“Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” Jude verses 2-3.
We will continue on from where we left off in our last study.
We noted that :
* THERE IS NOTHING MORE MERCIFUL, MORE PROMOTING OF PEACE AND MORE EVIDENT OF GOD’S LOVE THAN TO BE WARNED ABOUT WHERE SIN WILL TAKE US!
We also noted that:
* THERE ARE TIMES WHEN THE PREACHING OF THE ‘COMMON SALVATION’ MUST BE SET ASIDE AND THE ISSUE OF MAN’S EVIL REBELLION HIGHLIGHTED.
We come to another consideration arising from these opening verses of Jude:
IT IS TO BE NOTED THAT THE CARE OF THE GOSPEL IS COMMITTED TO THE SAINTS OF GOD.
“The faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” As you must care for the text books you use in school so Christians must look after and care for the great ‘TEXTBOOK’ of the Bible!
1. The gospel was put in the hands of the people of God. “Delivered” = ‘to put into the hands of another.’ Like as the baton is exchanged in a ‘relay race’, we must look after the Bible and then pass t on to the next generation. The Lord has put His Word into the hand of His people and they have to look after it and pass it on.
How carefully and reverently we should treat the Bible since it has been given us of God. Paul said to Timothy: “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Timothy 3:15. He had been ‘acquainted’ with God’s Word since childhood. That is your privilege also! As you undertake some tasks in your home, so your heavenly Father expects you to do your part in defending the gospel.
2. This has been done ‘once’. “The faith which was once delivered unto the saints”. That would suggest that there is the danger of it being lost. The 7 churches of Asia are no more! The Saviour warned them of the consequences of their sin. “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent,” Revelation 2:5.
3. Is not the gospel being removed from our land because of the failure of Christians to ‘earnestly contend’ for it? It is under attack from every side, girls and boys. Errors and falsehoods, invented by men, are set forth as the message of God!
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron,” 1 Timothy 4:1-2.
There are those ‘leaving’ the Bible and embracing instead “seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” Paul also mentioned this end-time rebellion in 2 Timothy 3:1-9.
4. It has been known for a long time that in the last days of this age men will become more and more bold in their opposition to God and His truth. Isaiah the prophet, some 2785 years ago, warned of such days as these. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” Isaiah 5:20-21.
Again, the Psalmist indicates the same truth. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” Psalms 2:1-3. That is what we face today, boys and girls.