Where are the Contending Christians Today?

Take your Bible and go ahead and turn with me to the little Book of Jude. Now many of you are probably not very familiar with a tiny book of Jude. Those of you who have been at NOLA for a little while, you were familiar with the Book of Jude. We went through the Book of Jude, 14 messages back in 2012. I was looking back at some of my information last night. That's been a little over five years. It's gone by rather quickly from me. And although the Book of Jude is small, it can be overlooked. There is much that the church today can learn right here in this little book.

Now before we get into the few verses that we're going to look at, I do think it's necessary to give you a little background information from the book that will help us in grabbing hold of the message that the Lord has for us this morning. Now Bible scholars categorize the Book of Jude as one of the general epistles. Those of you who are studious when you're reading and studying, maybe you're reading commentaries, you might come across that phrase, the general epistles. Simply this means that the Book of Jude was written to the church at large. It was not written to a specific person or a particular congregation.

James and the writings of Peter, 1st and 2nd Peter, John's writings in 1st, 2nd and 3rd John, they are all what's called general epistles. They were not written to a particular church or a person. They were written to the church at large. Now if you pay attention when you're reading these epistles, you will notice at the beginning of the epistles that they are not addressed to a particular person or a particular church. I give you an example that is not a general epistle, but it will help you see. You don't have to turn there, but the Book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 1 verse 1, we see that Paul identifies himself.

He is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And then what does it go on to say? That he is writing to the saints, those faithful brethren there at the church at Colossae. See he is identifying specifically who this letter is written to. But that's not the case with this little book of Jude. It's written to the church at large. And we would be part of the church at large. Now there are two questions that will help us with some background information. The first question is who wrote the book and the second question would be why was this little book written? There's some debate as to who wrote the book.

Some speculate that it was the apostle Jude, while some Bible scholars believe that it was Jude the half brother of Jesus. We know that Jesus did have siblings. Mark chapter 6 verse 3 is just one of the passages that mentions Jesus' siblings. Jude the half brother of Jesus is believed to have come to faith in Christ after the resurrection. He is listed with the believers in Acts chapter 1 verse 14 and he is listed in other places in the New Testament as well. He is even listed there in Acts chapter 15 with the Jerusalem council. There was a great crisis in the life of the church and he is listed there with the church leaders.

Now personally I believe the author was Jude the half brother of Jesus. There's one verse that helps us with this determination. Verse 17, the author of the book seems to distance himself from the apostles. So I believe that helps us see that this was Jesus' half brother named Jude. Now more importantly, why was this little book written? Much like Peter's writings in 1 and 2 Peter, Jude is addressing apostasy or false doctrine in the church. A radical teaching had sneaked into the church and caused great doctrinal dysfunction. Verse 17, Jude pleads with the believers to remember the words of the apostles.

In other words, Jude is saying, "Remember sound teaching." The result of this heretical teaching was not only dysfunctional doctrines in the church, but moral dysfunction within the church. The false teaching had produced what the new American standard calls a defilement of the flesh. Verse 4 from the English standard version says that they turned the grace of God into sensuality. So there was doctrinal dysfunction which led to moral dysfunction in the life of the church. Now the church in Jude's day is much like the church in our day. Now I always speak with analogies and stories and pictures. I visualize it like a rotten foundation.

Many of you, most of you know that my wife and I purchased a home a couple of years back that needed a lot of work. Some of you came by in the middle of that process. As a matter of fact, there was one man in the life of the church came by and he said, "Can you ever live in this house?" I said, "Yes, just give us a little time." Well there are certain portions of the house. There were foundation problems. Some of it was because of rotten, some of it was because of termite damage, but there was a rotten foundation in my home and that's what we have here.

In Jude's day, the foundations of the church were rotten because of a doctrinal dysfunction which led to moral dysfunction in the church. Just like that in our day, many churches today are rotten at the foundations with doctrinal dysfunction which has led to moral dysfunction as well as other grievous sins in the life of the church. Now this morning I really want to take a broad brush as I jump into the book of Jude. Those of you who are regulars here at NOLA, you will know that this is not my normal approach. Truthfully, messages like this are hard for me.

