Remaining Authentic Jude 3-4

2. Agonize for the faith (3c–d)

After mentioning his original intention for this epistle, Jude writes, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith (3c).

The word translated contend means “to struggle for something.”

The root word is the Greek word from which we get our word “agonize.”

The word “earnestly” is added in the kjvto convey the intensity of the struggle.

The word contend is present tense, meaning we have to continually, every day, contend for the faith, even to the point of agony.

This is what Paul was writing about in his final epistle, just before he was executed.

How does he describe in 2 Timothy 4:7 what it means to agonize for the faith?

We are to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (3c–d).

When God gives a promise, he always tries our faith.

When God gives a promise, he always tries our faith.

Just as the roots of trees take firmer hold when they are contending with the wind; so faith takes firmer hold when it struggles with adverse appearances.

If God gives himself to us in promises, we must give ourselves to him in duties.

God tries our faith so that we may try his faithfulness.

God always touches with infinity everything that he does, and this leads to the thought that the inheritance we receive must be equal to the God who gives it.

Being God, He does not deal in things which are merely finite.

Therefore, the inheritance that the child of God receives is limitless and infinite.

Just as the roots of trees take firmer hold when they are contending with the wind; so faith takes firmer hold when it struggles with adverse appearances.

The world has nothing that we want—for we are believers in a faith that is as well authenticated as any solid fact of life.

The truths we believe and the links in the chain of evidence are clear and rational.

I contend that the church has a right to rejoice and that this is no time in the world’s history for Christian believers to settle for a defensive holding action!

We must never cease to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

And how? .

By learning the faith.

By living the faith.

And by loosing the faith.

That charge was delivered to the church, and no one else will be responsible … if the foundations be destroyed!

The word translated once (hapax, hap′-ax) means something completed in past time with lasting results.

It refers to something that is perpetually complete and valid.

This means when someone comes along and says, “We have something new to add to the faith,” or “We have another gospel of Jesus Christ,” you can ask, “Have you read Jude 3?”

The faith that was once for all delivered to the saints means it was all delivered at once—nothing was left out.

Remaining authentic as Christians requires that we defend the faith against all attempts to pervert or dilute it.

It does not require great learning to be a Christian and be convinced of the truth of the Bible.

It requires only an honest heart and a willingness to obey God.

It does not require great learning to be a Christian and be convinced of the truth of the Bible.

It requires only an honest heart and a willingness to obey God.

You can fill your head full of knowledge, but the day that you decide you are going to obey God, the knowledge will get down into your heart.

You will know.

Only the servants of truth can ever know truth.

Only those who obey can ever have the inward change.

God is on the lookout for a man whose heart is perfect toward Him.

Will you be quiet enough to hear Him, brave enough to proclaim Him, and honest enough to obey Him?

The true work of God is simply to believe in the One God has sent.

We cannot “do the works God requires” at all.

Our only hope is to rely on what Christ has done.

If there is any place in the whole world where we ought to be honest, it is in the church of God.

God’s truth requires us to seek examining ourselves:

It requires the kind of knowledge that will strip us of all confidence in our own ability, deprive us of all occasion for boasting, and lead us to submission.

Race is the Greek agōn, from which we get agony.

A race is not a thing of passive luxury, but is demanding, sometimes grueling and agonizing, and requires our utmost in self-discipline, determination, and perseverance.

We are to keep the faith pure and teach it to others with no additions or deletions.

The reason is found in 2 Peter 1:3a.

According as 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:

There is an old saying: “If it’s new, it ain’t true.”

That means if it’s not in the Bible and it claims to be the inspired Word of God, it’s false teaching.

Scrutinize all teaching (4a)

Jude now gives us the reason for writing this epistle: For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation (4a).

From the very first books in the Bible, there are warnings about changing God’s Word and following false teachers.

For example, what does Moses tell the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:2a–b?

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2

We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit.

False teachers try to slip into Bible-believing churches unnoticed. Then, they seek influential places in the church and even in denominations.

They are often sharp, educated people who want to push their own agendas.

As Paul gives his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, he warns them that after he leaves, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock (Acts 20:29).

Then, what does he say in Acts 20:30?

Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Acts 20:30

Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

These false teachers act as though they just want to be part of the local church, when in fact they want to pervert the Gospel.

This is especially true today regarding homosexuality and abortion.

To remain an authentic Christian, realize the blessings of salvation, agonize for the faith, scrutinize all teaching, and …

Analyze behavior (4b–c)

False teachers deceitfully sneak in with two purposes.

First, they are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God (4b).

This means they think of God’s grace as a way to minimize the consequences of their sin.

Because of their perverted view of God’s grace, they believe they have a license to fulfill their sinful desires.

