I hate to break up the party, but I’ve got something on my chest that I’ve got to get off, if you understand what I mean.
You know, I was thinking that we’re such a privileged people. We’ve been called to be partakers—or, I like the translation, companions—of Christ. Think about that. We’ve been called to be the companions of Christ.
But anyway, what’s on my heart is this little phrase in the book of Jude. I don’t know when the last time you read Jude was. I go to it once in a while. It’s very strategically placed, I think, in the Bible—right before the book of Revelation, right toward the end of the Bible.
It is verse 3, and there is a little phrase there that has been on my heart since the brothers asked me to share: “Contend earnestly for the faith.” Contend earnestly for the faith.
Lord, we do just like that woman who long ago came to Thee. We come now, Lord, to honor Thee. We come now, Lord, to bow at Your feet. We come now to commit this time into Your hands.
Lord, we realize that apart from You, we can do nothing of spiritual value. So we ask You, Lord, just to anoint us both to speak and to hear. We pray, Lord, as Your word goes out, it will go out in power.
Lord, these things that we’ll share about, I believe most here know. But Lord, Your word tells us to be reminded, to be reminded. So we do pray in Your precious name. Amen.
So, if you have your Bibles or your phone or whatever—and Joshua is going to be my co-pilot; I asked him if he would do that for me, for those who have neither—we’re going to look at a lot of verses this morning. They are all connected with this one verse, I believe.
We’re going to start in Jude, verses 3 and 4, to get a little context. I’m reading out of the New American Standard Version—mine is the 1977 version. I don’t know what that is, but it should be pretty close, if not.
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 which was once for all delivered to the saints.
For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jude was very diligent to write to them about their common salvation. At first, he was going to write about this initial salvation that we have—the forgiveness of our sins. We talked about that this morning, didn’t we?
But then he said, “I felt the necessity to write to you appealing”—and I like the Darby version here—“exhorting.” He writes to them exhorting. Remember, exhorting has two meanings: to encourage and to warn. He wanted to encourage the saints, and he wanted to warn them of something: that they contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
When I read this verse again and again, I think of how a lot of movies start with a bang. Boom—you’re right into it. Jude does that right here. He jumps right in, and right away he is trying to tell them something extremely important.
If I could put it this way, their lives depended on this: to contend earnestly for the faith. But right on the tail of that, he tells them why they need to contend earnestly for the faith. There is opposition to it, isn’t there? There are lots of oppositions, and he mentions a portion of that here in verse 4.
Before we define “contend earnestly” and look at what the faith is, I want to speak a little about what Jude is talking about in verse 4: these ones creeping into the church, ungodly persons who turn the grace of God into a mess and deny their only Master. Such strong words here.
Turn with me first of all to 1 Timothy 4:1. Again, most of us are very familiar with these verses, but it is good to be reminded, because we are seeing this happen more and more before our eyes. We are seeing the leaven in Matthew 13 spreading more and more into the church today. Many are falling away—what we call apostasy.
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
Amazing. Also, turn to Acts 20:28-31. The context is that Paul is meeting with the elders in Ephesus. When you get a chance, read that whole discourse. It is wonderful, some of the things Paul leaves with them, because he knows he will likely never see them again.
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Therefore be on the alert.
Therefore, be on the alert.
Then turn with me to 2 Peter 2:1-3. Second Peter and Jude kind of go together. There are a lot of similarities in them, and a lot of things are repeated between the two—almost word for word.
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Notice that word again: denying. It says, “the Master who bought them.” A couple days ago, when I was considering this, this word stood out to me so strongly—this word deny.
It made me think of Philippians 3:18. Paul is speaking to believers here—very, very strong words.
For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ.
In what way are they enemies of the cross of Christ? I think this word deny speaks to that. They are ones who will not deny themselves. They are ones who will not pick up the cross. They do not want to come under the government of Christ.
We have probably all gone through this to some degree—maybe even going through it now. There could still be pockets here or there. Maybe you are not even aware of it if it is there at this point in time. But we have to be very careful about this matter of being an enemy of the cross.
This phrase, I think, is the total opposite of earnestly contending for the faith. To become an enemy of the cross, you are doing the opposite thing.
When I think of this word deny, it is really kind of a neutral word. It is all a matter of what you deny. We have a choice every day, don’t we? Who are we going to deny? Are we going to deny ourselves, or are we going to deny the Lord?