I like to take a book like this and go verse by verse, sometimes word by word as I was looking back in my information this week, especially last night, I was looking at the fact that we had 14 messages in 2012 and I begin to see, "Wait a minute, there are a few more than those 14 messages." So this is hard for me. We're going to take a few verses out of this book and we're going to make several observations and make some application that I think will fit us today. Now I will make three observations out of the book. I might refer to them as major truths, sometimes I do that, but we will see three major truths or observations out of the book.

I'm going to pull them out, I will expound on them, I will make some application and then at the end of the message I'm going to put all of this really right in our laps. I'm going to put it right in our faces. I encourage you to jot these things down. I hope that you take notes. It is our habit here to take notes so that we can take what we've learned this morning and study over it during the week and really just retain all that the Lord wants to give us. Now I'm going to go back and I'm going to read the verses that Brother Keith read earlier and then we'll jump right into these observations.

Starting in verse 1, Jude abides servits, some translations say servits of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to those who were called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, he uses this word again, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. That is the foundational passages that we will work from. So first I want us to notice this command that we see here in verse 3.

Now within the entire book there is one dominant command and it's right out of these verses, right out of verse 3. Now this is very unusual when you compare this little book to other books in the Scriptures. Within these 25 verses there are other things that Jude is writing but there is a dominant command in the book. Now I want to take and make some observation around this command and this information will help us as we examine this dominant command. First I want us to notice the position of the one giving the command. That's the position of the one giving the command. Verse 1, Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ.

Now there is much misunderstanding about this word. There is much misunderstanding concerning the original meaning of this word. Most of our English translations render this word servant or bondservant. But in the original language it is a stronger word. Like in the original language it is called doulos. It is pronounced doulos which simply means a slave. And this word doulos or slave is used some 150 times in the New Testament. And in every instance that this word is used it means slave and it only means slave. It is never meant to be used in any other way. I will turn to a passage. You don't have to turn there. You can jot it down.

But in Ephesians chapter 6, Paul uses this word. Paul uses it in Ephesians 6 starting in verse 5. He uses his example and then he uses it in the life of Christians. Listen to what Paul says. "Slaves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh. See in that day slavery did exist." And what is he saying? "You who are slaves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ.

Not by the way of eye service as man pleasers but as slaves of Christ." Paul is using this imagery to communicate that those of us who are born again and know Christ are slaves to Christ. So simply Jude identifies himself as a slave of Christ, not a servant, greater than a servant, not just a bond servant but a slave. That's the position that Jude gives. Then second observation I want us to see. Notice the spirit of the one giving the command. The spirit of the one giving this command. What does he say in verse 2? And then what does he say in verse 3? He uses this word beloved.

"Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who were called beloved." Verse 3, "Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you." This is an expression of strong affection for these that Jude must have known. This communicates an unconditional and unending love. Paul uses this expression regularly in much of his writing. So simply Jude is expressing this unconditional love that he has for those who would be reading this letter. And then also notice the actual command that is given.

"Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith." Jude calls these believers to contend for the faith. The amplified, which is a paraphrase reads, "Fight strenuously for the defense of the faith." This word would have brought to the reader's minds images of the Grecian games. The Romans loved their athletic events. And one of their sports was wrestling.

And this, "contending earnestly," this fighting strenuously would have been used in the culture to describe wrestlers as they are on the mat strenuously fighting their opponent. So simply Jude calls on these Christians to fight, to wrestle strenuously for the faith. So in summary here with this command, what do we see? Jude is writing to these much-loved believers, and he is commanding them to fight hard for the faith. This command would have boomed into the face of these believers. This command was saturated with his great love for them, and it was overshadowed by this slave to master relationship that he had with Christ.

