WWUTT 463 Contend for the Faith?

The faith of Christ that we have is like a muscle. If you don't exercise it, it will grow weak. And one of the ways that we exercise this faith is by defending it against those who try to malign it when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

Jude’s Greeting and the Call to Contend for the Faith

In our study of the book of Jude, we want to start with the first four verses again here. As Jude identifies himself at the start of the letter, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation. Ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Pastoral Care for Believers Led Astray

So we come back to verse three again, where Jude in this very impassioned letter with such great care and kindness addresses his readers as beloved. And I think one of the things that we can glean from this in Jude's approach to what he's heard about concerning the church that he is writing to.

He's heard about false teachers that are leading them astray. These false teachers even rising up among them from among their own midst. And yet he doesn't issue this stern, scathing rebuke in such a way as though to call them names or be disparaging or even say something as radical as, how could you guys even call yourselves Christians?

Good grief. Why aren't you holding true to the gospel that you were told in the first place? And if you aren't following that, well, then you just aren't saved. That's not the way he approaches this letter.

But with love as a brother, for he says that they are beloved and they are in Christ. They are those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. They have mercy and peace and love.

They have the mercy, peace and love of God. And he's praying that they would receive that all the more. So he addresses them as beloved. And I think that we tend to be too quick to condemn, to see somebody who is walking in a certain way and then and then just make the judgment in our mind, well, they're probably not even saved.

Well, if they confess Christ and there is nothing about that confession that comes across as being heretical, there might be some things in that confession that are wonky, but there's nothing in that that would lead us to believe that that heresy is is being embraced.

Then there is no reason for us to immediately condemn that person is unsaved. But if it's somebody who's been warned time and time again, and yet they continue to persist in unbelief or persist in the sin that they will not repent of, then we are to have nothing to do with them for they are self condemned.

That's the instruction that we're given in Titus three verses nine and ten. But even there, it doesn't say then brand him a heretic and then have nothing to do with them. It just says have nothing more to do with them.

You've given them what you need, what they need to hear, what you need to say to them and what they need to hear. And yet they continue to persist in their sin or in the the wrong beliefs that they hold.

And if they will not repent, then have nothing to do with them. Hopefully somebody else will come along that will issue correction and they will listen to that correction. But there's not a reason for us to have to brand them a certain way and then warn other people about them.

When it comes to false teachers, we deal with that quite differently. But when it comes to a person who's been led astray by false teaching, there needs to be much more patient care in the ways that we deal with those situations.

The apostle Paul instructed Timothy to correct opponents with gentleness and to patiently endure evil. That is in Second Timothy, chapter two. And so we must do the same, even addressing our brothers and sisters in Christ who may be led astray by false teaching, addressing them with kindness and gentleness and patience.

If the apostle Paul didn't write off the Corinthians, we should not write off those who will will get a little bit wonky in their beliefs and understandings from time to time. In the church, we are to protect one another, to keep one another from being tossed to and fro by the shifting winds of doctrine, by cunningness and craftiness and deceitful schemes, rather speaking the truth in love.

This is the instruction that's given to us in Ephesians, chapter four. And so Jude is practicing that very thing, speaking the truth in love to this church. Beloved, I was very eager to write to you. About our common salvation, so he displays an eagerness of wanting to address and wanting to rejoice together in the salvation that we share in Jesus Christ.

And he's not saying that we don't share that salvation, but there's there's something that has gone a little off in what I've heard, the report that I've heard that has come from your church. So instead, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Now, note the way that that's worded, appealing to you to contend for the faith, not appealing to you to believe the right faith. They do believe the right faith, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, because as there are false teachers that have arisen among you and those false teachers are leading other people astray, it is upon you to call them out and to preach the truth, contending for the faith.

So if you know, speak up, speak up, have a voice, warn the sheep about the wolves, contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. One of the things this indicates here in verse three is that there was somewhat of an established canon at that particular time.

The tradition of the teaching of the apostles was was stamped. It was solid. It was a foundation and it was unmoving. And the churches were being built upon that foundation. We have an indication from Second Peter, chapter three, that there was some kind of circulating canon meeting, meaning that the words of the apostles, the letters that they had written, the testimonies that they had shared had been written down and compiled and were being shared among the.

