Contending for the Faith of Jesus

Jude 3-4

Main Idea: Because of the constant threat of false teachers and enemies of the gospel, Christians must continually defend and obey the Christ-centered, Christ-exalting faith that has been passed on through the true Church.

1. Know What You Believe (3).
   1. The faith must be defended.
   2. The faith has been delivered.
2. Know How to Live (4).
   1. Beware of those who deceive the church.
   2. Beware of those who distort God’s grace.
   3. Beware of those who deny our Lord.

All of the Akins are big fans of the smash-hit television show 24 that ran on FOX from 2001 to 2010, returning for a shortened season in 2014. If you had called our house on Monday nights from 9:00 to 10:00 in those years, all you would have heard is the voice-mail greeting! In the show Kiefer Sutherland starred as Jack Bauer, a counterterrorist agent who defends the USA against those who would harm her. Commentator Hugh Hewitt correctly observed that the work of Jack Bauer is messy and intense. He also notes it is judgmental and almost entirely without moral ambiguity.

One fan, Melinda Penner, blogged this on the program’s appeal: “I love the show because it’s morally smart. Jack [Bauer] almost unfailingly makes the correct and necessary decision given the moral dilemmas he’s faced with. But it also shows the cost of having engaged evil and the horrible choices it presents. (“Reality TV”)

Such is the world of international terrorism. Such, in many ways, is the world of spiritual terrorism as well. Jude writes his epistle to warn the church about spiritual terrorists, spiritual subversives who stealthily crept inside the church with WSDs (Weapons of Spiritual Destruction). These are Satan’s missionaries whose motto is, “If I can’t get them from without, I will get them from within.”

Theologically, we refer to such persons as “apostates,” a word that means “those who have fallen away.” Though they try to stay with us personally and corporately, theologically and spiritually they have left and followed after false and destructive teaching. Adrian Rogers pointed out these are persons who received the truth, rejected the truth, ridicule the truth, and eventually will attempt to replace the truth (“Snakes in the Garden”).

We see the effects of this tragic progression in schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, and the University of Chicago, all of which were founded to train ministers to propagate the gospel. Today, none of them stands for historic Christian orthodoxy.

We also see the demise and death of once great denominations that no longer send gospel missionaries, who deny the inerrancy of Scripture, reject the exclusive claims of Christ, ordain practicing homosexuals to the ministry, advocate same-sex marriage (and perform same-sex weddings), and turn a deaf ear to the holocaust of abortion. Consider the following statistics about the last part of the twentieth century:

Between 1965 and 2003 membership in the following denominations declined as follows:

• Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)—57.2 percent, to 770,793;
• Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—43.5 percent, to 2.4 million;
• United Church of Christ—37.4 percent, to 1.3 million;
• Episcopal Church—35.8 percent, to 2.3 million;
• United Methodist Church—25.4 percent, to 8.25 million;
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—12.3 percent, to 4.98 million;
• American Baptist Churches—6.9 percent, to 1.43 million.

On the plus side, the Assemblies of God registered a spectacular 377 percent increase, to 2.72 million; the Southern Baptist Convention, a 52.6 percent increase, to 16.43 million; and the U.S. Catholic Church, buoyed by Hispanics, 45.4 percent, to 67.25 million. (Plowman, “Beginnings and Ends”)

Sadly, this strategy of infiltration by the devil’s deceivers is even in full swing within the camp of evangelicalism. A major emerging church leader called for a five-year moratorium on the issue of homosexuality as sin because he said there is no clarity on the issue. Today 25 percent of “self-described born again adults rely on means other than grace to get to heaven” (Barna, “One-Quarter”). And recently the most popular television preacher (I use the word loosely) in America said in a large rally where I live in Raleigh, North Carolina, “You are the apple of God’s eye. The Scripture says God has already approved you and accepted you.” He used Mark 1:11 for support, a text where God says to Jesus, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” He then said, “God is saying to you, you are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. If God approves of you, why don’t you approve of yourself?” No wonder one attendee said he came because “I leave feeling better than when I came” (Shimron, “Evangelist Stirs Hope”). People come in to many such rallies feeling bad and lost, and they leave feeling much better, but they are still lost! This brand of Christianity presents no gospel, no substitutionary atonement, no heaven, no hell, no sin, and no Savior!

There is today a great need for evangelicals to heed the words of Jude and “to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all” (v. 3). There is a fight for the faith, a struggle to preserve and pass on what has been delivered to us, and it is time to step up.

