Earnestly Contending For The Faith - 05/28/2021

Our first weekly blog of 2021 concerns a very important message from the tiny Book of Jude, the next to the last book in the Bible.

Jude was the half brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's interesting to note that there is great evidence Jude did not believe his half brother was the son of God while Jesus walked this earth but came to faith and strong faith this was so either right before the Lord's death or perhaps after Pentecost. Whenever the case is not important, the thing that is important is Jude was a Spirit filled warrior of the Kingdom of God that poured his heart out to the church, warning it of false doctrines and attacks on the faith that would come in these last days.

When Jude addressed the "called," and the "preserved" in Jesus Christ, the idea presented here through the Holy Spirit is that God does want to lose the people He has Called to be His Own through false doctrine. Sadly millions are being lost tonight because of a refusal to listen to God's Word and become grounded in the true faith.

Jude writes in 1:3 that he was first going to write about the "common salvation," meaning he was planning to write a letter similar to what Paul wrote to the Romans on the great doctrines of the faith. The Holy Spirit moved on Jude's heart to change course to warn the church that it must DEFEND and CONTEND for the Faith as well as the fundamental Christian doctrines that were "once delivered to the saints!"

ALL Christian doctrine, ALL Christian faith must CENTER on the CROSS. When I say Cross, I'm not talking a symbol one wears around one's neck but what Christ did for us there to obtain our eternal redemption, salvation and deliverance through His blood!

Through the Cross and by the Cross ALONE comes Justification, Sanctification, Grace, Peace, Hope, Faith, Love and Blessings of every description. ALL we have as believers, including the Holy Spirit

and ALL His attributes, fruit and GIFTS, come through the finished work of Christ.

The mighty Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead, to which He is alluded, brings about ALL His work within our hearts and lives through the legal work of the Cross. To say it more simply, He (The Holy Spirit) will work in no other atmosphere of faith except that which places its total dependency upon the finished work at Calvary.

We have been called to FIGHT the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:10) and that fight is growing more intense by the day. This FIGHT is not something we do as in a boxing match. It's simply putting our FAITH in what Christ did at the Cross where ALL SPIRITUAL VICTORY has been made complete and WON! Neighbor, if you're fighting sin, you've already lost this battle. Sin and its power was defeated at the Cross! The fight is in striving not to allow the enemy to draw you away from the simplicity which is in Christ! The Corinthians chased after "another Jesus, another Spirit, and another Gospel

," because they got their focus off the Holy Spirit's foundational message through Paul of "Christ and Him Crucified."

It is this faith we have been exhorted to EARNESTLY contend for in these last days.

Jude and Paul both carry these theme deeper describing how the enemy will fight the truth.

Next week we will look at this danger and the foretold great falling away because of "seducing spirits" and "doctrines of devils."

As we close, I've been feeling the Holy Spirit tell me that "this is the most dangerous time spiritually in our nation that ever before." The only way we all survive this onslaught against the faith is to be grounded in God's Word and His Presence everyday. This danger is real and this fight is real. We must earnestly CONTEND for the message of the Cross and the true gospel of Christ and Him Crucified!! Be blessed today and get into God's Word without delay!

Chris Mc