If you'd open your copy of God's Word now to Jude. It's the second to the last book in the Bible. It's on page 1,216 of your Pew Bibles. It's that short epistle. Begin our study tonight reading the first four verses. Let's give attention to God's Word. Jude. a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people. who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. As far as the reading of God's word, amen. Please be seated. Would you pray with me? God and Father, as we come now to this short epistle, we pray, Lord, that you would work powerfully in our hearts. This is a full letter. So much richness within it. Help us not to miss any of it. But to, Father, chew on it. to allow it to penetrate our hearts as the Spirit takes it up. Father, change us tonight. Father, make us to be more like Christ. To long to see Him. Father, to set our thoughts upon Him, the things above. We ask this in His name. Amen. In Acts chapter 17, there is a portion there recorded for us of Paul's sermon at the Areopagus. If you remember, he's in Greece, and he had gone throughout the city, and he had, as he records, or as Dr. Luke records for us, he observed objects of the worship of the people there in Athens. what he observed were idols. And so as Paul stands in the midst of those who were looking to hear new things, he began to tell them about that which they didn't know. He began to contend for the faith. He began to tell them about the living God, the one who does not live in temples made by man, the one who is not served by human hands needing nothing, who gives life and breath to mankind, the one in whom we live and move and have our being. Paul was contending for the faith. Tonight, Tonight, as we begin our study of this short letter, this letter entitled in our English Bibles, Jude, we see those words used, contending for the faith. As we begin, a few words of introduction of who it was that wrote this letter to the extent that we know. The first verse tells us But he was a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. As one commentator puts it, Jude was a common name. It was the firstborn of Judah. He was also named that. The designation Jude, according to this commentator, is the English variant of Judas. And this one identifies himself as the brother of James, who was the brother of Jesus Christ. James, a leader in the church. And now this one, Jude, is writing this. And supposedly, we might think that he was closely associated with James and certainly had been with his brother Jesus. He's not an apostle. There is no mention of this Jude as an apostle. There is mention of a Judas, the son of James, but not the brother of James. We don't know much more. But we do know that he was a servant of Jesus Christ. That's how he identifies himself. That's his first identifier that he sets forth for us. He's a servant of Jesus Christ. Whether or not an apostle, whether or not related to the Lord Jesus Christ, the most significant identifier for him as he opens this letter is he was a servant. As the Greek lexicon puts it, someone who's under someone else's control. Someone who's subject to another, fully committed to another. Slave, in a sense. As we were studying the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus recognized that no one can serve two masters, for he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. There are those two descriptors of one who's serving, truly serving another, loves the one he serves, and he's devoted to the one he serves. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, that you were bought with a price. Do not become bondservants of men. The idea is we are now bondservants of Christ. We serve the one who's bought us. And again, in Romans, Paul, the inspired apostle, writes, you are slaves of the one whom you obey. either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. Those who confess Christ as Lord and Savior are servants of Christ, slaves to Him, in a sense. Now, we in this country associate negative connotations with this title of slave or servant. But in scripture, it's very different when we're talking about Christ. It's actually very positive. Peter writes in his first letter, live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God. And Paul writes, you've been set free from sin and become slaves of God. These are good things. Things that we should desire. That title, a servant of Christ, would not be looked upon with favor in this country today. But can you take it and use it for yourself? It's a question we all need to examine our hearts. But could you introduce yourself this way? And I would say, yes, of course. What a way to introduce yourself to one you just met. Hi, I'm Chris. I've been set free from sin, and now I'm bound to the Lord Jesus Christ as his servant. Well, not only a servant of Jesus Christ, but one who loved the people. That's certainly how Jude is identifying himself. He's writing to those who are called, beloved in God, the Father, and kept for Jesus. May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. A common greeting, but this is coming from Jude's heart. This is his desire. These to whom he is writing would increase, would have more mercy, more peace, more love, and not just a bit more, but that it would be multiplied. Jude has a pastor's