Let's turn tonight to the letter
of Jude, next to the last book in the Bible, Jude. 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 you 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. 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. and the angels which kept not
their first estate but left their own habitation, he hath reserved
in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great
day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and
the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over
to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for
an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise, also
these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion,
speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael, the archangel, when
contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses,
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord
rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those
things which they know not. But what they know naturally
as brute beast, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe
unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying
of Korah. These are spots in your feast
of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without
fear. Clouds they are without water.
carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raising 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 thee, 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. 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 you, 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. 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. 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 Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and forever. Jude, the letter of Jude, is
one of seven letters that we have in the New Testament which
are called general. In fact, my Bible, the one I'm
using tonight, it has at the front the general epistle of
Jude. These letters, of course, are
referred to as general. There's seven of them. There's
James, and then the three, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, 1st and 2nd
Peter, and this letter of Jude. And they are referred to as general
letters, of course, because they were not directed to a particular
church, like to the church at Corinth, 1 and 2 Corinthians,
or to the churches of Galatia, nor are they directed or addressed
to any individual like 1 Timothy or Titus, a general letter. Most of the writers believe that
in the list of the apostles, Jude is listed as Thaddeus, Thaddeus. But even though they're general,
that doesn't take away from the fact that they're part of the
all scripture, which is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable. And that word inspiration, of
course, means God breathed. God breathed. All of the Word
of God is God breathed. Something that we notice about
this letter of Jude is that he wrote of something that was present
where the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter warned of something
that would come. When Paul met with the elders
of the church at Ephesus, this is recorded, of course, in Acts
chapter 20, part of what he told them was, there shall grievous
wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. He told them
there shall be, that's future. But notice here, Jude, he's writing
of something that is present. For there are certain men crept
in unaware, in verse four. These men had already come in
among the believers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a warning
that is always necessary down through the ages, over the last
two millenniums. This has always been a warning
that needed to be shouted out. And brethren, believe not every
spirit. In other words, every preacher.
That's what that means. Believe not every preacher, but
try the spirits to see whether they be of God. And the way that
we try a man and his ministry, his message, of course, is with
the word of God. If they speak not according to
this book, It is because there's no light in them. Then Jude in verse three writes,
beloved, he exhorts the beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
beloved of God, loved with an everlasting love. Beloved, we
should earnestly contend for the faith. And that's the thing
that I want to speak to us about tonight, for us to consider some
things about the faith for which we are to earnestly contend. And I have three points to the
message. First, the faith for which we
are to earnestly contend is a body of truth which is revealed in
the scriptures, in the word of God. It is that faith which,
as Jude wrote, was once delivered unto the saints. If you notice
that in verse 3, that we, I exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. And many translations have rather
than once, they have once for all. that was once for all delivered
unto the saints. The faith is not something that
is continually evolving. It's not something that has to
be modernized. The faith is the faith. The same
faith of Abraham is the faith that we believe tonight. The
same faith that Abel believed when he offered that lamb as
a sacrifice. That's the same faith, the same
body of truth. To the church at Corinth, the
Apostle Paul wrote, this is in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13, watch
ye stand fast in the faith. It's the objective. Now, there's
subjective faith, our faith, by which we believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But this faith that he's talking
about here is objective. It is the truth that is revealed
to us and given to us in the Word of God. And we must earnestly
contend for it. I mentioned in a message just
recently, some of you maybe were here and remember that the gospel
The gospel may be lost in one generation. One generation. Sometimes when I think about
the great Reformation, the Protestant Reformation, and those churches
that came out of that Reformation with sound doctrines, believing
