Jude 1-24 Proclaiming And Contending For The Faith

JUDE 1-24 PROCLAIMING AND CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH 8-20-11

Today Lord willing I am going to talk for a few minutes on the satanic forces that are trying to tear down the truth of the Word of God, and trying too cause us to wonder about our salvation.

All the way from Eden even until our present time the devil has been constantly busy trying to cast doubt on God’s forever settled Word. Satan knows that he only has a short time left before the rapture of the saints takes place; he knows that he can not damn our souls once we’re saved, so he’s out to make us as ineffective as he can, that some Christians will began to have doubt on how important God’s Word really is, their what we might call LIBERALS. There have always been spiritual trouble makers among believers and Jude will point some of these out.

Listen as I began to read today’s text found in Jude only one chapter but very powerful.

1-4 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, I want us to notice that Jude don’t say that he is the brother, or half brother of Jesus, he don’t want to appear as some great person,--and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, Christians have a common salvation. God doesn’t have one way for the rich and another way for the poor, or one way for the good and another way for the bad. We all come to God the same way. If it isn’t a common salvation, it isn’t God’s 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.— as Christians we are part of an invisible, mighty army that spans back through the generations-- We contend earnestly for the faith because it is valuable.

When we see the WELLS FARGO armored trucks coming to a destination where their going to be unloading or loading a lot of money, you’ll see arm guards there to make sure the exchange goes well, why? Because it’s valuable, the same with “the one faith that was once delivered to the saints.

Once means that the faith was delivered one time and will not be delivered again.

You and I today continue to deliver this same truth again and again, but it was delivered by God to the world through the apostles and prophets once.

Valuables are protected; worthless things are not.

We contend for the faith in a positive sense when we give a dogmatic statement and witness for God’s Truths, when we speak out against the preaching of another gospel, or speak out against a manner of living that contradicts the message of the gospel we are contending.

Just like the Church in Jerusalem you and I today are to contend for the faith.-notice not just any faith but FOR THE FAITH.

There is a lot of earnest contention in the world, but not for the right things, a lot of the trouble that’s going on today in the world is over what these terrorist believe, “their faith”, but it’s not saving faith, I have faith in my truck when I go deer hunting that it’s going to get me there and any where else once I get there, but that kind of faith is not the kind of faith that’s going to get us to heaven.

The faith once for all delivered to the saints is something worth contending for. The faith does not mean our own personal belief, or faith in the sense of our trust in God.—all religions trust in their god.

4For there are certain men (special selected) crept in unawares,** (without being suspected) We need to contend for the faith because there are dangerous men through out the ranks of Christianity.

No one noticed that they were dangerous. They didn’t wear a "Danger: False Teacher" name tag.

These certain men probably claimed to be more "Scriptural" than anybody else in the assemble. Spurgeon said, "Satan knows right well that one devil in the church can do far more than a thousand devils outside her bounds."

4For there are certain men who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,**( they were written of beforehand, other writers had sounded the warning about apostates). --- ungodly men,**(no regard for or anything to do with the True and Living God, no fear of God) turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, ( into immorality.)—just do what ever you please; the GRACE of God is not an open license to sin). and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.