How to contend for the Faith
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Turn to the book of Jude, turn to the back of your Bible and its the book right before Revelation.
Quick review the past couple weeks: friends, forgiveness, stress.
Since I’ve been here a little over a year and a half, we’ve had one or two lessons on Apologetics and I’ve mentioned it here and there in other messages, but we’re gonna talk about it a little more tonight.
Apologetics is a big scary sounding word but it just means Christians defending the faith, defending their beliefs.
The word apologetics doesn’t have anything to do with the word apology and saying sorry. It comes from 1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
The greek word for answer, or some translations say defense, is apologia, so that’s where we get our word apologetics from.
And apologetics is something that you can go to school for and study and then you can become an apologist. Apologists of course study apologetics, write books, they will participate in formal debates with atheists or other religions, they basically just try to use logical truth to defend Christianity and the Bible.
Why does this matter?
This matters because we are all called to be apologists. Maybe not vocationally as a job, but this verse in 1 Peter 3:15 applies to us all. Here’s why we are called to be apologists: the better we are at apologetics, the better we will be at being a witness.
If you are witnessing to somebody and they say something like “Oh I don’t believe the Bible I just think its just a bunch of old stories and fairy tales”. What would you say? Would you be able to carry on in the conversation?
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
We need to be able to exhort and convince the gainsayers. Those who say we are wrong in our beliefs.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
There should be good, logical, reasons for your beliefs. You shouldn’t just be a Christian because mommy and daddy are Christians and they’ve been taking you to church your whole life.
At some point in your life Christianity has to become real to you. If you’re just a Christian cause that’s what mom and dad are then your faith will be rocked when the first sign of opposition comes. Why do I say that? Because we see it all the time in our society.
According to Lifeway Research, 66% of Christian teenagers stop going to church after high school. That is two thirds. That means if we have 24 students in here, then 16 of you will stop going to church after high school.
Listen, One of the biggest reasons this happens is because you begin interacting with a lot more people who have different worldviews than you. You begin interacting with more nonbelievers and other religions or even Christians who just aren’t serious about being a Christian, and this begins to affect you to the point where you become apathetic towards church and other Christian values.
Do not, do not let yourself become a statistic. We need to do our best to not let those around us become a statistic either.
You must know why you believe what you believe. You must know why you believe what you believe.
What do you believe? You believe a man named Jesus lived on the earth 2,000 years ago and died and then rose from the dead? Why? Cause the Bible says it? Why do you believe the Bible? And usually that’s kind of where the conversation stops cause we just believe the Bible. Why do you believe the Bible? You must know why you believe what you believe.
Hopefully this message from the book of Jude will help us to be able to do that.
So who is Jude?
Really quickly lets look at who Jude is because there’s a few people named Jude in the New Testament: There were several men named Jude, or Judas, in the New Testament. Jude was a derivative of the names Judas and Judah, much as the nickname Sam is a derivative of the name Samuel. But three men named Jude (Judas) had significant roles in Jesus’ day:
1. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed our Lord for thirty pieces of silver, was a chosen disciple who later hanged himself (Luke 6:16; Matthew 27:4–5).
2. Judas the apostle is identified in the gospels as “not Iscariot.” So Jesus chose two men by the name of Jude (or Judas) to be among the twelve disciples (John 14:22; Acts 1:13).
3. Jude was a half-brother of Jesus and brother of James, leader of the first Jerusalem church. This Jude was the son of Mary and Joseph and would have been raised as a brother to Jesus Christ (Mark 6:3). This Jude is the author of the New Testament book by that name. In Jude 1:1, he identifies himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.” It is interesting that neither he nor his brother, James, claimed familial relationship with Jesus when they penned their letters. Pride would have nudged them to include that fact, but reverence and an understanding of Jesus’ divine identity motivated them to consider themselves as only His servants.
Jude was among the siblings of Jesus who, at first, did not believe His claims to be the Messiah (John 7:3–5). At one point, they along with Mary waited outside the place where Jesus was teaching in order to bring Him home with them (Matthew 12:46–47). Their purpose was “to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:21). It was most likely after the resurrection that Jude and his brother James came to understand that their half-brother, Jesus, was indeed the Son of God. It was that shift in perspective that motivated Jude to define himself not as “the brother of the Messiah” but as “a servant of Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:1).
So at the time of writing this letter, the church
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.
Verse 3 says earnestly contend for the faith. To contend means to struggle for, to assert a belief as truth and defend that belief. So How do I earnestly contend for the faith? Skip down to verse 16
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
So how do I contend for the faith?
1. I must Remember the Truth (v. 17)
1. I must Remember the Truth (v. 17)
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
In order to remember something, you must first know it. We must know the truth of our religion, of Christianity. What is truth?
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
If you are going to talk to someone about Jesus and defend Him, right, when you’re defending Christianity, you’re not just defending a religion, you’re also defending Christ Himself, so if you’re going to defend Him and His gospel, you must know the truth from the Word of God.
There is a battle for truth today. People want to say that truth is subjective, or that it varies from person to person. Have you ever been talking to someone about religion or seen a video of someone talking to someone about religion and the person will say something like “well that may be true for you but that’s not true for me”. That is not how truth works. Truth is objective, meaning it never changes. If someone ever tells you that truth is subjective, then just ask them if that is true. They’ll say yes and you’ll say how can you know if truth is subjective?
