Go back with me if you would
to Jude. When we started the book of Jude,
I mentioned to you that a lot is said in this little book.
A lot. is written in this one chapter. Our Lord gives us much instruction. There is a lot of instruction
in here. There's a lot of comfort in here,
a lot of exhortation in here. Tonight, He's going to give us
much warning. Much warning. Jude writes something
from verses 14 to verse 4 to verse 19. that needs to be said. It needs
to be said, and as we get into it, we'll see why. But this is
the focus of the message tonight, and this is the message of the
whole book of Jude. It's in verse 3. 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
you should earnestly contend for the faith. Which was once
delivered unto the Saints. That's the. The subject. Of tonight's message, that's
the subject of everything he's saying here. The faith. What he's talking about right
there is the gospel. That's what he's talking about.
The truth of God's word. The gospel is a singular thing. The truth of God's word is a
singular thing. Faith always points men and women
to Christ always. Our Lord said, these are they
which testify of me, not me and something else, which is all
error. Every single error will acknowledge
Christ. Every one of them and something
else that they like. Jude himself in telling us to
contend, earnestly contend for the faith. He does it himself
in the last two verses of the chapter. If you look at verse
24, he said, now unto him that is
able to keep you from falling. That's what we just sang about.
That's who faith points to and that's what faith says. unto
him that is able." Abraham believed God being fully persuaded that
he was able. That's what he believed. that
he was able. That is faith. That's faith.
Verse 24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. How will he do
that? How will he present us faultless? He will wash us in His own blood,
and He will robe us in His own perfection. And in that, we're
going to stand before the judgment throne of God, faultless, with
exceeding joy. Can you imagine the joy that's going to overtake us?
Knowing that we're standing there faultless. Can you imagine that? He's going to present us faultless
with exceeding joy. Verse 25 says to the only wise
God, our savior. Be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both right now and forever. Amen. That's the faith. That's the faith. Him and what
He has done. Who Christ is and what He has
done. Jude said, earnestly contend
for that. Be committed to it. Be dedicated
to it. Be persuaded of it. Don't be
ashamed of it. We sing that song, Oh, how merciful. How merciful the last line in
that song says, I'm not ashamed of all thy grace. When you came
and took my place. Blessed Lord, how merciful that
was to me. How merciful. Jude said, take
a stand. That's what contend means. Take a stand and be not moved
from that right there. Now he is going to warn us why. we are going to look at why we
need to earnestly contend for the faith. I was going to finish
the whole chapter tonight, but it's too long. So it's two messages. If the Lord is willing, the next
time we're here, we will look at how believers earnestly contend
for the faith. Tonight, we're going to look
at why we need to earnestly contend for the faith. Verse 4, Jude
verse 4 says, 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." Tonight I'm speaking to us. And
I'm speaking to anybody who hears this. You know, we load these
on the Internet. If somebody hears this, I'm speaking
to you on the Internet, too. But let's be vigilant. Let's be vigilant. Let's not
be. calloused. Let's not be aloof. Let's be vigilant. Let's not
be blind to the fact that there has always been and there will
always be men who we at first embrace as preachers of the gospel.
And we embrace them. But as time goes on, their message
veers from the one and only faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. And it veers off and brings in
their message the glory of salvation with it. The absolute glory of
salvation is pointed to something other than Christ alone. I mean alone. And something gets added to Christ
alone. That is all error. It's Christ
plus something. All error. At that moment, a
stand needs to be made. A stand needs to be made for
the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Look back a few
pages at 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2 verse 1 says, But there
were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in
damnable divisions. That's what heresies are. Even
denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves
swift destruction, And many shall follow their pernicious or lustful
selfish ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil
spoken of and through covetousness they shall with feigned words
make merchandise of you. whose judgment now of a long
time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." Let's
be watchful. Let's be vigilant. Let's be sober. The scripture, all the apostles
were given this message. Jude was allotted by God Almighty
under the inspiration of his spirit, 25 verses in the scripture,
just 25 verses. And do you see how many of them
he devoted to this warning? Let's earnestly contend for Christ
alone, scriptures alone, grace alone, faith alone. Now, I want to tell you something
that is critical for a believer to understand. This is absolutely
critical information to take with us for the rest of our days.
