Friday, August 16,
2013, 6:10 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “The Lord’s Anointed” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening. I read Jude 1
(NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jude+1&version=NIV
Contend for the Faith
Jude,
a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To
those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus
Christ:
Mercy,
peace and love be yours in abundance.
Dear
friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we
share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was
once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.
We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are urged here to contend
for the faith that was “once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” “Once for
all” denotes that this faith is unchanging. It is not to be altered to fit with
our present-day culture. It is not to be updated to make it more appealing and
acceptable to the world. The foundations laid for us by Jesus Christ and the
apostles are non-negotiable. They are not to be translated into our modern
times.
This faith was entrusted to God’s holy people. We, who have
crucified our sinful natures with Christ and have been raised with him to new
lives in Christ, have been given this trust. This is a position of obligation
where we are expected to behave responsibly and honorably and with great care with
regard to this trust (see Encarta Dictionary). We are responsible to live what
we say we believe and to share with others what we say we believe, so that
they, too, can come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives, be
delivered out of slavery to sin, and have the hope of eternity with God in
heaven.
So, not only should we not alter the faith entrusted to us
to make it culturally relevant, and not only should we be faithful to the trust
we have been given, but we are to contend for this faith entrusted to us. This
means that we are to fight for our faith and the truth of the gospel against
all opposing forces. We do not do this by getting into arguments and debates
over theological differences or disputable differences, especially that end in
quarrels and hateful speech. That is counterproductive. But, it does mean
exposing what is false and proclaiming the truths of the gospel so that others
are not deceived and led astray.
Perversions of Grace
For
certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly
slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God
into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord…
In
the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute
their own bodies, reject authority …these people slander whatever they do not
understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational
animals do—will destroy them.
Woe
to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into
Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
These
people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest
qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown
along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They
are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom
blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
Enoch,
the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with
thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all
of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and
of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These people
are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast
about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
But,
dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow
their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow
mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
One of the main reasons we are called upon to contend for (maintain;
insist upon; declare) the faith entrusted to us is that there are many who
claim to be ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ and/or who claim to be true
followers of Christ who are truly wolves in sheep’s clothing. They have not
entered the sheep pen by the gate (Jesus Christ), but have come in by another
way (Cf. Jn. 10), secretly slipping in among us unnoticed. This doesn’t mean we
don’t notice they are there, but that we don’t realize they are truly wolves in
sheep’s clothing, because they appear to be genuine. This calls for much
discernment. They teach what is false, disguise it as truth (usually contains
half-truths), and lead many astray.
These false teachers or false brothers and sisters spoken of
here are ungodly, i.e. they don’t truly know Jesus Christ, although they claim
to know him. They pervert (distort; change) the grace of God into a license for
immorality. How do they do this? They do this by teaching the grace of God
absent of the requirements of repentance and obedience to Christ and to his
teachings as scripturally required for eternal life with God in heaven (See Lu.
9:23-25; Eph. 4:17-24; Ro. 6; Jn. 10:27-29; 1 Jn.; Gal. 6:8; Jn. 8:51; 14:23;
Lu. 13:3). When we change the grace of God into a lie, and we give people the
impression that God does not require us to turn away from our sinful lifestyles
and/or that he does not require obedience to his teachings, then we give people
a free license to continue in sin thinking they will still go to heaven.
Scripture is real clear – if we say we have fellowship with God yet we continue
to walk in darkness, we are liars, and the truth is not in us.
These false brethren and false teachers of the gospel spoken
of here are followers of humans and what their own minds make up. They are
flesh driven. They follow the ways of the world. Books written merely by humans
(not divinely inspired), espousing human philosophies for how to build big
churches (businesses), have become their bibles in place of or over and above
scripture. Greed, selfishness, jealousy, hatred, disobedience, rebellion,
and/or immorality have become their hallmarks. They are liars, manipulators,
deceivers, people pleasers, self-centered and self-gratifying. They do not feed
the sheep, but feed only themselves (Cf. Ezekiel 34). And, their consciences
are seared. They make promises they can’t deliver, i.e. they give people a
false hope of eternity based upon a lie. They follow mere natural instincts and
they do not have the Spirit. This calls for much discernment.
Remain in God’s Love
But
you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and
praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Be
merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to
others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by
corrupted flesh.
To
him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his
glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior
be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before
all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
We are warned here in how to recognize these wolves in sheep’s
clothing so that we are not led astray by what is false, and so we don’t follow
after clever lies disguised as truth. Instead, we are to keep ourselves in God’s
love while we wait for our Lord Jesus to return and to take us to be with him
forever. In other words, we are to remain in Christ and his words remain
(continue; endure; persist; and stay) in us in all practicality and application
to our lives, and in this way we are built up (encouraged; nurtured; developed;
and matured) in the faith with which we have been entrusted. This means we have
to be in the word, , praying in the Spirit, listening to our Lord speak to our
hearts, and doing what he teaches us, which includes proclaiming what is true
and refuting and exposing what is false; living what is true, and refusing to
follow after lies which give a free license for immorality.
We must show compassion towards those who are being led
astray and who are confused as to what they believe, and gently lead them to
the truth of the gospel. Others we must pull from the fire. This involves much
more aggressive action, i.e. it may involve strong rebuke of those who are
willfully living sinful lifestyles and who are willfully giving in to the
passions and desires of their flesh, knowing full well that what they are doing
is wrong and hurtful. We must first of all make sure we are living rightly,
then we must mercifully pull others or direct others away from what is false
toward what is true, right and lovely. And, we must guard our own hearts in the
process, lest we be tempted ourselves by what is evil. We must hate, not the
sinner, but the stain of sin upon our lives, i.e. what sin does to people. When
we learn to hate what sin does to our lives, then we will have the compassion
necessary to help others be pulled from the fires of hell and to lead them in a
straight path.
Yet, it is not we who are able to do this in and of
ourselves. This can only happen through the power, grace, love and mercy of God
working his will in and through our lives as we yield control of our lives over
to him, humbly submitting to his will and purposes. Amen!
The
Lord’s Anointed / An Original Work / December 16, 2011
Based off
Isaiah 61
The
Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;
Anointed
to preach the Good News;
Sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted;
Proclaim
freedom for the captives.
He
sent me to preach release for pris’ners
Who
are walking in sin’s darkness;
Proclaim
God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;
And
tell them about God’s judgments;
Comfort
all who mourn;
Give
crowns of beauty;
Oil
of gladness and thanksgiving.
They
will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,
A
planting of our Savior, God,
For
the display of our Lord’s splendor, and
They
will rebuild God’s holy church.
God
will renew them, and will restore them,
And
you’ll be called priests of the Lord.
You
will be ministers of our God, and
You
will rejoice in salvation.
The
Lord loves justice;
He
is faithful to
Reward
those who are seeking Him.
I
delight greatly in the Lord;
My
soul rejoices in my Savior, God.
He
has clothed me with His salvation,
And
in a robe of His righteousness.
He
has given me priestly garments to
Wear,
as the bride of Jesus Christ.
As
the garden of our Lord and Savior,
He
causes us to grow in Him.
He
makes righteousness,
Praise,
and thanksgiving
Spring
up before all the nations.
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