One person commented that this letter of Jude is the most neglected book of the Bible.
! You're about to hear as I read some very obscure references.
! It's going to quote in two places writings that are not even from the Bible.
And it's difficult in the message and the tone.
A pastor named Thomas Schreiner commented this short letter, however,
should not be ignored. Some of the most beautiful statements of God's sustaining grace here shine
with an even greater brilliance when contrasted with the false teachers who had departed from
the Christian faith. So hear this, the word of God, his inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear,
sufficient, powerful word for you, his people. Jude 1 through 19. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus
Christ and brother of James. To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in
Jesus Christ, mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 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. For certain men have crept in
unnoticed who long ago who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turned the
grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 5, 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, and the angels who did not keep their proper domain,
but left their own abode. He has reserved in everlasting chains under the darkness for the
judgment of the great day. As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, in a similar manner to
these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an
example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject
authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil when he
disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said,
the Lord rebuke you. But these speak evil of whatever they do not know, and whatever they know naturally,
like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them, for they have gone after
the way of Cain. They have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion
of Korah. 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. Now Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied
about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment
on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed
in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
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. The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever. Please pray with me.
Oh God, you love your church so much that you gave your only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to live and die for your church.
You call your people your beloved. You love your people so much that you won't let them go astray.
You will give us all that we need, Lord, to withstand temptations, and you warn us so clearly from your word.
Lord, we pray, Lord, that your spirit will do just that. Lovingly apply this truth and safeguard this precious little congregation that you purchased with your own blood.
Do this for Christ's sake and for your own glory, for our good. We pray and trust you that you will. Amen.
Amen.
The tone of this letter is a tone of urgency.
It's likely not taking up a lot of parchment.
If you look on the back of your sermon notes, you'll see the structure is very purposeful.
It's extremely eloquent by putting pairs of three together, these little triads in almost every verse.
And the purpose of this letter is to warn God's people, to safeguard God's people, to give you the encouragement that you and I need to make it to the very end, along with the assurance that it is God who keeps us.
The people of God, the church, is only one generation away from extinction.
The sense of urgency is real, but the comfort is that it is Christ who will keep his church.
And one of the means God gives his people to be preserved and to be kept in the faith to the very end is one another.
It's the church itself as the church contends for the faith.
Would you look at verse three?
This is the great message that is the antidote to the warning.
Contend earnestly for the faith.
To contend.
It's a Greek term that was used also in athletic settings.
Paul described that, you know, pressing on, contending earnestly to the very end.
It has a connotation of agonizing.
It's not going to be easy.
It's going to be extremely hard.
You will sweat.
You will need help.
This is the Christian faith.
This is what it means to take up your cross church.
Individually and together as one body.
Contend for the faith.
Contend is an older word, but we're wise to use it and keep it as part of our language in the church.
I think contend means to fight for your faith.
It means to wrestle for the preservation of the gospel truth that you received.
You are stewards of this.
Contend earnestly together.
Contend for the faith.
So, I want us to walk through this.
It may seem like I'm jumping around a bit, but I do this for a couple of reasons.
One is the structure.
As you see in the back of your sermon notes, the structure is very purposeful and very thoughtfully put together.
And the second reason is because I want us to be able to understand the relevance and to apply what God has given even to us in our lives today.
So, I hope to do this with these five questions that we will ask of the text and then ask the spirit to show us what does this mean for us as we bring this truth into our lives and our congregation.
The first question is this.
Who is charged to contend?
Who is it that receives this order, this charge by God, the Holy Spirit, contend for the faith?
Look at verse one.
The author introduces himself, Jude, a bond servant.
The word is slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James.
Since James needs no further introduction, he probably was James, the brother of the Lord Jesus.
So, when he says Jude or Judas, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ being God, the son and son of God, born of Mary.
They would share Mary as their mother.
Growing up, watching the Lord Jesus himself live a perfect, righteous life.
James, we are told, along with the other brothers of Jesus, did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah throughout his life.
In Mark 6, 3, we are told that they were questioning, these other men were questioning,
is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, most likely our Jude here and Simon,
are not his sisters here with us?
So, they were offended at Jesus.
He's such a common man.
We know this guy.
We watched him grow up.
In John 7, 5, we read that even the brothers of Jesus did not believe in him.
In 1 Corinthians 15, verses 6 and 7, we read then that this is what happened.
