The Realities of Earnestly Contending for the Faith

Introduction:

The other night, I had a dream in the early morning hours before I woke up. I went to the grocery store to do some food shopping. I finished getting groceries, but for some reason, as I went to exit the building, we were prevented from leaving the building. It doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but I came to realize that it was because it was raining so hard. While we were waiting for the storm to let up, the store had collected our groceries, and we were told that we could pick them up again when we were allowed to leave the store. When it was time for me to leave the store, I went to pick up my groceries, and the package labeled with my name did not contain any of the things that I had purchased earlier. This is when I woke up, but I woke up with a strong sense that I needed to login to the grocery store’s app on my phone and register a complaint. There is only one thing wrong with that idea: the loss of my groceries, and therefore the appropriateness of lodging a complaint, was not based on reality.

It is important in this life that we live according to reality, not according to imagination. As Jude encourages his audience to earnestly contend for the faith, he gives them three realities regarding contending for the faith that are key for us to recognize if we are to earnestly contend for the faith in these last days. Let’s examine these together.

I. Reality #1: You earnestly contend for the faith by personally possessing the faith

A. Faith is not a decision someone else can make for you

Explanation: Notice how Jude phrases this verse, “building up yourselves on your most holy faith.” This refers to the fact that the recipients of this letter have personally appropriated this faith. This faith refers to the common salvation, the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Argumentation: Remember, the Christian Faith is NOT just a group of facts that we memorize. The Christian Faith is a relationship that we have with a unique person: Jesus Christ. If you don’t have fellowship and communication with a person, you do not have a relationship with them. I don’t have a real relationship with President Marcos. I know some facts about President Marcos, but I do not know President Marcos. So also, to know Jesus Christ is not to merely know facts about Jesus Christ. It is not to know other people who personally know Jesus Christ, like parents or siblings or friends. To know Jesus Christ is to personally engage in fellowship and communication with him. Turn with me to Proverbs 4 and notice how Solomon presents this eternal truth of the gospel.

Illustration: Let’s say that your father is a bricklayer, guys. Does that make you a bricklayer?

Illustration: Let’s say that your mother is a schoolteacher, girls. Does that make you a schoolteacher?

Application: To be something requires you to learn it and to practice it. Being a Christian is not a decision that someone else can make for you. It is a decision and a practice that you and you alone can make for yourself.

B. Faith is only as effective as the object of your faith

Explanation: Again, notice what Jude says, “keeping yourselves in the love of God.” Jude is referring to the God of Israel, not just any god. Jude references the God who created heaven and earth by his mighty power, not gods fashioned of stone, wood, or precious metals by human hands. Not gods made up in the sinful minds of rebellious mankind.

Explanation: Ps 96:4–6, “For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.”

Application: Is your faith in Jesus Christ as presented in the Bible, or is your faith in Jesus as you have perceived him in your own mind?

Illustration: There are many false prophets and false Christs, and we were warned by Jesus himself that it would be so (Mt 24:24; Mk 13:22). In your own country, many here have been taught an unbiblical version of Christ through the Roman Catholic Church. They teach a Christ who is crucified each time the mass is spoken. The Bible teaches a Christ who died once for all (Heb 9:12, 25–26). They teach a distant Christ approached through priests and saints as mediators. The Bible teaches that all believers are priests (1 Pet 2:9) and saints (Eph 1:1) and Christ is the only mediator between God and men (1 Tim 2:5). They teach that men go to purgatory to pay for their sins, as if Christ’s atoning sacrifice was not sufficient. The Bible teaches that Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient to satisfy the debt incurred by our sins (1 Jn 2:2). Only faith in the true and living God as revealed in the Bible is an effective faith and worth contending earnestly for.

II. Reality #2: You earnestly contend for the faith by relying daily on the object of your faith

A. He keeps you from falling

Explanation: Many Christians make the mistake of thinking of salvation and the Gospel as things that are for one point in time only. “I got saved on the day that I prayed to receive Christ as my Savior. That was salvation. That was how the Gospel benefitted me.” This is a common and chronic misconception!

Application: And the problem of this mistaken conception about God is that those deceived by it walk through this life without the hope and comfort that God intended for them to have. As Peter writes to the church in his second epistle, “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet 1:3–4). Salvation is designed as an ongoing process that the Lord is working out in you as you walk through this life hand-in-hand with him.

Illustration: Many of you are walking through your spiritual life, as if after you were saved, you left Jesus up there in Heaven and had to start walking through this life by yourself. You’re acting like an OFW who says goodbye to his family and travels halfway around the world all alone to work for his family. But Jesus, who came into this world and joined us in our plight as human beings, does not leave us alone after we pray to receive Christ as Savior. He has been tempted like we are. He has suffered what we have suffered. He experienced grief, heartache, and anguish. He gave up his very life for us, and he would never leave us alone in our struggles. Jesus made this clear to his disciples when he said, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Jn 14:26–27). Jesus is ever present with us in the person of his Holy Spirit. Again, John recorded Jesus’ words in John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” Again, Jesus emphasized this truth in John 16:7, 13–14: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

Illustration: Jesus knows this world is like a rugged mountain path. To those who walk with him, he gives the skill and balance of mountain goats to navigate the path of life. Consequently, they avoid stumbling and falling. Those who insist on walking by themselves will inevitably stumble and fall like a clumsy or drunken person.

