I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn back to the book of Jude. The book of
Jude. One book. The book of Jude. I'd like to look at verse 3 in
this first service and then Lord willing in the second. Verses
4 to 8. Jude was an apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he started this book and
he said, Jude, the servant, the slave of Jesus Christ and brother
of James. And he wrote this book to a specific
people. He wrote to those that are sanctified,
set apart by God the Father. Those who are preserved in Jesus
Christ and called by the Spirit of God. And then he said, in verse 2,
that which the Holy Spirit inspired him to say concerning that which
Almighty God had eternally purposed, had pleasure in, concerning His
people, the elect of God, the sheep, the chosen of the Lord. He said, mercy unto you and peace
peace before God and love toward God, toward one another. And
may all that be multiplied. May there be a fresh and enlarged
awareness of those blessings to you. May the Lord bless you
and then teach you those things afresh. And then having continued
that epistle that he wrote, specifically addressed to God's people. He
wanted to say something that obviously had been impressed
upon his heart. He said, Beloved, you who are beloved of God, dearly
beloved by me and beloved by God's people. He said, when I
gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. Now you have to understand, Jude,
remember, is an apostle. And he was sitting and listening
to what the Lord had commissioned his apostles to do. He said,
you go into all the world and you preach the gospel to every
creature. That declaration of God's eternal
will, God's purpose, God's pleasure, according to an everlasting covenant
of grace, you preach, declare the gospel. I've told you before,
I'll say it again, I'm not offering you anything. This is not an
offer. This is a declaration of what
Almighty God has eternally purposed to do. He's got a people, according
to Ephesians 1, 4, chosen before the foundation of the world,
that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
That's Bible. That's what the Bible says. And
the Lord Jesus Christ, according to God's everlasting covenant
of grace, has eternally stood as the surety. I will answer
for them. I will put away their guilt.
And the Spirit of God, according to that everlasting covenant
of grace, shall surely call them out of darkness. That's John
6, 37. Again, that's scripture. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. So this is not an offer. I'm
not offering. Men can dispute this. They can
say, no, no, no, that's not right. That's not right. That's not
the way it is. Well, as I've said before, somebody's lying.
And it ain't God. The Word of the Lord shall surely
stand. God has a people. And when we
preach the gospel of God's grace, we proclaim it. I know what's
going to happen. The Spirit of God is going to
impress upon God's people, God's elect, He's going to give them
a new heart when it pleases God. He's going to call them out of
darkness, and they're going to come. They're coming. Irresistibly, made willing, spontaneously,
they're going to respond. And man can raise his fist and
say, that is not the truth, and he'll stand before God and declare,
that's not the truth, and the Lord will say, I never knew you.
you depart from me. Take them, find them hand and
foot, cast them out. That's going into it right there.
The Apostle Jude said, beloved, when I gave all diligence, when
I eagerly purposed to write unto you of the common salvation,
that glorious message of salvation that is commonly preached by
all God's called preachers. Have you ever wondered why there's
so many messages? You know, this one says this,
and this one says this, this is salvation by this. No, this
is the way salvation. No, this one says that. Jude
said, no, no, no, no. The common salvation that is
preached by all God called preachers. There's one message You go to
any place where the gospel of God's free grace is being preached.
Go anywhere. You've been there. You've been
to other places. What's being preached right here
that's not being preached at Todd's Road, Carl? Nothing. Danville,
Kentucky. How do you know it's so? It's
according to the scriptures. They prove it. They prove what
they're saying by the Word of God, like those in Berea. They search the Scriptures daily
to find out if these things were so. Is that what God said? Really? Well, if it is, then everybody
else is not telling the truth. Beloved, I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation That's salvation that
proclaims salvation to be by the grace of God. That salvation,
that rescue and deliverance from the justice of the law, That's
salvation that declares that God Almighty is going to judge
all unrighteousness. Salvation that is not of man. It didn't originate with man.
It's not according to man's will. It's by the grace of God. According to an everlasting covenant.
Electing grace. Redeeming grace. Regenerating
grace. For God's people. According to
God's purpose. That's the common salvation. Salvation purpose. Salvation
ordained by God eternally and procured by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The soul that sinneth gonna die.