The finished work of Jesus Christ on earth.
And then our Lord Jesus resurrected and appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive.
Then he appeared to James.
And then to all the apostles.
So our Lord Jesus, in his resurrected, glorified body, appeared.
And even his brothers, James and Jude, now believed in him.
And we're told in Acts 1.14 that it was that group that was praying and waiting for the Holy Spirit to be poured out.
It included the brothers, or we could say the half-brothers of Jesus, most likely James and Jude.
And now, he knows this great salvation.
He is a bondservant, a slave.
One through whom the Holy Spirit is going to breathe out Scripture for the church.
Now, what about the recipients, if that's the author?
We have no way of knowing this letter's destination.
Guessing is unnecessary because nothing in the interpretation of the letter is based on its destination.
So we continue on.
What else do we know about the recipients?
And who has this charge to contend for the faith?
Well, look at verse 2.
He says, mercy, peace, and we can put together loving sanctification.
Be multiplied to you.
He's greeting them with the usual formality, but also reminding them that in Christ you have what you need.
With this horrible crisis that your church is in the middle of.
You have, as Christians, you have mercy from God.
You have peace from God.
And you have a promise of loving sanctification from God.
Think about that.
With these intruders coming into the church, mercy from God is needed for true Christians to be able to resist these false doctrines.
And also to show mercy to one another and to others.
They need mercy and we need mercy.
The church then and today also needed peace from God.
Peace was necessary because this false teachers had come into the congregation and caused division and disrupted their peace.
They need God to once again fill this church with his presence and settle their souls in his peace just as much as we do.
They needed and we need today the loving sanctification that God gives his people.
Because there were men teaching false doctrine and tempting God's people to become worldly.
To blaspheme God's with their words and with their lives.
Now he gets right to the point of his letter in verse 3.
He says, beloved.
Remembering, this is my audience.
It's the beloved ones of God.
Those that Christ purchased.
I was very eager to write to you concerning our common salvation.
That's his audience.
These are the ones charged to contend.
Those that share a common salvation.
Who have been saved from sin and death and hell and Satan by Jesus Christ himself.
So who is it that should contend?
Those who know this salvation.
And those who are eager to talk about this great salvation we share together in Jesus Christ.
To be specific, it's not just the job of a church officer.
It's not just the job of a teacher or of a dad or a mom to contend for the faith.
It's everyone who knows Jesus as your savior.
We are the ones who he says we have been called and sanctified and preserved.
We are the ones who must contend for the faith.
So it is the job of the church to present every member mature and fully equipped.
Being ready, every one of us, to give an account for the faith that is within us.
So your job as a Christian is to celebrate this together with one another.
To encourage one another in our common salvation.
And by doing this, we are contending for the faith.
It's a healthy church when this gets to be our focus.
The glorious salvation Christ accomplished for us as it's given to us in his word.
This is the faith that's been handed down to the church through each generation.
And that's how God keeps us one generation after another.
All right, so that's the first question.
Who is charged to contend?
The answer, everyone who belongs to Jesus.
Everyone who is saved.
Everyone who is a Christian.
The next question, why must the church contend?
Let's look at verse 4 together.
Here's why you must contend.
For certain men have crept in unnoticed,
who long ago were marked out for this condemnation.
Ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into lewdness and denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must contend every single member, every single believer,
having received this power and this duty from Christ himself,
out of love for the church.
We must beware.
There are false teachers.
These are intruders, impostors who will creep in among a congregation.
Martin Luther saw this happening in his day in the 1500s.
He says God's people can so easily be gently and unsuspectingly led astray.
We need to be very careful of what sources are discipling us.
Are we being discipled through our earbuds?
Someone you don't see their life and their practice from far away.
We're to be discipled within the local church.
We're to have discipling relationships and to give our lives to his church, to his cause.
It's a view of the church that is seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness together, joyfully.
We can so easily be led astray, even gently and unsuspectingly, every single one of us.
There are people who will come in or who will portray themselves either in person or online or something like that
as being ones that the church ought to warmly, generously welcome as Christ commands us
and as this congregation is very good at doing.
However, over time, some of those will expose themselves as intruders.
They're not sheep at all.
They don't know the shepherd's voice.
They disguise themselves as sheep, but as Christ warned, underneath they are ravenous wolves.
And rather than seeking for God and his kingdom and realizing their need of God's mercy upon their lives,
they will be very quick to show no mercy to others.
