1 ..To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. (Jude 1:1-2, ESV)

I greet you with peace from our Lord Jesus Christ. It's my prayer that even as we've come to go into His word this time He will grant us the understanding and also make these words a reality in our lives.

The word I will speak on are to be found in the book of Jude. It's taken from his prefattory words as he writes to the church of which we are part of. As something common to Paul and the other New Testament writters, we see Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ speaking words of blessings upon the church.

There are couple of terms adopted by Jude in the text that I would like all of us to consider their meanings and believe them for ourselves. Sometimes we read the scriptures without taking notice of the real meaning of the writers choice of words. So today that's what we are going to do for the few minutes we have here.

Firstly, THE CALLED; who are the called? What does it mean to be called? There are myriads of meaning that can be ascribed to that expression in the bible. It can mean to be called to perform a certain work (ministry) or to be called as the son of God. But which one is used in our text? If we take the whole of verse one, I think it will expose itself. He said "To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ". Now we see that this is talking about salvation. The calling that I describe as the ultimate calling.

This calling is used to describe those who've been saved by the blood of Christ and are now God's children. If anyone is a born again person, then he or she must be called. If not that person wouldn't have become a Christian in the first place. This calling has to also be considered as an eternal calling. This calling was made before the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God. He chose us even before we were born.

And also we notice that those who are called are also THE BELOVED. Beloved in God the Father. This takes its meaning after the calling. Without the calling of God to sonship, there is no beloved in the Father. The call of God to His kingdom by the precious blood of Christ makes us beloved children of the Father. Paul threw more light on this when he said "For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you", (1 Thessalonians 1:4, ESV). We are people loved by God. Why? Because we are called unto salvation. It's worth notice that those who are the beloved of God are also kept for Jesus Christ. Like a bride is kept and prepared for the Bridegroom, so are we. For God is fashioning us into the image of His dear Son.

Now, let's consider the short benediction he offered for the Saints. He said "2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you". Amen. I embrace the mercy, peace and love of God with all my heart. Because without these, I wouldn't have been what I am. I was a wretched soul destined for eternal destruction because of the fall of my grandfather Adam. But now because of the mercies of God, I have received this marvelous calling. It's a privilege above all privileges and blessings be unto His name forever and ever.

The peace of God surpases the peace of this world. Peace within the soul is worth more than the peace in the body. The world can only provide a temporal peace within our bodies but it's only the peace that God gives that can produce an eternal rest for the soul. And ultimately, the love of God. We are saved because of the love of God. This is love that Jesus died to save the unworthy. This is love that he forsook His glory temporarily to save us permanently. This is love that the Captain of our salvation has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. In this love I rest my poor soul. And finally, may this be multiplied to you in Jesus name.


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