— Remember the truth of the written Word
We must know the Word of God so that we can remember it when we are talking to someone. There is such a lack of self discipline in this area in Christians today, especially teenagers.
In traditional jewish culture in biblical times, Jewish boys start school at age six, and they memorized the Torah, the first five books of the Bible by age 10. Age 10! **Show how much that is in your Bible
Not only do we not memorize Scripture, nooo, we barely even read it. And if you do read it, you get so bored with it you can only read a couple verses at a time! You get bored with the Bible itself that you have to read a devotional, what someone else says about the Bible!
You know what most churches put in their doctrinal statement or their statement of beliefs?
The Bible is sufficient for all matters of faith and practice.
Meaning the Bible is enough to help me for anything and everything that happens in life. Struggling with bitterness? Go to God’s Word! **List off sins and “go to God’s Word”
Now just reading God’s Word is not going to magically transform you and help you, no. You have to apply the knowledge and wisdom that is written. The written Word of God will point you to the Living Word of God who will transform your mind and your heart.
You have to make a decision when you read the Bible. I say that so often I know every single one of you are tired of me saying it, but every single time the Bible is opened, you ought to make some sort of decision. Whether its opened and preached at church or you open it and read it at home make some sort of decision. I feel like my head is going to explode because I say that so much and yet some of you still don’t listen. You laugh and talk during church, you make jokes during worship, You are so apathetic towards God, the things of God, church, worship, youth group, it grieves my soul. Would you please get serious about spiritual things? Yes there’s a time to joke around and have fun, but we are in a literal war and literal people that you know are going to go to a literal Hell because you haven’t told them the gospel.
Sometimes we think that we just make decisions every once in a while or when its a really good sermon, no, no, no, no, no. You ought to make a decision daily. Everyday when you wake up the first thought that ought to come into your head is a prayer to God, “God today, I am going to live for you. I am making the decision to live for you.” And then you open up your Bible and let Him speak to you and make another decision. It is a daily decision to follow Christ.
Remember the truth of the Written word, and the written Word will point you to the Living Word, Jesus Christ.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
— Remember the truth of the Living Word
The purpose of the written word, is to point you to the Living Word, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one who can change your heart, to help you in times of need, guide you when you seem lost, give you knowledge when you don’t know what to do. He wants to be with you and be close to you and have a real, thriving relationship with you.
So what does this have to do with Apologetics and defending Christianity?
I must know the written Word and the living Word in order to defend it.
If you hear someone talking down about Christ or the Bible, I hope you will have the boldness and the courage to step up and defend them. Too many Christians are bowing down and giving in to whatever the world says. We need some Christians who know their God and know their Bible so that they can defend them. If you don’t know what your defending or how to defend it, you will bow just like everybody else, every time.
Remember the truth: the living Word and the written Word.
2. I must Build my Faith (v. 20)
2. I must Build my Faith (v. 20)
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Faith is one of the most integral parts of the Christian life. Our faith in Christ should constantly be building and increasing. How do I increase my faith?
You have heard this before: Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
People today will use all kinds of things to try to weaken your faith. They’ll use big scientific language and use big vocabulary to try to prove that God isn’t real, and if you’re not careful then you could get sucked into the lies of the world.
Bro. Andrew talked about this on Sunday how a person will come across some sort of unanswered question like, how did we get all the animals on the ark that doesn’t seem possible, and then they don’t really study it and they just let that question wreck their faith and they give up on Christianity or religion or whatever.
Really quickly 6 reasons to trust God’s Word is true
The Bible claims it. This Bible claims to be truth over 3,800 times in just the Old Testament alone, We must either call this book a lie or truth.
History and time reveal it. The Bible has been indestructible. Roman Emperor Diocletian tried to destroy it in 300 AD. A French Philosopher named Voltaire said in the 1700s that one day there wont be any bibles on earth, except for in in antique shops.
Archaeology keeps proving it. Hittites Civilization wasn’t found until mid 19th century, prior to that atheists claimed Bible was false because of no evidence of hittites. Dean of Palestinian Archaeology Dr. Nelson said that there has never been any archaeological evidence that contradicts the Bible.
Fulfilled prophecies confirm it. Over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament have been fulfilled by Christ. **Silver dollars in texas illustration
Science agrees with it. From stars to blood to the shape of the earth, science agrees with the Bible. Men used to think that we could count the stars but they eventually figured out they’re innumerable, which is what it says in Jeremiah 33:22
Changed lives prove it
You must build your faith, by reading the Word, so that when worldly and devilish attacks come, you won’t fall.
3. I must Keep Loving (v. 21)
3. I must Keep Loving (v. 21)
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
We must love those who have different beliefs than us. Used to pastors would stand up on a soap box on street corners and preach at people and tell them to repent or they’d go to hell, turn or burn, but that doesn’t work as well in our culture today.
We must show people love. Showing people love does not mean that we compromise truth, it just means that people know we love them even though we disagree with them.
Yall remember Ben Schettler, this is what his organization is all about, “The Center for Truth in Love”
We don’t want to be angry or cause contention when we are defending Christ, we want to be loving.
We do that by realizing how loving and merciful Christ was to us when we were unbelievers.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Application:
Take a stand to defend Christ and His Word when someone attacks it. Contend for the faith. How?
I must know the Living Word of God and the Written Word of God in order to defend them.
I must build my faith so that I can withstand worldly beliefs that attack my faith.
I must always love people, regardless of their beliefs.