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CONTEND EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH - JULY 19, 2009
CONTEND EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH Sermon of the Week #200926 for July 19, 2009 The book of Jude is composed of only one chapter, but it contains some of the most scathing denunciation of false doctrine and false teachers found in the word of God. Jude says, "Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied." When he speaks of mercy I have to say that this is the only way we can approach God. I have no other claim on God's attention. I am the man Jesus talked about in Luke 17 when He said: “But who is there of you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say unto him when he is come in from the field, ‘Come straightway sit down to meat;’ and will not rather say unto him, ‘Make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?’” Doth he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded? Even so ye also, when ye have done all the things that were commanded of you, say, "We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do.” The reason we must continue to serve in the Jude not only said mercy, but he said mercy be multiplied. I need mercy, and I need it to be multiplied. He not only said mercy be unto you, but he also said peace be unto you. The message of Christ is the message of peace. Paul said in Philippians chapter 3: ”In nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your request be known unto God, and the peace of God which paseth all understanding shall guard your thoughts and your hearts in Christ Jesus.” That gives us the greatest peace there is. The same kind of peace old Simeon had in the temple when they brought, the infant Jesus for circumcision. When Simeon realize who the baby was he said, "Now Lord lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." The Christian can have that same peace today because he has come face to face with the Lord in His salvation. Whatever happens nothing can take away that peace. Then he said and love be multiplied. Paul’s identifies true love in First Corinthians thirteen when he says: “Love suffereth long, and is kind: love envieth not; vaunteth not itself, is not provoked, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, love never faileth.” Then after he identifies himself he tell us, “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 contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." It is with all diligence I write unto you? Sounds like Jude finds it very hard work to write this one chapter epistle, and rightly so. It would be read by the church for the last two thousand years. If an inspired man worked diligently, how much more should we who are uninspired be diligent in the preparation of a message of God’s word that will affect the lives of men for eternity? A preacher can never afford to bring a message to you from the word of God Lord that did not cost him many hours of preparation. Then he said, Beloved while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once delivered for all the saints. He says it was needful, or he was constrained to write to them about their common salvation. We have a common salvation. It is not common in the sense of being ordinary; it is an extraordinary salvation. However there are many aspects as to why it is common. For one thing it is the same for men as it is for women. A man wrote one time to say that the gospel that is preached on this broadcast is needed by all the sex in religion. I think he meant to say sects S.E.C.T.S. But he wrote sex S.E.X. whichever he meant he was right in both cases. People in all religious sects need the gospel that is preached on this broadcast. But it is also needed by all the sex in religion. It is needed by every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, every they, every them, every whom, every he, every she, every it, everybody. Actually we are all on the same level regardless of our differences. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is on the same level as the local dog catcher. The billionaire is on the same level, as the person on minimum wage. The scholar in the University is on the same level, as the grade school drop out. We are all on the same level because we all have a common disease; it is something called sin. There is no such thing as a Christian nation, but there are such things as Christians in every nation. He said, “I give diligence to write unto you concerning our common salvation.” It is common also because we have a common Savior. Jesus can be and must be the Savior of all mankind. There is no other. Jesus said, “No one cometh unto the Father but by Me.” And Peter said, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Unless Jesus was grossly mistaken and unless Peter was completely bum foozled, bewildered, mystified and freaked out by what the Holy Spirit told him, there is absolutely no other way for anybody in any generation, any place or any time to go to heaven other than through Jesus Christ. I write unto you concerning our common salvation. It is a common salvation also because we have a common plan of salvation. Peter tells us that common plan the day the Church began on the day of Pentecost: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now isn't that refreshing?” Peter not only told them this, but then he told them it was not only for them, but for their children and he told them that it was not only for their descendents, but to all that were afar off, and not only for those who were afar off, but for all as many as the Lord would call unto Him. Truly we have a common salvation because one plan fits all. I write unto you concerning our common salvation. Consider also it is a common salvation because we belong to a common Church. There is only one Church in the New Testament. Jesus said, “I will build My Church.” There is no other Church recognized by New