there please turn with me to the book of Jude, the book of Jude and there's only one chapter so Jude and chapter 1. God willing next week we will be back into our Exodus series but I felt compelled this week to take us this morning to the book of Jude light of last week's sermons on repentance and the stand we are endeavouring to take as a church and not surprisingly there has been some backlash this week on those messages on repentance and so this scripture before us has been very much on my heart this week, believe the Lord would have us look at it again as a church. As we look at the theme, earnestly contend for the faith, Jude chapter one. And I'm gonna read from verse one to verse four. If you're looking for Jude, it's just before the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. 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 ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we ask for your blessing upon this word this morning. We pray that the same fire and passion that was in Jude's heart might be in our hearts this morning, a fire and a passion for the truth, a fire and a passion for the faith. And Lord, we pray that as a church today we might be strengthened, Lord, to contend, Lord, not for ourselves, not for our own glory, but to contend for the faith. Much is at stake. And we pray that you would speak to our hearts this day as only you can by the blessed Holy Spirit of God. We ask these things now in and through Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Book of Jude was the first book I memorized. It was the first book I did a sermon series on. It's a very powerful book. Don't let the briefness of the book cause you to overlook the power of it. It is a fiery and very powerful book. as Jude denounces in the strongest language the false teachers of his day. Jude was, in fact, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. That might interest you. And he was also the brother of James. It says here in verse 1, and this James was also the half-brother of Christ. He was the one who wrote the Epistle of James and also pastored the Jerusalem church. Now, as you study about the family of Christ, you'll find that his siblings initially rejected him. You can read about that in John chapter 7, but by the time we come to the book of Jude, something has clearly changed in the life of Jude. He refers to Jesus Christ there and he calls himself the servant of Jesus Christ. He has a very high and lofty view of his half-brother according to the flesh. He came to realize that Jesus Christ was more than a man, that he was the virgin-born, sinless, son of the living God. And I suggest that perhaps Jude came to receive Christ as his saviour after the resurrection. And brother of James. He has a clear view between one half-brother versus the other. He sees Jesus Christ for who he is, the son of God, versus his own brother James, who was merely flesh and blood. Jude, interestingly, was one of the last epistles to be written in the New Testament. It was written around 80-68 and we can see how fitting it is that as we're coming to the conclusion of the New Testament canon, as we're coming to the completion of God's revelation to man, we should have this trumpet blast of warning concerning false teachers. that is the heart of the book of Jude. In fact we're going to consider today really the theme verses of Jude in verse 3 and 4. 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 which was once delivered unto the saints. Why? For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. so Jude writes to the believers of his day but he really writes to the believers of the church age and the message of Jude is just as powerful and just as relevant to us today in the 21st century as it was almost 2,000 years ago. Error hasn't gotten any better with time. false teachers have not ceased to exist on the face of the earth. If anything they are multiplying as we get closer to the return of Christ and so the message of Jude is just as powerful and just as needful as it was today, as it was back then. So I want us to look Just briefly, his salutation, we'll just pick up a few little introductory lessons there and then we'll get to the heart of the message in verse 3 and 4 in a moment. But I'm going to give you three points this morning just to guide us as we study these four verses. Notice firstly in verse 1 what we could call the position of the saints. Notice that Jude writes to those who are partakers of a blessed position through salvation. these descriptions are true of you if you're a born-again blood-washed believer this morning. He writes to those who are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. this is a wonderful position that we have when we're saved. Do you know if you're saved this morning, you have been sanctified, set apart by God the Father. It was something that God the Father did, it's a divine work and what's fascinating here is the word sanctified is in the permanent tense And so it's an unchangeable fact. You're going to see there's a lot of security right here in verse 1. And by the way, you're going to need some security if you're going to be a contender for the faith. You're going to need to know you're saved. You're going to have to know that your life is preserved by God. And so he says here, you're sanctified. You've been permanently set apart by God the Father. I'll tell you what, we believe in the eternal security of the believer. Now we understand that sanctification has its present outworking in our lives, that we trust that we're growing to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Each day that's the practical outworking of our position. But as far as your position in Christ, this morning if you're saved, you are permanently set apart by God the Father. That's an unchangeable, that's an unbreakable position. Aren't you thankful this morning that when you got, that God not only saved you but he secured you? Aren't you thankful this morning that God not only saves us but keeps us saved? We're kept by the power of God. And so he writes to those who are sanctified by God the Father. He writes to those who are preserved in Jesus Christ. Verse 1, Now that word preserve means to be kept or guarded, it means to be watched over, to be kept safe from harm. And again, this word is in the perfect tense, revealing a permanent, unchangeable fact. So if you're saved this morning, you've been sanctified, set apart by God the Father. You are preserved, you are kept by Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ. So again, we see our permanent position there, kept by the power of God. And then we are called of God. Now, I believe we see the work of the Trinity here, even though the Spirit of God is not mentioned by name. He is the agent of the new birth, the one who calls us to salvation. He's the one who convicts us of sin and convinces us of Jesus Christ as the solution to our sin. And so we see the work of the triune God here in salvation, set apart by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ and called to salvation by the work of the Spirit of God. And so this is the position of the believer. But look secondly at the prayer for the saints, or the prayer for the believers in verse 2. And we notice here in verse 2 that Jude desires the multiplication of three graces for his readers. Mercy unto you, peace and love be multiplied. Notice the word multiplied there, he wants, he's not saying you don't have any mercy, he's not saying you don't have any love or peace in your life, he's saying I want the love that's in your life, the peace that is in your life and the mercy that's in your life to be increased, to be multiplied by the workings of God in your life. Now I find this very significant because straight after Jude expresses this desire for them to know multiplied mercy, love and peace in their lives, he's going to give the order to earnestly contend for the faith. You say, why is that significant? Because so often people label those who contend for the faith as being unmerciful, unloving and unpeaceful. They say, you are so uncaring, you are so unmerciful, you are so unkind, but here we have Jude saying, I'm desiring before God that you might know an increase of mercy in your life, which means compassion, that you might know an increase of peace in your life, because you need peace in the midst of the battle, let me tell you, and I'm desiring an increase in love in your life, and may I say this morning that there is nothing more merciful, there is nothing more loving than telling somebody the truth. And so it's actually compassion that drives biblical contending. That's right here in the context. Before he gets to the command of verse three, before he gets there, he says, I'm desiring that mercy be multiplied in your life, and peace be multiplied in your life, and love be multiplied in your life. This is so significant, because again, as I said before, these are the kinds of words that are used as a distraction. These are the kinds of words that are used against those who contend for the faith. Well, you need to have more mercy. Excuse me, do you know in the Bible God actually connects mercy and truth together? Read Psalms, read Proverbs, and you will find repeatedly mercy and truth are interlocked together. And we have a move out there today that wants to divorce and separate mercy from truth But in reality, mercy is connected to truth, love is connected to truth, and many people today, in the name of so-called love and mercy and peace, are trying to disconnect us from the truth that is not biblical. Biblical love is prepared to confront error. Biblical mercy or compassion is prepared to contend for the faith. Now with that little background in mind, let's look at the heart of the message this morning in verse 3 and 4, what I would call the preaching to the saints. Jude's message to the saints. His exhortation to the saints. And it is simply this, to contend for the faith. To contend, to earnestly contend for the faith. Let's think about that for a moment and I want to give you four truths about contending for the faith. Firstly, who is to contend? Could I ask you, who is Jude writing to here? The saints. Is he only writing to preachers? No! Hang on, would you say this morning, I'm saved, yes, that description fits me, I'm sanctified by God the Father. How many of you say that's true in my life? How many of you would you say, yes, I'm saved, I'm preserved in Jesus Christ and called, that's me this morning. That means you are the one who needs to contend for the faith. May I say that this morning? It's so important you understand that, that it is every Christian's duty to be a contender for the faith. Now, it's going to be very hard, I understand, for God's people to contend for the faith if their pastors and their leaders are not prepared to contend for the faith. Could I say we're living in a day-to-day where we can't even get preachers to contend for the faith, let alone the people in the pew. And may I ask the question, how on earth are the people in the pew supposed to know how to contend for the faith if the preachers in the pulpits won't set any sort of example about what that looks like? This is the responsibility of every single child of God, and therefore I would suggest it's one of the most disobeyed commands in the Christian life today, because I don't see many Christians willing to stand for anything today. I don't see a lot of pastors even, sadly, willing to take a stand for anything today. In fact, some people seem to have wrongly imbibed the idea that to not contend for the faith is true spirituality. Do you know there's a big mood like that out there? Oh, I just don't get involved in any sort of battle. Oh, isn't that spiritual? That's disobedience! Now we all understand that there are battles of a fleshly kind that we should have nothing to do with. In fact, Proverbs warns you, if you walk by the wayside and meddle with strife that doesn't belong to you, you're going to be like someone taking a dog by the ears. We all understand there's a category of fights and carnality and the wrong kind of fighting that as Christians we should not be involved with. But there is also, let's not forget at the same time, something called the good fight. There is a good fight that must be fought for the cause of Christ. And if it falls into the category of earnestly contending for the faith, that is something that you are to be involved with. Jude said, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was what? Needful for me. You know what that word means? It means it's a necessity. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you. The word exhort means to encourage. In fact, it's the kind of word that was used to describe maybe a military leader urging his soldiers into battle. It's coming alongside of someone and urging them on. And may I say, don't we need some encouragement in the battle that we're actually doing the right thing? Don't we need some encouragement at times that we need to be involved in the fight of faith? Many seem to wrongly believe that not contending is a mark of spirituality. Doctrine divides, they say, so let's not emphasize doctrine. Nothing could be more unscriptural and unspiritual. Others make excuses. I just don't ever get involved in these sorts of things. Excuse me, if it involves the Word of God, this command is for you. I'll just leave that to the pastor. No, this command is for every Christian and that's really been a big burden on my heart this week as we look at this passage, that we as a church might understand this, that this is God's heart for all of us, that we have to stand together as a church on the Word of God. Do you know when you got saved, God chose you to be a soldier? You've been chosen to be a soldier, 2 Timothy 2, 3 and 4. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, no man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. So you are a soldier in Christ's army. Christ is the captain of our salvation. Whether you like it or not, you're a soldier, but you're either a soldier who's on duty and obedient to your captain, or you're a soldier who's off duty and disobedient to the captain. But you are a soldier. Who is to contend? Beloved. That's everybody. When I gave all diligence to write unto you, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you. Contending for the faith is for every Christian. That means you have to be willing to do your part and stand. Who is to contend? Second point, how are we to contend? Who? How? Look at the verse there again, verse 3. So how are we to contend? Let me give you three words here. We are to contend passionately. we are to contend passionately. It doesn't say just contend, it says earnestly contend. And what's interesting in the Greek here, you have the Greek word agonizou, which is the word contend, but Jude adds a little prefix to it, epi, ep-agonizou, okay? And so that little prefix, epi, gives this word more force and intensity. That's where we get the word earnestly from, that's why the translators didn't just say contend, they said earnestly because it's built into the very structure of the Greek word. We are to be fervent and we are to have a zeal for the truth. Is that you this morning? Do you have a zeal and do you have a passion for the truth? This is no half-hearted contending. This is no apathetic kind of contending. This is no double-minded kind of contending, whether you're not sure whether you're in or out. This is a wholehearted, fervent contending for the faith. The truth is very precious. The truth is worth defending, brethren. We must stand for the truth. So we are to contend, how? Passionately. Number two, painfully. Do you know what the word contend means? It's a very strong word and it speaks of an intense struggle. In fact, our English word agonize comes from this Greek word agonizou. In fact, the same root word is used in the Gospels to describe Christ being in agony in the garden. where his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. And so, could I just say that contending, it's important that we be passionate and we be earnest about it, that we be fervent and zealous for the truth, how we need to recover some zeal, some holy zeal and fervency for the truth, but it also involves some pain. The same word is translated elsewhere as fight and strive. You know, contention involves fighting. it's agonizing, it is not easy. In fact I can't think of anything that the flesh hates more than to stand for the truth and cop flack. I had someone write to me this week in response to last week's messages and he said you know the reason you preach those messages is you're trying to make a name for yourself. And I thought, that's a strange way of making a name for yourself. I tell you what, what I have found in my ministry to date, there is nothing more unpopular. There is nothing that'll lose friends for you quicker than taking a stand for the truth. And particularly, may I say, truths that are under attack from the devil. We are very good in our day, in some of our churches, at getting up and thumping the Bible on truths that are not being attacked by the devil. But let me say, when the devil is attacking a particular truth, if you take a stand for that, that's not a way to make yourself popular. And I wonder sometimes whether people who make such accusations know what it is to really contend for the faith, because let me tell you, there's some agony involved, there's some sleepless hours involved, there's some pain involved. It is not pleasant, it is not easy, but it is a Christian duty. You're a soldier, and if you're a soldier on the battlefield, there's going to be some pain, there's going to be some strain. I can see actually why many Christians don't want to contend for the faith. I can see why many pastors avoid contending for the faith, because it's not easy. painful, it's agonizing, it's difficult but we are called upon, it's our duty. Contending for the faith is not the way to make yourself popular. How ridiculous. You really think that's what this is about? Do you really think that that's what it's about? I assure you it's not. So how are we to contend, earnestly contend, passionately, painfully, used in the ancient word, this word was used in the ancient world, pardon me, to describe athletic contests like wrestling, it's close combat, it involves struggle and strain. How are we to contend? Practically. Contending means actually contending. So why do you say that? Because I've heard a lot of talk about contending, but then people won't take an actual stand. It's not enough to talk about contending. It's not enough to shout from the pulpit about contending. If you truly believe in contending for the faith, then you, sir, need to draw a line in the sand and take some action. It's one thing my dad has taught me over the years. He said, I'll tell you what, if I've seen one thing, people will talk for weeks and months on end, but a little bit of action, people understand real quickly. And we've got people out there today that tip their hat to contending for the faith, they'll make it maybe even the theme of a conference, contend for the faith, but when a serious doctrinal issue comes up, they're nowhere to be seen and they're silent. That's treason to hold your tongue. If there's a clear doctrinal issue at stake, you should stand up and be counted. you know, secretly behind the scenes, you know, thank you brother, we agree with you. Okay, but where do you actually stand? I'll have to work through that. Why do you have to work through it when it's very clear? So on the one hand, yes, oh yes, we agree with you on the Doctrine and Covenants but you're still going to attend that conference, so where do you stand? Politicians. We've got too many politicians in pulpits today, we need preachers who stand for the Word of God. Actual contending for the faith means actually contending, your walk speaks a lot louder than your talk. You say, well how do I as a church member be practically involved? Well at the very least you should be willing to speak up in support and say, no I support the stand of our church. You can argue all day about, and by the way, let me just prepare you for it as a church member, people love to distract from the central issue and say, oh, this little technicality over here, and I don't quite agree with the way it was done over here. Excuse me, that is often a tactic to bury the issue beneath all these petty arguments. Excuse me, lay that aside, the doctrinal issue needs to be confronted and dealt with. And you, as a believer in a Bible-believing church, can play your part by standing with the preacher, by raising your voice when the time is right, when it comes under attack, and say, no, we support this, this is contending for the faith, this is the doctrine of salvation, and we stand with our church on this. One of the great ways that you can be a contender for the faith is to take a stand. So we need this morning to stand fast, We need to hold fast and we need to be steadfast. Firstly, stand fast. That word literally means to be stationary. It means to remain firm in the same place, to stand firm and to hold one's ground. There's a need for that, to stand firm on the word of God today. Stand fast as a believer, stand fast in the faith, 1 Corinthians 16, 13. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Stand fast in true liberty, Galatians 5, 1. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stand fast in the gospel, Philippians 1, 27. only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Stand fast in the Lord. Philippians 4.1. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Stand fast in apostolic doctrine, 2 Thessalonians 2.15. Therefore brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle. So we need to stand fast. We need to hold fast. The word hold fast means to grasp, to hold onto something firmly. We need to hold fast to that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5.21, prove all things, hold fast that which is good. We need to hold fast to sound words. 2 Timothy 1.13, hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. We need to hold fast to our Christian profession. Hebrews 10.23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised. We need to hold fast until Christ returns. Revelation 3.11, Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Oh, we need some Christians today who are going to stand fast and hold fast and be steadfast. 1 Corinthians 15.58, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the law, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Stand fast. Hold fast. Be steadfast. Don't budge one inch on the truth. Don't let the truth go. I was reading this week in my devotions, it's a great blessing, timing is from the Lord I'm sure, I was reading about David's mighty men in the book of 1 Chronicles and if you look at 1 Chronicles chapter 11 and verse 12 to 14 we have this incident and with Eliezer and David contending against the Philistines and Eliezer was one of the mighty men of David And it says here, So what's happening here? Here we have a parcel of ground, it's come under attack by the enemy. a particular portion of ground is under attack from the enemies of God's people, the Philistines. What happens? God's people flee. God's people are fleeing the scene, running away from the scene of battle. But praise God, David and Eliezer said, we're not going to allow the Philistines, the enemies of God, to take over this portion of ground. This ground belongs to God and God's people. And the Bible says they set themselves in the midst of that parcel and delivered it and slew the Philistines and the Lord saved them by great deliverance. Do you know what I see? When a particular doctrine comes under attack from the devil. And let me tell you, I've seen that at times, different doctrines come under a special attack from the devil. The devil is opposed to all the truth, but there are certain truths that come under severe attack at different times from the devil. And do you know what the natural inclination is? Let's be serious this morning. When there's a battle over some contested ground there, the natural inclination is to flee the scene of the battle. That's what's happening. There's a battle raging over the very doctrine of salvation and people are fleeing the scene of battle or making excuses to stay away from the scene of battle but aren't you thankful for Eliezer and David who said, no this ground belongs to God and they stood in the midst of that ground and defended it. That should be the response of the Christian soldier, the child of God, when the devil attacks a particular doctrine, when the truth of God's word is under siege, you stand right in the middle and you say, this does not belong to you, devil. This does not belong to the enemies of God. This truth is not up for sale. We're not going to surrender. We're not going to retreat. We're going to defend the faith. You with me? and the Lord saved them by a great deliverance. God will work powerfully, ultimately it's going to be God's power, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. You have no strength to fight the devil, you have no strength to fight error, but God is the one that gives the strength. Thou hast girded me with strength under the battle. Psalm 18. But that's exactly what I see happen today, it's all too often. devil starts to attack, there's contested ground, people run away. Is that you? Is that your inclination? I wouldn't actually blame you if it is, that's how we all humanly feel, I'm just not going to get involved, I don't want to get tangled up in this, I'll stay away. Why? Because it's much easier to do that. But you'll miss seeing God give the victory, you'll lose some ground to the enemy, Brethren, if we can't have a fight over salvation itself, I'll tell you what, if you won't take a stand for the doctrine of salvation, you won't take a stand for any other doctrine. If we're not allowed to have a fight for the very doctrine of salvation, what on earth are we allowed to contend for? Do you understand Satan is behind this no repentance thing because he knows if the sinner does not repent, the sinner spends eternity in hell. It's that serious. And I have no doubt in my mind that that statement is upon the very authority of the Word of God because Christ said, if you don't repent, you will perish. I'm going to stay with the Lord Jesus on that one. How can people argue to the contrary in the face of such clear, plain scripture? And say, repenting never saved anybody. Pardon? Repenting of sin never saved anybody. I beg your pardon? Do you know more than Jesus Christ? No, when a truth from God's Word is under attack, don't abandon it, defend it, stand for it. That's what we're trying to do as a church, humbly, probably a little bit imperfectly, but nonetheless trying to drive a stake in the ground for the truth on this issue. Because it's close to home for us at the moment. Many of you are aware of that. And you're going to have to be firmed up and take Jude's exhortation to heart lest you start to falter in the battle when the pressure comes on and all the propaganda starts to get circulated and the misinformation and the distractions from the real issue. Well, you know, I never purposely dig into another church's doctrine. Well, I don't either. In fact, most of my work goes to just pastoring the flock. But if you're going to send your flock to a conference hosted by another church, wouldn't you want to know what that church believes, as a pastor? Is that spiritual? I don't purposely dig into anybody else's doctrine. Pardon? You better find out! Because you might be sending the flock to a church that's been infiltrated by wolves! who will tear the flock and poison your young people. Do you understand we take seriously your protection as a church? It's not about us by the grace of God. It's not about making a name for ourselves. It's none of that. And I feel like this week, even just thinking about this and thinking about what Jude is saying here, and we'll get to this more in a moment, you've got to