Fighting for the Faith
Notes
Transcript
Intro; It would be nice to stand up here in the pulpit every Sunday and preach like Joel Osteen, all prosperity and no persecution or problems. But that’s not the reality of life today nor back in the days of Jude.
It should never be the nature of a christian to look for trouble and at all costs we need to avoid conflict. But there are times that conflict comes looking for us and when it does, we have to stand our ground and be willing to defend the faith.
Last Sunday we asked the question “Who Are You?” Based upon how you answered that question will determine what you will do with todays message, “Fighting for the Faith.”
Text; Jude 3-4
3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Common Salvation/Faith; 3
1. Common Salvation/Faith; 3
Beloved- dear to me, care for, compassion. Jude starts his letter with a pastors heart by using this word “beloved.”
Pastors/shepherds- care for the flock, defend, water, know them, count them, secure pasture [nourishment], search for strays and give them rest.
I don’t know if Jude is a pastor but he speaks as one.
John 10:11–14 (NKJV)
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
Common Salvation- faith in Christ that all believers have in common, but there is nothing common about our faith!
Adrian Rogers said of this faith, “It is divine in its conception. It is complete in its content.… It is absolutely unique in its character” (“Battle for the Bible”).
In the christian faith there are twelve non-negotiables to which Scripture and the history of the church give witness to that cannot be compromised!
1. The inerrancy and infallibility of Holy Scripture
2. The full and eternal deity of Jesus Christ
3. The miraculous virgin birth and sinless life of Jesus the Messiah
4. The historical creation of man and woman made in God’s image
5. The sanctity of all life from conception to natural death
6. The sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman
7. The sinfulness of all human persons
8. The substitutionary death of Christ for sinners
9. The bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave
10. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone
11. The exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ for sinners
12. The return of Christ and the assignment of all people either to eternal
blessedness in heaven or eternal condemnation in hell based upon what one
does with Jesus Christ
Shaddix, J., & Akin, D. L. (2018). Exalting jesus in 2 peter, jude (Jud 3). Holman Reference.
Jude wanted to talk about that wonderful faith and encourage brothers and sisters in that faith, but he found it necessary to warn them about false teaching and to contend [fight for] the faith! Why?
2. Certain Men Crept In; 4a
2. Certain Men Crept In; 4a
False teachers had crept into the church unnoticed!
Crept In- slip in sideways; come in stealthily; sneak in
How could they be unnoticed? Somebody went to sleep in the pulpit and the pews!!
16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Christians must judge [observe for authentication] the works of people especially those who claim to be christians.
1 Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”
2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.
3 And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.
4 Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.
5 For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel,
10 Moreover He said to me: “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears.
11 And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.”
In today’s church, apostasy takes on many forms. False teachers write books, speak on radio and television, teach in colleges and seminaries, preach from pulpits, and have Web sites and blogs on the internet.
But just because a “so called christian” says it, or you read it on a “so called Christian website” doesn’t mean its truth. You have to know the truth yourself first, so that you will be able to spot a counterfeit!!
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
When the church falls asleep in their faith, false teaching and heresy creep in unnoticed! Wake Up!!
3. Fight for the Faith; 3c
3. Fight for the Faith; 3c
Contend earnestly- intense struggle, defend with passion, continuous devotion
Fighting for the faith is not easy; it hard work, diligent study, a willingness to stand for the gospel while society wants to water it down, speaking up for the timeless truth of the faith [whole council of God’s Word] in a changing society.
4 But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.
20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—
2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.
24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,
26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Pastor James Merritt has well said, “It is right to fight when you fight for what’s right”. We must fight for the faith, and we must contend for the truth; but we must contend for the faith without being contentious about the faith. We fight because we must, not because we want to and enjoy it.
4. Faith Once Delivered; 3d
4. Faith Once Delivered; 3d
The truth of God and His word has been delivered once for all, meaning, faith is complete. You cannot add anything to truth and you cannot take anything from truth. Faith stands on the merit of truth, the Bible!
Truth is not relative to what you want it to be, Truth is what it is!! [2+2=4]
What you believe and how you behave go hand in hand. What you believe will determine how you live.
If your beliefs change daily with the world, then the way you live changes daily. You have nothing constant or sure in your life. You have no standard by which you conduct your affairs or guide your family.
A person who lives without faith in TRUTH/CHRIST is set for destruction.
Matthew 7:26–27 (NKJV)
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
But the person who lives by faith in Truth of Jesus Christ will prosper.
Matthew 7:24–25 (NKJV)
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
Close;
If you are a believer this morning, you have a responsibility to God to Fight for the Faith! And the only way you can successfully do that is to put First Things First!
I don't wanna love what the world loves
I don't wanna chase what the world does
I only want you, I only want you
First thing's first I seek Your will
Not my own Surrender all my wants to you
Keep the first thing first
To live Your truth Walk Your ways
Set my eyes Lord I fix my face on you
All my desires reversed
To keep the first thing first
Will you make Jesus first in your life today?