Christ said, I was made sin. Made what they are. And God is
just. Don't just sweep it on. I'll
just forgive it. No, God don't just forgive it
for no reason. There's a reason. There's a reason. When I see the blood, I see the
blood I'll pass over you. And that salvation is absolutely,
effectually applied in power by the Spirit of God to every
one of God's elect. Salvation that endures to the
end. Why? Because they're kept by
the power of God. How? Through faith. They don't
quit believing. Peter, Simon, Satan hath desired
to have you sift your wheat, but I've prayed for you that
your faith fail not. You want to know why you're still
believing right now? If you believe, it's because
the Lord ever liveth to make intercession for his people. That's why. You think I just,
well, I believe the gospel. I just believe. No, you don't.
No, you don't. He said, without me, you can
do nothing. I believe because I'm kept by
the power of God. So He said, Beloved, when I gave
all diligence, I have to write unto you of the common salvation. It's what the Lord commissioned
me to do. Then He said it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
Now, before he began writing, he said, I gave all diligence. This is what I was going to write
about. Wow, this was fresh on my mind. Before he began writing this
epistle, he said, it was impressed upon me by the Spirit of God
to write differently. Same message, but
I'm going to write it differently. I was compelled by necessity
to write. He's like Joseph. Remember he
was sold out by his brothers, and God put him in Egypt, raised
him to second position right under Pharaoh, and Joseph had
the authority to distribute all the corn. Providentially, the Lord brought
all of His brothers that sold Him out back to that and they
had to stand before Him. They didn't know who He was.
He knows who they are. And He's listening to them, you
know, well, you know, we're from this foreign place and we're
out of corn, we don't have anything. Our dad told us to come over
here and the Scripture says after that time, He could not refrain
Himself. I couldn't stand it any longer.
sent everybody else out of the room. He told them, he said,
I'm your brother. I'm Joseph. The one you sold out. God put
me here for your good. Couldn't help. That's what Jude
said. I gave all diligence, but it
was needful. It was needful. Necessity moved
me to write to the saints and urgently write appealing them
on this subject. And I thought to myself as I
was going over this message, I thought, you know what, I want
to just stop for a minute and just, if the Spirit of God moved
on an apostle that was going to write of the common salvation,
if the Spirit of God moved on him and made it needful for him
to write something, I want to just take a few minutes and just
be very, very careful. and make sure I understand just
exactly what it was needful for him to write. He said it was
needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should
earnestly contend, earnestly contend. Now again, I'm telling
you, I looked the words up so I could Related. Earnestly. Struggle to agony. Struggle to agony. Earnestly contend for the spread,
for the preservation, for the continuance, for the faith which
was once delivered unto the saints. Jude said, The Spirit of God
has moved upon my heart to speak to you, to write to you, to earnestly
contend for the truth of the Gospel that has been preached,
that has been believed among you. To earnestly defend the
truth of the sovereignty of God. Earnestly defend the state and
condition of man's depravity. Don't be afraid to tell men what
they All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's not one of us here this
morning that's worth anything in ourselves. All of our righteousnesses, filthy
rags. Well, I've been faithful all
these years. Oh my. You know who said that? That brother That wouldn't even
come in when that prodigal son came back and came to himself.
And God said, you know, move him, go back to his father. I've
sinned against heaven. I've sinned against you. I'm not even worthy to say that. And that brother said, I ain't
going to that sinner. I ain't fooling with him. I've
been faithful all these many years. I've been faithful. earnestly contend for the absolute
necessity of salvation by the grace of God. He said, this is
worthy of a struggle. This is worthy. You know, we're
in a battle. I bet you should earnestly contend
for the faith. We're in a battle. We're in a
battle. There's a battle going on. That
battle is experienced, first of all, in every believer. Every believer. Romans 7.23,
Paul said, I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin, which is in my members. I see a law. What do you mean,
Paul? You see a law. What does that
mean? The law, it's an inward principle. an inward principle
of action, good or evil. Either one, it's an inward principle
operating and regulating my thoughts, my deeds. An inward principle,
a law, that's what he's talking about. I see, I see a law, another
law in my members. Paul found, when he said I found
it, I see another law, another law. You know what that means?
There was two. Had to have been two to be another.
