If you will, let us open our
Bibles today to the book of Jude. It's a very small one-chapter
book just before the last book in the Bible, Jude. I'm going to speak to us today
on the faith. The faith. Let's read the first
three verses. 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. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we
are given the list of the 12 apostles. But in Matthew's gospel
and Mark's gospel, Jude is there listed under the name of Thaddeus. or Labius, rather, whose father
was Thaddeus, or his surname was Thaddeus. Labius, whose surname
was Thaddeus. Now, in this letter that he wrote,
and we're looking at today, and Jude, we believed, was the next
to the last of the apostles who died. He didn't live as long
as John, But I think he was next to the last of the apostles who
left this world in death. But he refers to himself like
his brother James does in his letter. Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ and brother of James. He refers to himself as the brother
of James so that no one would confuse him with the Judas who
betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot. But this is Jude,
or Judas, the brother of James. Labius, whose surname was Thaddeus. And I want to speak to us today
especially about the faith, the faith for which Jude exhorts
all believers to earnestly contend. However, before we come there,
I want to speak a few words about verse 1 and verse 2. In verse 1, I would point out
the fact that the work of salvation is the work of the triune God. I think we may not be aware of
this, but Many people, when they think about being saved and the
Lord saving them, they only think about the Son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who came into this world. But truly, the Word of
God teaches us that God is our Savior. God, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, each one of the
persons in the Blessed Trinity, it is true, have their office
work as we refer to what they did and do in salvation. But we see that in this verse. We see, first of all, that work
which is almost always through the scriptures attributed to
God the Father. What is it? It is the election,
the choosing of those whom he will save. We see that here in
this verse, to them that are sanctified by God the Father. The word sanctified, of course,
means especially to set apart. And it is the work of God the
Father who in eternity set apart those who are to be saved. We read this in Ephesians chapter
1, verses 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who the Father, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. sanctified, set apart, chosen
by God the Father. Preserved, notice the next line,
preserved in Jesus Christ. Those who are saved are not only
set apart, chosen by God the Father, but we were chosen in
Christ. Those who God the Father chose,
He chose in Christ. Christ is God's first elect. If we could see the book of life,
we would see the first name inscribed there is Jesus Christ our Lord,
and underneath it, all of the names of those that the Father
chose in Jesus Christ. Hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. Preserved, the scripture says,
preserved in Jesus Christ. chosen in Him and put into His
hands. As sheep are committed to the
hands of the shepherd, so all of God's elect were chosen and
committed into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He became
our surety in that everlasting covenant of grace. The surety
of all of God's chosen. They are said here to be preserved
in Him. Now that doesn't mean that those
whom the Father chose were preserved and kept from falling in our
Father Adam, because we certainly did. As the Scripture says, in
Adam all die. We were not preserved from the
fall, that's true. And we all inherited a sinful
nature from Adam. And we were all children of wrath
even as others. And yet we were preserved in
the sense that the law of God could not execute its sentence
upon us and send us to hell. before we were called. Notice that next line, and called. It is God the Holy Spirit who
calls out those who were chosen by the Father, redeemed by the
Son, called. Called from where? Called out
of death to life. Called out of darkness to light. Yes, called. And how does God
call the word of God, the gospel? Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. That's our command, that's our
commission, to preach the gospel. And God has ordained by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. So we see the work of
the triune God in the saving of a sinner. It is true it's God the Son who
came into this world, but He did not come into this world
and die in order to cause God or make God love us. No, no. He came because God did love
us. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son. This word that is translated
here, sanctified in some of the copies, some of the transcripts,
or manuscripts rather, is the word beloved. Beloved. Just as in 1 Peter chapter 1,
elect according to the foreknowledge of God, elect according to God's
love. And this reminds us of what,
reminds me at least, of what has often been called God's golden
chain. God's golden chain. And no link in this chain may
be broken. Romans chapter 8 and verse 30. whom he did predestinate, them
he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom
he justified, them he also glorified. That's a beautiful chain, isn't
it? Golden chain, God's purpose in saving his people. And then
verse two, Jude says, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. So we look at these three graces
and we continue to need these graces to be multiplied unto
us. We've all experienced God's mercy. I'm talking about those who are
called. We've all experienced God's mercy. We've all come to
know the peace of God and the love of God. But yet Jude prays
that these graces be multiplied. And that's the way we should
pray for one another. God multiply your mercy, your
peace, and your love to this person, that person, to those
that we love and know, believers and sisters in the faith. And
we might look at these three graces as each one coming from
one of the persons in the Trinity. Because mercy, this is one of
his names. God the Father, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. The Father of mercies. Multiply, Father, multiply your
mercy unto us. We sang that hymn just a few
minutes ago, I Need Thee Every Hour. And I trust that's not
just a hymn we've sung so many times that we lose the significance
of the truth. We need Him every hour. When we come here to worship,
how empty, how useless. would be a worship service if
God the Holy Spirit does not breathe upon us, if God the Holy
Spirit does not give the preacher the words, the message, how useless,
how empty the service would be. Multiply your mercy, dear Father. Thou art the Father of mercies,
be merciful unto us. You say, well, I've already experienced
His mercy. I know you have if you know Him.