Truthfully, this type of teaching is very rare even today. To be honest with you, just speaking to you as a pastor and a preacher, these three verses that we read are loaded with application. I mean, if I could use the picture of a truck, the truck bed is full of truth that we can learn from. I want to ask us a few questions, and then I'm going to ask you to do something for me with these verses as we continue. First question in application is, "Do we see slavery to Christ today?" Now I know that that language has a negative connotation today. It should from what's happened in our American history.

But what we see here in the Scripture is Jude says, "I am a slave to Christ. I am bound to Christ by this slave and master relationship." Do we see this communicated in the life of the church today? Do we call Christians to be slaves to the master Christ Jesus? Servants maybe? Bonservants, possibly, but do we ever hear someone call us to slavery to Christ? The second question is, "Do we see a true love for brothers and sisters today?" Just these two words, beloved, what is Jude saying? "I love you. I love you strongly. This is a strong affection that I have for you.

And do we see a true love for the brothers, for the sisters in the church today?" And then the third question is, "Do we see people strenuously fighting for the faith today?" Now I want us to hold on to this slavery to Christ. I want us to hold on to that imagery. I want us to hold on to that language. I want us to hold on to this love for the brothers and sisters along with this commandment. Let's move on. I want us to notice our second major truth. That is the problem. That is the problem. We see this out of two verses, verse 4 and verse 8.

I'm only going to read those two, although there are other verses around these verses that talk about the problem. Verse 4, "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. The ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ." Verse 8, "Yet in the same manner these men, the one spoken of in verse 4, also by dreaming they defile the flesh and reject authority and revile angelic majesties." So when we look at these verses, when we look at verse 3 especially, we can see negative, but we can also see positive.

In verse 3, Jude says, "I want to write to you about this common salvation, but I can't." And then he transitions into the negative, which comes up in verse 4 and verse 8 and all through the book. Jude sees at first that he wanted to write in a positive way, but he needed to write in a negative manner. And he's urging them to fight for the faith. Now I want us to get into these problems. I want us to examine these problems, and there are two observations I want to make here. First notice their corruption. First notice their corruption. Verse 4, "Certain persons have crept in, they're marked out beforehand, but what does it say?

Ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness," the New American says. So Jude 4 says that they turn the grace of God into a license for sin. The English Standard uses the word sensuality. I like how the Amplified reads, it says that they distort the grace of our God into decadence and immoral freedom. Simply there was a form of teaching that had come into the church that taught that there was a disconnect between the body physically and the spirit. They taught that if you trust in Christ, you were right with God, but your body was disconnected from your spirit, therefore you could live any way that you wanted to.

And that was their license to sin, their desire to defile the body. It came out of that teaching. Most Bible commentators believe that this was the beginning of what is called Gnosticism. And then 25, 30 years later, you see that Gnosticism was eating away at the churches from the inside out. And it was a problem that went on into the first and the second centuries. So simply there was a corrupt teaching within the church that had led to moral corruption, a license to sin. And then notice the source of the corruption. Look at verse 4. What does he say?

There are certain persons they have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out. Here Jude tells us that certain persons have brought this teaching into the church. In the original language, this word picture, it pictures individuals that have slipped into the side door. This is the only place that this is found in the New Testament. And in the picture here, we have stealth, we have covert operations. Jude goes on to say that these individuals were ungodly, they abused the grace of God, and they rejected Christ and his authority. So simply there were certain persons who slipped into the side door of the church.

They seem to have been unnoticed. So in summary, what do we see in the problem? We see that the church has slipped in unnoticed. And they are propagating a dysfunctional doctrine which brought about moral dysfunction and moral corruption in the church. They brought into the church a license to sin, and in that Greek culture, that turned into all sorts of sexual and immoral practices. Now in our application, what can we learn here? In application, what can we learn? We don't live in that day. We don't live in a Greco-Roman world, but what can we learn today?

We don't battle Gnosticism like that first century church did, but I will tell you this. We struggle with moral corruption that has come within the church today as well. Today and many, if not most, Southern Baptist churches within our region, you can have your name on the role, you can be considered a Christian, and you can live pretty much any way you want. Many people who have their names on the role, they can be immoral, they can marry up and shack up, and they can divorce, they can drink, and they can live it up.