try and see the battlefield for what it is. There's a lot at stake here. This is super serious. False teachers have the capacity to lead people to hell, fraternity. So I love that illustration of David and Eliezer. The people fled, Eliezer and David stood and God gave the victory. Don't abandon the truth when it's under attack, defend it. You know, I think we're affected by the spirit of the age more than we would like to admit. We're living in a day-to-day where you never tell anybody they're wrong, you never expose error, you never ruffle anyone's feathers, you never use the word no, that is the spirit of the age. And that spirit has permeated a lot of churches. I tell you what, if Jude was alive today, I don't know he'd get invited to be a keynote speaker at the MBF. I don't know he'd get invited to be a keynote speaker in just about any church, maybe a few. You say, how strong should we be with Contending for the Faith? Read the rest of the book. Woe unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain, and ran greedily after Ereb Balaam for a reward, and perished in the Gain, saying of Cor, these are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved? Sounds like a pretty fiery preacher to me. Ungodly! And we just need to have grace along with truth. Well, please, people love to pit two truths against each other. You need to have a little more grace. You need to be loving. I'm aware, we need to be careful that the flesh can creep into any form of service, we understand that. And even in the book of Jude, I'm glad he's not talking about railing on someone in a fleshly manner because he gives the example of Michael the archangel and says that he didn't bring even against the devil a railing accusation. We don't rail on people in a fleshly way and berate them the way the world does and call that contending for the faith. But we do need to stand, we need to be plain spoken. Jude was very plain spoken. What a fiery epistle, you can see why I love it. First book I ever memorized, first book I preached a whole series on. By the way, first series I did here when I became the pastor, nearly nine years ago. But it's important. So, who is to contend? You, me, everyone. How are we to contend? We're to earnestly contend with the faith. Now, for what are we to contend? Look back at the verse there. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for what? Say it with me. The faith. You say, what am I fighting for? Well, this hopefully clarifies it for you. Not your opinion. Some Christians fight over their opinions. We're not interested in your opinion. I'm entitled to my opinion. Not if it's against the Word of God. You are not. yes, they're entitled to their opinion. You are not entitled to an opinion that is against the truth. Just remind you of that. We're not talking about pet ideas, we are talking about the faith. that means standing up for my faith. No, no, no, no. Notice the definite article there, the faith. When you read of the faith in the New Testament, and there's multiple scriptures in the notes if you want to check them out and look it up, the faith is not a reference to my faith subjectively, it's a reference to the body of divine truth that has been revealed by God through the inspired authors there, In fact, if you want to see that very clearly, just look back at the verse where it says we're to contend for the faith which was once delivered under the saints. So we're talking about the deposit of God's revelation. So we could put it this way. We are to stand for, number one, the scriptural faith, the faith. Not my faith subjectively, but the objective faith of the Word of God revealed truth. Galatians 1.23 says, but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. So Paul was preaching the faith, not his own personal faith, but the faith, the truth. Does that make sense? So we are fighting for and contending for the faith. What does that mean? Well, in the context here, it would have to be salvation specifically. It would have to involve salvation specifically because he writes to them about the common salvation, verse three, first part of the verse there. And the word common there is used, we use it today. We say we have this in common. Okay, it's not referring to something that's cheap or insignificant, it just means the same salvation that is shared by every genuine believer. Did you know that we all share the same, essentially the same salvation experience? Now the human dynamics around every conversion is different but we all have to come by faith, by the way of the cross. We all enter into that common salvation. And that is what's on Jude's heart and mind. And he says, I want you to earnestly contend for the faith. So you say, what are we to contend for? Well, we certainly have to contend for the common salvation. We certainly have to contend for the doctrine of salvation. you can see that Jude was concerned about this because the apostates in Jude's day were attacking the deity of Christ, verse 4, they were following Cain's way of works, verse 11, that's a works approach to salvation, and so clearly we are to contend for salvation. True. Do you know those who preach another gospel are under God's curse? Galatians 1, 8 and 9. They're under the curse of God Almighty. It's very serious. I've said it before, but let me say it again. If we can't contend for the common salvation as a very basic starting point, if we can't defend the doctrine of salvation, what are we allowed to contend for? So we certainly need to contend for salvation specifically, but then we need to contend, I would say, I believe, on the basis of this verse, for God's Word generally. Because it's not just the doctrine of salvation, it's the faith which encompasses that body of divine revealed truth. You could put it real simple and say we need to stand for the Word of God, we need to stand for the Bible, we need to contend for the Word of God. That tells me we should not have the essentials versus non-essentials approach to the Word of God. Now, if the Bible says this area is not to be fought over, we don't fight over that. And guess what, there are some of those. Read Romans 14, diet and days. If you want to eat grass the rest of your life, that's up to you, but don't you dare fight with other Christians who love their meat. Seriously, I've met Christians who got all spiritual back in the Garden of Eden, they didn't eat meat. Have you noticed we're not living in Eden anymore? Look around, sweetheart. If you're going to fight over diet, you're going to fight over the observance and non-observance of day. That's why I've never got caught up in the Christmas wars. If you don't want to celebrate Christmas, that's up to you. But don't make that a point of contention because it's Romans 14 and God says we're not to judge one another in respect to things relating to diet or day. So if the Word of God says don't contend over this, we won't contend over those things. But outside of those few conscience issues which are really up to the individual, whatever