I believe this will bring a greater emphasis to the necessity of
these warnings. We know that if God chose to
save us, we will not be lost. We know that. If we are one of
God's elect, it is not possible for us to be lost. Knowing that can cause us to
think, well then what's the need in the warning? Do I really need
a warning? If I am absolutely secure in
Christ, period, no buts about it, no buts about it, then why
do I need a warning? What good is, what is the point
of the warning? Here is the point of the warning. If we do not vigilantly heed
God's Word, if we do not glory in Christ and His Word alone,
and if we become taken up with a man, there are some very charismatic
men in the world and you fall in love with them. And if we
become taken up with a man, and if we glory in a man, and if
we follow a man to the point that we ignore the fact that
his message denies faith in Christ alone, if we veer off and follow that
man, God might let us go for a while. He might allow us to go for a
while before he brings us back. Before he brings us back. Now,
if we leave the faith that God delivered to the saints and never
come back, then it means we were not one of the saints. We went
out from the saints because we were not of the saints. But if
we are of the saints, God will bring us back. And that's the
comfort inside the warning. God in goodness gives us a comfort
even inside the warning. He will bring us back. We will
not be lost. But there have been so many people
throughout the years who have veered off. They've followed
something else. They've gotten caught up in something
else. They've dabbled in, toyed with,
played with something else. And they lived a life of absolute
misery and turmoil. Spiritual, spiritual misery and
turmoil. I mean horrible. In the end,
for some of them, If they belong to the Lord, in the end, the
Lord has brought them back. We've known cases of that, and
the believers are always so happy when it happens. They're back.
They're back. They came back. God, in His goodness,
brought them back. But here is Jude's prayer for
us. This is called the general epistle
of Jude. It's not to any city. It's to
all saints. Here's Jude's prayer for us.
Don't go down that road in the first place. There's enough turmoil
in this life and enough misery in this life to not add spiritual
misery and turmoil on top of it. Be vigilant. Be sober. Heed the warning. Contend for
the faith. Verse 4 back in back in Jude. Verse 4 says, For there are certain
men crept in unawares. They don't come in with a big
announcement, not at first. They don't come in saying, we're
here to undermine every truth that's ever been taught here.
We're here to turn you from that clear, plain, simple truth of
the scripture. They don't do that. They craftily
make their message so close, if it were possible, even the
very elect would forever be deceived. If you find yourself listening
to a man, sometimes new men pop up. Sometimes we learn of new
men. Never heard of him before. If
you find yourself listening to a man and you're saying inside
yourself, it is so close, run. Run. Run away from Him. Knowing what I know about myself
and what I know about us, it is highly possible for us to
be deceived. It is highly possible for me
to be deceived. But this is what faith says. This right here is what faith
says. This is earnestly contending for the faith. Faith says, yes,
I could be deceived. Now, I won't be deceived. I'm
fine. That's what the flesh says. Yeah, I like listening to him.
No, he's not totally right, but I'll be alright. Faith says,
yes, I might be deceived. I have no confidence in this
flesh. But I have absolute confidence
in my God. And even though these deceivers
may at first be unaware to me, They are not unaware to my God.
Faith always brings us back to Him. Always. And verse 4 says,
For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of
old ordained to this condemnation. The Lord told Pharaoh for this
same purpose, have I raised you up that I might show my power
in you. Pharaoh was ordained to that. It's the same reason Judas was
raised up. It's the same reason Pilate was
raised up. This right here is standing in
the faith. Go over to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy 2. Verse 16 says, But shun profane
and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth
a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already. And in the process they have
overthrown the faith of some. Some believed them. Now this
is standing in the faith. Verse 19 says, Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. He knows them that are his and
let everyone that name at the name of Christ. Depart from this
error iniquity. The Lord knows them that are
his that's the faith that is the gospel. That's the good news.
The Lord knows them that are his faith always points us back
to Christ no matter How terrible the situation, whatever it is
we're talking about, faith always points us back to Christ, who
he is, what he's done. All right, look back in Jude. Verse four says. 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 that means lust, it means
self, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. In doing that, they deny Him
the glory that's owed to Him. They deny Him being the object
of our faith. They turn our faith to something
else. That is all error. It turns our faith to something
else. It makes us look at something
else. It makes us ponder something else. Verse 5, I will therefore
put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that
the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward,
destroyed them that believed not. I don't know how many people
came out of Egypt when Moses delivered them. I've heard many
numbers. Some people have said as many as three million people
came out. Do you know how many of the people who came out, do
you know how many people went into the promised land of three
million? Two. You ever thought about that?
Two. God promised them an inheritance. And they did not believe His
word. They did not bow to and wait
and believe His word. All they had to do was wait.
Wait on the Lord. They murmured, they complained,
they turned their hearts away from Him. God brought them out
of that bondage with the favor of the Egyptians. The Egyptians
were giving them all their gold and their silver and their clothes.
God said, I'm not even going to let a dog bark at you. And
this is what they said in return. We don't want that God make us
a golden calf. Every day he fed them. They said,
we are sick and tired of this light bread. Tired of it. They turned their eyes and their
hearts away from Christ and God destroyed them. We look at that
now and we say, how foolish was that? Judas saying, yes, how
foolish is that? Let's be vigilant. Let's be vigilant. Let's be warned.
This happens every day, unaware, earnestly contend for the faith. People believe, you know, that
won't happen to me. I'm a strong believer. I'm an
aged believer. Jude says, well, let me remind
you in verse six of the angels, which kept not their first estate,
the angels. I mean, they were angels. And they kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation. He hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto judgment of the great day." Don't put
your faith in your faith. That's what Jude is saying. Now,
I'm okay. I have strong faith. I'm an aged
believer. I'm a this. Don't put your faith
in your faith. Don't put your faith in your
position. I'm the pastor of the church. I won't be deceived. I'm the pastor. Don't put your
faith in your election. All of these things take our
eyes and our hearts off of Christ and turn them towards ourselves. The faith is in the blood of
Christ alone, in the blood of Christ alone. Verse seven, even
as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner,
giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh,
that's homosexuality, are set forth for an example, suffering
the vengeance of eternal fire. He said they are the example.
