Near the end of the New Testament,
just before the revelation of Jesus Christ given unto John,
we have a very small epistle, very small letter written by
Jude, whose message in his epistle very much acts as it were as
an epilogue to the New Testament, to the gospel made known in the
New Testament. a warning sound against those
who would turn the people of God away from the truth, an exhortation
to stand fast in the gospel. Jude opens, 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. He writes to exhort the people
of God, those whom God has set apart, sanctified, those whom
God has preserved in Jesus Christ and called unto salvation, that
chosen people of God, whom God has delivered his gospel unto,
delivered the faith unto. that people of God are exhorted
here by Jude to contend earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints because that faith that gospel
that truth in that day and today and throughout all the ages will
be and was attacked It was attacked in Jude's day, it has been attacked
ever since and it will be attacked today and is being attacked.
From every side. As he reminds the hearers towards
the end of this epistle, Beloved, remember ye the words which were
spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how
that they told you that there should be mockers in the last
time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. They be they
who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit. Those
who scoff, those who ridicule, those who reject, those who despise
the truth and those who as he repeatedly warns have throughout
history fallen under the judgment of God. He mentions those who
having been saved out of the land of Egypt were afterwards
destroyed because they believed not and rejected Moses and the
message that Moses brought, the truth of God, God himself. He mentions the angels which
left their first estate and were thrown into darkness. He mentions
the people of Sodom and Gomorrah who knew the fires of God's wrath.
he mentions the devil disputing with Michael the archangel and
in verse 10 he mentions those who speak evil of those things
which they know not but what they know naturally as brute
beasts in those things they corrupt themselves and isn't that true
of our day? And isn't that true of you and
I by nature? We speak evil of those things
which we know not. Because we cannot see God. Because we cannot see eternal
glory. Because all we can see are the
things around us that we can experience naturally. We scoff
and we ridicule. the truth of the Gospel. Our
natural hearts reject what truly in our conscience we know is
true. We act like there is no God. We act like there is no
life after death. We act like there is no judgement
to come. We act like there is no consequence
of our deeds and our actions. We act like there is no such
thing as sin and judgment against sin. Because we know these things
not. Because we cannot see. Because
we've never heard God's voice. Because we've never experienced
the reality of His saving grace. And what we don't know, we scoff
and mock at. And what we know naturally as
brute beasts because that's all we are, base and carnal, we indulge
in and corrupt ourselves in. And that's all you see in the
world all around you. What you're like by nature is
what everyone else is like. They exalt the natural, they
exalt the flesh, they exalt what is seen and experienced in this
world. Everyone lives for the flesh. Everyone lives for riches. Everyone
lives for what they can gain in this world and what they can
experience in this world. Everyone lives for the power
and the glory that they can attain to in this world. For the praise
and adoration of others as brute beasts. People live for food
and wine. and the natural pleasures which
come and go. And soon they pass from being
a baby in arms to a young adult, to an old man or woman, to dust
in the grave. And where is the food and the
drink then? It's gone. But they're not gone. because they, with an immortal
soul like you, must stand before a holy God when their bodies
laid in the grave and they pass into eternity and discover that
those things which they spake evil of are very, very real. Woe unto them, Jude says. they've gone in the way of Cain
and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward and perished
in the gainsaying of Cora. are spots in your feasts of charity
when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds
they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit
wither if without fruit, 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. whoever they are, wherever they
be, whoever you are, wherever you be, religious or irreligious,
gaining a name for yourself in the politics, the entertainment,
the business of this world, or gaining a name for yourself in
the politics and the entertainment and business of the religious
world. Wherever you gain your name,
your acclaim, your riches, your glory, if it's in the natural
realm whilst you in your heart deny God and His Son the Lord
Jesus Christ you will find it comes to nothing and all your
striving in this world was a striving which heat coals of judgment
upon your head. Beloved While 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. Because that faith which was
once delivered unto the saints is your only hope. Because you need What Jude here
speaks of as the common salvation. That salvation common to all
God's people. The same way that God saved the
saints of old in the Old Testament, is the same way He saved the
saints in the New Testament, is the same way He saves sinners