But don't you still need mercy every day? And the scripture
says His mercies are new every morning. And then peace. God the Son, He's the Prince
of Peace. And by the blood of His cross,
He has made peace for us with God Almighty. Multiply that peace,
the peace of God which passeth all understanding. Let it fortify. Let it be like a garrison around
us. That's what that actually means
when Paul says the peace of God. And then lastly, love. Love. The love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. by the Holy Spirit. That's what
we read in Romans chapter 5. You say, what does that mean,
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts? It's God the Holy
Spirit who convinces us and who reminds us, refreshes our memory
day by day, how much God loves us. We love Him. Why? because He first loved us. Now, I want us to think about
this faith. This faith for which we are to
earnestly contend. Notice the Scripture. Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation. Now the word common That doesn't
mean that salvation is just something common, something flippant. No,
salvation is special. It's special. But it's common
in the sense there's only one salvation. And everyone who's
saved partakes of this one salvation, Jew or Gentile, Old Testament
saint or New Testament saint. Common salvation. There's only
one Savior. There's only one salvation and
it's common to all of God's elect. 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 word of faith, contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints." Now I have four questions I want
us to consider. First of all, what is meant by
the faith? Earnestly contend for the faith. Well Jude, he does not mean the
grace of faith. If you look down in verse 20
of this same letter, He says, but you, beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. There is the grace of faith. The grace of faith. But when
Jude tells us to earnestly contend for the faith, he's not talking
about the grace of faith, but rather he is speaking about the
word of faith. The Apostle Paul, in his letter
to the church at Philippi, he wrote that you stand fast in
one spirit with one mind, now listen, striving together for
the faith of the gospel. The faith of the gospel. Earnestly
contend for the faith. And then in Romans chapter 10,
in verse 8, Paul says, the word of faith which we preach, the
gospel, If you look back just a few pages to the letter of
Titus, turn back just a few pages, Titus chapter 1, where the apostle
is giving the requirements for those who would be pastors of
churches. Notice what he says in verse
9, that these men should be holding fast the faithful word, the faithful,
the word of faith. Don't you ordain anyone, Titus,
or put anyone into the ministry who's not convinced of the Word
of God, the Word of Faith, who's not been taught to hold this
fast, the Word, to earnestly contend for the Word of Faith. And on your way back to Jude,
just stop by 1 Peter, just a moment. 1 Peter chapter 1. Notice what the apostle writes,
1 Peter chapter 1, verse 25. But the word of the
Lord endureth forever. And this is the word, now watch
this, this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you. In other words, Peter here declares
that preaching the gospel is preaching the word of the Lord. preaching the word of faith.
And notice he had quoted from Isaiah in verse 24. He said, For all flesh is as
grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. He's
quoting from Isaiah. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. That's man's life. That's your
life. That's my life. That's the life
of everyone in this world. It's like the grass. It grows
up and it's gone. It's here for just a while and
then it's taken away. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Remember that
man our Lord spoke about who had planted and had a real good
harvest and what would he do with all of his goods? He said,
I'll tear down my barns and I'll build bigger barns and I'll say
to my soul, the man was a fool. Our Lord called him a fool because
he thought that what he stored in his barn could satisfy his
soul. Or it could satisfy his body. The grain in the barn could satisfy
his body, but not his soul. Our Lord said, Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee. And who shall these
things be? They're not going to be yours
anymore. All flesh, all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. There's
some of these weeds that come up, you know, they've got some
flowers on them, don't they? That's the glory of man and his
pride and all of his accomplishments, just like the flowers on the
grass. Beautiful for a little while,
but it soon goes away. The grass withereth, the flower
thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Peter is here declaring that
the same word that Isaiah preached is the word that the apostles
preached. This is so, so important I hope
you let this really sink in because you hear things today, and it's
not all that new, but people act like there's been two ways
for a person to be saved. There never has been but one
Savior. There never has been the blood
but of one Lamb of God that puts away sin. And the same gospel
that Isaiah preached, Peter says, that's the gospel that I preach
unto you. The apostles, no doubt, preached
the gospel with much more clarity. Why? Because in the Old Testament,
those prophets had preached and they had said, someone's coming. Someone's coming. Look unto him. Look unto that one who has been
promised. He's coming. But now, what is
our message? He's come. He's come. We know who he is. We know he
was born of the Virgin Mary. We know that he was crucified
outside the gates of Jerusalem. We know that he obeyed God's
law perfectly and satisfied God's justice and suffering in the
place and in the stead of his people. Same gospel. More clear
today, no doubt about it, but it's the same gospel. That's
the faith, the Word, the Word of God. That's the faith. That's my second question. Where
do we have this faith? This faith for which we are to
contend, where do we have it? Well, it's the Word of God in
the 66 books in their manuscripts, which are the word, the canon
of scripture. Now thank God today, I can't
read Hebrew. I can't read Greek. Can you? I can read English, thank God.
