The Battle for the Bible

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ, and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrian Rogers. When I was a little boy, I used to like to go to the movies on Saturday afternoon, and we would see Tarzan, and I loved the Tarzan movies, and of course Tarzan was the hero. Of every little boy about that time when I was growing up, but there was one time that I was always concerned for Tarzan.

That is when Tarzan would be swimming in the river, and you can remember he would be swimming with those powerful strokes. But over on the shore would be a crocodile, and you would see that crocodile as he would blink those eyes a couple of times, and then slide into the water. And Tarzan would be swimming along and not know that crocodile was there. And I would be so frightened because I can't think of anything worse than be in swimming with a crocodile, and that crocodile would slither off the bank and enter in that water and never, ever, even make a ripple. Do you remember when that crocodile would get after Tarzan that way?

Somehow Tarzan would always outswim the crocodile, but. What happened in that Tarzan movie is, in a sense, an illustration of what Jude is talking about. Believe it or not, Jude is giving a warning, and the warning is that there are certain people who have crept into the church.

Now he says they have crept in unawares.

Now that word there is the word that was used in the Greek language of that day to describe somebody who could slip into the water. Without even making a ripple, something very dangerous, something very sinister, that is slipping up on the Church of the Lord God, and Jude has written this book to sound an alarm. There is a battle for the Bible that is going on, whether you know it or not. There is a fight for the faith, and the fight for the faith is a fight to the finish with no holes barred. And the child of God cannot afford to be ignorant, and he certainly cannot play neutral.

For the Scripture says that we should earnestly contend for the faith. And that word, earnestly contend, in the Greek language has right in the middle of it the word from which we get our English word agony. We are to agonize for the faith. There's no easy way, no simple way. And I want to be known as a gospel preacher.

And there's some people who say, well, you don't digress into any kind of a battle. But that's exactly what happened to Jude. Jude said, "I was going to write to you concerning our common salvation. Look in verse three, beloved. 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 you should earnestly contend for the faith.

That is, Jude said, I was going to write about salvation by grace and the power of the blood. I was going to write about being born again. I was going to write about the security we have in Jesus. I was going to write about our deliverance from sin and our home in." Heaven! It was going to be wonderful.

I was going to write about our common salvation, but the Holy Spirit of God said, "Warn those people that they should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints." So we're going to think about apostasy today. The word apostasy means to fall away from the faith, and the apostasy, ladies and gentlemen, is upon us. First of all, I want you to think of what I call the danger of apostasy. Look in verse four. For there are certain men crept in unawares.

It has the idea of being able to slip into water. Without even making a ripple. Another way this word was used in the language of that day was someone who would come in uninvited through a side door. For example, everybody comes in through the front doors, but there's certain people who are uninvited who just slip in and make themselves a part of the party. They sort of crash the party.

Another way in which this word was used, it was used in a law court. For a very clever lawyer, who, when he was arguing a case, would slip certain thoughts into his argument, certain words into his argument, he would just place them there and drop them there, and at the time they seemed to be of no consequence. But what he was doing was putting things into the mind of the judge and the jury that later he would come back and play upon. And he would just plant a thought. He would just slip it in.

A very clever lawyer. Or else, this word was also used of a person having been deposed and exiled from a country, and banned from a country, who would somehow just slip across the border and come back from exile and enter that country again. It is a very sinister word, and so what is the danger of apostasy? Number one, it is the danger of deception, but is also the danger of destruction. Apostasy is very deadly, and that's the reason that Jude is giving us this warning.

That's the reason that Jude is sounding an alarm, and how tragic it is when warnings are not heeded. I was reading again about Captain Smith, who was the captain of the Titanic, that great ocean liner, luxurious and beautiful. How beautiful she was! How strong she was! It was called unsinkable.

As a matter of fact, it is reported that one of the crew members said, "Even God Almighty." Couldn't sink this ship. That's about all it ever did was sink. I mean, it went out on its maiden voyage and went down. But Captain Smith had received on the radio a message that warned him that he was sailing through iceberg-laden waters. Before the Titanic struck that iceberg, he slipped that message into his pocket.

And the ship continued full speed ahead. And that night, a number of people went down. One thousand four hundred and ninety people went to a watery grave because there was a warning that was unheeded. I was reading also about Sergeant Joseph Lockhart in nineteen forty-one, who sat at a radar screen in Honolulu. And he saw a squadron of airplanes on December the seventh coming in toward Pearl Harbor, and he told his superior officer.