today. and you need to be saved if you're
to be spared the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, if you're
to be spared the destruction of those Israelites which turned
against God after being delivered from Egypt, if you're to be spared
the wrath and anger of God against your sin because of your mocking
heart, because of your scorning of Jesus Christ and His Gospel,
because of your rejection of His death and resurrection, because
of your rejection of His authority over you, as your King and Lord,
as the One that rules this world. If you're to be spared His wrath
and rightful wrath, just wrath for your rejection, for your
hatred, for your sin, then you need His salvation. You need His mercy. You need His love. You need His
peace. And Jude writes to a people whom
he calls saints, who knew that love, who knew that peace, who
knew that mercy, who knew that salvation. And he says, earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
They knew salvation. Do you know salvation? Do you
know Christ? For if you're to be saved, it's
through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. If we're to be
saved we must, must have Christ. We must be one with Christ. We must be in Christ and Christ
must be in us. We must be one with him. We must
have a saviour and not only a saviour which we know of, who as it were
is in heaven, far off, not only a saviour whose name we have
read of on the pages of the scriptures but a saviour who's ours, a saviour
with whom we are one, a saviour with whom we are united, a saviour
in whom we dwell and a saviour who dwells within us. As united
as a man is to his wife, closer One who we're one with. We must
have Christ. These people were sanctified,
separated, set apart by God the Father and preserved in Jesus
Christ. They were one with Him. They
were called unto Him and they were made to be one with Him
by God's grace, by God's divine operation. When He sent the Gospel
to them, when He delivered unto them the faith, the Gospel, they
were born again of the Spirit of God. God took these dead sinners
and by a divine supernatural operation brought them to life
by His Spirit. ye must be born again. And if you're born again, the
life which you now have is Christ within. As Paul speaks of in
experience in his epistle to the Galatians as we've referred
to so often, I am crucified with Christ, I'm dead. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. These
people like Paul were in Jesus Christ because Christ had been
made theirs. They'd been crucified like Paul
had been crucified, yet now they live because a life had entered
them. And that life which entered them
was Christ. Christ liveth in me. And the
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of
the Son of God. Christ had entered their hearts.
He'd taken residence in their hearts. He'd been delivered unto
them. That's the faith. had been delivered unto them. He, whom the faith makes known,
he, the man of faith, dwelt in their hearts, that they should
look unto him by faith and be one with him by faith. Yes, they were one with Christ,
they were in Christ. They knew His calling, they knew
His mercy, His peace and His love because they'd been brought
to Him, they were one with Him, they were united to Him. And
if you're to be saved, you must have Christ. But how is Christ conveyed? And how are we made to be one
with Him? One way. and one way only, by
the Gospel, by the preaching of the Gospel, by the deliverance
of a message from God to your soul, by His Spirit, through
which He makes Christ known, by which He quickens His people
unto life by the Spirit of God, that Christ may dwell within
them. Christ is conveyed and made to
be ours by the gospel and exclusively by the gospel. Not that just
hearing the words of the gospel alone can do this, for they don't. For many hear the words, many
will sit under a preacher and hear him speak of Jesus that
are never made to be one with Christ. But we must hear that
message if we're to know Christ. And God's means of bringing His
people to life is to convey His Son through the Word preached
unto their souls. To convey the Word of God, Jesus
Christ, by the preaching of the Word of God, that they may have
the Word within. As Peter said, when Christ asked
him, will ye also go away? He cried out, Lord, to whom else
shall we go? Thou has the words of eternal
life. We need salvation, we need life,
we need eternal life. And that life can only come when
you speak unto us, when you convey the words of eternal life. We must hear your gospel Lord. For by that gospel, by that word,
by that faith, we will know what it is to be made one with Christ. You see you cannot separate Christ
from the gospel. It is the Gospel of God concerning
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Christ. The Gospel
of your salvation. The Gospel and Christ are inextricably
linked. Christ is not known but by the
Gospel and it is no Gospel which does not make Christ known. People
can speak of preaching the gospel. They can call any message a gospel. But if the result and the consequence
of hearing their preaching and their message is not to know
Christ, is that Christ is never truly conveyed to any of the
hearers, then it's no gospel. They can make their claims of
accepting him, of receiving him. But if the power of his life
is not truly within, if he's not truly conveyed by the Spirit
of God through the truth declared concerning him, then it's no
gospel. You cannot separate Christ from
the gospel. Indeed, Christ, as we've said,
is known as the Word. John's gospel presents Christ