The same judgment Sodom and Gomorrah received, that's going to be
the same judgment every false prophet. And every soul that
follows and believes the false prophet will receive. Jude, he
said in verse three, it is needful. That's what he said. It's so
needful that I'd be honest with you about these things. And I'm
saying the same thing. It is so needful that I'd be
honest with you about these things. The scripture says, I will have
to give an account of the souls I preached to. Verse 8, He said likewise also
these filthy dreamers, that's these certain men crept in unawares,
they're filthy dreamers. He said they defile the flesh.
They do that by honoring it. They honor themselves. They lift
themselves up in men's eyes. They honor their own flesh and
you can hear it in their message. They're lifting themselves up.
You need to listen to me now. They think themselves to be something
when they're nothing. Verse 8, he said they despise
dominion. And that's because they want
to be in charge. You know what God's true servant wants? He
wants God to be in charge. He wants God's word to be in
charge. Let God be true and me a liar.
I'm okay with that. Verse 8, he said they speak evil
of dignities. But he said in verse 9, Michael,
God's archangel, he didn't do that. Verse 9, Yet Michael the
archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about
the body of Moses. And many have speculated, it's
speculation that he wanted to know where Moses was buried.
No man knows where Moses was buried. And the adversary wanted
to make an idol out of it. You know, so men, it's another
way of turning men's eyes from Christ. And Michael, did not
bring against him a railing accusation, he said, the Lord rebuked thee.
That's faith. Faith always points it back to
Christ. Always. So he said the Lord rebuked
thee. Verse 10. But these speak evil
of those things which they know not. But what they know naturally
is brute beast in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe
unto them for they've gone in the way of Cain. Cain denied
the blood, that precious blood. He wanted works. That's what he wanted. He chose
to come before God in his own works. Verse 11 says, And they
ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward. Balaam
preached for money. He would say anything you wanted
him to say if you paid him enough. That was Balaam. Verse 11, and
perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Korah wanted the glory,
he didn't think Moses ought to be the only one in charge, he
said, I have some thoughts and opinions too, I need to be heard. And, uh, verse 12 says, these
are spots in your feasts of love. This, this wonderful unity of
love that the Lord gives. He said, there's spots in your
feast of charity. When they feast with you, feeding
themselves without fear clouds, they are without water. They're
puffed up with pride, but there's no blessing that comes out of
them. Carried about of winds, there's no stability to them.
Trees whose fruit withereth, there's no leaves, no shade,
no rest. Without fruit, the fruits of
the spirit, twice dead plucked up by the roots. Raging waves
of the sea foaming out their own shame. wandering stars to
whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch,
also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment
upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of
all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and
of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him. These are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lust, and their mouth speaketh great
swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because
of advantage." They try to gain the admiration of men for their
own advantage. Verse 17, 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 lust.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, their Fleshly. Having not the Spirit. They don't
have God's Spirit. Verse 20 says, But you, beloved. As though he said enough of that. But you, beloved. That's amazing. But you. This is the good news in spite
of all that But you, as he said in verse 1, who have been sanctified
by God the Father, you know, plucked from the bran,
pulled from the dung heap, set among princes right there, sanctified
by God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus all this fire
We know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire and brimstone
rained down. This scripture tells us over
and over again, they are the example. The flood, no more. This time it's fire and brimstone.
It's going to happen. It's going to happen to real
people. But he said, you've been preserved
in Jesus Christ, sanctified by God the Father, preserved in
Jesus Christ and called. And he said at the beginning
of the chapter, you've received mercy and peace and love. But you, beloved, God has done
something for you. God has delivered the faith to
you. Faith is not of yourselves. That's
the gift of God. In His kindness, in His glory,
He gave the faith to you. And what He's saying is, let's
not take it for granted. Let's not toss it aside. Earnestly
contend for it. Earnestly contend for it. And
if our Lord is willing, I would love at this point, and I'm not
going to, I'm out of time. I would love to start the second
message, which is going to the second message. But if he's willing,
when we come back, we're going to see how we contend for it. He gives us seven things at the
end of this chapter that believers do to contend for this faith. Why we need to, how we do it,
here's the conclusion of the whole matter. After everything
He said concerning earnestly contending, His final words,
verse 24, now unto Him. After everything is said, now
unto Him that is able to keep you from falling. and to present
you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy
to the only wise God. Only God Almighty could produce
a salvation this wise. It is so perfect. Everything
is satisfied. everything to the only wise God,
our Savior. Be glory and majesty, dominion
and power both now and forever. Amen. Amen. All right, let's
all stand together.