Rather than enjoying peaceful fellowship, they will cause division and strife in nearly every relationship.
Rather than being filled with God's love, sanctifying love of Christ and spilling that over into those relationships,
it will become very evident that these intruders are lovers only of themselves.
And rather than rehearsing the shared faith that's been handed down to the church and celebrated by the church over the centuries,
these will be intruders who hate God's truth.
They hate the gospel.
They're very suspicious of what the church interprets as God's clear word.
They'll be very quick to cast aside what the church has received and handed down.
These are people who don't know God.
They are not of God's people.
They are a harm to the church.
We are to be warned.
We are to warn them.
This command, contend for the faith.
It says, be alert, be aware.
It's a call to arms.
It's a call to action.
That's why we must contend as a church.
Number three, against whom must the church contend?
Now we have the attributes of these intruders.
Look at verse eight.
These descriptions are so loaded.
Everyone is a pregnant picture.
Verse eight, these dreamers defile the flesh, reject the authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.
So they're dreamers having these ideas and these thoughts in their own head that could have come from anywhere, including a demonic whisper, rather than the true revelation of God given in the scripture and preserved for the church.
They defile the flesh.
You'll know them by their fruit, Christ said.
They reject authority.
By the way, who is the source of any authority in the church but the king of the church, Jesus Christ himself?
There is no authority unless Christ himself delegates it.
The church is Christ's church.
He's the head.
And he sets his church in order.
The next phrase is a difficult one.
They speak evil of dignitaries is one translation.
The word for word in the Greek is closer to they blaspheme doxos, which is literally glories.
And it's seldom used in the scripture.
It's hard to understand.
But the verb to blaspheme or to harmfully tear something down with your words, it's also used by the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1, starting at verse 18.
Then it's used in verse 20.
Let me read that for you.
He's writing in the context of the order of the church speaking to Timothy, but it's an open letter for the whole church to read and understand.
This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.
Of whom are these two men whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
The same verb used in our passage right here in Jude, verse 8.
Picking up at verse 10, we get more of these attributes of the blasphemers.
These intruders, they speak evil of whatever they do not know.
Remember, they don't know Christ.
They don't have the spirit of God.
They were never called by God.
They were never saved and they're never being preserved and kept by Jesus.
And yet they're speaking evil of God and his gospel.
Whatever they do know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
And where are such impostors sometimes found?
Look at verse 12.
It may be shocking.
These are spots in your love feasts while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.
Where can these impostors be found?
They can be found taking the bread and the fruit of the wine from the sacred table of our Lord Jesus Christ in any church.
That's why they are intruders that creep in unnoticed.
That's why the church needs to contend so carefully for this faith.
How else does Jude describe these intruders?
Verse 12 continues.
They are clouds without water.
If you live in the desert, in the Middle East or Asia Minor, and you're in an agrarian economy where everything depends on how well the crop is doing from year to year, and it's dry, and you see this cloud forming, everyone should get their hopes up and look forward to it.
Our dear friends told me that in the great state of Nevada, when you would see clouds forming, you get excited and you run out and you just enjoy the rain because you don't get it very often.
And so these men are clouds without water.
You get your hopes up.
You start to chase them and want to receive whatever they're going to give out, and there's nothing, nothing there.
And what's more, when the wind pushes in, they get scattered and dispersed.
They don't last.
Next, he says, they are late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots.
You can't be more dead than that if you're a tree.
Not only do they fail to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which only the Holy Spirit can bear in a person, they're twice dead.
They're dead in their own sin and trespasses.
They're dead in the sin they inherited from Adam.
They are uprooted.
They will perish.
They will be kindling for the fire.
In verse 13, these are raging waves of the sea.
Remember, the sea and the waves, that's a picture of death and judgment.
Think of the flood once again.
That's where these men come from.
They're brought up from the depths of death and hell and judgment like a wave.
And what do they produce?
A froth, a foam.
It's like that cloud that's soon going to dissipate.
They have no substance.
Foaming up their own shame.
He says they're wandering stars.
Well, to crisscross across the continents and the Mediterranean Sea to get from one church and one part of the known world at the time to another,
you get on a boat and you get out into the high seas and you have no point of reference other than at nighttime.
You can look at the constellations.
Why is that?
Because they stay fixed.
Now, to call them a wandering star, it means you don't know how to navigate.