Churches.

There was probably in each respective church some kind of collection of these letters and even the gospel accounts. Second Peter three talks about Paul's letters, where Peter says this is Second Peter three, starting in verse 15, count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you, according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.

There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. You, therefore, beloved Peter, addressing his audience as beloved as well, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

So here Peter is addressing some kind of established record of the faith. A canon, a compilation of Paul's letters. And Paul talks about this also in Colossians chapter four. At the end of that letter with the Colossians, he tells them to take that letter to the Laodiceans to read the letter that he has sent to them and share the letter that he wrote to the Colossians.

They're exchanging these apostolic instructions with one another. And likely the way that went was somebody from Colossae would take their letter to the Laodiceans. They would copy down the Laodiceans letter, while the Laodiceans would copy down the letter that Paul had written to the Colossians.

And so this is how a canon was being created among the churches regarding the teachings of the apostles. And so at the time that Jude wrote this letter, there would have been that that tradition, that written tradition regarding the instructions of the apostles.

And it's possible that Jude's letter would have been considered the same. So the apostles even would have said, yeah, Jude's writing is just as authoritative as.

Ours.

So listen to what he's saying. And now Jude's letter has been included in that compilation of collected works. So Jude's saying, I find it necessary to appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

And this is one of the ways in which we mature in our understanding of the faith is when we defend it, when we contend for it, when we are correcting false teachers and preaching the truth, we grow in knowledge and maturity of the truth that we have been established in concerning this faith.

It is said in First Timothy, chapter three, that the church is a pillar and a buttress of the truth. That's First Timothy 315, meaning that the church is the instrument that God has chosen, that he has chosen and established to hold up the truth in that way, being described as a pillar and also to defend the truth, being described as a buttress of the truth.

So there are there are going to be enemies and false teachers that will try to malign the truth. But it is the church that is firm in the truth and must hold it up and defend it. It is God who says it is written.

It is Satan who says it is written with a question mark. Remember, his question to Eve in the Garden of Eden was, did God really say? And he has been planting those seeds of doubt ever since then. And so it is the church firm in the faith that knows the truth and declares the truth.

Thus saith the Lord as a as a presenter and a buttress of the truth. And so this is one of the ways that we're perfected in the truth. So Jude is saying that this church needs to be perfected more in the truth by contending for the faith, being that pillar and buttress of the truth.

I am writing to appeal to you to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Even though Jude is writing a letter that is going to be added into canon, second to last book of the Bible, Revelation, the only other thing that is going to come after this.

And although Jude is writing something that will be included in the canon, he is saying everything that needs to be said has been said. We have the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it's not going to change.

There are those who have tried to change it. The Roman Catholic Church, they've got their own version of the gospel, Eastern Orthodox, who deny justification by grace through faith alone. The Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses have created a completely different Jesus.

Even secularists try to tell you who who Jesus really is, which is totally apart from the Jesus of the scriptures, the Jesus of the Bible. But the gospel message that we have written down in the pages of scripture is never going to change.

It will remain for all time and even beyond. As Jesus said in Mark 13, 31, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away. We will still have the word of God prevailing among the saints even for all time now and forever.

So this is the message that has been delivered to us, and we must contend for it while we are in this flesh, while we are on this earth. Jude goes on, verse four, for certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ.

False Teachers Who Pervert Grace and Deny Christ

So these are this is an address concerning false teachers that have come from the outside or that false teaching has infected those who are inside and they have risen up. They've crept in unnoticed. And these are individuals who have been designated long ago for destruction.

We talked about how there's some similarities between this letter that Jude has written and the letters that Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2, 8, Peter talks about Jesus being a stone of stumbling at a rock of offense and those who do not believe in him stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do in the book of Proverbs.

It says that God has appointed everything for its time, even the wicked for the day of trouble. And so there are those who have been designated for destruction. Now, we as finite creatures living in this flesh on the plane of time in which we exist, we do not know who God has predestined for glory and who God has predestined for wrath.

We don't know. You can't point anybody out and say, well, you're destined for mercy. You're destined to be destroyed. You don't know that even those that you go to church with who are presently in the faith, whom you would call Christians by what you see, by what you can observe of their lives.