Know What You Believe

JUDE 3

In his short epistle, Jude gives seven charges to believers:

1. Earnestly contend for the faith (v. 3).
2. Remember the teaching and warning of the apostles (v. 17).
3. Build yourselves up in the most holy faith (v. 20).
4. Pray in the Holy Spirit (v. 20).
5. Keep yourselves in the love of God (v. 21).
6. Look for the mercy of the Lord to bring you to eternal life (v. 21).
7. Show mercy to Christians who are doubting, snatch unbelievers from the fire, and cautiously show mercy to the corrupt (vv. 22-23).

Jude’s first challenge comes early in this twenty-five-verse letter and begins the body of his message.

The Faith Must Be Defended

“Dear friends” appears three times in Jude (vv. 3,17,20). Some translations render the phrase simply “beloved.” Already we have been told we are loved by the Father (v. 1), and Jude has prayed for love’s multiplication in verse 2. It is a term of tenderness as well as transition.

Jude tells us he was eager to write about the salvation we hold in common (Gk koines). He actually desired to write a different kind of letter, one that expounded on our redemption in Christ. However, necessity was laid on him by the Holy Spirit, so instead he wrote an apologetic, a defense of the faith, exhorting, encouraging, and urging his readers “to contend for the once-delivered-to-the-saints faith” (literal translation).

The word “contend” is a translation of the Greek word epagonizes-thai, from which we get our word agonize. The word appears in both military and athletic contexts. It means “to fight or struggle with intense effort.” Jude calls on us to strive after and fight for the faith, and his words suggest that he knows it will not be an easy battle; it will be agonizing at times.

No doubt the “faith” Jude had in mind is the gospel of Jesus Christ and all that derives from his person and work. A brief survey of this letter informs us what Jude was concerned about: the security of the believer (vv. 1,24), the grace of God (v. 3), the lordship of Christ and all its implications (v. 3), immoral living (vv. 4,7,8,10,13,16,18,19,23), unbelief (v. 5), a rebellious spirit (vv. 6,8,11), materialism (v. 11), deception (vv. 12,16), divisiveness (v. 19), and ungodliness (vv. 4,15,18).

Jude understood the faith to be both theological and moral. He understood clearly the rebellious nature of the human heart and the moral havoc that reigns from a rejection of Christ’s lordship. Because of the tendency of the human heart to wander, Jude knew that the faith would need to be explained and defended continually. This is not a time for cowards or the weak hearted. This is not a time for the timid or thin-skinned. This is not a time for retreat, compromise, or surrender. The faith must be earnestly defended.

The Faith Has Been Delivered

The faith has come, and it has come once and for all. It is not up for debate or discussion. Paul affirms in Ephesians 4:5 there is “one faith.” It is a signed, sealed, and settled reality. Adrian Rogers said of this faith, “It is divine in its conception. It is complete in its content. . . . It is absolutely unique in its character” (“Battle for the Bible”).

It has been “delivered” (NIV, “entrusted”) once for all to the saints. In saying “once for all,” Jude suggests that it is complete. It needs no corrections and no additions. Christians need not seek any fuller revelation. It has come to us decisively in Jesus Christ. God has, as a sacred trust, passed on the precious, soul-saving faith to us. How dare we neglect it? How dare we change it? How dare we deny it?

What is the faith that has been delivered? I believe there are twelve nonnegotiables to which Scripture and the history of the church give eloquent witness.

1. The inerrancy and infallibility of Holy Scripture
2. The full and eternal deity of Christ
3. The miraculous virgin birth and sinless life of Jesus the Messiah
4. The historical creation of man and woman made in God’s image
5. The sanctity of all life from conception to natural death
6. The sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman
7. The sinfulness of all human persons
8. The substitutionary death of Christ for sinners
9. The bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave
10. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone
11. The exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ for sinners
12. The return of Christ and the assignment of all people either to eternal blessedness in heaven or eternal condemnation in hell

There is a faith that has been delivered.

Know How to Live

JUDE 4

Belief and behavior go hand in hand. Theology matters, for what you believe will determine how you live. We live in a time when far too many preachers and theologians are not content to be delivery boys of the good news. No, they want to be editors of the good news. Unfortunately, they do not always display their true colors. Like the wolves in sheep’s clothing that Jesus warned us about in Matthew 7:15-20, they slip into our churches and distort the truth and destroy the unsuspecting and ill prepared.