the truth, preaching the truth, living the truth, and yet, for
the most part, most of them have turned away now, just in a, well,
that's over 400 years, but still, they've turned away from the
truth. We must earnestly contend for
the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. God hath in these last days the
writer of Hebrews said, spoken unto us, excuse me, in his son
or by his son. There's not going to be another
revelation. We have God's revelation to us. Everything that we need
to know, to know God, to live for God, be prepared for eternity,
everything that we need, we find right here. And this faith, this
body of truth, which was once for all delivered unto the saints. You know, if you keep up with
religion much, if you listen to any religious programs, you
realize how blessed we are. How strange. You hear some of
the strangest things that are going on today in the name of
Christianity. I mean things that, where they
came from, out of the wicked heart of men. The truth, the
truth, the body of truth that God has given unto us, it doesn't
change. What was true of God in Adam's
day is still true of God. He hasn't changed. And what was
true of man when Adam sinned is still true of man. We haven't
changed. And what was true of Christ and
his redemption, his redemptive work, it hasn't changed. What's
true of eternal life, it hasn't changed. So that's the first
point I have for us tonight. The faith for which we are to
earnestly contend is the body of truth revealed to us in the
scriptures. Second, I want us to look tonight
at six truths. Six truths about the faith in
this letter here of Jude. Six truths for which we should
earnestly contend. The first is the truth of the
glorious Trinity. Look down to verses 20 and 21. The truth about the glorious
Trinity. But you, beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit
or the Holy Ghost. He is one person in the Godhead. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. We usually know that as reference
to the Father, a second person in the Godhead. And then third, of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life. I could bring my message tonight
upon this subject alone, but I want to be brief. But someone
asked me recently for a list of scriptures which speak of
the Trinity. Asked me if I'd just write out
a list of scriptures which speak of the Trinity. There are verses,
of course, which do declare the Trinity. We take the baptismal
formula that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to his disciples to go into
all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name, singular,
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We have these verses here. We
see the Holy Spirit mentioned first, praying in the Holy Spirit,
and then we see the Father, and then we see the Son, who was
manifest in the flesh. Look back a few pages to 1 John. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 7. We read, for there are
three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost, and these three are one. There are scriptures like
these that we've read, and there's others which mention the three
persons in the Godhead all together. But basically, we believe, at
least I speak for myself, and I know I speak for many of you,
We believe in the truth concerning the Trinity because it is the
teaching of the Word of God. First of all, there's one God. There cannot be any argument
about that, can there? There's one God. He's omnipresent,
there's only room for one God. There's not room for another
God. He's omnipotent, rather. There cannot be two omnipotence. There cannot be two who are all
powerful. And so as we read, knowing first
of all that there's only one God, and yet we find in the scriptures
that the Son is presented to us as God. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John chapter 1 and verse 1, and
the Word became flesh. We read about the Redeemer in
the book of Isaiah. When you read about the Redeemer,
who do you think of? Do you think of God the Father? Do you think of God the Holy
Spirit? Or do you think of God the Son
who was made flesh? And yet you read, our Redeemer
is spoken of there as God. Look unto me and be ye saved. All ye ends of the earth. God. And let me give us just a couple
of examples. Turn with me to Acts chapter
seven. This is so clear. If God gives you eyes to see. This is so clear in Acts chapter
7, about God the Holy Spirit. I'm
sorry, Acts chapter 5, verses 3 and 4. Here we have the case of Ananias
and Sapphira. Peter said unto Ananias, why
hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Who
did he lie to? Well, Peter said he lied to the
Holy Ghost. And to keep back part of the
price of the land, whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it
not thine own power, in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived
this thing in thine heart? You lied to the Holy Ghost. You
didn't lie to man. You lied to God. Can that be
any clearer? That God the Holy Spirit is God? And yet there's only one God. teaching called modelism, where
they believe there's only one person, they teach only one person
in the godhead, but he claims to be the father sometimes and
the son sometimes, and then the spirit of the father and the
son sometimes. How foolish, how foolish. Look with me in John chapter
20, just a couple of examples. But as you read the scriptures,
read through the word of God, you notice these things. You
don't have any doubt that there's only one God and yet you run
into these verses where the son is referred to as God. The Holy
Spirit is referred to. What are we to know then? Someone said, well, I can't understand
it. Of course you can't. Of course
you can't. If you could understand everything
about God, you'd be as big as God. That's not gonna happen. Here
in John chapter 20 and verse 27, Then saith he to Thomas, the
Lord Jesus Christ speaking to Thomas, remember he was not with
the disciples when he appeared on the day of his resurrection.