as the Word of God, it's so distinct in how it opens. When John opens
his gospel he speaks and says, in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life and the life was the light of man. And the light shineth
in darkness. And the darkness comprehended
it not. But Christ himself is called
the Word. Why? Because he is God's speech. When God speaks in the darkness
of this world, when God speaks unto men, He speaks through His
Son, He speaks by His Son. As God speaks, He is conveying
Christ. He's speaking through Christ. Christ is the living word of
whom the written word in the scriptures testifies. You cannot
separate Christ the Word from the Gospel, from the Word of
God, from the preaching of the Word of God. That Gospel written
down, those words printed down in the Scriptures are not themselves
Christ, but they are the expression of Christ and when God the Spirit
takes those words and speaks them, He conveys Christ. You can take the bare letter
of the scriptures and you're reading the record of the word
and you can know nothing of Christ. But when God takes those words
and when God speaks those words, he's speaking Christ. He's making known Christ through
his gospel. through the word of God, through
the word of truth, through the word of this gospel, through
the word of Christ. Christ is God's message, God's
speech, God's declaration unto lost sinners, God's word to a
fallen world. And you will not know Christ
and you will not know his salvation except you hear his gospel, his
word. And the gospel of Christ, the
word of our salvation, is also known, as Jude refers to it,
as the faith. Earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints. The faith. The faith. You see, Christ himself, the
word of God, is conveyed by the preaching of the gospel, the
preaching of the faith. The one whom faith looks unto,
is made known by a message called the faith, objectively. Subjectively faith receives,
the faith, objectively. The man of faith, the just man
Jesus Christ, the one who lived by faith, the faith, is conveyed
by the preaching of the faith. And he is received by faith. Which is why Paul can speak of
the righteousness of God being made known from faith to
faith. Christ is made known from faith
to faith. The one who lived by faith, the
author and finisher of faith, the one who when he dwells in
the heart of the believer is their faith, is conveyed by the
preaching of the faith. Earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints, because that message,
that faith, when it's preached in clarity and truth, undefiled
by error, as it was once delivered to the saints in the beginning
as the apostles as Christ himself made it known the truth undiminished
unaltered conveys Christ the faith unto those who are brought
to faith to believe. But you alter that message and
you're attacking Christ himself you add to that message and you're
adding to Christ. You take away from that message
and you're taken away from Christ. You be careful and cautious about
what parts of that message you preach to sinners and you're
being careful and cautious about what you make known of Christ
unto sinners. but we earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. We preach Christ
as God made him known and as God continues to make him known,
as the eternal God and Saviour, as One with Father and Spirit,
as the One who is from everlasting unto everlasting, as Almighty
God, as God who took human flesh into union with his divinity,
as the Son of God. as the one in whom all the fullness
of the Godhead dwells bodily, as the one who for his eternal
love of his own entered this world, entered this darkness
as the Word of God, the Light of God, that he should enter
into this dark and evil world in order to save his people from
their sins. We preach a Christ who came for
a particular people, a people whose names were upon his heart,
a people who were called and chosen by God his Father and
given unto him that he should go into the world and suffer
and to die in their place. suffer and die in their place,
that he should take their sins upon himself and that he should
take those sins away forevermore. We preach a Christ who came to
save sinners and he saved every sinner for whom he came. We preach
a Christ who is sovereign and powerful and almighty. We preach
a Christ who is satisfied in all he attempts to do. When he
laid down his life for his people, he saved every one of them. And
having saved them and justified them and blotted out their sins,
he rose again the third day victorious. and He ascended into glory victorious,
and He is reigning from on high over this evil world, that He
should send forth His light of His Gospel into the world to
bring to the knowledge of all those whom He saved, their salvation. He's calling by the Spirit everyone
for whom he suffered. And this world ticks along till
its last day, purely because God in Christ is working out
His purpose of building His church, of preaching His gospel, of gathering
in all those for whom He died. And when the last one hears,
and when the last one is brought to saving faith in Christ, then
His work will be complete. Then this world will be burnt
up. The heavens will be rolled up
like a scroll. Then He will stand in judgment
over all men, women and children throughout all time. Then the
sheep will be divided from the goats. then the murmurers, the
complainers, those that walk after their own lust, those that
have mouths that speak great swelling words, having men's
persons in admiration because of advances, then they who mocked
and scorned will know that Christ himself
