Contend for the Faith!

 

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.  Jude 3

If you haven't read my blog post from last Friday, I encourage you to do so. I feel we must contend for the faith, the True Faith in Jesus Christ, more than ever right now as we approach the Rapture and the coming Tribulation. There is so so much deception hitting us from every direction, it's hard to know the truth anymore. But there is ONE TRUTH we can cling to. That is Jesus and His Word (The Holy Scriptures)  This is why we are exhorted over and over in the Bible to read and study the Scriptures, to memorize them, meditate on them, and study them. I'm telling you a very important truth right now. If you don't know your Bible, you will probably end up being deceived as we progress toward the Tribulation. Why? Because the people deceiving you will use Scripture to do so, will claim to be Christians and will be advocating for good things. 

Seems like even back in the 1st Century church Jude encountered some of the same deception. Jude was one of the half-brothers of Jesus and only has one book to his credit with one chapter, but boy is it an important one. Contend means "Struggle, Strive, Fight!"  which is what we must do when we see the true church being invaded by deceivers 

Let's go through a few verses of his book.

But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 

Hmm. But the Hebrews who came out of Egypt did believe in God. How could they not? They saw the Red Sea part and the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, so they believed in God. So, believe here must mean something else. It isn't enough to believe! You have to trust in, commit to, and have a relationship with Jesus. 

Jude goes on to warn us about the deceivers in the church. 

 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Hmm. Sounds like Hypergrace to me

 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;  raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

...

These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

 

Clearly these are people calling themselves Christians, partaking of communion with the saints. Interestingly enough, many of these NAR people I spoke about last Friday are saying the Rapture and Tribulation are far far off, or that they don't happen at all.  Now, I'm not saying all these wayward pastors have evil hearts. Many of them are sincere and believe they are following the Lord, but the last phrase says it all. They do not have the Spirit. If they had the Spirit and listened to the Spirit, they would know the truth. 

 

One of the main characteristics of pastors/Teachers/prophets who speak untruths these days is that it's hard to pick them out. By all accounts they appear to be Godly people, kind, generous, loving, and using Scripture when they speak. That's why there's only one way to know whether they speak God's truth or not. That's by knowing the Word of God so well yourself, that you know immediately when something they say doesn't add up! 

 

Satan is a master deceiver. And his one and only goal is to get you to join him in hell. He hates you with a passion and he's very very clever, more clever than the most intelligent human genius. He's also had years to learn the best strategies. He has infiltrated many of our churches these days with all kinds of heresies, and the NAR and Great Awakening I spoke about Friday is just the latest one.  

 

Jude doesn't leave us without a strategy of our own. He leaves us with these instructions.

 

But you, beloved, build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith, continually progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher.

 

How do you build yourself up in the faith and continue to make progress? By reading the Bible and spending time with Jesus!

 

Pray in the Holy Spirit.  (With Tongues or under the Influence of the Holy Spirit)
Keep yourselves in the love of God (Remember and reflect on how much you are loved! Don't let the enemy tell you otherwise)
Waiting anxiously and looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which will bring you to eternal life! (Keep looking up!)

 

Now, what does Jude say to do with those who have gone astray?

 

• And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 
• Save others, snatching them out of the fire
• On some, have mercy but with fear, loathing even the clothing spotted and polluted by their shameless immoral freedom.
  

In other words,  try to help those who are doubting or caught up in heresy, even to the point of yanking them out of whatever false theology they are following. But if they still won't listen, stay away from them, fearing the deception they are under, for we know that we are equally vulnerable to the lies of the enemy.

 I'll leave you with Jude's final verse. 

 

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling or falling into sin, and to present you unblemished, blameless and faultless, in the presence of His glory with triumphant joy and unspeakable delight,  to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, before all time and now and forever. Amen.