We know the story of Peter, how he denied the Lord. But thank God, he was recovered, and we have those two wonderful epistles from him. That is something we have to consider every day when we get up: “Lord, may I not deny You today. May I deny myself and pick up the cross.”
Now, before we consider the meaning of contending earnestly, we need to know what we are contending earnestly for, don’t we? Otherwise, we are just going to be a lot of ball of energy or something. We need to know what this thing called the faith is.
If you look into the Scriptures, you are going to find this phrase many, many times. I just want to read a few passages to help us a little with this.
First, Acts 6:7:
And the word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
Hallelujah. We see that obedience is tied to the faith.
The second passage is Acts 13:8. Elymas the magician was opposing Barnabas and Saul, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Notice what the conflict is against: it is against the faith.
Then Acts 14:21-22 speaks of Paul and Barnabas returning to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith.
Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
So we see in this portion that somehow the faith is related to the kingdom of God.
Lastly, Colossians 1:22-23:
Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel.
The hope of the gospel—later it tells us that hope is glory, that we would share the glory of the Lord.
When I considered this thing of the faith, I really struggled over how to put it into words. Let me read what I put down on paper.
The phrase the faith certainly has reference to the whole revelation given to us by God—that is, this right here—which includes all the doctrine. But, to drill down to the heart of the matter, the faith speaks in reference to the King and His kingdom. It is Jesus, the Son of God.
In reference to man, it is to be conformed to the image of the Son—not as to His deity, but as to His character. In other words, it speaks of sonship. Sonship.
That is what we are contending earnestly for: sonship. To be like the Son of God, to be conformed to His image—that is really what it is all about. And so, that is the faith.
When we think of the faith, I think we think of doctrine. We think of the word of God, and that is right. But we are contending earnestly, really, to gain Christ. That is what this is all about, right? That is what the word is all about.
So, with that said, let’s look at the meaning of “contend earnestly.” Bear with me here a little, because I am going to grind just a bit.
Most versions translate this as “contend earnestly.” The ESV, RSV, and NIV simply translate the word as “contend.” Phillips translates it as “put up a real fight.” Young’s New Testament translates it as “agonize.”
The King James Version and the Rotherham Version reverse the words and say “earnestly contend.” Wuest translates it as, “Contend with intensity and determination.”
We find the base Greek word used in several other Scriptures, but there is a difference in Jude. There is a preposition added to the word to intensify the meaning. That is why many versions put the word earnestly in there.
I think Jude uses “contend earnestly” because of the topic he is talking about. He is talking about apostasy. He is talking about that which is going to come against the faith. He wants us to get a handle on this: you are going to need to agonize. You are going to need to strive.
This does not have the meaning of defending the faith, though defending the faith is in the Scriptures. Philippians 1:16 speaks of defending the gospel, and Acts 22:1 records Paul giving a defense when he was on trial. But that is not the meaning here. It is a different meaning.
Strong’s Concordance gives four meanings:
We certainly have difficulties and dangers in this pilgrim walk, don’t we? But I really like that fourth meaning: to endeavor with strenuous zeal, to strive to obtain something.
In Luke 13:24, the Lord uses this word—well, of course, He did not speak in Greek, but it is translated there as strive. The context has to do with the kingdom of God: striving to enter the kingdom of God.
First of all, look at Colossians 1:28-29:
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.
For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
What an ambition: to present every man complete in Christ. Paul says, “I labor, striving.” The Rotherham Version puts “contending” there.
How do we labor and strive? According to His power, which mightily works within us. This is not something we are doing on our own. Yes, we have to cooperate. That is the major thing we have to do with the Lord: cooperate. But we strive according to His power.
First Timothy 6:12 says:
Fight the good fight of faith.
That second word, fight, is our Greek word. It can carry the meaning of being constantly engaged in the contest of the faith.
Then, in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul says:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;
in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
That word fight could be translated “contest” or “struggle.” So you could say, “I have fought the good contest,” or, “I have fought the good struggle.” Notice that fighting the good fight and finishing the course are connected to keeping the faith.
To love His appearing, I think, is another way of saying that you love the Lord. You are not going to love His appearing if you do not have that love. But if we have the love, we are going to love His appearing.