And Thomas said, unless, unless I say the marks in his hand and
put my fingers in those marks, I'm not going to believe. And
the Lord appeared eight days later on the next Sunday. Then
saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and behold my hands
and reach hither thy hand, thrust it into my side and be not faithless,
but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, my Lord and my God. And Jesus said, don't call me
that. Don't call me your Lord, there's
only one Lord. There's only one God. No, the Lord Jesus accepted that
praise, didn't he? Because he is God. Thomas would
have been guilty of idolatry in this here if the Lord Jesus
Christ isn't truly God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed." Here you are tonight. Don't miss
this. If you are a believer, blessed.
The Lord Jesus Christ calls you blessed. Blessed are they that
have not seen. We've never seen the Lord Jesus
Christ in the flesh, have we? Blessed are they that have not
seen, yet have believed. What a blessing, what a blessing. I remember years ago when we
were in Mexico, I had a doctor, when I was down sick for some
time, we had a doctor came to our house several times and He
told me that he received the last blessing from the Bishop
of Yucatan. And he was so proud of that.
He was so proud of the fact that this bishop, after he had blessed
this doctor, he got on a ship to go to Rome, and he died before
he came back to Yucatan. He died, I think, in Rome. And
this doctor, he was so thankful, so impressed that this man had
blessed him. The Lord Jesus Christ blesses
you and me, right? I'm thankful for that. If we
believe tonight, we've never seen, but we believe, or we are
to earnestly contend for the truth concerning the Trinity.
The second thing I would have from this letter that we should
earnestly contend for is the sovereignty of God. Notice in
verse four, in verse 4, and denying the only Lord God, the Lord God. Now that refers to God Almighty. We are not to deny the truth
of God's sovereignty. These men who creep in unawares,
they do not deny the existence of God. And many of them will
even confess the sovereignty of God in some areas. In some areas. They will say,
yes, I believe God is sovereign, was sovereign in creation. And he was. It's his prerogative
to create or not to create. And to speak the worlds into
existence and all things that are. And he's sovereign in providence. And aren't you thankful for that?
Aren't you thankful tonight that the steps of a good man are ordered
of the Lord? A man deviseth his ways, but
the Lord directeth his steps. God is sovereign in providence. I love to think about God's providence. I love to see and be reminded
of his providence when things seem so happenstance and yet
you know, no, no, it was purposed and planned of God before the
foundation of the world. That the God of the Bible is
a God who worketh all things, the scripture says, after the
counsel of his will. And that goes to the very smallest,
minutest thing that may be to the greatest things that may
take place in God's creation. Look with me and Daniel just
a moment. Daniel chapter four. Everyone I'm sure is familiar
with this passage of scripture, but God taught a man a lesson. I thought recently about, if
God would help me, preparing a message on the subject of how
God saved a proud leader. How God saved a very proud leader. King. How did he do that? We read about it here in Daniel,
don't we? We pray for our president. We pray for the leaders of our
country. Nebuchadnezzar, he was the leader
of Babylon. Powerful, powerful nation, powerful
man, this man. And God took him down. God taught
him the truth, didn't he? It all began when he did not
give God glory and God the credit for his position. As far as he
was concerned, he was a self-made man. Is this not the great Babylon
that I have built? He was a braggart, wasn't he? Look at verse 34. At the end of the days, how many
days? Well, the scripture says seven
seasons. Some people believe that seven
years, seven weeks, seven days. God put him out there in the
field. He lived like an animal. This
man had been at the apex of power and authority and rulership,
most powerful man in the world at that time. God sent him out in the field. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes into heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me, And I blessed the Most High, and I praised
and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion. I thought I was really something.
