace, in love be multiplied to you." This is a common greeting that was written by others, similar anyway to the way Paul wrote to Timothy, 1 Timothy 1 and 2, To Timothy, my genuine child in the faith, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, Christ Jesus our Lord. Similarly, he told him the same thing in 2 Timothy. Titus, he wrote, and he said, To Titus, my genuine child, according to our common faith, grace and peace from God the Father, Christ Jesus our Savior." But Jude is a little bit different.

He says for these things to be multiplied. All of these are present in our lives, but Jude wants them to be multiplied. Jude desires for them to be more. You and I, we should never be satisfied where we're at in our Christian lives. We should never be settled.

We've not arrived until we get on into glory. I feel sorry for those who either have some hero in the Christian faith to look up to and think that that person has arrived. You know who they are. They, their whole of Christian life hinges on that one preacher that one Saint of God that Maybe it's grandpa or grandma Maybe it's preacher so-and-so. Maybe it's that famous individual and when that person fails or when there's some flaw that's detected in that person.

Their whole Christianity is gone. They quit church, they quit everything. They said, well, I don't know what to do because Preacher X got caught in adultery because this person died and we were going through his things and we found that he was doing this or that. He must have been a hypocrite. Well, don't get me wrong, there are some good and godly saints out there, but we have to understand nobody has arrived in this world.

We all struggle with sin, and your Christian faith should not hinge upon any one person, or any group of people for that matter. I also feel sorry for those who think that they've arrived. So there's no need for growth, no need for any improvement, No need for any good graces in their life. They don't need anything. Somehow they've arrived in the faith.

Jude didn't see that. Not in his life, not in their lives. So his desire for them may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Not just added, but multiplied. Multiplied.

I love math. I know you get places quicker if you multiply than if you add. So he prayed for them that the mercy and peace and love would be multiplied to them. Mercy, someone said, is the fountain of reconciliation. Asking for mercy to be multiplied sometimes gets men and even preachers a bit confused, but I really appreciate what the old Puritan William Perkins had to say here.

He wrote, like a good Puritan does, he wrote a lot on this and I just read a portion of it he said note the persons for whom he thus prays to you to you that is as in the first verse to those who are called sanctified and reserved in Christ not for unbelievers unrepentant and apostates once we learned first that a man justified, sanctified, and made heir of life cannot merit anything at God's hands, for merit and mercy cannot stand together. He that still stands in need of mercy can never merit. Which doctrine must be maintained against the Roman Church which teaches that a man may put his trust in the merit of his works so he do it soberly. Abraham, being to speak to God, terms himself dust and ashes. Jacob acknowledged that he was less than the least of mercy.

Job cries out that he was vile and abhors himself. After these examples, we must ever keep our hearts as empty vessels ready to receive more mercy. Note the measure of mercy asked. He prays for continuance and increase of mercy to those who had already the riches of mercy. Whence we learn first that all the good we have or can do is of mere mercy not only for the beginning and continuance but also for the increase thereof as grace is no grace unless it is every way grace so also mercy which takes away all conceit of merit.

Seeing mercy fills up all the room and leaves no place for merit." End Quote. Oh, we need mercy. And we need it daily. But mercy isn't all that's here. He says mercy, but peace.

Peace. Peace with God the author of peace but Peace with fellow man. We need multiplied peace not with Not only with God, but also with fellow man, but also our own conscience. Does not that bother us sometimes, often? But how about a multiplication of peace in the prospect of death?

I know where I'm going, but oh how I need a multiplication piece. It's knowing It's knowing that someday death is coming. So many different ways to consider these things. May mercy and peace and love. Love, oh how we need more love.

Love is to be preferred before faith and hope in many respects. Did not we spend a lot of time in 1st Corinthians 13 on that subject? Love to God first but also love for our fellow men. It is mentioned here after the mercy and than mercy and peace, because it is fruit of these things. May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

I'm convinced that in these troubled times that these saints were living, when they were being troubled by these apostates, that they needed these things to be multiplied to them, lest they would become discouraged, or lest they would have some arrogance rise up in their own lives and they think they're better than everybody else around them? Unless some root of bitterness creep into their hearts, they depart into faith themselves. They needed these things and Jude and the Holy Spirit knew this. This was Jude's greeting in his letter to these troubled saints and certainly this was his prayer for them that they would have mercy and peace and love multiplied. Is this our prayer for one another?

Is this our prayer for ourselves? We too live in troubled times. We too have a need for these things. May God help us to see mercy and peace and love to be multiplied. May God have the blessing to the preaching.