Acts 20:24 gives us Paul’s mission, or his passion:
But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
Wow. I think that is powerful: “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself.” That is so against our old man, against our natural nature. But what a testimony that is. I hope I can put that on my epitaph someday.
We are plugging along here, looking at this phrase “contend earnestly.” I want to end this part in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
Paul must have been very familiar with the Olympic games back then, because he uses this illustration at least three times in the Scriptures. Of course, he also uses the illustrations of a soldier and a farmer. But here he is thinking of those Olympic games.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
Therefore I run in such a way as not without aim; I box in such a way as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
My version says “competes.” In the Olympic games, that is a good word, because you are competing against others. But I do not like that in our case, because we are not here competing with one another, are we? We should be encouraging one another on in the faith.
I like what the King James Version says: “strives.” Darby again uses the word “contends in the games.” So “competes,” “strives,” and “contends” are all this Greek word.
They exercise self-control in all things. A lot of you know that I used to be a fairly avid tennis player. Even in my small little world of that, there was a lot of self-control. There were things you had to give up and things you had to do if you wanted to really advance.
I remember seeing videos of Roger Federer working out. When I was a tennis player, you did not do some of the things he did with weights, because we were told that if you did a lot of weights, you would lose flexibility. They did not know back then how you could use weights in the right way without turning into Arnold Schwarzenegger so that you could not be flexible at all.
But anyway, there is a lot of self-control in this matter of contending earnestly. We are to buffet our body, bring it under control, and not allow it to rule over us.
Some versions say “unapproved” instead of “disqualified.” Ellicott says that word means “as unworthy for the crown and the prize.” It is the negative version of the word we find in James 1:12:
Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
I want to share something from Brother Watchman Nee. Some of you may get those daily devotions from CFP. This one came out a little while ago, maybe a couple weeks ago. When I read it, I said, “Whoa. I’ve got to include this and read it to the saints.”
He was speaking on 1 Corinthians 9:24:
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
He said that after a person is saved, he is set by God on a specific course that lies ahead of him. The entire life of a Christian can be likened to running a race. Yet this is not a race toward the goal of eternal life.
I want to emphasize that: this is not a race toward the goal of eternal life. On the contrary, only the person who has eternal life is qualified to run.
The result of this race is that some of the participants are crowned while others are not. What is meant by the crown? The crown represents the kingdom. It signifies reigning, having dominion, and glory. Thus, to obtain the crown means to gain the kingdom—that is, to reign with the Lord Jesus.
For a Christian, having eternal life is already a settled matter. But having the kingdom depends on how that Christian runs.
After I read this, I jumped to the concordance to look up the word kingdom and see how many times it occurs in the New Testament. Anybody have a guess? One hundred sixty-two times.
It occurs mostly in the Gospels and the book of Acts, but also in other places. If I recall, only two occurrences are not referring to the kingdom of God; they refer to the kingdom of the enemy. But about 160 times, that word kingdom comes up in its different forms: kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, or simply kingdom.
The kingdom, then, is a very important matter to our Lord Jesus Christ. He has been promised the kingdom by His Father, and I believe He is looking forward to coming back and sitting on that throne.
What I want to do next is bring a couple of very familiar verses alongside this to give us a little practical help on contending earnestly for the faith.
Maury, I believe, read these Wednesday night in the prayer meeting. I also saw these two verses in a devotional from Brother Nee within the last week. They are in Hebrews 12:1-2.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith.
That great cloud of witnesses is all those people in Hebrews 11. They are witnesses to us—ones who have earnestly contended for the faith. They are ones who have gone before us. They are going to win that prize, get a crown, and have a part in that kingdom.
The writer says, “Let us lay aside every encumbrance.” Some versions say “weight.” An encumbrance is anything that will impede or hinder you from spiritual progress in the race—anything that can deaden or dull your spiritual life.
Some things that are encumbrances, or may become encumbrances, are not bad in themselves. It is all a matter of where your heart is with those things that are otherwise okay.
I had to put away an encumbrance, and I am almost embarrassed to tell you this. It was chocolate. I had to put it away.
It was like a drug to me. Chocolate is probably addictive; the sugar in it is very addictive. When I ate it, I just had to have it. The next day, I had to have it. Then the next day, I had to have it. If I did not have it one day, I knew that I was not having it.