You have accidentally locked your sights instead of on a true north star you've locked onto a planet.
And the planet's wandering.
And it's going to send you way off course and shipwreck your faith.
Don't navigate after such men, such intruders.
Their teaching, their attitude, and their lives will lead many off course.
For them is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
That's a terrifying image of eternal damnation.
And it's necessary out of love for the church, the beloved.
These planets that are wandering that way, they need to go away.
They need to become darkness.
They need to stop leading God's people away.
Their light needs to be put out because God is just.
And they've done enough harm and caused enough injury to God's beloved.
It doesn't stop.
Look at verse 16.
How else can these intruders be described?
These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts.
They mouth great swelling words, flattering people to take advantage.
They say, we don't need to give God's people God's word.
Let me give you myself.
Here's all my words.
And we're warned of this way back in Proverbs 28, for those who forsake the law of God, praise the wicked.
But such as keep the law, keep the word of God, contend with evil.
That's the warning.
These are the ones against whom the church must contain.
It's so common, but it's also so serious.
Charles Spurgeon wrestled with this, as every generation has.
And here were his reflections.
In the 1800s, he wrote, new views are not old truth in a better dress, but deadly errors with which we ought to have no fellowship.
I cannot endure false doctrine, however neatly it may be put before me.
Would you have me eat poisoned food because it is served in a gilded plate?
We need to be warned.
We must contend against false teachers and those who undermine the word of God and the gospel of God in Jesus Christ.
Now look at verse 17.
He says, but you, beloved.
Here's the contrast.
Remember the words.
So don't listen to their empty foam, their flattering lips.
Don't listen to that.
It's going to lead you off course.
You need to remember the words of God.
And he's being very specific with what he cites next.
In verse 17.
The words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Would you please turn so you can see this for yourself to 2 Peter chapter 2.
What were these words spoken before?
Some translations say the prediction of the apostles.
In 2 Peter chapter 2.
A chapter which runs parallel to Jude.
One reinforcing the other.
A double witness of how important this is for a church to be careful.
Let me read verses 1 through 3 for us.
Most likely this is the same audience.
Being warned.
There will be false teachers among you.
Who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.
Even denying the Lord who bought them.
Bring on themselves swift destruction.
And many will follow their destructive ways.
Because of the way of truth.
It will be blasphemed.
But by covetousness.
They will exploit you with deceptive words.
And know that for a long time their judgment has not been idle.
And their destruction does not slumber.
Now jump down to verse 3.
Verse 3.
You can follow in 2 Peter.
And let me read Jude verse 18.
He said.
The apostles told you before.
That there would be mockers.
In the last time.
Who would walk according to their own.
Ungodly lusts.
So you see the language is identical.
Jude is telling the church.
You were warned that this would happen.
I'm here to tell you.
Those intruders are among you right now.
Contend for the faith now.
Stop putting this off.
You were warned.
And now you're in the middle of it.
You're going to need mercy.
And peace.
And loving sanctification.
But God will keep you.
You'll make it through this.
You can turn back to Jude.
And while you do that.
Let me read another parallel passage.
Ephesians.
Actually Acts 20.
It's the elders in Ephesus.
Acts 20.
29.
For I know this.
Paul told those elders at the church in Ephesus.
That after my departure.
Savage wolves will come in among you.
Not sparing the flock.
Also from among yourselves.
Men will rise up.
Speaking perverse things.
To draw away the disciples after themselves.
That's their goal.
Is to get people to follow them.
Their goal is to get as many followers as they can.
And so now Jude announces to the same audience.
And to all the churches that will read this as scripture soon.
And for centuries to come.
Beware.
Of apostates.
Some who pretended and professed to believe in Jesus.
And have heard it all.
And even been welcomed at the Lord's Supper.
And they are teaching a gospel that is false.
Jude says in verse 19.
These are sensual persons who cause divisions.
Not having the spirit.
And Paul in Ephesians 6.28 wrote.
Therefore take heed of yourselves.
And all the flock.
To the church in Ephesus in Acts 20.
Among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
To shepherd the church of God.
Which he purchased with his own blood.
So the command.
Is to protect the flock of Christ.
How do we know who is the flock of Christ?
How do we know who are those.
That the elders are going to give an account to Christ for?
Well using the pattern of history.
And the church.
Using the confessions of faith.
That the church has worked out.
To clearly capture.
What God has given in his word for his church.