Testament writers. I want to be sure I am a member of that Church. Is your denomination mentioned in the Bible? When you find it let me know where it is, I would like to join it. I want to belong to any Church that is found in the Bible, whether it be one or a dozen. I would like to join every one of them, because I don't want to miss out on anything. On the day the Church was born the Lord added unto the Church in that day those that were saved. Jude said, "It was a common salvation." It is common also because we have a common name. Doesn't it sound strange to read the New Testament and never find modern day denominational names? Listen to these strange names from the New Testament. The disciples were called Christians first at It is common also because we have a common message. This is the Bible and the Bible only. There is no other book or written communication of any kind that has been given to us by the inspiration of God. John tells us on the last page of the Bible, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” These words on the last page of the Bible stand there like a red flag, a big flashing sign that says danger, a warning to all who would write or believe or teach any other document as the inspired word of God. I write unto you concerning our common salvation. We must include also that the common salvation has a common home in eternity. Jesus said to the apostles in John thirteen: “Yet a little while and I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, "Whether I go ye cannot come.” Simon Peter saith unto Him, "Lord, whither goest Thou?" Jesus answered, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow afterwards.” Then in the next chapter Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am there may ye be also.” The Christian can say: I know not the form of my mansion so fair I know not the crown, that I there then shall wear; But I know that my Saviour will welcome me there And that will be heaven for me. Now after speaking of our common salvation Jude has something to say about contending for the faith, once delivered unto the saints. CONTEND EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Man did not figure this faith out for himself, men did not invent it. It was delivered. The faith was once delivered, and it was delivered to the saints. It was not delivered to the Paul tells us in First Timothy 3:15 that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth. The Bible has been deposited by God; into the hands of the Church. The Church cannot change the message. The Church as the pillar and ground of truth must support the truth and hold it up to a lost world. Some members of the churches are not acting as pillars, holding up the word of truth, but as caterpillars that crawl in and crawl out. They have forgotten the word of truth was delivered unto them Receiving the message from God was a favorite theme of Paul, he said in Galatians 1:11, “For I make known unto you brethren, as touching the gospel which a preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, neither was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.” Again he declared in 1st Corinthians 11:23 regarding the Lord’s Supper: “For I received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you.” He said in 1st Corinthians 15:3 regarding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, “For I delivered unto you first of that which also I received.” While all churches have received the same Bible, they are not delivering what they have received. Jude exhorts us, “Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.” Notice also that there has only been one delivery. It was once delivered unto the saints. The truth of God was not delivered twice, three times, or many other times, there has been just one delivery. Paul speaks of that one delivery better than I, so I call upon him to tell us about that one delivery in Galatians 1:6-10: “I marvel that you are so soon removing from him who called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel; which is not another gospel: Only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel, other than that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed.” As we have said before, so say I now again, "If any man preach unto you any gospel, other that that which ye received, let him be accursed." For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still pleasing men I would not be a servant of Christ. In addition to what Paul said, we need to consider what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 15:7-9: “Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, This people honorth me with their lips; but their hearts are far from me. But in vain do they worship me teaching as their doctrines the commandments of men.” Then there is a further word from Paul in 2nd Timothy 4:3;4 “For the time will come, then they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap unto themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.” And so it seems for many who have itching ears, the fables of Hans Christian Anderson about The famous poet anonymous has said: “Lord through the desert drear and wide Our erring footsteps need a guide. Keep us keep us, by thy side Help us not fall, Help us not fall.” We have a fear that we should lose One whom eternal love could choose. So we would ne’er this grace abuse Help us not fall, Help us not fall. Lord we are blind and halt and lame Our only stronghold is thy name Great is our fear to bring it shame Help us not fall, Help us not fall. Lord ever more thy face we seek Tempted we are and poor and weak Keep us with lowly hearts and meek Help us not fall, Help us not fall. All thy good works in us complete And set us daily at thy feet Thy love, thy works, thy name, how sweet Help us not fall, help us not fall.” And so we close as we began: “Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints.”
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