And listen, many times these individuals rarely come to church, but yet they would be considered Christian by many people in the life of the church, they would be considered Christian by their family, and oh, let me tell you, let one of those individuals pass away, and they'll have terrible music that talks about heaven and glory, and they'll have a preacher that'll stand up and preach them right on into heaven. That's exactly what you see in the book of Jude. A license to live any way you want, a license to abuse the grace of God and look and reject the authority of God's Word and Christ in one's life.

Again, we don't battle Gnosticism, we don't battle these particular individuals, but we do have a moral corruption in the life of the church, and that is a serious problem. Let's move on. I want us to look at our third observation. Before we get into this third observation, the encouragement, makes me ask us a question. Had any of the true believers in the life of the church been influenced? I mean, think about this. This assembly, these churches, they had true believers in the church, that's why Jude is writing like he's writing. Had they been influenced? I would have to say that some yes, and some were not.

I would have to say that some were influenced, but yet some rejected. But in that, we see a wonderful encouragement. Look at verse 17. But you beloved, there's that familiar language. You beloved, that word of strong affection. You ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles and our Lord Jesus Christ. Here at the end of the book, Jude uses this strong expression of affection that he used earlier. And what does he say? You beloved, three observations I want to make here. Notice specifically that he tells them to remember God's word. Isn't that what he's doing here?

He says, "Remember the apostles' teachings and the words of Christ." Now we will see that he is speaking of specific teaching concerning these infiltrators, but we must see that he is calling them to remember God's word. They had been taught by the apostles. They knew of the apostles' writings, and no doubt they knew of the words of Christ. So he is calling them to remember God's word. But then second, notice, he tells them that this should be no surprise. All of this activity should be no surprise. Verse 18, what does he say? That they were saying to you in the last time, there shall be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts.

In these two verses, verse 18 and 19, Jude is telling them, "Remember that you knew this day was coming, and now this day is here." He is telling them that these men were spoken of and described by the apostles and Jesus. Yes, they have brought immorality into the church. They have brought divisions in the church, but this was predicted years before. And then third, notice, he tells them how to grow in true faith. Is that what we see starting in verse 20, especially verses 20 and 21? But you beloved, there's that word again. "I love you. I have a strong love for you." But what does he say?

Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Here, he is telling them how to grow in that true, genuine faith. And in these two verses, he gives what I call a four-part plan to grow in their faith. He tells them to work hard to build themselves up in the faith, and to pray hard to pray in the Spirit, and to keep themselves in the love of God in a way because their hope was waiting on eternal life in Christ.

Simply, Jude is telling them how to grow in their personal spiritual lives despite the fact that their church seemed to be in shambles. So in summary, what do we see in this encouragement? We see Jude calling them back to the word and back to the fact that this was predicted by the apostles in Jesus. He is calling them back to their personal walk with Christ, and this is very simple. He is just saying, "This was foretold. Now walk with God." Now what might we learn here in this encouragement?

We must see that as true born-again Christians, no matter what the circumstances may come our way, no matter what condition the church may be in, we must walk with God. No matter what heresy comes in the life of the church, no matter what dysfunctionalism comes in the life of the church, we are responsible to walk with God on our own. We can't use that as an excuse, and Jude is encouraging these brothers, these sisters, these people that he loved very much. Now I'm going to begin to move away from this fight. Isn't that what we see here? Jude is writing to these people. We don't know their names. We know their circumstances.

Jude is writing to these Christians that he knew very well. He loved them, and he is calling them to a fight. And I want to make more application out of this book, out of what we've looked at, and out of this fight. Now I want to start this portion by bringing before you a question. I really would like you to write this question down. I would like you to meditate over it. I want you to have it in your mind and your heart. And the question is simple. Where are the contending Christians today? Some of you have been wondering what the title of the message is. That's the title. Where are the contending Christians today?