Finally, the Lord used that verse in Philippians about enemies of the cross. It goes on to tell how they make their god their belly. One night, around three o’clock in the morning, I woke up, and that verse came to me. I knew what the Lord was putting His finger on: it was chocolate.
Now, I am not telling you to give up chocolate, okay? Do not get me wrong. If you can eat chocolate, great. I just cannot—at least not at this point in my life. I had to get rid of that encumbrance because it dominated me.
There can be a lot of encumbrances. In Matthew 13, the parable of the sower speaks of some: the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. Luke adds the pleasures of this life. Those things obviously can be encumbrances in our lives.
But let me give you what I think the author of Hebrews is really putting his finger on as a great encumbrance: the old covenant.
That may shock some of you, because you are saying, “Wait a minute, that is in the Bible.” Yes, it is in the Bible. But the old covenant can be an encumbrance to your spiritual growth. How? Simply because you cannot perform it. You cannot grow that way.
If you have not learned that yet, try it. Try to live by the law. Bring in all the feasts and all that stuff, and get yourself under that old covenant. You are going to find that it is a big encumbrance. It is going to stop you from progressing spiritually.
God did not give us the old covenant so that we would live by it, did He? He gave it to show us what we were in ourselves: that there is not the strength or capability in our own power to live a life pleasing to God. It is impossible because of our fallen nature.
The old covenant was not an end in itself; it was a means to the end. Paul said in Galatians that it was a tutor to lead us to Christ. That was the purpose of the old covenant. Thank God, we are under the new covenant now as believers. The book of Hebrews very much contrasts those two: the old and the new.
The verse goes on to say that we are to lay aside the sin which so easily entangles us. The New King James Version says, “the sin which so easily ensnares us.” Some versions say “besetting sin.”
There may be a besetting sin, like a love for chocolate, that comes in and ensnares you. That can be the case. But really, in the context of Hebrews, I think the sin he is talking about that can entangle us is unbelief.
It is right in the context where he is talking about faith. It is right in the context where he has talked about all these heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. It is unbelief.
Hebrews 3:19 speaks of the children of Israel not entering the promised land. Why was it? Because of unbelief. So doubt can be a big hindrance. It can be a big enemy to us and stop us cold in this race.
The verse then says, “Let us run with endurance.” I think a fuller translation could be patient endurance. Run with patient endurance the race that is set before us.
This endurance is speaking about having patience with whatever may come into your life. Jerry mentioned earlier the situation at the end of the year, with all those bills coming up at once. You had to go through that with endurance, with patient endurance.
We have all been there, or I imagine we have—where we go through a situation and the only way we are going to get through it is with patient endurance.
The Lord brings those things into our lives on purpose because He wants us to learn to abide in Him in a greater way. He wants us to learn that, in ourselves, we cannot run this race. We cannot do this pilgrim journey on our own.
So He brings trials and testing for this purpose: to create and bring about the character of Christ in our lives. We need this patient endurance. We need to run with it.
Then the writer exhorts us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Fix our eyes on Jesus.
Wuest translates this as “looking away to Jesus.” The Amplified translates it, “looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus.” I really like that: all that will distract us.
When you think about things that can distract us, I think in terms of looking back, looking around, or maybe the one that grabs us the most: looking at ourselves.
In the matter of looking back, there are two obvious examples in the Scriptures. The children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, were constantly looking back. As soon as trouble or trials came, they looked back and talked about how good it was back then. They forgot the beatings and the hard work because those things were not in the present.
Think of Lot’s wife. They came out of Sodom and Gomorrah and were told not to look back. She looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. Her heart was still there. Even though judgment was there, her heart was still there. She looked back.
The Lord said in Luke 9:62:
No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
I must confess to you, I do that a lot in my life. I find myself catching myself looking back. I lived in San Diego, California, for five years, and weather-wise, it is almost the ideal place to live if you like warm weather.
Sometimes, when it is 100 degrees here and the humidity is 100 percent, I think, “Oh, San Diego. It is 75, it is dry, and there are no mosquitoes or flies flying around.” I know that is a silly illustration, but sometimes we find ourselves doing that. We look back.
There is a good aspect of looking back: looking back at what the Lord did for us on the cross, the forgiveness of our sins. We talked about that this morning. But there is also a dangerous part of looking back.
Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14:
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on.
Strong’s says that “press on” means to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing—to run after. We are pressing on, as it were, to catch the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what it is all about.
