Contend for the Faith
Jude
October 21, 2001
Introduction
Have you ever had someone from your own family voice their opinion that you are out of your mind?
Here you are, out there trying to do what you think God has you doing, whether it is in full-time ministry, or ministry in a job setting, and your own brother says that he thinks you are crazy.
And he means it.
Today, as we continue in our series on “The Little Guys,” those books of the Bible which seem to get less attention, we look at the writing of a person just like I described.
In the third chapter of Mark, we read these words:
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
According to the best known information, the author of our Scripture passage today is one of Jesus’ own brothers; His half-brother, actually.
Here is a guy who was at first embarrassed by his brother, then later served Him as a leader.
Jude identifies himself as a brother of James, who was also a half-brother of Jesus.
And Jude, far from wondering if His brother is nuts, now writes a letter saying that the brother he once mocked is the Sovereign Lord.
God is in the business of changing lives, folks, and He does not discriminate against those who had treated Him harshly if they come to Him in faith, as His brothers did.
In this letter, Jude beats the same drum as the apostle John did in his letters: truth is all-important, and needs to be defended.
Apparently, godless men had slipped in among the fellowship and tried to destroy the apostles’ teachings. They were not men who were followers of Christ who just made some mistakes in doctrine, they were intruders who did not belong in the first place, and who wreck the believers’ faith.
This will give you a handle on the urgency of this letter.
And in looking at this letter, I want to help us see not the challenge of first-century Christians, but the reality of this challenge in our own time, 20 centuries later.
Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Jude. If you are using the Bibles in the seats, this can be found on page 866.
My purpose this morning is to whet our appetites for defending the truth of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Savior, and the only hope for mankind.
In doing this, I want us to look at the need to first of all…
I. Recognize the Challenge.
Please follow along as I read verses 1-13.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
These 13 verses give us the crux of the problem. And I want to break it down a bit, by showing that first…
A. They turned grace into license.
These people taught that if the love of God is so big, then we who call ourselves forgiven should be able to live how we want, because God will always forgive.
Let’s take a look at a few of the examples Jude gives us of their behavior:
1. Examples:
They led lives of sexual perversion, and God only knows what all that was, but if we look at our own society, we can probably guess at some of the perversions: sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, and other activities that Scripture describes as being detestable to God.
These people also rejected authority. Last week in 3 John we noticed that Diotrephes rejected the authority of the apostles. The same situation exists here, in that the apostles’ teachings and authority were being rejected.
They slandered heavenly beings. I don’t understand all that is being said here, but Jude says their behavior is in stark contrast to the archangel Michael, who would not even slander Satan.
They also spoke abusively about things they didn’t understand. I have found in my own life that when someone disagrees with me about something, esp. about spiritual things, the voice of the person I am talking to gets a bit louder, and contains less to say. They end up getting abusive many times, because they run out of arguments.
And lastly they chose to walk in the ways of Cain, Balaam, and Korah, all of whom rejected God.
And then they had the gall to say that God should not only forgive, but bless.
Turn with me please to Romans chapter 6. This is found on page 799 of the Bibles in the seats.
2. Romans 6
This is a somewhat lengthy passage, but it is well worth our time to discuss:
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Folks, the apostle Paul was addressing some of the same issues as Jude, and He addresses it head-on.
Skip down to verse 11 of Romans 6:
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
And then Paul returns to the point he made at the beginning of the chapter. We pick it up in verse 15:
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Folks, make no mistake about it – if Christ has saved you, and He lives in your life, you will be changed. You are a new creation in Christ.
Does that mean that at the time you give your life to Christ, you will never sin again? No, but the love Christ puts in your heart will, by the power of His Holy Spirit, work to purify your heart in obedience to Him.
And it will show to everyone around you, friend and foe, Christian and non-Christian.
Do not use the grace of God as a license to sin. God forgives sin, my friend, but that is no reason to act as though Christ had never saved you in the first place.
Head back to Jude, and we will continue, now looking at the fact that…
B. They denied the Lord Jesus Christ.
It wasn’t enough to live sinful lives, they had to promote heresy, or false teachings about Jesus.
