The Book of Jude Part 2: Opposing What is not of the Faith

We must understand that in the last days doctrines of devils are beginning to fill the earth. Every believer must be committed in the last days to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to us. God is a God that never changes. Two things that we must focus on in the last days and that is to contend for the faith and beware of those who have crept into churches. Those who have crept in unaware are on a mission to compromise biblical truths about salvation.

Jude 1:3 says, “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.”

1. CONTEND FOR THE FAITH

Jude begins writing to God’s people concerning the common salvation. The definition of the word common in Greek is to be common in the sense that it refers to what is defiled because it is treated as ordinary. It describes the result of a person reducing the salvation that God calls holy and set apart to what is mundane, stopped of its sacredness. Many have attempted to make salvation to be profane, dirty, unclean, and unwashed!

2 Corinthians 11:3 says, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

The mind and heart of the believer must sit under solid biblical teaching that believes true salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. The word contend in Greek means face-to-face fight, fighting for the truth and exposing the many false doctrines creeping into the church. To contend also means to contend against others to maintain the original faith of the gospel which was being destroyed in this time by false teachers. Contending for the faith opposes whatever is not of the faith.

2. BEWARE OF THE THOSE WHO HAVE CREPT INTO CHURCHES

Jude makes us aware of how certain people have crept into to compromise the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jude 1:4 says, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jude warns that men have crept in unaware, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. There is a corrupt intimacy with God being released on the earth that requires nothing from you concerning salvation. The compromised gospel is equivalent to someone desiring the benefits of being in a relationship with Christ and going to heaven but does not have a lifestyle of commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude reveals how men came into the church unaware. In Greek the word unaware means they came in stealth-like. Stealth means they entered in secretly. It also means that they came in by slipping in by the side door. This happens in churches many times where people creep in that say they are anointed and gifted by God but they have another agenda that compromises the truth.

Galatians 2:2-5 says, “And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”

1 Corinthians 6:8-10 says, “No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

We must be careful to not allow a false gospel to creep into our hearts in the last days that justify sin. True holiness will always separate a person to be used for God’s glory. Holiness will never separate a person from God by justifying sin.