And using in our case.
Our own church constitution.
This is affirmed with church membership.
Church membership.
Is the way that the church does this.
By involving every member.
In this ability to read a testimony.
To get to know those who will be joining as members.
To publicly affirm and celebrate God's saving work.
And also to contend for the faith.
When needed.
If you're united to Christ.
You have a duty.
To contend.
You have.
You have your own soul.
The well-being of your.
Your family.
Your household.
Your loved ones.
Those you love within the church.
It's your duty then.
As a Christian.
To become.
A member of a church.
To be involved.
To affirm this.
To be active.
To care.
To become equipped.
And for those who are.
Set apart as officers.
You need to know.
Who are the souls.
That Christ has trusted to me.
Who is this flock?
This is an important charge.
For every local church.
Including ours.
Well what I see next.
Is how the church ought to contend.
And it's really Jude giving us.
His own example.
He's doing.
What he's doing is.
Showing the church.
What they need to remember.
They need some reminders.
And he's going to bring it all to bear.
The first thing is.
Remember.
God's past judgments.
And then also remember.
That God does.
What he says.
He will do.
So notice here.
I'm going to look at verse 5.
With you.
God judged unbelief.
In the wilderness.
In verse 5.
He wrote.
I want to remind you.
This is how we contend.
We remind one another.
From God's word.
Though you once knew this.
Now you've forgotten it.
But you need to remember.
That the Lord.
Having saved the people.
Out of the land of Egypt.
Afterward.
Destroyed those.
Who did not believe.
Church.
Remember.
God judges.
Unbelief.
He's done it before.
And he will do it again.
Unbelief is serious.
Here's a second Old Testament reminder.
God judged.
Pride.
In heaven.
God judged.
Pride.
In heaven.
Look at verse 6.
The angels.
Who did not keep their proper domain.
But left.
Their own abode.
God has reserved.
In everlasting chains.
Under darkness.
For the judgment.
Of the great day.
The Lord created angels.
And these angels.
A portion of them.
Rebelled against him.
And they.
Became the fallen angels.
They were proud.
They were.
Discontent.
They led a rebellion.
Against their creator.
And God has reserved.
For them.
Everlasting.
Chains.
Under darkness.
For the judgment.
Of his great day.
And the third Old Testament.
Reminder.
Is that God judged.
Immorality.
With fire.
Would you look at verse 7.
As Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the cities around them.
In a similar manner.
To these.
Having given themselves over.
To sexual immorality.
And gone after.
Strange flesh.
This means that they are.
Living their lives.
With their bodies.
In a way that's.
Outside of God's.
Created design.
And what did God do?
They suffered.
The vengeance.
Of eternal fire.
He poured down.
Fire from heaven.
As an example.
Of the judgment.
That will come.
On the last day.
God judged.
Immorality.
With fire.
Pastor.
Schreiner.
Commented again.
That the message.
Of judgment.
In Jude.
Strikes many.
In our modern world.
As intolerant.
Unloving.
And contrary.
To the message.
Of love.
Proclaimed elsewhere.
In the New Testament.
Maybe you're.
Conflicted.
In wrestling.
With that as well.
He goes on.
To write.
That Jude.
Is especially.
Relevant.
For the church.
Today.
Because our churches.
Are prone.
To sentimentality.
We suffer.
From moral breakdown.
And too often.
Fail.
To pronounce.
A definitive.
Word of judgment.
Why?
Because we have.
An inadequate.
Definition.
Of love.
Love.
The words.
The Holy Spirit.
Breathed out.
Through Jude.
Are warnings.
To beloved.
Believers.
Look at verse 3.
He calls them beloved.
Look again at verse 17.
This is how the church is.
Addressed.
Beloved church.
Of God.
You will warn.
And you will do your best.
To safeguard.
And equip.
Your beloved church.
Church.
And that's a.
Robust view.
Of God's love.
Well those.
Three Old Testament.
Examples.
Of coming judgment.
Have a very different tone.
Than this tone of love.
For the church.
Calvin pointed out.
There are two voices.
To one voice.
For the sheep.
And one voice.
For the wolves.
And that's appropriate.
Because God is a good.
Shepherd.
Someone pointed out.
That God.
That false doctrine.
Is a deadly poison.
That must be identified.
Labeled.
And put far away.
From God's sheep.
Those who oppose the truth.
Are the divisive ones.
And when that's happening.