He said, "I see something." He said, "There's a squadron of airplanes headed this way." And the superior officer said, "Well, most likely they're friendly." Don't worry about them. And three thousand of America's finest went up in flames and smoke and went down to a watery grave because the warning was there, the message was there, but it was unheeded. And I am telling you that that Jude is saying that we should watch. We should earnestly contend because there is the danger of apostasy, because of its deception, because of its destruction. Eighty-eight of the first one hundred colleges that were begun in the United States of America were begun as institutions based on the Bible for the spread and the propagation of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I want to show you what happened. Yale, for example. Yale had its beginning in seventeen O one. It was there for the preaching of the gospel. And Timothy Dwight, the president of Yale, advised the class in eighteen fourteen.

I want you to hear what the president of Yale said. I quote: "Christ is the only true, the living way of access to God. Give up yourselves therefore to Him with a cordial confidence." And the great work of life is done. Can you imagine the president of Yale standing up and telling the student body that today? Or let me tell you about Harvard.

Harvard had some rules for conduct for the students. 1646. Here were the rules at Harvard. Number one: Everyone shall consider the main end of his life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life. They said, "We don't want you to come out of Harvard if you don't know this.

That's the chief end of your studies." Number two, seeking the Lord gives wisdom. Everyone shall seriously, by prayer in secret, seek wisdom of Him. Number three, everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that they may be ready to give an account of their proficiency therein, both in theoretical observation of language and logical, and in practical and spiritual truth.

Now that that's Harvard University, can you imagine those rules today at Harvard, Princeton? In its early days, insisted that the faculty and I quote be convinced of the necessity of religious experience for salvation. John Witherspoon, the first president of Princeton, said this: "Cursed be all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ. Cursed be all learning that is not coincident with the cross of Christ." Cursed be all learning that is not subservient to the cross of Christ.

Now, I'm not merely picking on Princeton, Yale, and Harvard, but they're such well-known schools, and many people would little dream that these kind of schools had such a beginning. But such is the danger of apostasy. Not only schools, but once great denominations can become apostate. I want to tell you what the secretary for mission board of a great denomination has said. I quote: "We have given up all hope of saving this generation.

Our efforts are now directed toward the next. No more missionaries will be sent out to merely evangelize. Our hope is in education." That's the secretary for mission board. And the same has become true of many so-called ministers who stand in the pulpit. Let me give you some statements of some of these ministers.

I do not believe in the doctrine of salvation by blood. Thank God, I am not saved by the blood of anyone. Salvation by the blood of the gospel is of the butcher shop. That's a minister, not of a cult, but the minister of an historic denomination. Or again.

The critical view of today is that the gospel miracles represent the crude ideas of a superstitious age, and that they are to that extent untrustworthy. Or again, those who record the virgin birth were doubtless influenced by pagan fables, seeking by these to secure for him the honor of celestial paternity. That is, when you believe in the virgin birth. You're just believing in a story that has been the offspring of pagan fables.

Now, the sad thing about that is, many men who preach this kind of thing stand behind the sacred desk, and people sit in congregations and listen to that, and even pay to have it taught. And such things, dear friend, are not rare. You know, we live in a little closed society. We think that everybody goes to church and worships as we worship. Not so.

Oh, the danger! The danger! The danger of apostasy!

Now, not only does Jude speak of the dangers of apostasy, but he gives us a description of the apostates. Look, if you will, in verse four: for there are certain men crept in unaware, who were before of old ordained or marked out to this condemnation. That is, they haven't taken God by surprise. And then he describes them: number one, ungodly men; number two, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness; and number three, and denying the only Lord God and our Our Lord Jesus Christ, and in those statements, Jude speaks first of all of their character, then he speaks of their conduct, and then he speaks of their creed.

Now, in the character, he calls them ungodly.

Now, what does the word ungodly mean? It does not mean that they do not mention God or even talk about God. As a matter of fact, they talk about God quite freely. The word, according to Thayer's lexicon, means a person without a reverential awe of God, without a reverential awe of God. That is the basic ingredient missing in the life of an apostate: is a fear of God.

A fear of God, and therefore they talk flippantly and carelessly and blasphemously about holy things. In verse eight, you have the same idea. Likewise, also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. That is, their mouth and their tongue just runs up and down through the land. There is no fear of God before their eyes, and they fear not to mock and speak of holy.

Things they take things upon their lips that ought to make us tremble, and so as to the character, write down no reverence, no reverence.

Now as to the conduct, the Bible says they've turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. Right after the conduct, no restraint. The word lascivious means unbridled lusts. They live as they want. They do as they want, and if you remonstrate with them and tell them they ought not to do that way, they'll say, "Well, after all, there's the grace of God.

