Jude 1

"...To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:"

(Jude 1:1c)

Jude is telling us here that as we rest and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation as He is offered in the gospel, we are beloved by God. We are the beloved in union with the Beloved One, Jesus Christ, and we are thus in God as we are in Christ.

John 17:26 tells you that you are co-sharers in the love of the Father for the Son as Jesus prays, “Lord, grant that the love which we share from before the foundations of the world would be in them.” Jesus is asking the Father for your participation in that co-eternal love which the Father and the Son have shared from before the beginnings of time. And I want to tell you, my friends, that prayer has been and is being answered. The Heavenly Father does not love you less than He loves His own Son. And I want to say that if I didn't have John 17:26 you would rightly accuse me of heresy for saying something like that, but that's precisely what Jude is reminding you: You are beloved in God the Father…

That's what a Christian is: A Christian is called and a Christian is beloved of God.

(J. Ligon Duncan)