Jude, Part 2

In today's study, we continue to look at the characteristics of every Christian and look a little closer at what some call the five fundamentals of the faith.

Third, the Bible says that Jesus “calls” all men unto Himself. Whether they come or not is their choice, but all are called. I.e. John 3:16. No, I do not accept the “Limited Atonement” argument given by the Calvinists. That reminds me of a missionary who came into my office a number of years ago while I was pastoring in South Texas and asked me if I was a Calvinist. I told him that I was not. Then he said that by default that made me an Armenian. To that, I also told him that I was not an Armenian either. You see, in his mind, I had to be one or the other. Why? - the words “Calvinist” and “Armenian” are not in the Bible. I am a Christian and that’s it.

That reminds me of a story about a small First Baptist Church and a small First Christian Church in a small town who gathered to discuss merging so that they could pool their resources. About half way through the discussion, a Baptist deacon said, “My great-grandfather was a Baptist, my grandfather was a Baptist, my father was a Baptist, and there ain’t nobody going to make a Christian out of me!” Folks, we really need to get our priorities in place.

Verses 2-4: “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 exhort you that ye 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 we see why Jude was burdened to write this letter. We see from verse 3 that he had originally intended to write this letter “concerning our common salvation.” But, because of the danger of “certain men who had crept in unnoticed”, he decided to write about that instead.