God is not a tyrant. After all, He is a God of grace, and He is a God of love." And so, what they have done, they have become a disgrace to grace. They have turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, and they have made of the grace of God a license to sin. And if you today stand up in a congregation, in some of these congregations, and preach against sin, they will accuse you of being judgmental, and being cruel and bigoted.

So, therefore, we have denominations today who have ordained homosexuals today. We have denominations who countenance sex before marriage, who never sound an alarm against abortion, who never preach against the horrors of divorce, and we—you can almost write down anything you want to believe and any way you want to act—and I can find in the United States of America a church where you fit right in because the apostasy. Has turned the grace of God into licentiousness, but but Paul told Titus the grace of God hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live righteously and soberly and godly in this present world. Titus two verse eleven, and the apostle Paul said, "Why shall we say, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid." Oh, but the apostates, as to their conduct, they have turned the grace of God into licentiousness.

To their character, no reverence. To their conduct, no restraint. And then the third thing: think about the creed. The Bible says they have denied. They deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, is an interesting thing when He uses the word the Lord God. There, the word Lord is a word that we get our word despot from. Do you ever think of God as a despot? That has a negative meaning to us today, but it literally means He is. Total ruler, he is Lord.

But these people will not bow the knee to the lordship of God. I mean, they have humanized God, they have deified man, and they do not submit to the word of God and the God of that word, and thereby they deny Him.

Some deny Him with their lips, and others deny Him by their lives. But they deny Him none the less. And so, as to their creed, put down no rule, no regulation. There. Is no reverence.

There is no restraint. There is no rule. There are no regulations. They deny the only Lord God. They live their lives the way they want to live their lives.

I want to go on to the third thing. Not only the dangers of apostasy, and not only the description of apostasy, but I want you to see the destruction of the apostates. I want you to see how God feels about apostasy. Look with me now in verse six. I will therefore put you in remembrance.

And by the way, any teacher, any preacher knows that you have to keep saying the same thing over and over again.

Now, evidently, Jude had said this before; someone else had said it because he said, "You once knew this." That is, I have learned. Just because people hear something doesn't mean they don't need to hear it again. And that you don't need to continue to put it into their heart and into their mind. All teaching, good teaching, is based upon repetition. When I read this, I was thinking about something I heard of Jack Taylor a while back.

Jack Taylor was preaching with a wireless lavalier microphone.

Now, when you have that wireless lavalier, the pastor wears a little transmitter. What he is is a little radio station, and he's he's transmitting to the speakers. And those things work pretty good most of the time. But sometimes the signals get mixed with the signals on the citizens band radio, and you can be in a service like that, and music, a rock music or something like that, will start coming through when the man is preaching. Jack Taylor was up preaching, and as he was preaching away, somebody came in on a citizens Band radio and said, "How long you going to stay on that?" And without breaking stride, he said, "Till they get it, honey." Well, that's what old Jude is saying.

I'm going to stay on it till you get it. You've heard it, but he said, "I'm going to remind you of it again." He said, "I'm going to give you three instances of where God destroyed apostates." And first of all, he talks about the children of Israel who came out of Egypt. Look, if you will, in verse five, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though once you knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believe not. That's a very interesting thing. When the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, they all went out together, and they went out under the blood of the lamb.

They went out through the Red Sea. And there were miracles, and they all looked alike, and they all traveled together. But there was a mixed multitude, and some of them who had had that experience, and some of them who had gone through that form, some of them who seemingly were delivered, yet they perished, and they perished at the hand of God, and it was God that destroyed them.

Now they were destroyed. In spite of their experience, that is, they had come out of Egypt, but they did never truly believe. The Bible says they believed not.

Now let me tell you something. There's some of you here today who may be apostates, and you may be lost, and you're going to be destroyed, and you don't even know that you're an apostate, and you need to be reminded of what happened to the children of Israel. Outwardly they were saved, but inwardly they were not. They had an experience, but they did not have life. They had never truly been born again.

Now that's the reason I preached the first message on the security of the believer, let you know that a person who is truly saved can never again be a lost sinner. But I'm telling you, dear friend, there are a lot of people who think they were saved who never were saved and are lost. These people came out of Egypt, but they did not believe, and God destroyed them.

Now you can go out today and and go from door to door and do personal work, as I've done many times, and you'll find a person. He says, "Oh yes." I tell you, we just don't go to church anymore. You know, I'll admit I'm not living a Christian life, and there are a lot of things in my life that are not right. As a matter of fact, I'm in pretty bad shape. But, but, preach, I want to tell you one thing.

At least I know I'm saved. I remember, boy, when I was a nine-year-old boy at my country church, I walked down the aisle, and I got saved. One thing I know, I know I'm saved.

