How to Earnestly Contend for the Faith

I want to read to you from the book of Jude, the book right before the book of the Revelation. Twenty-five verses make up the epistle of Jude. Jude, beginning at verse one.

Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels, who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner, to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, they were set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise, also, these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.

Yet Michael, the archangel, in contending with the devil when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you. But these speak evil of whatever they do not know. And whatever they know, naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.

Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, they have run greedily in the air of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.

They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds, laid autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame, wondering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men, also saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly, among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts, and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons who cause divisions not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others, save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.

Amen. This morning as we gathered here in this place, we heard a message from Pastor Barkman in the expositional series of 2 Corinthians. And in that message, he said Paul wrote to rescue the Corinthian believers from deception.

That's why Paul was writing in that portion of the letter, to rescue the Corinthian believers from deception. I submit to you tonight that Jude is writing for a similar purpose. There is deception all around us.

There are multiplied voices competing to be heard. And we need great discernment to be able to discern truth from error. And Jude writes to help us in that way. Here are the words of a well-known hymn. Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. And that hymn writer is pointing us in the direction that our hearts are constantly in need of being tuned. Walking in this broken world, contending with the world, the flesh and the devil, our hearts get out of tune.

And we need times where we come before God and before His word and have our hearts retuned. Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I'm come.

And I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood. Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wondering heart to thee. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it.

Seal it for thy courts above. Again, the hymn writer is acknowledging that the Christian, the believer, stands in constant need of having his heart cultivated and challenged and stirred up, lest he become cold and indifferent and wonder from the way. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love. And it's God and His keeping power that keeps us in the way, and that is cause for rejoicing. Well, no, there are some books of the Bible that are neglected because of their brevity, particularly in the New Testament.

Philemon is one of those books. It consists of only 25 verses. 2 John, 21 verses. 3 John, 14 verses. And this short epistle that we're considering tonight, the epistle of Jude, 25 verses. Just out of curiosity, how many sermons have you heard collectively from these four epistles?

Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude. Well, because you're a part of this church, I'm glad to be able to say to you you've probably heard the exposition of each one of those epistles, but that is not the case for many Christians. There are some Christians who probably have never heard an exposition of some of these epistles. Let's take a brief overview of what is going on here in this epistle.

This short epistle was written by Jude. He identifies himself there in verse 1. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. Bondservant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.

That is, a half-brother of Jesus Christ, a servant of Jesus Christ. He's writing to Christians, to believers. Verse 2, he's writing, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ. So he identifies these believers, these Christians, in a three-fold manner. And what is that three-fold manner?

Again, it's very obvious there. He's writing to those who are called, those who are sanctified by God, and those who are preserved in Jesus Christ. Called, sanctified, and kept. And then there's a three-fold salutary blessing of prayer that's conferred on these ones that he's mentioned. Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Not be added to you, but be multiplied to you. And then we come to verse 3, and it is in verse 3 that we get the purpose of this short epistle. He says, Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude states that he began to write with one objective, with one purpose, and something else. Some other circumstance altered that original intent and dictated that the course of the letter would address some other more pressing, more urgent need.

And what was his first intent? Well, he says his first intent was to write of their common salvation. To write to them concerning their solidarity in Jesus Christ. The tone of the letter probably was to be along the line of encouragement, to speak to them about Christ and the salvation that he has secured for his people.

But something occurred that made him aware of a need with such importance and implications that he must write concerning that instead. The purpose of this letter is, again, to exhort them to contend earnestly for the faith. The faith was under attack. The faith was being assaulted in their midst and Jude is writing to challenge them, to encourage them to rally and to earnestly contend for the faith.

And we'll talk more about what that means in a moment. Why did they need to earnestly contend for the faith? Verse 4, for certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. Certain men, ungodly, who turned the grace of our God into lewdness and denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Impostors, danger to the church, danger to believers. And isn't it interesting that that is something that is addressed over and over again in the New Testament. Paul is writing to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20. And he says this in Acts 20 verse 28, Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know, verse 29, I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So here it is again. And that's what was going on in Corinth.

Here it is in Jude. Ungodly men, false teachers seeking to spread their false teaching, creating divisions among the believers, and they crept in unawares. They wormed their way in, spreading a very dangerous teaching, that is turning the grace of God into lewdness as it says.