Within a church.
When there is.
False teaching brought in.
Something contrary.
To scripture.
It's the job.
Of every believer.
To contend.
For the faith.
No Christian.
Can sit idly by.
And let that happen.
You can't do that.
In good conscience.
It's going to be hard.
But it's necessary.
And it's out of love.
And verse 11.
Is really.
The center.
Of this entire letter.
It's the message.
In three.
Swift blows.
What's the message.
Of this letter.
Woe to those.
Who oppose God.
Verse 11.
What he tells us next.
Is what they do.
Their motive for doing it.
And their fate.
Look at verse 11.
Here's what they do.
They have gone.
In the way of Cain.
What is it that Cain did?
He approached God.
And worshipped God.
His own way.
Rather than the way.
That pleased God.
And his contempt.
Grew.
Into hatred.
For God's true worshippers.
That's what these divisive.
Intruders do.
What is the motive.
Of such apostates.
He says that next.
In verse 11.
They have run greedily.
In the error.
Of Balaam.
For profit.
Balaam was a false prophet.
He was more interested.
In earning a little extra money.
And he was willing.
To give a false prophecy.
To get that.
That's their motive.
It's to feed themselves.
And finally.
What is the fate.
Of these intruders.
Verse 11.
Tells us.
They perished.
In the rebellion.
Of Korah.
Well Korah.
Is a reference.
To.
Moses and Aaron.
Leading the people.
Through the wilderness.
And a group.
Standing up against them.
And calling a whole.
Assembly together.
To oppose.
The path.
And the direction.
Of God's people.
Through the wilderness.
Grumbling.
And wishing.
They had the luxuries.
Of life.
Back under slavery.
And what God did.
Is he.
Buried them.
He opened up the earth.
And the earth.
Ate.
And swallowed them up.
That's the fate.
Of those.
Who oppose God.
He also gives.
Two sources.
That are even.
Outside of the Bible.
I think mostly.
For cultural.
Stylistic purposes.
He's being.
Persuasive.
Pulling it all to bear.
We don't need.
To understand.
Much about those.
Other than.
The point.
He's making.
That's what's.
The gift.
To the church.
In verse nine.
He says.
Michael.
The archangel.
And contending.
With the devil.
When he disputed.
About the body.
Of Moses.
Dared not bring.
Against him.
A reviling accusation.
But said.
The Lord.
Rebuke you.
So how do we contend.
As a church.
We warn.
We remind.
We minister.
God's word.
And it's God.
Who brings.
The judgment.
That's the first reference.
From outside of scripture.
The second one.
Is in verse 14.
Now Enoch.
The seventh.
From Adam.
Prophesied.
About.
These men.
Also saying.
Behold.
The Lord.
Comes with.
Ten.
Thousands.
Of his saints.
To execute.
Judgment on all.
To convict.
All.
Who are ungodly.
Among them.
Of all their.
Ungodly deeds.
Which they have committed.
In an ungodly way.
Of all the harsh things.
Which ungodly.
Sinners.
Have spoken.
Against.
God.
Four times.
Their.
Ungodliness.
Is highlighted.
In the message.
Is that.
God.
Will certainly judge.
Ungodly.
Intruders.
Who are.
Attempting to corrupt.
His church.
Well.
For what must.
The church contend.
This is what I want to.
Leave us with today.
What is it that we.
As Christians.
As church members.
Are charged.
To contend.
For.
Would you look back.
One more time.
At verse three.
Jude says.
I found it necessary.
To write to you.
Exhorting you.
To contend.
Earnestly.
For the faith.
Which was once for all.
Delivered.
How is it that God.
Delivered the faith.
To his church.
The Holy Spirit.
Revealed.
And captured.
In scripture.
What God has done.
In redemptive history.
The Holy Spirit.
Breathed.
Out.
The work of God.
The glorious.
Salvific.
Work of God.
And preserved it in scripture.
He delivered it to the church.
The church.
Joyfully received.
The old and the new testament.
As the word of God.
Preserving for them.
The acts of God.
To save them.
It is through the prophets.
And the apostles.
This is.
The revelation of God.
For the salvation of his people.
The church.
Receives this.
As a gift from God.
We contend for the faith.
That's contained.
In the pages of scripture.
This faith.
All of the doctrines.
That God has revealed.
All of the truth.
That fits together.
In perfect harmony.
Revealing to us.
Who God is.