Well, I want to tell you something, friend. The important thing is not back yonder. The important thing is right now.

Now the question is: Is the person sitting in your seat right now? Is he trusting Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior? For example, the important question is not: Were you married? The important question is: Are you married? If you are, you were right.

You see, you say, "Well, I came out of Egypt." I want to know: Do you believe? I though there were people who came out of Egypt. There were people who had an experience, but the Bible says God destroyed them. They were apostates. They had a form of godliness, but they denied the power thereof.

They came up to the borderline of truth, but they never entered into truth. They never had that heart faith. And sad it is, sad it is for people to have that kind of religion. And Jude says, "I remind you of those people. They came out." Of Egypt, but God destroyed them because they believed not, and so there was destruction in spite of profession.

Secondly, there was destruction in spite of position. I want you to notice in the next verse, and the angels which kept not their first estate—that's verse six—but left their own habitation. He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. There were certain angels who committed horrible sin. I believe the sin they committed was to cohabitate with the daughters of men before the flood.

They produced a race of monsters, nephilim, giants. The Bible called them men of renown. These specially vile and wicked angels, who went after strange flesh, are put into a place Peter calls it Tartarus, a special place. They are chained within vile chains, reserved in darkness. This does not speak of ordinary demons here, because ordinary demons are not chained.

Amen. You ought to know that the devil is not yet chained. This is a special class of those who sin while the ark was being prepared. I don't have time to get into all of that, except to say that it is almost unbelievable that bright, shining, glorious angels who are ministering spirits next to the throne of God could have sunk so vile and so low. And what is Jude telling us?

Jude is telling us, ladies and gentlemen, if you do not have the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in your heart, regardless of your position, beware lest you fall. You can be a bishop. You can be a pastor. You can be an elder. You can be a deacon.

You can be a professor, and you can go down and you can fall. You can have position without possession. Here were angels next to the throne of God who apostatized and fell. What a warning! What a solemn warning!

In spite of profession, the Israelites fell. In spite of position. The angels fell, in spite of possessions. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah fell. Look, if you would, in verse seven, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

What was the going after strange flesh? What is he talking about? He's talking about the sin of sodomy. But these were once cities that knew the truth; they'd heard the truth. As a matter of fact, one of the sons of Noah was still on the earth when Sodom was destroyed.

They had known of the judgment of God in the flood. God had even sent angels to that city to warn that city, but they apostatized and they fell and they turned in spite of possessions. You say, Pastor, why do you say possessions? Let me tell you something, friend. If you could have picked out the most beautiful spot on earth in that day, it would probably have been Sodom.

Why?

Well, the Holy Land was God's land that flowed with milk and honey. I mean, that was the beauty spot of the earth, more beautiful than our Switzerland of today. Was that land that flowed with milk and honey that God gave to His people? And in the land that flowed with milk and honey, do you know what the choice spot of it all was?

Sodom. You remember when Lot had his choice? Abraham said, "Just choose." He said, "Boy, I want that. I want Sodom." He saw the well-watered plains of Sodom, glorious, beautiful, luxuriant. If you were to go today to the end of the Dead Sea, you would find a place with charred remains, bitumen, rocks, salt, desolate, buried under the Dead Sea.

That's what happened. People became apostate in spite of profession. People became apostate in spite of position. People became apostate in spite of possessions and the goodness of God upon them. They turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.

What a warning! And God has left Sodom with its smoking fire as an example. Of those who afterward will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. This is the destruction of the apostates.

Now, one last thing. Let me talk to you about the defense against apostasy, defense against the apostates.

Now, the Bible says that we are to earnestly contend.

Now, how, therefore, are we to contend for the faith? Let's get this out of the realm of the theoretical. And let's get it down to the practical, where we live today. What should we do with the faith? How do we contend for the faith?

Number one, you should submit to the faith. That is, you need to be born again. You need to receive the truth of God's word, get it down in your heart. Not deny the only Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, but receive the only Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Have you done that?

Is He your Savior? Are you born again? Have you repented of your sin? Are you saved? Do you know that you know?

Are you one hundred percent certain? If you died tonight, you'd go to heaven. I'm not asking what happened to you in the past. I'm saying is the person in your seat right now, trusting Jesus Christ. I'm not saying that your experience in the past didn't save you, but I'm saying if it did save you, dear friend, it'll be real in your heart right now.

You'll know it. All right. You need number one to submit to the truth. Number two, you need to study the truth. You need to study the faith.