That's a blessing, isn't it? That we live in a country where
we were taught to read. There's still countries in this
world. Children are born, grow up, never go to school, never
learn to read. What a blessing that we've been
in a country where we've been taught to read and where we have
the Word of God. In our language, we read the
Word of God. I've got helps. I've got helps
to help me with the Greek and help me with the Hebrew. But
I'm thankful I have the Word of God in my language. Missionaries and other men will
tell you this same truth. A lot of times missionaries have
gone into other countries. They've had to preach through
an interpreter. And that served. But people in these other countries,
how how much they love to hear the gospel in their own language,
in their own language, even though we sometimes butcher it up, but
still in their own language. People in Mexico used to tell
me, well, I know what we'll speak in heaven. I said, what's that?
Spanish. I said, why is that? It's a language of love. Well, I know it'll be a language
of love. I don't know if it'll be Spanish
or English or Japanese or whatever, but we'll all speak the same
language, won't we? We'll know each other, we'll
understand each other, and we'll worship the same God and King
together forever. Now let me mention six things
about this word of truth for which we are to contend. First
of all, the Word of God is God-breathed. God-breathed. You say, what do
you mean by that? I mean that all scripture is
given by inspiration of God. God-breathed. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, men shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The Scripture is
God-breathed. God used men to write the Word
of God. There's no question about that.
But the Holy Spirit is the author. And it was written, Peter tells
us, by men who were moved by the Spirit of God. They retained
their individuality, the authors of the Word of God. And yet they
all have the same message, the word of God written over centuries
by so many different men, and yet all the same message. How is that possible? All scripture
is God-breathed. Some of you may remember this,
but many years ago, I was on a plane, and a Methodist bishop
sat next to me in the providence of God. We got to talking, and
I confronted him with the fact. Now, he was a bishop of the Methodist
churches of all Southeast Texas and, I believe, Louisiana. I
said, I understand you do not believe all the scripture is
inspired. He said, that's right. We don't.
And without just making myself obnoxious, I tried to force him
to just give me, please, just give me one passage that you
do not believe is inspired. He never would do it. He never
would do it. And then I asked him this. I
said, well, you believe in the virgin birth, don't you? He said,
oh, yeah. I said, well, what if one of
your preachers Didn't believe in the virgin birth. Could he
be a pastor? Oh, no. No, he couldn't. Why
not? Why not? Maybe he doesn't believe
that part of the Bible is inspired. You see, they set themselves
up and set in judgment upon the word of God. All scripture is
given by inspiration of God. It's all God breathed. Number
two, the Word of God is without error. Sometimes you'll hear people
say, and these are people, for the most part, who've never read
the Bible, who've just listened to other people make comments.
They'll say, well, you know, the Bible's full of errors. No,
it's not. Oh, the Bible's full of contradictions. No, it's not. This is the Word
of God. To say that the Bible is full
of errors, to say that it contradicts itself, would be to say that
the God who is infinite in knowledge and wisdom contradicts Himself,
makes errors. That's just not so. That's just
not so. Now, we're not saying that there
have not been men, and there are not men today who wrongly
interpret the Word of God. That may be so, surely it is,
but the Word of God itself is without error. Number three,
the Word of God is the final authority in matters of faith. What are we to believe? Well,
let's read this Council, this Church Council. Well, let's go
to this College of Theology. What are we to believe? The Word
of God is the final authority in matters of faith. The Lord
Jesus Christ said the Scriptures cannot be broken. That's what He said, and I believe
Him. In matters of what we must believe
and what we are to practice, the Word of God is a straight
line. We don't look for another straight
line because we have one. And that is the inspired Word
of God. And we do not set in judgment
upon God's Word. There's no church, there's no
group of men who have the right to judge God's Word and say what
is and what isn't inspired. No. The Word of God is the final
authority. Martin Luther, he observed If
the Scriptures declare something, we shouldn't ask, how is it possible? If God said it, it's going to
come to pass. I like that, don't you? We shouldn't
ask how it is possible. If God said it, it's going to
come to pass. And it is. Today, men are being
told that we must change, that society is changing, and that's
true. But would anyone suggest that
society is changing for the better? Are we going uphill or downhill? Yes, society changes, but God
doesn't change. We sang that hymn just a few
minutes ago, greatest of faithfulness. And then we're told that springtime
and summer, God made a covenant, didn't he? He made a covenant
when Noah came out of that ark, my friends. And he told us that
the season should continue until the end. And they continue, don't
they? And then he told the Israelites,
you know, If you can break my covenant with day, then you can
break my covenant with those that I love. God's covenant. It's not going to be broken.
