Jude 3 – 4

³ “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. ⁴ 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.”

In these two verses, Jude answers both the “What?” and the “Why?” questions!

“What?” Christians must always be ready to earnestly defend the Body of Doctrine taught in the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Christian Bible!

“Why?” We must do this because people have already “crept” in to the fellowship of believers who are working on their long-range goal of destroying the faith of God’s people!

There is, inhering in the Word of God, a “Body of Doctrine” that Jude calls, “THE Faith, once for all delivered to the saints.”

Don’t get glassy-eyed here; all this means is that THE WORD OF GOD IS GIVEN TO US TO TEACH US, AND THE THINGS IT IS DESIGNED TO TEACH US ARE CALLED “T.H.E. FAITH” that were once for all delivered to the saints. It means, “What the Bible teaches by what It says!”

God has spoken to HIS people and HE has spoken to us through HIS Word. HIS message (teachings) is in the Bible and the worst thing that can happen is for that message to become distorted.

Jude tells us that it is our work to keep that from happening. We are to earnestly contend for this Body of Doctrine – T.H.E. FAITH, which always has been – and still is – under attack!

The word translated “contend” is a compound Greek word that means, “an epic struggle.” This is not some small dust up; this is World War III. The assault on God’s Word, (and the teaching it presents) is real and our defense of it must be real.

OK, bear with me here:

People are members of whatever Denomination of which they are part for one or more of several reasons…

* They were born and raised in that Denomination!

* Their family joined that Denomination!

* It is the only Church they like in the area!

* They married a member of that Denomination!

* Or, they care about biblical teaching and the Denomination teaches biblical doctrine!

That is my situation. Many of you know that I was not raised in any church at all and when I began to attend churches I knew nothing about what they taught. After getting involved in an Independent Baptist Church and graduating from their schools, I came to believe that they were in error in many areas!

So, I swallowed really hard and just walked into a Southern Baptist church near our home in Little Rock on a Sunday morning.

At the time, Southern Baptists were locked in “an epic struggle” for the doctrinal soul of the Denomination. Rather than leave, I came to believe that the Bible believers would win the struggle, so I stayed. We did win and I am glad I stayed!

In 2000, Southern Baptists updated our Doctrinal Statement and by doing so came to have a “Statement of Faith” (The Baptist Faith and Message 2000) that is among the closest to pure Bible teaching of any contemporary Denomination. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is also the “Official” Confession of Faith of our Church:

http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp

In all honesty, I do have to tell you that our 17^th Century Reformed Baptist Forefathers wrote a doctrinal statement called, “The 2^nd London Baptist Confession of 1689” which is superior to any other statement ever written by any other Denomination at any other time. I encourage you to keep this link and read through it as you have time!

http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/bcof.htm

But, there is no major area in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 with which I disagree; I just wish some of the Statements in it went a bit farther in their explanation.

Jude, writing under the inspiration of the HOLY SPIRIT is clear – God’s Word, and Its teachings, will always be under attack! It is the great work and great challenge of every generation of Christians to “earnestly” contend to TRUE BIBLE DOCTRINE!

I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!