They claimed to know God, but by their actions they denied him. So the main purpose for this epistle, we can say it a couple of ways. Number one, to exhort and to equip his readers for Christian living in a context of false teaching. Or, how to stand against false teaching, how to defend themselves against it, how to fortify themselves against it. Then in the language of verse three, how to earnestly contend for the faith.

And I always have my interest piqued when I see language that speaks to the how to. How to contend earnestly for the faith. We have not just the exhortation to earnestly contend for the faith, but we have instructions on how to do that.

What does that look like? And we will get to that in a moment. But the challenge is to be on guard, to be watchful, because air creeps in unnoticed, unawares.

It slips in, it worms its way in. And we have a responsibility. The shepherds of God's flock have a responsibility. The profile of a biblical pastor or under shepherd or elder is that he's a watchman. He's been charged with the care and the protection of some of God's sheep.

There is air everywhere. In the news, I think it was earlier this week, Larry King died. And I heard, watched a clip of an interview that was conducted with him. And Larry King said this, that if he could interview God, he would ask him one question.

And I thought my interest was piqued. What one question would Larry King like to ask God? And I thought, well, it probably has something to do with suffering and evil and that.

That wasn't it at all. Larry King said, if I could have an interview with God, I would ask him, do you really have a son? That's the mark of a false teacher, denying the Lord Jesus Christ, denying the sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Interesting. So here is Jude writing this letter to these believers and he begins with one intent, but must change the purpose of his writing. And there's a principle I think here.

I don't want to make it hard and fast, but I think it's worth observing and drawing attention to. He wanted to write about their common faith. He wanted to write to encourage them in the faith. But here I think is the principle, that the ministry of encouragement must take a backseat to the ministry of exhortation and the need for warning when danger in the form of false teaching is a legitimate threat to the sheep.

And there was a threat here to the sheep and that's what caused Jude to change the reason and the purpose for his writing. And it necessitates at times speaking negatively, exposing false teachers and their deceptive dangerous ways, methods and teachings. Now what follows here in this short epistle beginning at verse 5 all the way through verse 16 is a description of false teachers. And not only a description of false teachers, but the certainty of God's judgment of them. Jude employs three analogies to show the certainty of their condemnation and their judgment. There is the analogy of unbelieving Israel in verse 5. I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed those who did not believe.

The analogy of unbelieving Israel. Number two, the analogy of the fallen angels in verse 6. And then number three, the analogy of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities in verse 7. And again, in verse 11. Woe to them for they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the air of Balaam for profit and perished in the rebellion of Korah. Three more Old Testament examples that show the certainty of God's judgment and condemnation. That's what he's writing.

Don't be deceived. These false teachers will receive their just condemnation. And what is the...we don't have the time tonight to... A whole series of messages could be, I think, profitably preached from this short epistle because there is so many references to Old Testament narrative.

But for our purposes tonight, I'm simply giving an overview and then get to the main point here of what does it look like to earnestly contend for the faith. But their fundamental characteristic that is true of all of these that Jude cites, they're ungodly. They're ungodly. Again, verse 4, certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for their condemnation ungodly men, ungodly men. Four times in verse 15, the same thing, ungodliness, is mentioned.

To execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way and all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. And then again in verse 18, how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own, what, ungodly lusts. They're deceptive. They're subtle. They creep in.

They've crept in unawares. He mentions that several times. He mentions it again there in verse 12. Verse 19, he says, these are sensual persons who cause divisions not having the Spirit.

They're worldly minded. They're devoid of the Spirit. They are sowing discord and division among the brethren. And in contrast to them, he says this, verse 17, but you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 20, but you, beloved. There's that same identification there in verse 17. But you, beloved, verse 20, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

Now, here are some instructions. Here are some biblical injunctions for Christians who are being threatened with the ungodly influence of false teachers and their godless teaching. And it is here that he picks up on where he left off in verse 3. Again, verse 3, writing to them to earnestly contend for the faith.

Here are the particulars of how to do that. What does it mean to contend for the faith? Well, to contend means to exert oneself without distraction toward a particular goal. It means self-denial, to overcome obstacles and to avoid perils.

This isn't something that you're going to do in an afternoon or in a couple of hours. This is something you're going to have to be diligent about, stay at, be watchful, concerning. Four injunctions. Four injunctions that will protect, that will fortify, that will equip any saint to contend and continue on in the faith in a climate that is permeated with false teachers and their destructive ways. Folks, Jude wrote that in a context, in a church context that was legitimate. There was a threat. There were false teachers all around.