God's Word is not going to be broken. God's people are like David.
He expressed this so well in Psalm 119 when he said, I esteem
all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. Number four, the word of God
is crystal clear in the matter of salvation. This is a question of the ages. This is the greatest question
that any of us will ever consider. It's recorded in the oldest book
in our Bible. You say that's Genesis. No, it's
not. Now Genesis tells us about the beginning, but Moses wrote
the book of Genesis, but we've got a book in our Bible called
Job. And evidently the book of Job
was written before Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible.
And in that book of Job, this question, which is the question
of the ages, is asked, how should man be just with God? How shall man who drinks iniquity
like water be just with holy God? Well, the Bible's crystal
clear, isn't it? The answer to that question,
crystal clear. The Word of God declares that
salvation is first by grace in Christ through faith. Now, that's
just so. You can't misunderstand that.
The Word of God declares that salvation is by grace in Christ
received by faith. Now I put grace first because
both God providing Christ the Savior is by grace, and God giving
us faith to believe in Christ the Savior is by grace. Salvation is by grace. And if you mix works, and that's
what man always attempts to do, if it's just a smidgen of his
works, it's no more grace. Grace is the unmerited favor
of God. The scripture says, for by grace
are you saved. The apostle Paul declared, for
there is one mediator, there's one God and one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Peter said, neither is there
salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. For by grace are you
saved. Christ is the only Savior through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Number five, the Word of God
is sufficient to guide us through this world. We will find all we ever will
need in this book. As we go through life, we're
going to meet with all kinds. You young people here, no telling
what you may say. When I was your age, if someone
had told me that I would see what I see today, I probably
would not have believed it. This world changes. You're going
to meet with difficulties, God's children, afflictions, sicknesses,
distresses, persecutions, nothing new, nothing new for the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But everything that we'll need
to meet every emergency, every necessity, we'll find right here
in this book. Comfort ye, comfort ye with my
people. Paul said comfort ye one another
with these words. All the comfort, all the direction. Young man years ago was going
off to college and his father gave him a Bible, and he told
him, he said, now, son, you take this with you, and all you'll
ever need is in this book. Well, his son went off to college,
and he put the book in a drawer or something, never took it out
again. And he had some hard times going
through college, some necessities. When he got out of college and
moved to where he would live, was unpacking the boxes, and
he pulled out that Bible his dad had given to him. He never
looked at it all the time he was in college. He pulled it
out, and he opened it up, and he found a certified check there
for $25,000. All he had needed as he went
through college financially, it was always there, already
there for him. But he had never looked for it.
And all my friends, there's something much more important than $25,000
in this book. All you'll need is here. And
let me just close with these last two thoughts. Why must we
contend for the faith? Jude said earnestly contend for
the faith. Why? Because We're not ignorant of
Satan's devices, the apostle Paul tells us. And the first
time he appears on the pages of scripture, we find his attack
upon the word of God. Yea, he said to Eve. Yea, hath
God said thou shall not eat of every tree of the garden? God
didn't say that. And Satan knew God didn't say
that. What's he doing? Casting doubt,
doubt upon the word of God. And then he just flat out contradicted
it, didn't he? She corrected him. She said there,
we can eat of every tree of the garden, but there's one tree
he's commanded us not to eat of. And Satan said, well, you
shall not surely die. We're not ignorant of his devices. And from the very beginning,
through the days of the apostles, through the days of our Lord,
through the days of the prophets, and until today, Satan continues
to try to destroy the foundation of our faith, the Word of God. We must contend for it. And let
me close with this. How should we contend for the
faith? Well, we should read it. We should
read the Word of God. We should believe it. It's God's
Word. We should practice it. We should
confess it. Our Lord said this, whosoever
therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation Of him also shall the Son of Man be
ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the
holy angels. How do we contend for it? We
read it, we believe it, we practice it, we confess it. That's Jude's exhortation to
us. And I told you I wanted to give
you six things. I forgot one of them. Let me
go back. The Word of God is forever. It's never going to change. Heaven
and earth will pass away, but not God's Word, not His Word. We're going to sing a hymn in
just a moment. Number 477.