In light of such dangers, Jude trumpets a threefold warning we dare not neglect.

Beware of Those Who Deceive the Church

Jude warns that some have “come in by stealth,” sliding in through a side door, sneaking in over the fence, worming their way in through the crowd. These spiritual deceivers find their way into our Christian communities at all levels. They never walk proudly and honestly through the front door, declaring themselves to be a threat. Rather, they covertly slip in the back door because there is too often no rear guard.

They look like—and for a while act like—friends, but all the while they are enemies dedicated to our destruction. Much like the false prophet of Revelation 13:11, who looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon, these foes mean to deceive and destroy, though they present themselves as tender and harmless.

Beware of Those Who Distort God’s Grace

These false teachers are destined for condemnation, “for the judgment on the great day” (v. 6). God was not surprised by their arrival, and neither should we be. Their end was determined long ago, and it is sure. They will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire (v. 7) as ordained by God and predicted in verses 5-16.

God’s condemnation of them is just and fair for two reasons: their character and their conduct. Their character is described as “ungodly,” a description that appears six times in Jude. The word means “without worship or reverence.” So these men failed to appropriately revere and worship the one true God.

Their conduct deserves condemnation because they turn “the grace of our God into sensuality” (NIV, “into a license for immorality”). They take the grace and goodness of God in the free gift of salvation and use it as an occasion for sin. Douglas Moo says the word “connotes especially sins of the flesh: sexual misconduct, drunkenness, gluttony”(2 Peter, Jude, 230). These are antinomians who want no rules, no restraint, and no one telling them what they should or should not do.

Sadly we are seeing a revival of such thinking in our own day even among professing evangelicals. Claiming to revel in grace, they sneer at calls to holiness, purity, and forsaking the ways of the world. “What’s the big deal about alcohol and tobacco abuse, pornography, and a little profanity? Am I supposed to believe that God cares about these things?” YES! And to think he does not is to distort his grace that saves and to transform it into a license for sin. May it never be among us (Rom 6:1-2)!

However, we must be careful. We should flee such behavior not because we have to in order to earn God’s acceptance but because we want to as those who have already been accepted! The grace of God in Christ frees us from the power of sin over us. Freedom in Jesus is not the liberty to do what I want but the power to do what I should. Pure, undiluted grace will make me fanatical not about rules but about Christ and his moral perfection and beauty!

Beware of Those Who Deny Our Lord

Jude takes us straight to the question of who Jesus is and what he has done. It is and will always be the great dividing line. These dangerous men and women will not worship Jesus as Lord. “Deny” is the last word of verse 4 in the Greek text, placed there for emphasis. The one they deny is “our only [monon] Sovereign [despoten] and Lord [kurion]” (NIV).

In the context, what they deny is not his deity, his person, or his work. What they deny is his lordship. They separate his being Savior from his being Lord. By their sinful life and exploitation of grace, they deny his lordship in and over their lives. They are a law unto themselves, accountable to no one, including the Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude justly condemns them. Deny Jesus as Lord, and you forfeit him as Savior. One goes with the other. They are a package deal, not to be separated.

Conclusion

My good friend and pastor James Merritt has well said, “It is right to fight when you fight for what’s right” (unpublished sermon notes). We must fight for the faith, and we must contend for the truth; but we must contend for the faith without being contentious about the faith. We fight because we must, not because we want to and enjoy it. How do we do this? Hear the wisdom of the apostle Paul in the last letter he ever wrote:

But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels. The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Tim 2:23-26)

Reflect and Discuss

1. Why do many institutions that began as training grounds for ministers end up denying the faith?
2. What popular expressions of cultural Christianity have you seen that actually contradict the orthodox teachings of the Bible?
3. What’s wrong with preaching and teaching that tells people that there’s nothing wrong with them?
4. Why does the faith need to be defended? Is it at risk of being defeated?
5. Why does Jude suggest this defense must be earnest (KJV)? How can this earnest defense also be loving?
6. Think about how the faith was delivered to the apostles. How was it delivered to you? How can you be a part of delivering it to others?
7. Write your own list of nonnegotiable elements of the true faith delivered to the saints. What Scriptures would you use to defend your answers?
8. What are some ways enemies of the faith can slip in by stealth? How can the church try to prevent that from happening?
9. Why is it an affront to God’s grace to use the gospel as a license to sin? How would you explain the Christian’s obligations to live a holy life?
10. Why is it impossible to claim Christ as Savior and not also as Lord?