Has much changed? There are false teachers and false teaching all around us. And if this was helpful and needful in Jude's day, it is helpful and needful in our day. Here is the key to spiritual profit. Here's the key to spiritual benefit. Here's the key to spiritual growth. Four injunctions.

What are they? It begins there in verse 20. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith. That's the first injunction. Praying in the Holy Spirit, that's the second injunction. Keeping yourselves in the love of God, that is the third injunction. And looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, that is the fourth injunction. There are the four injunctions that will protect, fortify, and equip any, any saint to continue on in the faith in a climate permeated by false teachers and false teaching. Here's what it means to maintain your Christian walk with the Lord. It is by cultivating the familiar virtues of faith and of prayer and of love and of hope. Those are the four subjects that these four injunctions address.

So let's look at them one by one. Build yourself up in the most holy faith. Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, the New King James says. Build. Build denotes activity. It's an action verb.

Build yourself. It speaks of personal responsibility for every professing believer, for every Christian to be active, involved in this. There's something that we are to do. And if God is commanding us to do it, God is not going to do it for us.

It sounds like 2 Peter 1. Give all diligence to add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. You know that list of virtues that Peter gives. But you, beloved, building yourselves up. Now, to build up implies a foundation.

And what is the foundation that a Christian must build upon? Well, this takes us back to verse 3. The foundation is faith. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith. He's returned to the subject of faith, which he began with in verse 3. The latter half of verse 3.

Exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Now, there's not two different aspects of faith being spoken to here. I believe that in verse 3 and in verse 20, he is speaking to objective faith. Not objective faith in verse 3 and subjective faith in verse 20.

And you might get that because of that word, your. But he's talking about objective faith in both cases. Again, the reference here is not to subjective faith. What do I mean again by subjective faith? That the personal trust the believer places in Jesus Christ. But I believe this is a reference to objective faith. The body of truth that has been given by God and preserved for us. In verse 3, he says to contend earnestly for the faith. The faith. And anytime you see the definite article attached to the word faith, it's speaking of the objective truth of scripture. The Bible, the word of God.

The body of truth that has been given by God to us. And he says to earnestly contend, again verse 3, for the faith which was once for all. Once for all. Those words once for all translate to Greek word hopax, which refers to something that is done for all time with lasting results, never needing repeated. God has given his word once and for all. It's never going to be repeated. Similarly, that hopax is used in reference to the shedding of Christ's blood.

The death of Christ on the cross. Once and for all, never to be repeated. What he's saying here is nothing needs to be added to the faith that has been delivered once for all.

It's been once and for all delivered to the saints. And the word delivered, which was once for all delivered in the Greek, is an aorist passive participle. You say, well what does that mean? Well, when you see the use of an aorist passive participle, it's indicating an act that has been completed in the past with no continuing element.

That's very important. Something that's been completed in the past with no continuing element. What are we talking about? We're talking about the revelation of God. When God gave the final revelation in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no continuing revelation to be expected by the church, by you and for me. Those who believe in continuing revelation have missed this point. God has once and for all delivered the body of truth, and he is not going to give us anything more than what he's already given.

The references to objective faith, the body of truth that has been given by God and preserved by God for us. So those who are longing for experience and for revelation, we don't need something else. God's not going to give us something else. We just need to know better what he has already given and delivered to us.

That's the charge. And my question to you tonight is, is that foundation in place in your life? Is that the foundation of your spiritual life? Truth, objective truth, the word of God.

And if so, there's something there to build upon, something there for God to begin to work and continually work. And we must cooperate with that in an uncompromising and in an unwavering way. How do you combat error? You combat error with truth. How do you combat falsehood? You combat falsehood with truth. That's the first injunction.

What is the second injunction? Pray in the Holy Spirit, verse 20. Again the first one, building yourselves up on your most holy faith. Secondly, praying in the Holy Spirit.

What is that? That is Spirit-directed prayer. Prayers informed and directed by what? Informed and directed by the objective truth of God's word. That's how we learn to pray. That's what Spirit-led praying is. Praying in concert with the revealed will of God, as He's given it to us in His authoritative word.

The third injunction. This is how we earnestly contend for the faith. What does He say in verse 21? Keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep your personal pronoun, your again, in yourself. Emphasizing what our responsibility is.