the Bible says is important and we are to take a stand for the clear doctrines of the Word of God. Because what's happening more and more is people say, well that doctrine there, that's not essential, we don't need to contend over that one. And this doctrine here is not essential, we don't need to contend over that one. And that we own, in fact, you get to the point where people actually say, as long as it's not the doctrine of salvation, then I won't separate over you on that. I'm observing, now we're dealing with the doctrine of salvation and people won't take a stand for that either. Who gave you the authority to say that some truths in the Word of God are up for sale and some are not? Who gave you the authority over the Word of God to say these truths can be thrown in the basket called non-essential and these are the essential? Do you know what that does? That sets you up as the ultimate authority over the Word of God as to what you will and won't contend for. Again, I understand. You know, are the sons of God in Genesis 6? I'm not going to separate with you over that. Did Adam and Eve have a belly button? I'm not going to separate from you over that. These questions, do all angels have wings? I mean, you know, and people get real caught up on that, especially Bible college students. Bible college students come up with more heresy than the devil can even imagine sometimes. And I heard all sorts of debates about whether we should celebrate birthdays or not and all sorts of things in the dormitory. I think, man, don't give the devil any more ideas than he's got already. But clearly revealed truth The doctrines of the Word of God are not up for sale. We need to put a clear sign, not for sale. Not for sale. I've just decided this repentance one's not negotiable. And by the grace of God, we're gonna plant our feet there and we're prepared to separate on that. But it doesn't just stop there. We're prepared to stand for every doctrine of the Word of God. Eschatology, ecclesiology, hamartiology, all of the doctrine of the Word of God is important. You say, well, where does the Bible say to have that kind of standard? Well, 1 Timothy 1, verse 3, Paul says, I've left you in Ephesus that you might charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Do you know the doctrinal standard in the New Testament is very high? 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I beseech you, all speak the same thing, you be of the same mind, of the same judgment. God wants the whole church to be on the same page on Bible doctrine. So we are to contend for the scriptural faith, the faith, We are to contend, number two, for the settled faith, once delivered under the saints. Once delivered. We know the Word of God was given over, was it about a 1400, 1500 year period? Pardon? 1600 year period. But it's been delivered. It's totally delivered. Everything we need for the Christian life is inside the covers of this book. We don't believe we need extra revelations. We don't need to hear about your dreams. We don't need to hear about your visions that you had after you ate curry last night. We have the completed Word of God. The Word of God is settled. It's the once for all delivered faith and anything outside of this book we don't need that, as far as an addition to the truth. I need a new revelation. How about you just get stuck into what's already revealed? How about you actually spend some... do you realize how much revelation is in here? The more I study God's Word, and I do for hours every week, and it's a great privilege, the more I study and the more I memorize this book, the more I realize this is just a vast treasure house, an inexhaustible treasure house of truth. Don't go out there looking for some new revelation, just get into the revelation of God's Word. We're against the charismatic confusion and these new interpretations and these new visions and these new things. No, no, no, no, no. We believe in the once for all delivered faith. It's a settled faith. That's the faith we stand for. There's a lot of safety staying inside the covers of this book. Keep you real safe from a lot of error. Keep your mind within the covers of this book, amen? So you're brainwashed, praise the Lord, tell you what, it feels good to have the Word of God in your mind, it sort of washes the brain, doesn't it? The settled faith. entrusted faith to the saints. You notice how God has entrusted the truth to his people. Now we know that the truth owes its preservation ultimately to God, it's God's power, but this is the mechanism God uses and as you look at church history you'll see God has used the saints to guard and to keep his word. How many saints have lost their lives for this book? Do you realize you sit there today holding a book in your hand and every page has been paid for in the blood of the martyrs? And it's our duty to contend for this once for all delivered faith God has entrusted the faith to his people to defend. That's a very high honour and a very high calling. Number four, why we are to contend. So, we've looked at who is to contend, every one of us. How are we to contend? Earnestly contend. For what are we to contend? What are we to contend for? The faith. Why are we to contend? Look at verse 4. For, he explains. So verse 3, he said, earnestly contend for the faith. Verse 4, here's the reason why. Why Jude are you so concerned? Why do you want us to contend earnestly for the faith? He says in verse 4, Can you see how Jude just goes straight on from verse 3? And he now explains the reason why contention is necessary. Why is it necessary? Because the devil has his agents. And they creep in unawares. Oh yeah, I can see that in the apostate churches. Hang on, Jude is writing to New Testament churches. Churches like this. You better understand that this church is not exempt from wool slipping in the back door. You better not have the mindset that we are immune from the devil sending in his agents. And for pity's sake, if you're a preacher worth your salt, you won't give the wolf the pulpit to preach from. There's a reason why we're careful about who stands behind this pulpit. Oh, dictatorial pastor. Excuse me, the pastor is a shepherd and I make no apologies. I am careful who I allow to stand behind here. We don't hold to a brethren style roster system where every bloke just gets a go behind the pulpit. Sorry, that's not this church. We believe in New Testament pastoral leadership. And if God has called the pastor to shepherd the flock, you shouldn't complain that he does most of the preaching. If God's called the man of God to that, why would you object to that? Now, I'm not against opening the pulpit up to other men, and you know that we do here. But we have to be careful. Why would you allow a man who denounces repentance to remain in your pulpit? Why would you put him in charge of your youth ministry? You're crazy. Look at the divine description of these men. This is the focus of our contention. We are to fight for the faith against those who attack it. We are to