17th January 2026

17th January 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Jude 1v4) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


How is anyone saved? It is not by human work but instead by an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit. Salvation does not happen unless the Spirit works and raises a spiritually dead individual to life. That individual is born again and with a new heart freely chooses Christ as Saviour. Salvation is all of God and all of grace. 


But what comes next? Do we start by grace and stay in by works? Does grace free us from any moral duty? No and no. The false teachers who troubled Jude were guilty of perverting the grace of God. They used God's grace as an excuse for "sensuous" living. You can almost hear their arguments "You have no right to tell me how to live. Grace means that I am free of all rules and regulations!"


It is certainly true that we are not saved by our works and it is further true that our works don't keep us in God's good books but grace does not free us from all moral duty before the Lord. The Old Testament Law had three divisions - civic, ceremonial and moral. The civic and ceremonial law regulated how the nation of Israel was to live and worship but now with the arrival of Christ these laws have been fulfilled. However the moral law as summed up by the Ten Commandments remains in place for all and it has a threefold use in the Christian's life.


The first purpose of the law is to be a mirror which shows us our sinfulness and the holiness of God. Whenever we consider God's law and our own inability to keep it, the law causes us to run as fast as we can to Jesus. The second purpose of the law is to restrain evil. God's law tells us it is wrong to murder and so it restrains our hand and it is a restraint in wider society. We can and should be thankful for the influence of God's law in our human institutions - some justice is done on earth as we wait for the final judgement of Christ. The third purpose of the law is to show us what pleases the Lord. 


Christians are not saved by the law nor are we to reject it. As we seek to honour Christ we follow the standards of His moral law delighting to do His will. If we love Him, then we will strive to keep His commandments (John 14v15). Anti-nomianism was false in Jude's day and it should be rejected in ours for "the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." (Psalm 19v7).  


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q74 What is required in the eighth commandment? The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.
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