is indeed the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all the wicked
who have remained in their wickedness and rejected the Son of God to
the end will be departed and sent forth into outer darkness
and all those persecuted rejected saints of God despised and laughed
and mocked at throughout all time, put to death even by those
who hated them, all those who stood and earnestly contended
for the faith which was once delivered unto them, they will
know His grace, His peace, His mercy, His love. And they will
hear, a well done, my good and faithful servant. and they will
be led into eternal glory and bliss forevermore oh don't be a fool seeking all
you can get in your few years upon the face of this earth and
then lose everything forevermore but be willing but be willing
like Moses of old to suffer adversity to suffer persecution to suffer
rejection with the people of God for a moment because there
is a greater weight of glory which lies ahead. Read in Hebrews
11 of Moses, by faith Moses when he was come to years refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God. than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Him who is invisible. These others
speak evil of those things which they know not. as brute beasts. But Moses, that man of faith,
endured as seeing Him who is invisible. For he had received
that faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Yes, how interesting
that the Gospel itself, the message of Christ, the message itself
which requires faith to be believed and received, that message which
makes known the faith of Jesus Christ, by which faith is conveyed
and received, to lay hold on the man of faith, how interesting
that it itself is called the faith. the faith. There's such
a union between the messenger, the message he declares, and
the recipient here, that every part refers to faith. It's his God's speech, his conversation
with his people, he speaks, his words are conveyed, they hear,
they believe, and they're united by faith. The one who speaks and the one
whom the speech concerns, Jesus Christ, is all conveyed by that
gospel called the faith. It's all one. There's such a
union. This is why elsewhere Christ
speaks of knowing Him and being one with Him, as as it were partaking
of Him as you partake of a feast. He speaks of Himself as the bread
of life and the water of life. He exhorts His people to eat
of His flesh and to drink of His blood. They're so united
and one with Him. that it is as though they have
eaten of him, that he's within them. His life is within them. In many ways, this is why God
has ordered this world such. This is why he has caused us
to have animals which are slain that we eat. For when we eat
the beef of a cow, we take the sustenance and the life which
is in that flesh, and it becomes part of our flesh. and so on
and so forth and thus it is with Christ in the gospel we as it
were spiritually eat of his body and drink of his blood and he's
one with us not physically not actually not in some superstitious
ceremonies Not in some superstitious ceremony as the Catholics have
of eating the wafer and drinking the wine and actually believing
that that wafer and the wine are Christ. As though Christ
is conveyed by the emblems. But Christ is conveyed spiritually
by his gospel. By the faith. Which is why he
says, take, eat, this is my body broken for you. Take the cup,
drink ye all of it. This is the cup of the New Testament. This is my blood shed for many
in eating the bread and drinking the wine. We remember Him in
His death. And as we remember and consider
and look, we look by faith under Him. We hear through these things
the Gospel. We hear the faith and faith lays
hold of it. There's a union with Christ,
a spiritual union. in which the message which conveys
him cannot be separated from the one who is conveyed, it's
the faith. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God, by Christ. You cannot know Christ but by
the gospel, by faith, through faith. in the author and finisher
of faith. Like what Jude says, earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. This message was once delivered. And it is once delivered. It was delivered. In Jude's day
it was delivered. once completed in the writings
of the apostles. Christ preached and he preached
by those whom he sent forth and they recorded this message once
and for all. It's not to be added to, not
to be taken away from, not to be altered. It doesn't change
with time, it doesn't change with culture, it doesn't change
with the fashions of this world. And the message which is delivered
today when this Gospel is preached is the same message, the same
faith, the same Gospel which was delivered once then. It's delivered, preached, declared
once, not to be altered. It is the same today as it was
then because Jesus himself as we read in Hebrews 13.8 is the
same yesterday and today and forever Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today and forever he changes not then neither does
his message nor his means of delivering it we hear and we
receive the same gospel, the same faith today as Paul preached
2,000 years ago and as Adam believed at the beginning and which Abraham
confessed thousands of years ago, the message changes not,
nor does God's means of delivering it, it's by preaching. It does
not change with time, it does not change with the seasons,
it does not change with fashion, it does not change with culture,
it does not change with the country, it does not change with class,
it does not change with colour, it does not change with race.