I see another. I see another law in my members. There was a law that was in his
members that he saw now since the Lord had called him out of
darkness. Now, I'm going to tell you something. An unbeliever
has no struggle. Has no struggle. An unbeliever,
he sees nothing inwardly that's warring against
a new man. He sees, has no struggle, has
no struggle with waywardness, with disobedience, has no struggle
whatsoever with just indifference. Now, I see another law in my
members warring against the law of my mind. There's a sinful
man that a believer now sees, and it lusts against his new
man. There's a new man there. There's
a new man that's created in righteousness and holiness. And all of a sudden,
he never saw that old man before. Now he sees him. Now he knows,
when he tries to pray, he sees, he sees the old man. That man
that's indifferent, that old man who wants to think of everything
else in the world. You ever see him? You ever recognize
him? You ever see that waywardness
and that disrespect and that, you know, you're trying to speak
to God. And here's an old man. saying,
you sure you got everything ready for tomorrow? You know what, you forgot, that
old man that is warring and despising, the battle is inwardly. There's a carrying on of an internal
war where that old man repeatedly, incessantly continues to attack
against that new man, harassing him, battling him, storming against
that new creation and causing a believer to loathe himself. He knows it's him. This is me. That law within. who has allies. There's an old
man. Jude said, I wanted to write
the common salvation. It was needful for me to write
unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend
for the faith. There's an old man there. He's
got some friends. Ephesians 6, 12, we wrestle not
against flesh and blood. but against principalities, against
powers, against the rules of darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. The warfare of a believer
is truly not against physical opponents. That's what the Scripture
says. They're just pawns. They're pawns. My old man, he's
a pawn. He's of his father, the devil,
the rebel, the liar, the true battle is against, according
to the scriptures, when it says we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, you know what that means? That means we don't wrestle
against flesh and blood. Where's the source of the battle?
That's where it is. What was the source of Eve's
and Adam's rebellion? What was the source of it? Hath
God said, you're not going to die. You're not going to die. God knows. We wrestle not, we
wrestle against principalities, against powers, rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. These spirits who operate, stir
up, and influence lies, pride, and idolatry, and covetousness,
and lust, and deceit, self-righteousness. Where do you think all that comes
from? Our enemy is real. Satan, the prince of lies, And
of all evil spirits, they have one goal. I've read this before. I'll read it again. I'll just
turn to Revelation 12. Now you listen. I'm going to tell you something.
We find this being evidenced in our old man. Don't we, Neil?
In our old man. And for an unbeliever, he only
has an old man. That's all he's got is an old
man. And that's where it's actually evidenced in human beings. And no doubt about that. But
where did it come from? Where's the source of it? Paul
says, here's the source of it. Let me read this to you. Revelation
chapter 12, verse 13. when the dragon saw that he was
cast under the earth. He persecuted the woman, that
is the church, which brought forth the man-child. And to the
woman were given two wings of great eagle that she should fly
into the wilderness and to her place where she's nourished for
time and times and half a time from the face of the servant.
I've told you when we went through the book of Revelation, when
you see time, times, and half a time, That is a definite number
of years that is not revealed to us. That means God knows we
don't. For time and times and half a
time. From the face of the serpent. and the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood. That false doctrine, false, you
know. Out of the Lord, the Lord said
out of a believer come rivers of living water. Well this water
out of Satan's mouth, it's lies. It's a delusion, it's false religion. Out of his mouth water as a flood
after the woman. All false religion is after the
church, to deceive the church. Because Satan doesn't know who
the church is until God calls him out of darkness. So what
does he do? There's false religion all over
the place, all over this world. And what is it there for? For
the woman, to go after the woman. And the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the
woman. And the earth opened her mouth
and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war
with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of
God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Almighty God has allowed men
to do exactly what they want to do. All false religion is
raised up and Almighty God according to His all-wise pleasure allows
them to do it. That's what the Lord said. Father,
I thank Thee that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Jude says, I gave diligence to
write unto you of the common salvation. It was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith. The enemy is Satan. The tactics is deception and
division. Going after laxness, sleepiness,
and complacency in a believer. sleepiness. So Jude exhorted
the believers to earnestly contend for, now listen to the word,
look at the wording right here. I exhort you that you should
earnestly contend for the faith. The faith. The faith. Not talking about those that
by faith believe on the Lord. They do. But what he's talking
about right here when he says the faith, he's talking about
the truth of the message of the gospel that we preach. Earnestly
contend for the gospel that was once delivered unto the saints.