fight for the faith against these creeping creeps. The Bible uses some descriptive words. Look at the description. This is God's description of false teachers. Number one, they are underhanded men. Underhanded men, deceitful men, for there are certain men crept in unawares. This word means to slip in alongside of secretly as if by a side door. Slip in. The word was used in the ancient world of spies or traitors who would infiltrate an opposing camp. Infiltration is one of Satan's tools. And if you have a church that's not guarded, if the shepherds over that church are not watchful, that is by the way the job of the preacher, to watch for your souls, Hebrews 13. You are going to be a sitting duck for the devil to send in one of his agents. don't enjoy it but there are some, there have been occasions where you've had to say to someone, no that, I'm sorry, you can't bring that doctrine here. No, you can't, you'll have to, you'll have to go somewhere else. Yeah, that's really mean. No, it's compassion for you. Wolf bashing is a part of our job description. So like Pastor Dan says that, wolf bashing is part of our job description. So how do you know? The Lord gives discernment if you're watchful and sometimes time is needed. Compromises are creeping creeps. they creep, at least two ways that I can see in the New Testament, they creep with moral impurity. 2nd Timothy 3, 6... Some of these guys pushing these false doctrines, I'd like to know what they're looking at on their smartphones. I'd like to know how their moral life is going. Because mark it down, with false doctrine comes a corrupt kind of lifestyle. They creep with moral impurity. Creeping creeps. Tell you what, there's some creepy people around. They creep with doctrinal impurity. We've just seen this here in Jude 1.4. There are certain men crept in unawares. And so part of the shepherd's job is to keep creeps out of the congregation. Acts 20 28 to 30 take heed therefore under yourselves Paul instructed the Ephesian elders and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of God which is purchased with his own blood for I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. pastors are supposed to protect the flock from wolves, not give them positions of leadership within the flock. We'll give him a ministry and see if he'll grow, that's not a good way to approach ministry. He's got all these questionable views but we'll give him some responsibility and watch him grow and how many of the sheep is he going to infect with his poison and how many of the sheep is he going to tear apart before you do something? This passive pastoring today is another thing. They just let the wolf sit there for week after week. And I understand there's a difference between someone who has an agenda and someone who's confused, someone who's open to the truth, someone who wants to learn. And there's people in that category, praise God, who come into a church, maybe they're confused about doctrine, but they're teachable, they want to learn, their heart is for the truth above all things. But then there are others who come in and they are not teachable, they don't care about what the word of God says, they have an agenda. And if your agenda is to try and change the doctrine of this church, you might as well give up now and go and try that somewhere else. Because by the grace of God, we have stood for our statement of faith for almost 50 years, and by the grace of God, we are not changing. So they're underhanded men, they creep in unawares. They are unregenerate men, number two. They are ordained to this condemnation. This word ordained means to write down beforehand. It was a word that was used of public notices or announcements. So you see the picture here. These false teachers are on the public notice board of God's word that they are hell bound men. They're condemned men. Why would you want to follow a hell bound man? Why would you want to follow a false teacher who can lead people into the fires of hell? That's why this, that's why Jude is so fiery. That's why Jude is so fervent. That's why we cannot be indifferent in this because when it comes to the doctrine of salvation, the souls of men are at stake. There's nothing more serious than that. Do you get that this morning? They're unregenerate men. They're unholy men, ungodly men. He goes on with a description here, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. Notice the lifestyle here. You know that apostasy involves not only false doctrine, it involves a lifestyle. Don't it really worries me with some of our churches? The statement of faith is still in place, they haven't embraced the doctrines of apostasy yet, but the spirit of apostasy is fast coming in. The spirit of worldliness, the spirit of compromise is infiltrating churches. And guess what? If you allow the lifestyle of apostasy into the church, it's only a matter of time before you embrace the doctrines of apostasy. The two go hand in hand, brethren. And if you're not going to stand for moral purity in the church, do you really think you're going to stand for doctrinal purity long term? these men are ungodly men and he gives some specific detail about their ungodliness, they turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. The word lasciviousness there means unbridled, unrestrained lust. Do you see what these false teachers do? They use the grace of God as an excuse to indulge their lusts. Guess what, that kind of grace teaching, that false grace teaching is alive and well in the 21st century. There are people out there who excuse just about any sin today in the name of grace. Have you ever heard it? Oh, but we're under grace. And that means, does it, that you can watch any dirty movie you want, and you can listen to any filthy pop song you like, and you can go to any dirty nightclub you want, and you can go to the pub, and you can drink your wine, and you can fornicate, and you can live together before you're married, and you can do all of those things because of God's grace. Is that your understanding of the grace of God? The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, Titus chapter 2, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Mark it down. The grace of God empowers me to not sin. The grace of God does not license me to sin. Grace is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin. But this kind of false grace teaching was there in the time of Jude. They said God's grace means you can live it up, you can live in an unbridled manner, you can indulge the flesh. And that kind of teaching is out there today. Just about any sin is excused in the name of a false grace. That's not the grace of God. How many of you heard that excuse? We're not under the law, we're under grace. Just remind them to read the whole verse. and to read the first part of that verse. Would it be really helpful if Christians actually read their Bibles instead of quoting little bits and misrepresenting them? What does the first part of the verse say? For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. In