It's the same message throughout time, throughout the ages, throughout
the world, to the four corners of this world, to every tribe,
kindred and colour. Jesus Christ the same yesterday
today and forever the faith which was once delivered unto the saints
once the faith that message of Christ and his death of substitutionary
atonement, of the righteousness of God made known, of the shedding
of the blood of Christ for many, that message of the electing
grace of God, that message of saving grace through faith, that
message of sin of salvation, that message of God, of man,
of Christ. It never changes. It is the same
yesterday, today and forever. It is the faith once delivered
unto the saints. Unto the saints. Preached in
all the world, yes, but delivered unto the saints. To a particular
people chosen out chosen before ever they were born before ever
they were amongst the others a particular people chosen by
God unto salvation unto the saints it's preached and the words go
out to many and many will hear and the words will as it were
flow past them Many disciples followed Jesus who were then
offended in the end and went away. But as Peter said, we will
not go away. To whom else shall we go? For
thou hast the words of eternal life. Because the saints under
whom the faith is delivered know that they need life. Has this
faith been delivered unto you? Has God shown you your need of
salvation? Has God shown you your need of
eternal life? Have you heard in the gospel
the words of eternal life? Has it been delivered unto you? Are you or were you a guilty
rebel, lost in your sins, vile, unbelieving, corrupt, a sinner,
a child of wrath even as others. But are you a sinner like others
under whom Christ has come with his gospel, one under whom the
Lord God has delivered his faith? that you might hear and that
hearing you might believe Paul when he writes to the Corinthians
speaks to a people who are full of sin and reminds them that
they like all others were full of sin that though they may have
heard the gospel though they may have come to faith in Christ
they're no better than anyone else he reminds them of what
they are He says unto them, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you. And such were some of you. But
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Ye are washed, ye are sanctified,
You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God, just as Jude tells these people here. He writes
to them that are sanctified by God, to them who are washed and
justified and sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus
Christ, called, and he wishes their mercy, peace and love. and exhorts them to stand and
to earnestly contend for that faith which was once delivered
unto the saints. Such were some of you, were you
like them? Can you say such was I? I was one of them but God delivered
His faith unto me. For if you are, if you're one
like them, you will know that unless God delivered His faith
unto you, you'd never have been saved. It had to be delivered,
and it had to be delivered unto the one that God chose. You never
chose Him. But He chose you, and because
He chose you, because He said you're a saint, that's why the
message came. It's grace, and grace alone,
and you know it. Then brethren, earnestly contend
for it. contend for it, stand fast in
it, stand fast in the grace of God and be not blown about by
every wind of doctrine, be not dissuaded, be not tempted, go
not with the fashions and the whims of this world in religion,
stand fast. And as Jude exhorts you, keep
yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion
making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them
out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. 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 our Saviour. Be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and ever. Amen.