You see, there are a lot of people who wouldn't know the apostles from the epistles. Matter of fact, they think the epistles are the wives of the apostles. They don't understand. They don't understand this book. You ask them, "Do you believe the Bible's word of God?" Oh, yes, I believe the Bible's the word of God.

If you'd tell them turn to the book of Hezekiah, some of them would start looking.

Some of you try and find Philip sixty six. You better get in this book. Learn what this Bible says. The Bible says, "Study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed." And I tell you, the three great areas of the battlefield when you're studying the truth: number one is the inerrancy of the Scripture; number two is the deity of Christ; and number three is salvation by grace through faith. And you better learn those things and learn how to handle them, because almost every cult, every apostate is going to be wrong in these areas.

And so you need to submit to the faith. Number two, you need to study the faith. Number three, you need to show the faith. That is, you need to live it out. You need to flesh it out.

And how are you going to contend for the faith? One of the greatest arguments for what I preach is the way you live. Do you understand that? My authenticity as a preacher of the gospel is right out here.

Now, folks, you make me look bad or good. You, the way you live. Show the faith. The biggest argument for Christ or against Christ is the life of a Christian. Show the faith.

I'll tell you something else. You need to stand for the faith. Be bold. Speak up. Don't be ashamed.

When the name of the Lord Jesus is being ridiculed and when this Bible is being maligned, speak up. Sure, there are people who are not going to like you. We're not here to win a popularity contest. You don't do that in war. We're to earnestly contend for the faith.

That doesn't mean that we're to be feisty and pugnacious and ugly and rude. The Bible says the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach. But still, stand, stand like Gibraltar. Get a bulldog grip on the truth, and don't be blown about by every wind of doctrine. And then support the faith.

Be in a church that preaches the truth. Support the faith.

Now, if you're a part of a church that church does not stand for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. If your church has become apostate, get out of it. But you find a church somewhere that's preaching the gospel, and do not lend by your life and your support, your influence, and your money to an apostate denomination or an apostate church, dear friend. Support the truth. That's the way to earnestly contend for the faith.

Do you know what our job today is? To get good people out of bad churches. You say, "Well, I'm standing there. I'm staying there for my influence." Oh, you are.

Well, that's exactly what you're doing. You're influencing other people to be in that same kind of church. You say, "Well, I'm being a missionary to them." Yeah, you're being a missionary to bring other people in. They say, "Well, he's a good man, and he belongs there." Oh, dear friend, listen. We need to get good people out of bad churches, and we need to get people to earnestly contend for the faith and to take a stand for the faith that was once for all delivered.

We have in our church a man who's in retirement age. Several years ago, he came to me and he said, "Pastor, I'm a member of a certain denomination, and he named that denomination a once great denomination that was born in a revival, but now is only living in the smoke." And he said, "My pastor doesn't preach the word of God, my denomination, but he said I love it. We worked in that church. We put so much into that church, and and now, Pastor, what should I do?" And I said, "Friend, I want to tell you, I earnestly am not trying." For the aggrandizement of this church, because we're not the only one preaching the gospel, but you better get somewhere where the gospel is preached and put your life and influence behind it. This dear man became a part of Bellevue Church.

He and his wife now are going to Uganda. As missionaries in retirement age, and they're as happy as they can be. And here's a man who is so enthused and so thrilled. One of our deacons who came out of an apostate denomination, and he said, "Pastor, you don't know how it hurt." But I want to tell you, you don't know how happy that man is today because he took a stand, and God blessed him, and God has opened up doors and vistas of service for him. You need to support the faith.

One last thing, you need to share the faith, folks. Share the faith. I mean, listen. If it is real, one of the ways to fight apostasy is to get people in the truth. Because if you're believing the right thing, then you can't believing the wrong thing.

And the real proof as to whether or not you believe this Bible is what are you doing to share it with somebody else. We say keep the faith, baby. I'd say give it away, friend. Give it away. If you can't give it away, maybe you ought to give it up.

Maybe you don't have the real thing.

Now we are to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Now, friend, I want to tell you the devil is so clever. The Bible says he would deceive the very elect if it were possible. And it is possible that some of you, if you don't get saved, can become apostates and be forever lost and suffer eternal destruction. We're talking about serious matters now. We're talking about knowing Jesus Christ.

And if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I want to tell you: He died to save you. He rose to save you. He lives to save you. He promised to save you. He will save you if you trust Him.

The Bible says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." No ifs, ands, and buts about it. You shall be saved. Would you call on Him today? Would you say, "Oh Lord Jesus, come, come into my heart, forgive my sin, and save me"? Lord, I'm praying that many today will trust in Christ, that they will be saved, born again.

Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call one eight hundred two seven four five six eight three. Thank you.