heart, a shepherd's heart, and he's conveying that even in his greeting to the people. May all these things, these good things, mercy, peace, and love be added to you in multiplication. Not just a little bit. He cared deeply for these brothers and sisters wherever they were. And we really don't know. There's no indication to the geographic location to these saints who he was writing to. We just don't know. But as Kiddemaker puts it, the recipients of this letter must have been well versed in the scriptures. For Paul, excuse me, for Jude, uses portions of the Old Testament, at least allusions to it. as he refers to things such as Sodom and Gomorrah, angels, facts concerning the Exodus. He refers to Cain and Balaam and Korah. Only people who were associated with and knew the Old Testament scriptures would appreciate what Judah's writing of. So he was definitely writing to Jews. but he was also writing to those who were kept for Jesus Christ, Jewish Christians. And so he provides that most important descriptor of those to whom he was writing, beloved in God, the Father kept for Jesus Christ, those who were called Let's think of that for a moment, those who were called. We know that the call goes out, it's a universal call, but Jude is speaking about those who have been called to faith, in whom the universal call has been made effective by the work of the Spirit. Those who are called. He's writing to the beloved. Beloved in God the Father. As Paul write to those in Thessalonica, he wrote, we always give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord. He's writing to those who have been called out, been chosen, who've had the love of God placed upon them. He's writing to those who are kept. That is an interesting way he put it, kept for Jesus Christ. Jesus prays the high priestly prayer. He prays to the Father, keep them in your name which you've given me that they may be one even as we are one. He prayed for all of those whom the Father loved and he prayed that they would be kept. But Jesus also prayed that they would be able to see his glory. That each and every one of the elect would be with Jesus in glory to see his glory. kept for Jesus Christ. Well, that's the author, the most we know of him, and those are the recipients of the letter. Finally, we see the purpose for his writing there in verse 2, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. We think, well, that's just a greeting. No, no, that's his purpose. That's what Jude was aiming at. He wanted through this letter, through the contents of this letter, that they would grow, that they would indeed receive that mercy, that peace and love as they read through the contents of this letter. We should be fixing our minds upon that as we go through this letter, how many weeks it takes. I'm not sure, but that's his purpose. these people would grow, that they would have these graces of God, mercy, peace, and love poured out upon them in abundance. Tonight, as we begin this letter, I want us to see that the church is guarded as Christians contend for the faith. The church is guarded. as Christians contend for the faith. We'll see that in three points. The basis for contending. Secondly, the appeal to contend. And finally, the need to contend. You may be asking that question, why is this important for us tonight? Jude thought it was important. important enough to write this letter and important enough to shift from his original desire to writing about this, contending for the faith. Well, we begin then with the basis for contending. After the greeting, Jude begins the letter by stating that he was anxious to write to these believers about their common salvation. Look at verse three. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, and then he doesn't. I wanted to do this, but I'm gonna do something else. And he doesn't do it, at least not expressly. He was more concerned at that time to warn the people of God. But there's a very real sense in which he ultimately does write to them about their common salvation. He veils it, in a sense, as he warns them to be wary of these certain godless people who have intruded upon the church. But he does really, in a sense, write of this common salvation. It's a unique expression. common salvation. We might think for a moment that he'd be writing to them or wanting to write to them about their common faith. But he drills down a bit deeper and goes to the foundation of that faith and speaks of this common salvation, that common as a sense of that which is shared amongst brothers and sisters. Jude wanted to write about this salvation that was shared amongst true Christians, amongst brothers and sisters to whom he was writing. It's in that sense that it was common, a salvation which was the same. Not a similar salvation. I want to write to you about something that's similar. You might know a little bit about it. No, no. It wasn't that he wrote about something that might be different, but similar. No, he writes of a single, a common, a shared salvation. And so he drills down, so to speak. Isn't that what truly unites the followers of Jesus Christ? Isn't that what unites the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't that what brings us together this evening? As we come together as the body of Christ, we come to confess our