However, the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints clearly teaches that by God’s grace we are freed from sin to live a life of holiness.

How does Ephesians 1:4 express this fact?

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

The word translated holy(hagios, hag′-ee-os) means “separated” or “set apart.”

We as believers are “set apart” from the attitudes and actions of the world.

It basically means we are “different” from the world because we live by the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Those who sneak in pervert the grace of our God into sensuality.

The word translated sensuality, or “lasciviousness” (aselgeia, ah-sel′-ga-uh), means “indecency” or “immorality.”

That’s why we see in the news people with white collars and Bibles in their hands performing marriage ceremonies for lesbians and homosexuals.

They have turned God’s grace into a license for what the Bible clearly condemns as sin.

A few years ago, I read an article about a pastor in Oklahoma City, which is in the “buckle of the Bible belt.”

She said, “The only command in the Bible we have to obey is “ ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’

” However, what did the same Jesus who gave us that command also say in the last two phrases of Matthew 4:4?

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

False teachers have a subtle way of omitting or perverting certain passages of Scripture.

Their second express purpose is to deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (4c).

The word translated Master, or “Lord God” (despotēs, des-pot′-ace), is the word from which we get the word “despot,” which means a ruler with unlimited power over other people.

The Greek word means “sovereign” or “absolute ruler.”

Those who deny the Gospel reject Jesus as the absolute Lord, or ruler, of their lives.

How does Titus 1:16a–b describe them?

They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

John explains that if people say they have fellowship with Jesus but continue to live in spiritual darkness, they are lying and do not live according to the truth (1 Jn 1:6).

What Jude detected (v. 4)

He now describes the men and their method.

“There are certain men crept in unawares [that’s their cunning], who were before of old ordained to this condemnation [that’s their condition].”

Jude v4 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.

As to their method, Jude describes what they were doing—“turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness”—and who they were denying—“denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We note first that these men “crept in unawares.”

The word used occurs only here and means “to slip in secretly,” “to insinuate oneself by stealth,” or “to get in by the side.”

These people do not come in through the front door, openly announcing their real beliefs or their true lifestyle.

They come in through the side door.

They use our vocabulary and seem to be saying the things that we believe, but they have redefined all of the terms.

Their aim is to get accepted, to be trusted, to get elected to office.

They bring in others of their own kind.

They infiltrate both church and seminary.

In time, they take over the functioning machinery of school, church, and denomination and thus monopolize the decision-making process.

Too late, the rank and file awake.

By then, however, the liberals are too deeply entrenched to be expelled easily.

If they are to be ousted at all, it will take a full-scale battle, and many people will get hurt.

Jude says of such that they are “ungodly men.”

The word does not simply mean that these people are irreligious.

It means that they deliberately do things that God has forbidden.

They have no reverence for holy things and no awe of God.

In other words, the apostate does what he does because he is what he is.

He is a man who has no awe of God, so he denies the Holy Scriptures and lives a carnal, worldly life.

He is ungodly and unbelieving by deliberate choice.

Nothing is more dangerous than associating with the ungodly.

We cannot be fishers of men if we remain in the same element with them.

Fish will not be fishers.

The sinner will not convert the sinner.

The ungodly man will not convert the ungodly man.

And what is more to the point, the worldly Christian will not convert the world.

Nothing is more dangerous than associating with the ungodly; because, being more prone to follow vice than virtue, it cannot but be that the more conversant we are with corruption, the more widely will it spread.

 It is never easy to watch ungodly activity and unbiblical beliefs grow in popularity, nor is it ever comfortable to take a stand against such problems.

He is not a backslider or someone who has unhappily fallen into error.

The ungodly is a person who has deliberately repudiated the truth.

He/She is not only ungodly but also unholy because he “turns” the grace of God into “lasciviousness.”

He perverts the doctrine of the grace of God and actually uses it a license to sin.

He says, “If God’s grace is greater than all of my sin, the more I sin, the more God will exhibit His grace!” (Rom. 6:1–2).

The word for “turns” here means to turn something into something else.

The word is used in a good sense to describe the change of priesthood from the old Levitical, Aaronic, ritual priesthood, common to the Old Testament, to the even older priesthood of Melchizedek.

God effected this change to make possible the priesthood of Christ (Heb. 7:1–2).

The change effected was radical and complete.

Jude uses the word to show how apostates make a total and complete perversion of the doctrine of grace.

They change the very doctrine that should lead believers into lives of grateful holiness into an excuse for indulging one’s evil nature.

The man that believes will obey; failure to obey is convincing proof that there is not true faith present.

To attempt the impossible God must give faith or there will be none, and He gives faith to the obedient heart only.

We must not neglect to do what God requires.

Michael S. Heiser