B. He presents you faultless

Exhortation: Jesus enables me to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling as he works in me to will and to do of his good pleasure (Php 2:12–13). He has not simply justified me judicially before God, he is daily cleansing me and causing me to grow in righteousness. We call this sanctification. The Bible is clear that one day I will stand before the throne of God perfect. Listen to what Paul writes in Ephesians 5:25b–27, “… Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

Quotation: Charles Spurgeon put it this way, “our Lord never stops short of perfection in His work of love. That Savior who means to keep His people to the end will not present them at last just alive, all black and foul as when He helped them out of the miry places.”

Exhortation: You see how this reality should motivate us to earnestly contend for the faith! I am guaranteed to stand before God the Father one day faultless! That should motivate me now, as Peter says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet 1:3–8).

III. Reality #3: You earnestly contend for the faith by sharing the truth with others

A. Faithfully reflect the plan of God

Explanation: What is the plan of God? Genesis 1:26–28 gives us the grand overview of God’s intention for man: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Explanation: To summarize then, God’s plan for man was for man to reflect God’s image and serve as God’s steward in taking care of God’s creation on earth.

Application: The faith for which we are to earnestly contend then, MUST include this truth. The Faith is not mere “fire insurance” designed to rescue man from Hell, although properly applied, the Faith does do that. The Faith is designed for man to be restored to fellowship with God so that we can once again faithfully and fully reflect his image and serve as his stewards on earth. There is NO other way for life on this earth to work. There is NO other way to achieve a positive result than to follow God’s plan.

Exhortation: If we are to earnestly contend for the faith, this is the message that we must share with others from Scripture: God created with a plan and for a purpose, man deviated from that plan, and God has graciously made a way for us to be restored to walking in that plan and according to his purpose.

Illustration: Let us take for one moment, the thief on the cross. What were Jesus words to him? “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43). Pretending that the illustration of Peter guarding the gates of heaven to let the truly saved in is accurate, let us imagine how Peter’s interview of the thief on the cross might go. “Welcome to the pearly gates, Sir. Please give me your best explanation of the doctrine of justification.” I can imagine the thief stumbling around and admitting that he knew nothing of the doctrine of justification. So Peter might continue, “Let’s move on then. What do you know of the doctrine of sanctification?” Once again, the thief might hem and haw, but he would be able to offer no clear definition of the doctrine of sanctification. “Sir, what do you know of the doctrine of the Trinity?” “What is the trinity?” Finally, Peter, in exasperation inquires of the man, “Sir, why should I let you enter heaven?” The thief simply replies, “the man on the middle cross said I could come in.”

Clarification: Now, I want you to clearly hear what I am NOT saying. I am not saying that to be saved you have to have a clear, full, understanding of all of the doctrines of scripture. What I am saying is that once we place our faith and trust in Christ, we ought to be studying and learning these things as we grow in our relationship with him. This is why Jude writes to the church. He wants his people to be continuing to fight to grow in the truth of scripture and to fight to help others not be fooled by false teachings which pervert scripture.

B. Faithfully reflect the character of God

Exhortation: God’s Word is not designed to be used by us as a club to beat people down into hell. God’s truth is designed to be used as a lifeline to pull people out of the terrible danger in which they find themselves, saved and unsaved alike. The character of God is compassion. God is love! Therefore, God gave us the written word and the living word to rescue souls! Jesus Christ is the living water that can quench the thirst that threatens to destroy them. Jesus says, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” Jesus Christ is the bread of life that can satisfy the hunger that can consume them. And Jesus says, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger….” If they die of thirst, if they starve to death, let it be so because they rejected the truth of God’s Word lovingly and compassionately and accurately shared with them. This is how we faithfully reflect the character of God and earnestly contend for the faith.

Conclusion:

As we conclude our time together in God’s word today, some self-examination is in order. First, do you personally possess this faith? Have you chosen to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ for yourself, or are you relying on what your family has done or what your church has done to be sufficient? Think of it this way. God has sons and daughters. God has no nieces, no nephews, and no grandchildren.

Second, assuming you personally possess the faith that Jude writes about, do you rely daily on Jesus Christ for the strength and wisdom needed to get through life successfully? Are you daily in the word of God deepening your relationship with him and letting the sanctifying power of the word help you put off the works of the flesh and put on the works of the spirit?

Finally, do you love Jesus enough to share the truth with others? Do your words and your works faithfully reflect the plan of God and the character of God as he intends?