And how we can belong to him.
Through the work of his son.
Jesus.
This system.
Of truth.
This is what we are to use.
To disciple one another.
To grow in maturity.
This is what we are to understand.
Better and better.
And better and better.
In this life.
Within the church.
And for all eternity.
We do this in as many ways.
As possible that we can.
We come together.
In the name of Jesus.
On the day he set apart.
We want to be hungry.
To learn and grow.
And as we are reading the word.
We are asking one another.
Who have the Holy Spirit.
Help me understand this.
What does God say?
What does this mean?
And what should this mean in my life.
And in yours.
And in our church.
church.
If Jesus Christ is your head.
He calls you and me.
To be vitally connected.
To his local body.
It's going to be impossible.
To contend well.
For the faith.
All alone.
The local body.
Celebrates.
The saints.
The beloved.
Through membership.
And it's Jesus Christ.
Who joins new members.
To his body.
When the congregation.
Gets to vote.
And hear this testimony.
And hear someone else.
Bear witness.
Of this faith.
That's been handed down.
That they've received.
And embraced.
It's a celebration.
Of what God has done.
The power is his.
And the salvation.
Belongs to him alone.
For that same reason.
Jesus Christ.
Can remove.
Anyone.
He will remove.
False teachers.
From true churches.
One way or the other.
Regardless of whether or not.
They hold an office.
And he does this.
By his church as well.
His church affirming.
If a person.
Is not.
A follower of Christ.
Or is.
Is no longer.
Professing this faith.
Or if a person.
Is promoting themselves.
And their ideas.
And their dreams.
Rather than the word of God.
It's the duty of the church.
To remove.
Such people.
Jesus Christ.
Gives.
Responsibility.
And he delegates.
Some authority.
To officers.
Within his church.
To keep a watch.
Over their own lives.
And over the flock.
But it's a.
Limited authority.
It's a declarative authority.
Only goes as far as.
The contents.
Of the word of God.
To declare what.
He has revealed.
To his people.
No more.
No less.
To do their best.
To rule.
Over his people.
As a humble shepherd.
In a way that's pleasing.
To him.
Under shepherds of Christ.
The great shepherd.
Keeping watch.
And doing our best.
To provide.
That order.
And even formative.
And corrective discipline.
When it's needed.
And when it is needed.
Corrective discipline.
Looks like.
Humble.
Calling back.
To Christ.
It's a rescue mission.
And it's an invitation.
To all the saints.
All those who are beloved.
To have a part.
In speaking truth.
And ministering.
And proclaiming.
The gospel.
Of free salvation.
In Christ.
Once again.
To this brother.
Or sister.
Or maybe someone.
Who never knew them.
And needs to know him.
For the first time.
So.
Reformed Heritage Church.
Because God has first loved us.
Contend.
For our faith.
We have the scriptures.
We understand the scriptures.
Even through these historic creeds.
Which the church has affirmed.
The truth of God.
And our congregation.
Through our confession of faith.
Faith.
And I know we're praying about.
Other needs.
For safeguarding this congregation.
Perhaps through.
A regional association.
Of churches.
That hold to these same.
Expressions of God's truth.
In his word.
This is important.
But it's a blessing.
And this is the antidote.
That he has given.
That we will contend.
For the faith.
My prayer for you.
Has been simply.
That his Holy Spirit.
In his.
Gentle.
Loving way.
Will guide each one of you.
What is the next step.
Of obedience.
For me.
As a follower of Christ.
Not for man.
But in your own walk with him.
That you will.
Obey him.
And be equipped.
To defend.
And fight.
For the gospel of Jesus.
As a member of his church.
Let's pray.
Oh Lord.
None of us can.
Keep ourselves.
But we throw ourselves.
Once again.
On you.
Who is able.
To keep us.
To the very end.
And you trust.
That you promise.
You will do this.
We pray Lord.
That you will equip us.
More and more.
I feel so limited.
I need your help.
Lord.
In every way.
We need the help.
Of our fellow believers.
And we need the help.
Of other.
True.
Biblical churches.
Thank you.
That you have provided.
This for us.
And you show us.
Lord.
For each of us.
For myself.
I trust you will.
For each one.
What it is you're calling us.
To do.
In obedience.
To Christ.
To keep what you've commanded.
Please guide us.
Please strengthen us.
Give us all the energy.
And power.
To obey.
It can only come from you.
Amen.