Contend for the Truth

Attention: What would you say is the greatest danger a Christian can face?

Need: Since God has first created man, there have been forces seeking to separate and sever the relationship between God and Man.

Serpent in the garden

False Prophets and foreign nations

False teachers

The greatest of these dangers comes not from blatantly false religions, but from those half-truths that infiltrate the church.

Sermon Idea: Believers are to contend for the truth, and to not be swept away from the lies and actions of false teachers.

Interrogative: Why must we conted for the truth?

Transition: In the beginning of his epistle, Jude provides four motivations for us to contend for the truth.

Jude 1-4

V. 1a: Contend because of who Christ is.

Think about who is writing this letter. Jude was Jesus’s brother.

The resurrection completely changed how He saw Him. He went from not believing Him, to calling himself a bondservant (willing slave) to Jesus.

This Monotheistic Jew recognized that Jesus was the one true God.

Application: We are to contend for the truth because Jesus is actually God, and He alone is worthy to be praised. He alone is also the one who can command obedience to His will.

Transition: A correct view of Christ sets the table for us to fight, but Jude also teaches about who we are in his greeting.

V. 1b-2: Contend because of who God says you are.

Jude provides a number of helpful descriptions of believers that should encourage and motivate us to defend our faith.

We are:

Called-

To be called is to be chosen by God from the foundations of the world to belong to Jesus.

This doesn’t mean we were simply invited, but instead means that God has snatched us from this world, given us eyes to see and a heart that believes. He has caused us to willingly follow and love Him.

You belong to God, because God took the initiative and made you His own (Ezek 36:25-27; John 6:37-39, 44-45, 63, 65)

Beloved-

God has set His love on you. He gave His Son to redeem you, and by His Spirit called you and gave you new life.

You have received the same infinite love of God as any other believer.

Kept-

God chose you, called you, and he keeps you. (Rom 8:28-30)

If you truly belong to God you won’t walk away.

This is important to understand as we talk about apostates, for they show they never truly belonged.

Blessed

Mercy- consistent, never-ceasing, unearned forgiveness.

Peace- Peace in our relationship with God

Love- the love of God given through Christ Jesus.

God has made you His own, and done what no other could do to make us right. He has made us clean so that we can know and worship Him. This God is worthy to be praised, and if He truly is who He says He is, and He has done all of this for us, then we were made to serve and exalt His truth.

Transition: So, God has made us His own, so that we may know Him. This means that God has also made Himself known to us. There really is only one God, and we should strive to seem Him represented accurately.

V. 3: Contend we have been given the truth.

Jude says that originally He was going to write celebrating their common salvation, but instead on hearing about what was going on changed to instruct them to fight for the faith.

So what exactly do we fight for?

Primary vs. Secondary

Primary issues are the fundamental things that make us Christian.

Secondary/ Tertiary are still important but may not make or break whether we can say someone is a believer.

Primary Issues:

Who is God

Who is Jesus

The Bible

The Resurrection

The Gospel

Lordship of Christ

How does salvation work (some parts are secondary)

The main things of our faith are also the plain things, and they are those that we must be willing to stand on for departures from them can lead to a completely different religion and god.

God has told us who He is, thus we must be willing to stand by what He says.

Transition: So we have been given truth, but what happens to those who depart from it?

V. 4: Contend because those who fall away will be destroyed.

Listen to the actions of the ungodly:

Crept into the church

Pervert Grace into sensuality

Deny the Master and Lord Jesus.

These false teachers may not have been attacking the deity of Jesus, but they had turned to a practical atheism.

They said one things with their mouth, and lived another way.

They may have even used God’s grace as an excuse to live in sin.

Thus, contending for the faith is not only about doctrine, but also about recognizing that Christians were redeemed to obey God.

These people who either spout heresy or live it are destined for destruction.

Conclusion: So what does it look like for you to contend?

Remember your God.

Remember who He says you are.

Stand by what He says and obey Him.