And I want to take that question, and I want to explore several questions. I want to go down this road, and all along we're asking ourselves, where are the contending Christians today? Three questions. First of all, where are the Christians who contend for the faith today? Where are the Christians who contend for the faith today? Isn't that what Jude is saying in verse 3? I'm begging you. I love you. Fight for the faith. Now what is the faith? What is this faith spoken of in verse 3? Is this a particular denomination? Is this a particular movement or organization? Is this a particular theological position?

Well the answer to all of those questions is no. The faith that is spoken of here is the whole body of truth revealed in the Scriptures, and that communicates how man can be made right with God. You need to get that. The faith that Jude is speaking of is the whole body of truth revealed in the Scriptures of God, and that communicates how mankind can be made right with God. Now within that body of faith, there are certain specifics that we really need to touch on. Where are the Christians that contend for the true gospel? Where are the Christians who will study the body of God's Word to know what the gospel is?

Not what popular culture says the gospel is. Not what the largest church says the gospel is. Not what's moving and shaking seemingly in the life of the church, but what God's Word says the gospel is. Because if you lose the gospel, listen, there's a hole in the hull of the ship and it's going down. Where are the people, where are the Christians who will contend for biblical conversion?

I say that a lot in the life of the Nollababish church, because listen, if we don't have conversion, if we do not believe in the new birth, well then we bring people in and they're never converted and we leave them to clean up their life and they sit on our pews and they're really goats dressed in sheep's clothing. What good is that? Then all we do is he put damnation on people because they're unconverted and they hear the truth of God's Word and they'll give an account for that. We believe in biblical conversion that a man or a young person or a woman, they are lost and without Christ. They are a rebel against God.

They have sinned against God and their only hope is that the Spirit of God would come down and bring them to the place where they see their sinfulness and they see what Christ did on the cross and they're led to a place where they can repent of their sin and believe in Christ and be converted. Have a new heart. Become what Paul calls a new creation. I believe in the new creation. I believe that when someone's converted, the old is gone and the new has come. That's what Paul believed. That's what you find all through the Scriptures.

Where are the Christians who will contend for biblical conversion and they have the guts enough to stand up against that which is not biblical conversion? Where are the Christians who will contend for proper, biblically balanced theology? Listen, a lot of people will say doctrine and theology will kill the church. No it will not. Doctrine and theology will grow you in your faith. It will grow you in your proper understanding of God's Word and it is part of what God has ordained to grow the church. We are about theology and doctrine. Listen, folks, there are lots of times I'm teaching you doctrine and theology.

I just might bring it down on our level. We must understand doctrine and theology. So what am I trying to show you? What am I trying to ask you? Where are the Christians who will contend for the faith? I'm talking the whole body of the truth revealed in Scriptures. You can't do this in one sermon. You can't do it in six months. I'm talking to preachers now. You can't do it in two or three years. It takes a lifetime. It takes all of the energy and all of your efforts that you have and then some. It takes everything you have to contend for the faith.

Where are the people, the Christians who will contend for the whole body of truth in God's Scripture, the faith? The second question, where are the Christians who will contend for the body of Christ? Now we know that in the New Testament there are all types of analogies that are used to describe us as Christians. We are the bride of Christ. He is the groom. We are the body of Christ. We're learning in our study in John 15 that he is the vine. We are the branches. The father is the vine dresser. But where are those who will contend for the body of Christ? Now I'm speaking for some of us here at NOLA.

We have learned that we must contend for the brothers and sisters and many of us have learned this the hard way. I've been around long enough to know that there are many people who have been hurting the life of the church. Now think about this. There are places in culture where we expect to be hurt. Maybe on the job, maybe in our neighborhood. But you know there are a couple of places we do not expect to be hurt in our own families and in the church. But it's sad to say there are a lot of times people will come in the life of the church and they're looking around and they're expecting to see brothers and sisters in Christ, sheep.

And many times there are wolves and sheep's clothing and when you get up close to a sheep, wolf and sheep's clothing, they'll always devour you. When will we contend for the brothers and sisters? We've learned that in John, in our study of John. We've learned it in John chapter 13 verse 34. What did Jesus say? He said to those disciples, "I'm giving you a new commandment that you will love each other the way I have loved you." And then he goes on to say in verse 35, "If you love each other like I love you, the whole world will know that you're not hypocrites and you're really my disciples." Let that sink in.