common or our shared faith. And sometimes we use the words of scripture to do that. Sometimes, like tonight, we use the Westminster Standards to do that. But each and every occasion at the root of our shared or common confession is the salvation that we enjoy in the Lord Jesus Christ. The good news. And Jude knew that that was what united him with his brothers and sisters. He wanted to write to them about this shared or common salvation. He doesn't write of it expressly, but we can think of what he was thinking. He desired to speak of the purity of Jesus Christ and his perfect work on the cross at Calvary. He wanted to share with them his joy and his rejoicing over his knowledge, his belief, his assent, his trust and this singular way of being saved from his wretched sin. He wanted to write about Christ and his person and his work. He wanted to write about the father who who loved these so much that he would send his only eternally begotten son for them to die, to shed his blood in their place and then to cover each one of them with his righteousness. the purity of Jesus. That's what Jude desired to share. These dear ones, his brothers and sisters in Christ, he wanted to write of this common or shared salvation, which is at the root or foundation of their shared faith. That's then the basis for his letter, isn't it? This common salvation. That's the foundation of the faith, which he was to ask them now to contend for. Isn't that what unites us? This common salvation, this single truth that draws believers together in unity. There's so much in our lives as sinners saved by grace that can and does separate us. But it's a single thing which brings the children of God into the same place at the same time to do the same thing. It's our common salvation, which is centered upon the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God for that which unites us. It's Christ. That brings us then to the appeal to contend. Well, then here's the call. I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith." Jude was appealing. He was urging them strongly. That's what the word means. He was encouraging them. He was exhorting them. That's how the word is translated in other passages in 1 Thessalonians 2. We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God. That's what he's doing when he appeals to them. That's what Paul was doing, exhorting, encouraging, charging you. As the writer to the Hebrews writes in chapter 3, exhort one another every day as long as is called today. Encourage one another. Charge one another. As Webster's puts it, to excite or give strength or spirit or courage, incite by words, urge by arguments. That's what Judah's doing. He's appealing to his brothers and sisters He was telling him this was a duty. Jude was reminding these believers, most likely young, immature in the faith, yes, Jews, but probably not Christians for very long. I don't think anyone really was. He's telling them, he's explaining and encouraging and urging these believers that they had an obligation to contend for the faith and thus this appeal. He's urging them by arguments which will follow to contend for the faith. The same appeal comes to you tonight. You must hear it. It was not merely for those of Jude's time, and if possible, it is even more so for today. You hear the strong urging of this one, this brother of James, to be struck by it. to ask yourself whether I'm doing it. And this Jude was moved by the Spirit of Christ to write, even to you tonight, contend for the faith. That's the appeal. Well, what is it, this contending? The Greek lexicon explains it this way. It's to exert intense effort. That's strong language. Webster says to strive, to strive against, to struggle in opposition, to use earnest efforts. That's Jude's call. That's his appeal. Contend. He's calling those who are reading this to strive zealously, diligently, actively to defend, to promote or proclaim the truth of this faith. He wasn't promoting pacifism. He wasn't calling his brothers and sisters to remain silent and keep your faith to yourself. You might offend someone. No. He was not of the mind that the world should be left to itself and Christians should be over here in the corner out of sight No, contend, struggle in opposition against those who would deny the faith, exert intense effort on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ who gave you this faith. That's all caught up in that word, contend. That's what Jude meant. It's the call tonight to us, brothers and sisters, to be those who strive, who struggle in opposition, So many times we listen to the world as the world tells us, keep it to yourself. It's fine if you want to believe that. Just don't tell me about it. Jude says, no, contend. Exert intense effort on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. It struck me tonight that Christ is not here. He's at the right hand of his father. But he's given you this task. To contend earnestly. For the faith. Now, there's more to this. That Jude has given to us. Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Now he's defining what faith this is. If you're gonna contend, you must know what you're going to struggle in opposition for. You must know what you're exerting intense effort to tell others about. And so Jude provides this description, that was once for all delivered to the saints. There are a couple of elements, different elements here. First, once for all delivered, and then secondly, to the saints. That once for all is not crystal clear as to what he means. But I think ultimately, whether we take one or another, we're coming to the same conclusion. It may be that Jude's reference was to the truth of faith, the doctrine of faith being given or set forth fully and finally in scripture. But there'll be no modification, no change. Faith was this on this day, but now that faith has changed and it's over here, it's different on day 21. No. There'll be no modification, no change. There'll be no amendments. God is an unchanging God, and so his covenant of redemption is an unchanging covenant. Yet he provided one way of salvation through the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And that was true for Abraham, and Moses, and David, and Paul, and you. Enter by the narrow gate. He provided one way of salvation. And faith is the instrument of justification. Abraham believed God and it was concounted to him as righteousness. Faith doesn't change. The doctrine of faith doesn't change. The covenant of redemption doesn't change. The way of salvation does not change. It could also be a reference to the once in time atonement of Jesus Christ. Once for all delivered. It could be a reference to the crucifixion of our Lord. As the writer to the Hebrews puts it, Behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second, and by that we have been sanctified to the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Regardless, of the particular reference of Jude. The end is the same. There's one way of salvation. And it is by that faith that the Lord Jesus Christ has been once for all laid down in the word of God within this covenant of grace. Once for all. Once for all delivered. Did you see that? I found it necessary to write to you appealing to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Consider Judas, just for a moment. As he goes to the chief priests, the religious leaders of the day, he asks them, what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? To the chief priests, the religious leaders of the day did not have Jesus within their grasp. And so Judas delivered him over to them. He placed Jesus in their hands as he was betraying our Savior. It's that same idea with regard to faith. The concept of being delivered is that concept that includes the truth that the one who received what was delivered did not initially have it. The recipient lacked whatever it was that was being delivered. That's the idea. With faith before conversion, you didn't possess it. In fact, faith is that which you didn't even want before you were converted. Even if you did want it, faith was not that which you could grasp or possess in your own strength by your own will. True, saving faith is a work of the Spirit of Christ. It must be delivered. It must be given you. It's a gift for by grace you've been saved. And this is not of your own doing. It's the gift of God. Do you see why Jude used that word delivered? And it wasn't delivered to the world. You know, as Jesus prays the high priestly prayer to his heavenly father, he says, I'm praying for them. I'm not praying for the world. but for those whom you've given me. To the faith was delivered, not to the world, but to those God had chosen and has chosen and will choose, the children of God. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved is the power of God. You see, it couldn't be any other way. Delivered once for all to the saints. That's his appeal. That's what Jude is asking, is calling, even tonight, for us to be contenders, those who contend for this faith, that faith once for all delivered even to you tonight. That brings us to our third point, the need to contend. Now Jude tells his readers, this is what I'm telling you this for. This is why. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ." Here's the reason for his call to contend for the faith. Certain people have crept in unnoticed. Now Jude is gonna spend a significant portion of his letter describing these people. He's already done it in this one verse. You think, OK, what more do we need to know? Well, he's got more to tell us. Tonight, let's just suffice it to say that these certain people are designated for this condemnation. Long ago, they've been designated for it, for destruction. Ungodly people, those who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny Christ as master and Lord. was Jude's greatest concern for this letter. There's danger afoot. That's what he's saying. According to Jude, the people of God are unaware. Look at that word. They've crept in unnoticed. You don't know it, but there are people amongst you in your church right now who are not loving the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not following him. In fact, they deny him. And they're among you. They become part of the church. They're living with you. They're worshiping with you. They're fellowshipping with you. You, the true saints, those who are called, those who are beloved in God, the Father, those who are kept for Jesus Christ, the ungodly ones have crept in and you don't know it. And so he's pointing out the danger. The danger of associating with even fellowshipping with the ungodly. Think as the psalmist describes them. Why do the nation's rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords. Those are the people who've come into the church As Solomon writes Proverbs, he's warning. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. Isn't that what's going to happen when these ungodly people come into the church? Aren't they not going to be enticing the godly ones to sin with them? We can understand the peril of being in the company of those who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. What good could come from associating with those who deny the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, I'm not saying that we as a congregation, as the people of God, should not talk with people outside of the church. Of course we must. We must. The truth of the Lord Jesus Christ must be known and proclaimed, but that's not what Jude is speaking of. He's speaking of people who have come into the church who are now about to defile the church. How could Christ be exalted among these certain people who pursue the lust of the flesh and of the world? It's their greatest desire. So now we begin to understand Jude's concern. Yes, the church needs to be wary of allowing the ungodly to creep on in. Those who have been designated for condemnation As Paul writes to the church at Rome, Jacob, I love, but Esau I hated. The scripture says to Pharaoh for this very purpose, I've raised you up that I might show my power in you. My name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So he has mercy upon whoever he wills and he hardens whoever he wills. God does. Create those who will be destroyed. But the church must be diligent and diligent to listen for sincere confessions of faith before inviting and admitting people into membership, before admitting people to the table of the Lord. For just as dross must be removed from sylvia, the church needs to be kept pure from the ungodly, free from those who deny Jesus Christ as Lord. And then just as importantly, the voice of truth must be heard. It must stand out. Isn't that the idea? When he calls these believers to contend for the faith, there are many false voices in the world, but the true faith needs to be contended for, especially in the church. The faith once delivered must be proclaimed and used to keep the church pure. I'm not saying sin free, that's impossible. But it's only the message of the gospel, which is the centerpiece of that faith, which is that common salvation. That's what Jude desired. Let that be proclaimed, that God made all things by the word of his mouth in the space of six days and all very good. That the first man, Adam, defiled himself, and thus the earth, by sinning against God, and thus severing his intimate communion with the Lord. And that all who descend from Adam by ordinary generation have inherited his corrupt nature and heart, are inclined to sin, and are children of wrath. and that God in His eternal mercy and grace sent His only eternally begotten Son to save His children from their sins, that the Son of God then took on a real human nature, the Lord Jesus, who lived a sin-free and righteous life, keeping the law of God, who went to the cross at Calvary and allowed himself to be sacrificed, atoning for the sins of all those who trust in him, that he died and was buried in the tomb, that on the third day he rose again from the dead, defeating sin and death and ascended to the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, who will come again to judge the world. That is what must be contended for. That is what must be proclaimed. Brothers and sisters, that there is thou therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's the truth. And that's what contending for the faith is. And that's what keeps the church pure. Brothers and sisters, we need to be praying. We need to be praying that labors will be raised up for men to faithfully proclaim the true faith. We need to pray for seminaries, for students, for teachers, for men of all nationalities, for all languages to be raised up, that the true faith, the true faith would be taught, that it would be contended for throughout this globe. And we need to pray for courage, for ourselves, for each of us would contend for this precious faith. For Jude's letter was sent to the saints, not to seminaries. It was sent to the man, the woman in the pew. We need to pray. As the church is guarded, as Christians contend for the faith. Paul, Paul was contending for the faith powerfully on Mars Hill at the Areopagus. And the church grew, and the church was kept pure. Praise be to God. Amen. Father, help us. For we are no different. Our day is no different than the day in which Jude wrote this letter. The church is ripe for attack. And Father, we would be naive to think that the ungodly have not crept in already. Help us, Lord. Help us to be those who contend for the faith. Help us to be those who love the faith so much, who love the Lord Jesus Christ, that we couldn't help ourselves but to contend powerfully for the faith. Father, we also pray that you would send out laborers into the field, that they would be faithful men to proclaim the truth of the gospel. Help us, Lord, keep your church pure. We ask these things in Jesus's name. Amen.