As far as looking around, we have a good example from Peter. When he was in the boat and the Lord came to them, they thought He was a ghost. When they recognized Who He was, Peter said, “Can I come out to You?” The Lord said, “Come.”
Peter came out and started walking on the water. Boy, I would have loved to see that—not when he started to go under, but when he was walking on the water.
Then all of a sudden, the wind was blowing and there was a storm around. He looked around at the wind. He took his eyes off the Lord Jesus, and he started to sink. What an illustration for us. Looking around can be such a danger.
Sometimes we get caught up in a negative way of looking around at others. We compare ourselves with others. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians, though I cannot give you the reference. Comparing ourselves with others can be a very dangerous thing.
I did quite a bit of that when I played tennis, comparing myself to other players. But it had a good aspect because I could compare my forehand to their forehand, my backhand to their backhand, and my strategy to their strategy. I could learn from that.
But it can be dangerous when we compare ourselves to our brothers and sisters and say, “So-and-so can do this, but I cannot do that. I could never do that.” Or we compare ourselves the other way and say, “So-and-so does that, but I do not do that.” You know what I mean?
We have to be careful about comparing ourselves with one another. If you want to compare yourself with somebody as a believer, compare yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ. At first, it may hurt a little because you are going to see how short you are, but it can be very positive in encouraging us to gain more of Christ.
Lastly, there is the distraction of focusing on ourselves. There are two extremes here. One is that we may think too highly of ourselves: “Oh, I am a better Christian than so-and-so.” That is very dangerous ground.
But I think where a lot of people get caught in the mud is the opposite: they concentrate too much on their weaknesses and limitations. They focus on that: “Oh, I am weak in this. I am limited in that.”
That may be true of you naturally speaking. You may very much be there. But that can be such a distraction. Think of the children of Israel when they were right on the border of going into the promised land. The spies came back. There were twelve of them, and ten had a bad report. They listened to those ten.
They said, “That’s right, we can’t go in. We’re too weak. They’re too strong. We’re limited.” They just gave up. They gave up the race.
We need to be careful about focusing on ourselves in that negative way, making too much of our limitations and weaknesses—even if they are there—knowing that the Lord is greater than those. When we do that, in a sense, we are limiting God. We are making ourselves bigger than He is.
The enemy used that tactic against the Lord when He was in the wilderness under temptation. He tried to get the Lord to focus on Himself, to take His eyes off the Father, and to act independently of the Father.
He gave Him those questions: “If You are the Son of God, prove it to me. Turn the stones into bread.” He was trying to get Him to act independently. Thank God He did not.
Lastly, Hebrews says to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith. We are out of time, and I have probably at least fifteen minutes left, but I am not going to steal your time.
This matter of looking to Jesus as our Author and Finisher of faith—we are to do that in a way so that we may gain Christ. That is what it is all about. The goal of keeping our eyes on the Lord is that we may know Him more and be conformed to His image.
Paul states his passion, his great ambition, in Philippians 3:10:
That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
This is so essential in our coming to know Him and in our coming to contend earnestly for the faith: that we know Him in a spiritual, experiential way—in reality; that we know the power of His resurrection; that we fellowship with His sufferings; and that we are conformed to His death.
I would really like to say more on that, but we are five after twelve, and you have probably heard many messages on this. So let’s just commit this back unto the Lord.
Lord, we do come back, and we just bow before You now. Lord, we give Your word back to You.
Lord, again, we thank You for Your great privilege, Your great calling on our lives, Lord, to be companions with You.
Lord, we do want to contend earnestly in this matter of getting to know You more, to become more under Your lordship, to grow in this matter of obedience, to run this race well, and to finish our course.
And to hear one day, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Lord, we know You desire this more for us than we do.
You want us, Lord, someday to sit with You on that throne, as it says in Revelation 3:21—to be able to sit with You on that throne as overcomers.
Lord, we realize that apart from Your mighty power working in us, apart from Your resurrection life, we cannot do it.
But we continue, Lord, to look unto You. You are the Author. You are the Originator. You are the Perfecter. You are the Finisher. You are the One who is going to bring us through as we cooperate with You.
And we thank You, Lord, for Your great love for us. We thank You again for that forgiveness of sin, Lord, that we can taste every day.
And we just do bless You and pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.