I had dominion, I had power, until God took it away. But God,
His dominion is an everlasting dominion. It cannot be taken
away from Him. And his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? Men would love to be able to
demand of God answers. Why? Why do you do this? Why did you do that? What right
do you have to do this? No, Nebuchadnezzar learned from
God. The inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing and he doeth according to his will in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
Well, I've got to, I've got to hurry. A third truth that is involved
in the faith for which we must earnestly contend is the deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're back here in Jude chapter
25, verse 25, we see this. Jude verse 25, to the only wise
God, our savior, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power
both now and ever. the only wise God, our Savior,
the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see here that God is our Savior. Someone says, Oh, but he was
born of a virgin. Yes. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And his
birth fulfilled a prophecy, which foretold they shall call his
name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Yes, he is truly
God manifest in the flesh. The mystery of godliness, God
manifest in the flesh. He's a man. that he might suffer. He's God that his sufferings
might have merit. The faith which was once delivered
to the saints reveals, now listen to these three things, see if
you can agree with me. His redemption redeems. He doesn't try to redeem. His
redemption redeems. His ransom ransoms. And His atonement atones. Why? Because He is God. That's the Savior I need. What
about you? I need a Savior who can satisfy
God. And I know no mere man, no matter
how holy he might be, could do that. I need a Savior who is
God, who can bear the weight of my sin and satisfy God Almighty
and His justice. But we need to earnestly contend
for this faith which was once delivered to the saints. I mentioned
the Reformation earlier. At that time, I would say almost
every Reformation leader believed in what we call effectual atonement,
that his death really satisfied God. That He didn't offer a sacrifice
and then leave it up to man to make it effectual. That He, by
His death, put away the sins of His people. He did it. And He gets all the glory. Now
fourth thing, the Father's election of grace. This is one of the
truths that we must early also contend for. We see that in verse
1, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to
them that are sanctified by God the Father. What does the word
sanctification mean? It means separation, doesn't
it? And God the Father separated a people in eternity. He chose a people. He elected
a people. He chose everyone that He chose,
He chose in His Son. He chose His Son first. He is
God's first elect, and everyone else is chosen in Christ. Everyone that is chosen is chosen
in Christ. The apostle put it like this
in Romans 8, for whom He did foreknow. Those whom he foreknew,
those he loved, he chose. He also did predestinate. The ones that he foreknew, the
ones that he chose, he predestinated. What did he predestinate them
to be? To be conformed to the image
of his son. Nobody can find fault with that.
No one. No one can find fault with that
that knows anything about God. One day we're going to be like
Christ. Amen. What a wonderful truth that is. And then a fifth thing here,
the Holy Spirit's effectual call. Notice in that same verse, preserved
in Jesus Christ and called. Those that the Father chose in
eternity are effectually called by God the Holy Spirit. And we
believe that in this work, He uses the gospel. He uses the
gospel, and that's the reason we continue to preach, and by
the grace of God, we'll die on this hill. We're going to continue
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. as long as God gives
us the grace to do so. Why? Because this is the means
that God has chosen to use in saving those that He has chosen. And they're called, effectually
called, by God the Holy Spirit. Thy people, we read this in Psalm
110, thy people, not the devil's people, no, Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power." In other words, when
the Spirit of God works effectually in the heart in the day of His
power, men come to Christ. And yet He said, no man can come
to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him. But we
willingly come to Christ. The sixth preserved in Jesus
Christ. We see that in verse one and
also down in verse 24. They were preserved in now unto
him that is able to keep you from falling. Now that doesn't
say that we'll never fall, that we'll never stumble, but we'll
never fall so as to fall away. Now, believer, we have many downs
and ups. I started to say ups and downs.
We have many downs and ups, don't we? As we go through this life. But we're not going to fall away. No. Why? Because he's able to
keep us from falling. And lastly, there's a day of
judgment. We see that in verse six. There's
a day of judgment that's coming. Angels which stand are reserved
in everlasting chains of darkness. We read about that in Revelation
chapter 20. There's going to be a judgment. All men shall be there and all
men shall be judged according to their works. My last point is how? Are we
to contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints? Well, first of all, believe it.
Believe it. Identify with it. With the people
of God. Confess it. Support it. I heard someone made this statement
several years ago. Made this statement to my wife. He said, there's a grace church
on every corner. Now there may be a church called
Grace Baptist Church or Grace Lutheran Church, Grace Methodist
Church on every corner. And there may be churches that
say they believe in God's grace on every corner. But there's
not a grace church on every corner. They're few and far between. And if men really did and really
do believe in unconditional election and particular redemption and
effectual calling, they would preach it. They would preach
it. It'd get out on them. It's just
too wonderful a truth to put under a bushel and hide it. No, if God's revealed, if you're
called to preach and God's revealed these truths to you, you're going
to preach it. You're going to preach it. It's
always amazed me that people say, well, they believe it, they
just don't preach it. No, no, they don't believe it.
They don't believe it. I pray the Lord to bless this
message to us here this evening, David.