You don't even know for sure yet if they are going to endure to the very end. How do you know that they won't be like a King Solomon who we've been reading about as we've been going through first kings who at one point in his life displayed a fear of the Lord and a faithfulness to his promises, the covenant that he gave to his father, David.

And yet Solomon in his heart went after his wealth and possessions, his wicked wives who worshiped false gods. And then Solomon, too, worshiped false gods and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

He did not endure to the very end. So how do you know that the people that you are with are not going to end up that way? So you can't even say that those you go to church with are definitely absolutely elect.

Now, as long as they are walking in the faith and they are showing fruit, they are progressing, they're growing in sanctification. There's not a reason for you to have to say to anybody, well, you might be elect and you might not be.

We should address one another as elect. The apostle Paul did. Jude is here. He's talking to this church as though he is addressing those who are elect, those who are called beloved in God, the father and kept for Christ Jesus.

So there's there's not a place for us to make those final determinations and judgment. We can judge a person on their present fruit, what they are currently showing us. But we cannot make a final determination about the ultimate state of their soul.

That is something that God has decided and only God knows. We have only the things that are before us that we can make judgments about. And Jesus did say to his disciples, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

And so it is with a right judgment that we can address someone as brother or we know that that person is not walking in the faith. And so they are not brothers and sisters in the Lord. And this this is a judgment.

And Jude is saying that there are certain people who have crept in unnoticed who were long ago designated for this condemnation. Now, some of them may even repent, but in their present state, what it is that they're displaying, they show themselves as being among those who have been designated for destruction.

They are still among the sons of disobedience, following the prince of the power of the air and not the prince of peace, lord of glory. And so they are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality.

In other words, this this grace that we've been given by God, they are using as an excuse to practice sin. And God is just going to forgive me for my sins no matter what I do. So I can just go on sinning and there's not a problem because I've been covered by the grace of God.

This is something that I addressed earlier this week, a doctrine known as antinomianism. Greasy grace is another term for that in which you can just sin however you want. And I can just believe that I'll ask forgiveness for it.

And God's going to forgive me because, you know, he's gracious. That's the grace of God. But yet Paul directly confronts this in Romans chapter six when he says, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We should be living a life that is reflective of the life of Christ, not walking in sin, but walking in righteousness and holiness, pursuing those things, the perfection of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord, no longer submitting our members as instruments for unrighteousness.

Paul goes on to say there in chapter six, but presenting ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and our members to God as instruments for righteousness. Romans 614 for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under grace.

And so this is what it means to be in the grace of God. It means to display the grace of God, not display sin so that we can say, well, God's grace covers me. No, if we are continuing to walk in sin, if you are still walking in sin, then the grace of God is not on you.

You're still enslaved to your sin, not set free by the grace of Christ. So Jude warns about those who pervert the grace of God into sensuality, believing that you can sin, you can do whatever you want, and God is just going to forgive you of your.

Sins.

And they deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. They deny him with their very life. They live in a way that is not reflective of the Christ whom they worship. And so, therefore, by their actions, by these sins, by this sensuality that they cling to, they deny faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus said in Luke 9, 23, if you want to be my disciple, if you want to come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow after me. Whoever tries to save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. In other words, you give up everything that you want for you, your desires and your passions, and instead submit yourself fully to the to the will of God, our father, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And you will be saved. And then we must, as the people of God, contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Are you a saint? Are you a follower of Christ Jesus? That's what it means to be a saint.

Saint means holy, to be set apart. So you've been set apart from this world for Christ and his kingdom. If you are indeed a follower of Christ, you are a saint and the message has been delivered to you.

It is the very message that saved you from your sins and brought you into the righteousness of Christ. So contend for that message, defend it and preach it. Let us pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for the salvation that has been given to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and his gospel message that we heard that brought us from sin into your marvelous light that brought us from death to life.

I pray that we would grow in our knowledge of this message all the more and be given a boldness and a courage to defend it against those who would malign it. And a boldness and an appreciation, a joy for this message so much that we would even go out and preach it to those who are lost.

So they too would turn from their sin and know life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Grow us in the knowledge of these things and in the holiness of Christ as we go. In his name we pray.

Amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.