Now, here's a question. How do we reconcile this command to keep ourselves with other truth taught in God's word that we are kept and preserved by God Himself? In fact, we see it right here in the book of Jude. It concludes with a reminder of what God is committed to do. So, He says, keep yourselves in the love of God. Listen to a couple of other passages of scripture that we, again, have to work at reconciling with this exhortation. John 6.39. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all them which He hath given me, I should lose none of them, but raise them up again at the last day. John 10, 27-29. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.

My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. And then John 17.12. Christ's high priestly prayer. He prays to the Father, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name. Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition that the scriptures might be fulfilled. How did Jude begin this epistle?

To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ. The epistle ends in verse 24, Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling. So again the question, Is our eternal security dependent on Him or upon us?

Well, it's dependent upon Him. It's dependent upon Him, but that does not release us of our responsibility to persevere. You see, He has ordained that we should persevere to the end, and we are kept and preserved by God, but God has ordained the means whereby we will persevere. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God. Now that leads us to a quick examination of the word love, not a feeling or an emotion or a sentiment. What does it mean to keep yourselves in the love of God?

It speaks of cultivating a love relationship with Him. And in John 15 Jesus said, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. If you love me, Jesus said, keep my commandments. So how do we keep ourselves in the love of God? Obedience. Obedience is the litmus test of our love for God. And that begs the question, How resolute are you? How committed are you to obedience to the revealed will and word of God?

Is that something that is front and center? That marks your life? You are an obedient Christian?

Or have you been deceived into thinking that you can discard, disobey the word of God on many a front and still consider yourself a Christian? Back to the objective truth of God's word. What is the fourth injunction? The third is keep yourself in the love of God.

What is the fourth? Notice what he says. Verse 21, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Question. How can you be protected? How can you be fortified and equipped to continue on in the faith in a climate that's permeated by false teaching and false teachers and their destructive heresies? Build yourself up on the faith. Pray in the Spirit. Keep yourself in the love of God. And number four, Wait expectantly for the consummation of your salvation. Keep an eye toward and for the second coming of Christ.

Notice again what he says. Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Looking. That is waiting with eager expectation with our heart and eye and gaze fixed heavenward. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. These are the four Christian virtues.

You see them there in those four injunctions? Faith. But you beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith. First Christian virtue. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Prayer, the second Christian virtue. Keep yourselves in the love of God, the third Christian virtue.

And the fourth, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Hope. Faith. Prayer.

Love and hope. This is a practical message. Practical in that we've been exhorted to contend earnestly for the faith and here are the practical instructions on how to do that. Practically speaking, this is how we earnestly contend for the faith and how we fortify and protect our lives from danger and apostasy.

It's sobering. It's alarming in some respects to read from time to time of people, theologians, authors, pastors, renowned people who have after 25, 30, 35 years renounced the faith, embraced heresy, turned to apostasy. And we say, well, how is that possible? And if it has happened to them who are well studied and learned and have been in the way, what about me?

What about you? Well, here's how we fortify ourself. Here's how we protect ourselves. Here's how we earnestly contend for the faith. This is practical and this is helpful and I trust that God will use it in your heart and life. Listen to the words of this hymn by Thomas Kelly. Praise the Savior, ye who know Him, who can tell how much we owe Him. Gladly let us render to Him all we are and have.

Jesus is the name that charms us. He for conflict fits and arms us. Nothing moves and nothing harms us while we trust in Him. Trust in Him, ye saints forever. He is faithful, changing never.

Neither force nor guile can sever those He loves from Him. Keep us, Lord, oh keep us cleaving to thyself and still believing till the hour of our receiving. Promise joys with thee. Then we shall be where we would be. Then we shall be what we should be.

Things that are not now nor could be soon shall be our own. Shall we pray? Father, thank You for Your word that is profitable for doctrine, for instruction, for rebuke, for correction. Thank You, Lord, that we need these reminders. Thank You for Your mercy and kindness to remind us of danger around us and how to fortify and protect ourselves from it. Thank You for the practical portions of Your word that answer the how-to questions of our Christian life. And would You, by the operation of the Spirit of God, equip us, help us, enable us to do the very thing that is being exhorted here, to earnestly contend for the faith. And as we do, we rejoice. Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy to God our Savior who alone is wise. Be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.