Jude 1-4 STANDING FOR THE ONE TRUE FAITH
Today I want to talk for a little while about what we find here in Jude 1-4 to do with contending for the faith.
Listen as I read today’s text found in JUDE 1-4
1Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,** to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
3Beloved, 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.
4For 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, { “outrageous conduct, a disregard for what is right}. and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude is writing to believers to be aware of these people that have gradually crept into the assembles and are under minding the truths of Gods Word, there had been men who had come in to the Church with a cloke of deception so subtly that most of the believer didn’t even realize what had taken place, that is exactly the way the devils crowd operates, their like Satan himself, we’re told in Gen. 3: 1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field –
What does contending for the faith mean?
It means to stand true to the forever settled Word, to not compromise, not even a single word. It means to oppose, and expose false prophets and warn the people of their corrupted theology.
I just read and article from a gospel paper that I receive regularly, and in it is a quote of Rick Warren, pastor of Saddle Back Church in Orange County, California who also is the author of “THE PURPOSE DRIVEN CHURCH” AND ‘the PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE”
He said, “ no matter how wonderful a translation is, it has its limitations” he then goes on to say “read scripture from a newer translation with all the wonderful translations and paraphrases available today, there is no legitimate reason for complicating the GOOD NEWS with four hundred-year old English. Using the King James Version creates an unnecessary cultural barrier--- clarity is more important than poetry”. That’s what Rick Warren had to say.
And he has a huge Church, but let me say that as honest and nice as he may appear to be, he is,” perhaps unknowingly” casting doubt on “the common salvation, -the faith which was once*** delivered unto the saints.
It’ll not be delivered again. The Holy Spirit has done His part, now it’s up to us to believe it just exactly like He has delivered it.
2nd PET. 1: 20- 21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. - For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2ND PET.2: 1-2 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, --2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
Let me remind us what Paul said in:
2 Corinthians 11: 3 + 13-15 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. –
13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
I’m certainly not Rick Warrens judge, or any body else’s judge, but this is what Jude is talking about here, we’re not to change Gods Word, we’re not to encourage people to read these perversions of the Word.
There are people that will listen to these so called famous men and will simple take that what ever he says must be right, but dear heart, if what a man says is contrary to what the One True and Living God has already declared, these men are wrong.
We’re contending today for “the common salvation, -the faith which was once*** delivered unto the saints.
Who are we to trust and believe? The middle verse of the Bible says this:
Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 9It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. (Rulers or leaders)
Any person that talks down the forever settled Word has allowed himself to become a tool of the Devil, either knowingly, or unknowingly.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 “...I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Gates are designed to keep things in or out. When was the last time that a gate attacked anything? The gates of hell don’t attack us.
You and I that are saved are not afraid of the devil or what he might do to us,
the gates of hell shall not prevail against us.
The devil and his demons are not the aggressors; you and I that are saved are the aggressors. The Church is not on the retreat, the Church is on the CHARGE, the Church is not going down, the Church is going up.
The Armour that the True Church is to put on is Armour for the front of us, there’s no Armour for our back, because we’re going forward, not retreating.
The Church is on the attack; we’re not worried about our Adversary, the devil. The True Church is the devils worst nightmare.
Listen as I read to you our Armour, and notice its all for the front.
Eph. 6: 10-18 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; --
If we didn’t contend for the faith, that would make Satan most happy. Peter said in 1 Peter 4: 8-9 8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, the devil is out to ruin our testimony, he would kill us all if the Lord we’re to allow it, the devil can never have our soul and he knows that, if he could some how take our saved soul he would be more powerful than The Holy Spirit and that’s impossible.
Ephesians 4: 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. And dear heart if something is sealed it will remain the same from now on.
Psalm 97:10-- he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
We are to be on the offensive not sitting idle. The key word in the Great Commission is GO!
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature
I’m afraid that to many of us are settled and at ease, content to be passive Christians.
Jesus said in Luke 19: 13- Occupy till I come.
That don’t mean to take up space, what Jesus was saying was that we are to be busy at His business until He comes, we’re to tell the world the truths of the gospel.
The church is under orders. To set idly by is disobedience. One man said, “The church must go into the world because the world won’t come into the church”.
We need to remember that we’re in His army, we’re soldiers in His service.
Paul said in 2 Timothy 2: 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
-- Let me give you this little story; there was this man who truly loved violins, he collected violins for the biggest part of his life, he had collected 246 violins, but one morning he was found dead, he hardly had any comforting things in his home to make life more pleasant, he lived like a pauper, his main focus was collecting these violins.
He had hid them away in his attic for years and years, no one had any pleasure from hearing them, because he had hidden them away. All the beautiful sounds that could have been heard and enjoyed by others were simply wasted.
His prize of all his collection was a really old Stradivarius, a priceless musical instrument, it laid silently away, no one every benefited from the lovely sound that it was capable of producing. —
I just wonder, how many of us Christians live out our lives like this poor man, we have something within us that’s so important, we have the marvelous message of the gospel, yet many of us keep it to our selves.
We truly love the church but we fail to give out the good news to the world; in our zeal for the truth we forget to tell it.
We must realize that the Good News needs not just to be cherished, but needs to be told? All people need to hear it. We are to be world changers not to be changed by the world.
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There are two reasons for us to be skilled and knowledgeable in our faith – first is to defend the Word against corruption from people who are trying to change it.
And second is to be able to give a logical answer for our faith when asked.
I Peter 3:15 15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear
Jude 1:4 4For 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, { “outrageous conduct, a disregard for what is right}. and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Part of contending for the faith is knowing what we believe and why we believe it.
The lord wants us to have knowledge of His Word, and then we can help others.
James said in James 1: 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,--
It is the world’s wisdom not its knowledge that God considers as foolishness.----------------------------------
I Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
As the old saying goes, “ if we don’t stand for some thing we’ll fall for any thing”
----Brother John Wesley once received a note that said, "The Lord has told me to tell you that He doesn’t need your book-learning, your Greek and your Hebrew."
--Brother Wesley answered, "Thank you, sir, I already knew the Lord has no need for my ’book-learning,’ as you put it. Although, the Lord has not directed me to say so, but I would like to say to you that the Lord does not need your ignorance either." – -
Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. It seems as though some of us believe that in order to stand up for our faith we must become heady and high-minded, but lets try and love the sinner, but yet hate their sin. We’ll never win a lost person to Jesus by acting as though we’re holier than thou. Matthew 10:16 --be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Did you know that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend? Matthew 5:43-45 43Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. As we contend for the faith, let’s keep in mind that “the faith” is what gets the job done, & not our worldly wisdom.