other words, grace gives me power over sin. Grace frees me from the bondage of sin, doesn't license me to sin. So they are unholy men. Perverted doctrine leads to perverted deeds. Impure beliefs lead to impure behaviors. Corrupt precepts lead to impure practices. Why? Because false doctrine is a work of the flesh. And if you're caught up in false doctrine, your flesh is buzzing and popping and getting all tangled up in that. And you get a surprise, here's this guy who's denouncing this doctrine and that doctrine and into this false doctrine, all of a sudden he leaves his wife and runs off with somebody. Or all of a sudden he ends up breaking his marriage vows. Or all of a sudden you find out he's got some deep, dark pornography habit. You say, why on earth he was so zealous about his idea of doctrine? Because he was caught up in the flesh. Guarantee you, some of these young men out there that are agitating against doctrine, they're porn heads. I can almost guarantee you, they're deeply defeated in their hearts and in their minds. And I'm not accusing any particular person, I'm just saying, I guarantee you, some of them are deeply defeated. It's a show of zeal. But where are you really at? What are you looking at on your phone? We're almost done. So these men are underhanded men. They creep in unawares. They're unregenerate men. They're ordained to this condemnation. They're unholy men. They're ungodly and they turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. Finally, they are unbiblical men. They deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So there's a belief system here and it's characterized by two things, skepticism. The word denying there is in the present tense. You know, much of today's theology, inverted commas, is all about denying truth rather than affirming and defending truth. Did you realize that? The average Bible college out there undermines people's faith in the Word of God, casts doubt on the Word of God, and denies the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God. That is a description of a false teacher. It's all about denying this and denying that. Have you noticed, some of you older people with grey hair, that we're living in an age where people don't like any sort of absolutes. Everything's up for debate, every doctrine's up for debate and we're just studying our doctrine. Well, you should have sorted that out before you became a pastor. You should have sorted your doctrine out before you became a preacher and leader of others. These people who are always flexible on their doctrine. Listen, I understand there's a time and a place to work something out and to work through it, but I do believe that God's Word has been given in such a way that by the grace of God in time, we can come to some firm and settled positions on things and we don't have to revisit them. They're settled. It's nailed down. It's the truth. You can stake your life on it. Finished. But the apostates are always denying things. It's a culture of skepticism. It's a culture of denial. It's a culture of constantly questioning everything. You can never know for sure. They're ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. That's not a mark of spirituality as a preacher. You're supposed to, according to Ephesians 4, be there to stop the flock from being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. If you yourself are blowing around with every wind of doctrine, you are the last person who should be shepherding the sheep. their denial here is focused in a particular area, the apostates of Jude's day and there are many like this today, they deny, they're denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So central to the belief system of apostates is a continual, persistent denial of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Notice all these titles of the Lord Jesus Christ here. They deny him as Lord, the word means master, they will not have his authority over them. They deny him as God, Jesus Christ is God. There's a denial of the deity of Jesus Christ. Isn't that a feature of cults? Isn't that a feature of false religion? Isn't that a feature of false doctrine today? They deny him as Lord there, again a word that speaks of Christ's deity and his high position. They deny him as Jesus. The word Jesus, the name Jesus means saviour. They do not, they deny the complete and perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They deny him as Christ, the anointed Messiah. How Satan loves to attack the person of Christ. That's not negotiable either, is it? Christology, the doctrine of Christ, who Christ is, if you get it wrong on that, you're going to hell. Because there's another Jesus, another gospel. Do you know certain errors are fatal errors? It means if you believe them, you go to hell. There are some errors, and I'm not diminishing their seriousness, they're non-fatal errors. In other words, you sometimes find you have saved people that hold to certain errors, but they're genuinely saved, because they've got salvation right, they've got Christ right, okay? And we are to contend for those things. But you understand some errors are fatal. If you believe that Jesus Christ is anything less than God, you're going to hell. Because Jesus said, if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. You can't get it wrong on that. To make an error on repentance is fatal. Because Jesus said, if you don't repent, you'll perish. There are certain beliefs that are absolutely at the core of salvation. If you believe that salvation is partially by grace and partly by works, that's fatal. That's a fatal error, it's taking you to hell. These apostates were attacking the very person of Jesus Christ. That's why we're to contend, these kinds of men exist today. So the admonition this morning is earnestly contend for the faith. Who's that command to? you, me, all of us. That means every one of us have to take our part and take our stand. Don't leave it to the preachers, you be counted. So we stand with our pastor, we stand with our church on this matter of repentance, we stand on these doctrinal issues. I'm not telling you to, God's Word is telling you to. Let's bow for prayer. 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. How many of you would say this morning, Pastor, I'm just going to raise my hand as my commitment. By God's grace, I will stand on the side of truth in the battle. Yes, amen. Anyone else? Yes. Don't put your hand up unless you mean it. By God's grace, I will stand for the truth in the battle in this day. I will stand on the side of doctrine, sound doctrine. I'll stand for the Word of God. Yes, you can put your hand down. Thank you. Lord, we pray that that resolve might be sealed in our hearts. Lord, as we go forth, we pray that you'd help us to stand. Lord, to stand fast, to hold fast, and to be steadfast and unmovable. Lord, not giving up one inch of ground to the devil in this matter of the truth. So bless us and help us now, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.