Jude calls Jesus “Lord” here in verse 4, and then he goes on to discuss how that same Lord delivered His people from Egypt, and judged angels as well as Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah were judged for the same things these men who had infiltrated the church were promoting.
Next, Jude tells us…
C. They face judgement.
We pick it up in verse 12, going through verse 16:
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16 These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
They will not get away with it, and neither will anyone who does this today.
And that is something to keep in mind, or we will become discouraged, because Jude also tells us that…
D. They will be around until the end.
We continue in verse 17:
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires."
Don’t let this discourage you. The time is coming when we will no longer be in the presence of such men.
Jude then describes them a bit more in verse 19:
1. Follow natural instincts.
2. Do not have the Spirit.
These folks are not Christians at all, because they do not possess the Holy Spirit.
They called themselves Christians, but did not live by the Spirit, as the apostle Paul describes in Romans 8.
They lived to fulfill their own fleshly desires.
Whew! To recognize the challenge is to recognize error not only in doctrine but in lifestyle.
Now let’s go on from recognizing the challenge and learn how to…
II. Meet the Challenge.
In learning to meet the challenge, Jude gives us some direction, and the first part is in verse 20-21:
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
A. Build yourself up in the faith.
How do you build yourself up?
Daily time in the Word and prayer.
Obedience.
Regular time in worship and fellowship with like-minded believers.
I forgot to put a place in your bulletin for this, but we must, of course, pray.
Look now at verses 22-23 as we finish out this section:
Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
We need to…
B. Be merciful to those who doubt.
Honestly help them to find answers.
C. Snatch others from the fire –
evangelism.
D. Be merciful to others, mixed with fear.
Reach out, but be careful to not be caught up in the same trap.
So we are to recognize the challenge of false teachings and lifestyles, and we are to meet the challenge by building up our faith in Christ and helping others to find Him and live for Him.
Now I want to look at the…
Conclusion - What’s the Big Deal?
The big deal is in verses 24-25:
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
First of all, if you are one who calls Christ your Savior and Lord, then you have a glorious end waiting for you. And it’s not really the end at all, but the beginning of a wonderful eternity in heaven in the presence of God Almighty, who saved you.
And here’s the neat part: you won’t be presented to the Father by angels, by St. Peter, or even by your parents.
You will be presented by none other than Jesus Christ. And…
A. Jesus will present us without fault to the
Father.
You will be presented to the Father as one who has never sinned, who has never rejected the love of God by disobeying Him.
You will be presented as absolutely perfect, and with great joy.
Folks, that is great news. Because we can all think of someone who might have a grudge against us, or someone who could recall sinful things we had done, and sometimes our own memories seek to condemn us.
But the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world has only one thing in mind: to present you as blameless.
Hallelujah!
And here’s some more good news:
B. You are invited!
Is this wonderful salvation only for the perfect? Yes!
“Well, if that’s the case, Preacher, I might as well give up.”
You are absolutely correct. But that’s the point. You can’t make it on your own. It’s hopeless. Only perfection can enter heaven, and if we break only one of God’s laws, we are not perfect.
But Jesus, who was perfect, paid the penalty for your sins and mine by shedding His blood on the cross.
The Bible says in 1 Peter that Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
Earlier in the message we read from Romans 6, and the last verse says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Without Christ we are condemned. Yet Jesus said that whoever hears His Word and believes Him who sent Him has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life.
In Christ there is no penalty, only life in heaven with Him in eternity.
And the invitation is for everybody who wants it, because the Bible says that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How do you get this gift of eternal life? It’s as simple as ABC:
Admit you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, and turn from your sins with His help.
Believe that Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose from the grave.
Call on Him for forgiveness and eternal life, trusting that His blood was sufficient for you, thanking Him for His salvation.
I am going to pray now. If you want to take Christ as your Savior this morning, you pray along with me in your heart.
When we are done praying, I want everyone to keep their heads bowed and eyes closed for moment, okay? Let’s pray.