Just for a minute. I'll just be a minute. I'll close
in just a minute on this. How is that done? Earnestly contend
for the faith, the faith. Well, first of all, how do we
earnestly contend for the faith? I know that it's a fight, as
we earnestly contend, it's a fight that demands consistency and
perseverance. Earnestly contend. The Apostle
Paul said to Timothy, his friend, 2 Timothy 4.7, Paul said, I have
fought a good fight. I finished my course, he said. I've kept the faith. I've kept the faith. That is,
I've kept the profession of the gospel. I've kept the truth of
God's sovereign grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. I've kept the
faith of which he was made a steward. Every God-called preacher is
a steward of the gospel. He's got a course to run. Satan
and the world, the flesh, would insinuate that the worship of
God is just not that important. Just hit and miss when it's convenient.
Paul told Timothy, he said, Timothy, this is a battle that is worthy
of the fight. What does it cost to earnestly
contend? It costs you everything. Everything. Anything that is more important
than the preaching, the hearing, the faithfulness to the gospel,
get rid of it. Get rid of it. Whatever is more
important What would you give? What would you take? What would
you hold on to if you knew this was the last day you got on earth? You're getting ready to stand
before God today. This afternoon, after this message,
we're gonna meet God. Now let me ask you something.
What's more important now? This life is but a vapor. What happened to that breath?
It ain't there no more. It's just a puff. I have fought a good fight. That's what he said. It's a good
fight because it's concerning the glory of Almighty God who
is good. There's none good but God. I fought a good fight. And he said, I finished my course,
every battle of a believer has been eternally ordained, ordered
by the good God, the steps of a good man, ordered by the Lord.
He who made this world, chose his people in Christ, determined
their life. That's what he told Jeremiah.
I love that. I wrote this out. I didn't want
to quote it. He told Jeremiah, Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb,
I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. It's a battle. How do you fight
it? You fight being persevering,
consistent. And it's fought by faith, by
faith. Paul said, I've kept the faith. I've kept the faithfulness to
set forth the truth. I've kept the faith that is set
forth concerning the glorious message of life. Paul was called
to preach the gospel and he kept, he earnestly contended for the
faith. This is what he said in Acts
20, 27. He said, I've not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God. So how is this battle? It was
needful for me to write unto you, to exhort you that you should
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints. How is it fought? Faithfully. By faith. Consistently. Prayerfully. I ask you, how do
you war? How do you war against that which
is evil? You preach the truth. You preach
the truth. I'm not here to argue with you.
I'm not here to debate you. The best thing in the world that
any of us could hear is just tell me the truth. And Almighty
God is going to take care of it. Earnestly contend. We fight Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6. How do we fight? With God-ordained weaponry. Ephesians chapter 6, Wherefore
take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day. And having done all, stand. Stand firm. This is the truth. How do you know? God says it. If you notice it, whenever I
set something forth, I'm going to prove it. I'm going to prove
it. Turn to so-and-so. Look at this scripture. Stand. Stand. Stand therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth. This is the truth. Having on the breastplate of
righteousness, I don't have one that I've earned. Mine is filthy
rags. His is holy. It's the righteousness of God.
That's the only righteousness that I've got. Having your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. There's
only one peace wrought before God is set forth in the gospel.
How that Christ has made peace by His blood. That's the only
peace. I don't have the ability to earnestly
contend Above all, taking the shield of faith. Faith has been
given me. I'm not born with faith. It's
given unto every believer to believe. Take the shield of faith
wherewith you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation. That's salvation that
is of the Lord. He purposed it. Christ procured
it. The Spirit of God applies it. That's salvation. Salvation
is of God. And the sword of the Spirit which
is the Word of God. This is the only weapon to the
tearing down of strongholds. True. It's the Word of God. Preach to earnestly contend for
it. The life of a believer is warfare. Our enemies or Satan, false teachers,
old man. What are their tactics? Deception,
distraction, things and mess and stuff. Here's the bottom
line. What is the issue with any man? What is the issue? Now listen to me. If the issue
is not the gospel, if that's not all he talks about, then something's wrong. Earnestly
contend for the faith. Believer, lay hold. Lay hold. Believe, cherish, rejoice
in that which the Lord has called you to do. I'm going to tell
you something. This battle is almost over. It's
closer than we think. Earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints. I pray that the Lord
stir our hearts, realize what is the issue. Satan would have
us to believe the issue is anything other than the gospel. And if
he can get our eyes off the gospel and get it on somebody else and
something else, then he's accomplished what he wants to do. Earnestly
contend for the faith. that was once delivered unto
the saints. May the Lord bless this word to our hearts for Christ's
sake and our eternal good. Amen. Let's take a break.