Contending for the Faith

Jude 1:3
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

This verse has struck me more than usual recently. Or I might say that I believe God has recently struck me with this verse. Some details of this verse just keep ringing louder as I look at it.

"Dear friends" or in Greek "agapetos" from the word "agapao" which of course means a serious form of love. It was for the love of these that he urged them to "contend". The author, Jude, considered these friends very close to his heart.

"although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share"
It is wonderful to know that we share salvation in Christ. Salvation, this word means so much to me in my soul. I have been saved from the power of the sin that had chains on this soul. Saved from the darkness that kept me from intimately knowing God the Father and kept me from all hope. I was on the road to hell just as the rest of mankind without grace. I recall the days before my salvation and my soul fills up with great gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving to the One who mercifully died in my place so that I could know the undeserved joy and eternal wonder of Heaven. Heaven is Jesus! Why did He have such mercy on me? I was so filthy inside and He decided to cleanse me. He began this process of sanctification or being set apart for Him and this work of His will continue until His appointed day for me. I am far from being perfected yet (unless my day is soon) but if you could see a before picture of my soul (as seen from Heaven) and then the present after picture you wouldn't see the same person at all. I still have trouble with sin and am learning by grace to overcome. But I am a new creature in Christ behold old things have past away and all things have become new! If you do not know this cleansing, you must see your need to turn from darkness to His Light. You are a sick and sinful creature as I have been for we have all sinned and fallen short of God's demand for holiness. We can not "act", "think" or "talk" our way to Heaven in the "eyes" of men. It will not work this way for only being in Christ through His Life Sacrifice on the Cross and the same Power that raised Him from the dead can credit to you the holiness that God commands and demands of us in order to live with Him for eternity. If you stay close to Him, abide in His Vine, and draw from His Grace alone to help you overcome and stay clean then you will truly be a part of the edifying of His Body in Love.

Putting your confidence in mere men looking into your eyes to see your sin is not the best way to have conviction of the truth of your failures. How would you be sure that their veiw is not skewed by their own sin or deception more than you may know? Just because they claim to have it together doesn't make it so. Go to the "Perfect One" Christ Himself through His Words for your mirror and look intently with sincere prayer. For if you put your trust in fallable men you will "surely" be misled and put yourself in spiritual danger. There is no other way but Jesus Christ for there is "no other name" given among men whereby we must be saved. PLEASE, DON'T TRUST ANY MAN WHO SAYS OTHERWISE! IT IS THE IMMACULATE INCARNATION OF CHRIST ALONE WHOM WE TRUST! AND HE IS IN HEAVEN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. HE IS NOT ON THIS EARTH EXCEPT VIA HIS HOLY SPIRIT AND "NONE", "NO, NOT ONE" CAN CLAIM THEY ARE PERFECTED IN HIM SO MUCH SO AS TO DOMINATE OTHERS! THEY ARE CERTAINLY DECEIVED TO SPEAK OTHERWISE IN THEIR "CLAIMS"! DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY ANY MAN!

"I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints"

I believe this is vital to the True Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wolves, vipers, impostors, false prophets/teachers, hypocrites, liars/deceivers, spiritual hucksters, charlatans, and the like are rampant like bad weeds desiring to take over the garden of what we call Christendom. Although these weeds are not actually a part of Christendom they certainly "talk" and "act" as though they are. This is what Satan has intended all along. To the natural senses these weeds look very much like the good plants sown by the Heavenly Father and will often "claim" some special advantage or "revelation" from God. This is why looking into the eyes of men fails. We MUST LOOK UNTO JESUS (ALONE) THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR "FAITH". This is the faith we contend for. The Body is intended primarily by God to remind us to abide in the Vine and keep our eyes on Him and in "all" of His Words. This is our true fellowship in Christ, to know Him. NOT some other beings dwelling on earth acting like they're the ones to receive the attention and thereby promoting idolatry of the Body. But the Truth is God has permitted the weeds to test our obedience and willingness to do what He has said in this verse. "CONTEND EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH!" You will know them by their "fruit".

I wish to expound upon one of the words above. The word "charlatan". It means: A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble (marked by a ready flow of speech) claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud. According to one explanation, charlatan goes back through French to Italian ciarlatano, "mountebank, fraud," from the word ciarlare, "to chatter."

Ro 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and fair speech they beguile the hearts of the innocent.

For someone to say that "we are not to be thinking so much about or be on the alert for the spiritual charlatans", "Jesus and the disciples didn't spend their time looking for heresies and exposing them" may very well indicate that they are a charlatan themselves. For the Holy Spirit chose to use strong words in the Scriptures regarding this matter. It is all to clear in the Scriptures if you have been in them with prayer. Don't believe me, look for yourself Bereans. Here are just a few...

Jesus said it in no uncertain terms:
Mt 7:15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

Mt 10:17 "Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues."
(Could this fit with those who say they are a Christian and yet threaten to sue other believers and hand them to the local counsels before going to wise Church members for resolve?)

Mt 16:6 "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
(Just add one very small pinch of man-made legalism and you have the whole infected...)

And in the words of the Apostle Paul:
Php 3:2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.
(This could apply to those who would inflict "any form" of legalism on others in the name of Christ)

2Ti 4:15 You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
(If they oppose the message of the working Power of the Grace of God alone to keep us, they fit here)

Our security is in Christ Alone. If you fall for some idealistic, legalistic imitation then you have fallen from Grace.

Acts 20:27-32
Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. "Now I commit you to God and to the WORD of HIS GRACE, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

And the Apostle Peter:
2Pe 3:17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.

We are members of His Body if we have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit through the work of Christ. Does it not seem very silly and ignorant for some to think that God has restarted His Church after thousands of years from the Churches birth? This FAITH "was once for all entrusted to the saints". It is ludicrous, absurd to think Christ has failed, knowing Christ has been faithfully building His Church, preparing His Bride for many centuries now. Someone coming in trying to convince others that Christ was not powerful enough to hold to His promise that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church is utterly and plainly spiritually stupid. Not to mention an offense against His Body. This Body contains centuries worth of redeemed saints from all cultures and places of earth. What ant could come along and scream out to God that He has failed and now they must redo everything from the start again? It is sickening to hear this one and that one say "I am the chosen one for this hour". But Jesus used severe language again regarding this matter for He did say:

Mt 24:4-5 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no-one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.

I leave all of you with this question:
DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS WORDS HERE ARE TRUE AND NEED TO BE HEEDED TODAY? ARE YOU DOING WHAT HE SAID: "WATCH OUT"?

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