Contend For The Faith
6-11-04

In the message "Never Let Them Forget" we were challenged to continually share God's miraculous gift with those He places in our path. We considered this mainly from the aspect of sharing what God has done in our life and continues to do as we walk with Him. But we are also responsible to share the absolute truth about God and His plan; to do this, we must KNOW what we believe!

Jude wrote only one short letter (25 verses) of the Bible. He began the letter with a desire to encourage his fellow believers with the joy of Salvation. But as he sat down to write, he realized God was directing him to write a different message.

Jude 3
"Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints."

There is great joy in our Salvation - a joy which must be shared. But we have been entrusted with the truth of the gospel message, and this truth is often under attack.

As we draw closer to God and begin to understand His perfect holiness, we are also made aware of the utter sinfulness of man and our hopelessness without Jesus. Each of us are born with a sin nature; and if left to ourselves, we would become "filled with every kind of wickedness" (Romans 1:29). It's not surprising how much evil abounds in the world. To a large degree, the world has rejected the Light of Christ and is living in an empty and confusing darkness.

The church is definitely not immune to the darkness of the world. We are attacked from those who are openly outside the church; but we are also under attack from those who have "secretly slipped in among you" (Jude 4). These are people who claim to be called by God, but live an immoral life and "deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord" (Jude 4). They seek to cause division and "follow their own ungodly desires" (Jude 18). We are told to fight this form of attack by strengthening our faith; "build yourself up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit" (Jude 20).

Yes, we must know the truth, protect the truth, and share the truth. If we are to become a light which leads others to the saving grace of Jesus, we must not allow the gospel which has been entrusted into our care to become distorted for personal gain or diluted for greater acceptance. We can personally fight this battle on a daily basis by drawing closer to the presence of God and knowing Him better through study and prayer; and we can fight as groups of believers as we encourage one another to live without compromise. Let's test all teaching against His Word; let's share the absolute truth of our Lord and Savior and be prepared to stand as we contend for the faith.

Have A Great Day!