What does the world say about many of the churches that we know of? What is the world saying about many of the deacons and the leaders in the life of the churches that we're familiar with? What does the world say? All you have to do is go out in the world and listen, they'll tell you. Oh, they'll tell you. I've heard it all. I've heard so much I would think, "Man, you were in the deacon meeting when I was there." I've heard them call names, describe scenarios. They know because they see. But where are the Christians? Now think about this. How did Christ love these disciples? How does Christ love us who are truly born again?

You do realize that Christ loves us unconditionally. Christ loves us continuously. And Christ loves us totally. Let that sink in for a minute. Listen, some of us, if Christ treated us the way we treat others, we would be in a pickle. What do we see? Christ loved us unconditionally. He loves us continuously. And He loves us totally. And we must love one another. We must protect brothers and sisters. We must protect the body of Christ even if they're not like us. Even if they did not come from our background. Even if they're completely different than we are.

Even if we don't relate to them from the themes of the world and what we do in our occupation. But look, let me tell you the great unifier is that if you're born again and I'm born again and we want to love God, listen, Brother Keith and I have decided God's done the work in our lives. We're going to fight for you. We're going to fight for you. We're going to love you. And we're going to love you unconditionally. We're going to love you continuously. And we're going to love you totally because that's the way Christ has loved us. And where are the Christians who will contend for the church? Now listen, some of you need to hear this.

The church is the only institution that Christ died for and is returning for. The only one. The church is the only institution that has been entrusted with the gospel message and the plan to reach the world. The church is the only institution that God is called to build the saints and to the people that God wants them to be. And the church is the one institution, the one organization, the one organism where God gets the greatest glory on the face of this earth in a lost and dark world. Where are the Christians who will fight for the church?

Some of us will look around and look at churches and say, "I don't know that I want to fight for that." Some of us will look around and say, "I kind of want to run away from that. I know how you feel." Some of us will look around and say, "I don't know that I could be proud of that. I don't know that I could fight for that. I don't know that I could love that." Well, we need to be like Jesus. You know, Jude is right next to the book of Revelation. In the first portion of the book of Revelation, what do we see? We see Jesus' great patience for the church. You know there are seven churches and he wrote seven letters to seven pastors.

You know there were only two that didn't get a rebuke? Only two. Some of them had very serious problems. Some of us, if we were members of those churches, we would be saying, "Lord, get me out of here. Lord, get me out of here. I want to move my letter." Jesus contended for the church. He wrote letters to those pastors and he told them line by line, word by word, problem by problem, exactly what to do. Why? Because he contended for the church. You see where I'm trying to go? What is Jude writing? Jude writes to these people. He says, "I love you.

I love you the way Christ has loved me and I would love the right to you about what you enjoy and I enjoy and all that that we sing hallelujah about, but I've got to write to you to fight for the faith and to fight for everything bound up in the totality of God's Word." And look, where are the Christians who will fight and contend for Christ today? Where are they? This might be an audacious statement, but I believe if you get two or three truly born again Christians together and that really is their heartbeat. "Lord, I'm blood-bought by you. I'm your slave. Lord, you saved me.

I'm your slave." I really believe if you get two or three people like that today and they get to the place where they say, "Lord, I'm banking it all on the truth, all on the faith, and all on the church." I believe that is a group of people where God will do a great work through them for His glory. Now I made some pretty harsh comparisons from Jude to our churches today. It's true. And I believe the Lord is looking in Lincoln County, Lawrence County, three or four counties. I believe God is looking for a people who will be contenders. So what's the title of the message? Where are the contending Christians today?

We're going to pray and then I'm going to give you some instructions about how we're going to dismiss. And then we're going to dismiss with God's Word in our heart and dismiss to fellowship and enjoy God's day that He's given us of God's people to do God's work. Let's pray together.