Contend for the Faith

Jude 1-3 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. 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.
 
JUDE was a half-brother of Jesus. Note he does not say that here. He is a servant of Jesus Christ. He is also the brother of James, another so of Mary and Joseph. James wrote the epistle, James, and he was a leader of the early church in Jerusalem. Jude wrote this letter about 50 AD, much earlier than John’s letters. Verse 3 is Jude’s purpose for the letter: He was eager to write and rejoice in their salvation. But the church was under attack from people who taught all forms of sexual conduct was appropriate in God’s grace.
   Jude wrote to help Jesus’ church contend for Jesus’ truth. Jude 4: For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
   Several times Jude will use examples from history to prove God’s absolute authority. When he wrote of men whose condemnation was written about long ago, he referred to God’s judgment on false prophets as written in Jeremiah 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. God condemns those who pretend to speak in his name.
   The godless men taught that God’s grace was a license for immorality. The Greek root of this phrase refers to an open and excessive indulgence in sexual sin. To these people, freedom in Christ was fulfill any fleshly desire without rebuke. In Jesus, they claimed, the Christian is above moral law.
   We know this type of “freedom” still deeply infects the churches. In the name of Jesus’ love, churches approve and administer gay and lesbian “marriage” and accept other sexually immoral (Revelation 21:8) perversions. To teach such evil is acceptable or tolerable is to commit the greatest sin of all – to deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
   Jude dismisses the false teachers, and he elevates Jesus to be the only Sovereign. There is no other authority. Peter and all the apostles have made that clear: Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
   The world contends against Jesus. We are saved to contend for him. Be faithful against the corruption that threatens your church and your family. It is a pandemic that threatens our souls. WE must inoculate our hearts with a deep injection of God’s inspired, inerrant Word.