In the sermon titled 'A Declaration of War Against The Apostates,' David Green discusses Jude verses 3 and 4, emphasizing Jude's urgent message to contend earnestly for the faith against apostates. These apostates are described as false teachers who deny the gospel of Jesus Christ and infiltrate the church unnoticed. Green clarifies that apostates are not merely individuals with differing theological views but are genuine deniers of the gospel. He refers to Paul's letters, highlighting the consistent New Testament theme of maintaining and defending the faith. The sermon warns of the subtlety of apostates, who disguise themselves as righteous, and stresses the need for believers to be diligent and vigilant. Jude's letter is portrayed as a call to action, urging believers to engage in spiritual warfare, not out of contentiousness, but out of love for the truth and the church. This battle against apostasy is ongoing, requiring believers to be knowledgeable and proactive in defending the faith.

Jude verses 3 and 4 says, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down 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 sensuality, deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. As Jude wrote this letter to those saints, remember he was writing to those who are the called. The beloved in God the Father, those who were kept for Jesus Christ. He says here that he was making every effort to write to them about salvation being the common blessing enjoyed by all believers, but he was instead compelled to write a declaration And what we gather from this letter, it was the declaration of war against apostates.

And that's what I want to preach about this morning in this lesson here. Taking our text from these two verses, a declaration of war against apostates. As we make our way through this text, I wish to remind you that an apostate is not simply someone who has a different interpretation of the book of Genesis and how old the earth is. Not someone who is a believer who maybe has a different idea about the timing of the rapture. We're not talking about a brother or sister in Christ who has a different viewpoint about the head covering or even something like the amount of water that needs to be in a baptism.

We're talking about a gospel denier. We're talking about someone who is a true wolf in sheep's clothing. A false teacher who denies the gospel of Jesus Christ, Gospel of Jesus Christ who denies who Jesus really is. That's who Jude has declared war against here in this letter. And in these verses here you can also say that he was compelled or compelling to contend for the faith that was once for all handed down or delivered.

It's the language that we might be more familiar with. Delivered to the saints. BH Carroll in his commentary pointed out that these, this text before us, verses three and four, this is the occasion and the purpose of this letter, what we read here. This is the reason that he wrote. When Jude writes and when the Bible speaks of the faith, he's talking about the whole body of revealed salvation truth contained in the scriptures.

The Bible often uses this terminology, the faith. Let's look at a few of those scriptures and You can go home and do your own word study and look these things up for yourselves But I want to point out a few of these scriptures here in In in the letters of Paul we find the terminology used Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1 and verse 23. As he was writing to the Church of Galatia, Paul recounts how things were as he was first saved And he says, but only they kept hearing, he who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news of the faith, which he once tried to destroy. And they were glorifying God because of me.

And so he once was a persecutor of churches, and now he is proclaiming the good news of the faith. Over in Ephesians chapter 4, Over in Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5, He speaks of one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. On down there, he writes in Verse 11, and he himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. So that we no longer be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men by craftiness and deceitful scheming.

Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head that is Christ." So we find the faith is mentioned multiple times in context. It was very, very important. Over in Philippians chapter one, verse 27, he says, only live your lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear about your circumstances. You are standing firm in one spirit with one mind contending together for the faith of the gospel, in no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too from gone." So you see, he had a desire that the Church of Philippi was contending together for the faith of the gospel, much like Jude was writing about, that they would contend for the faith. And over in 1st Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1, when Paul wrote to that young preacher Timothy, he said, but the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." What we find is that in those latter times, those latter times began in the New Testament era and have continued on all the way up through till this very day.

There's an underlying theme in the New Testament, encouragement for the saints to keep the faith, to contend for the faith, to stay in the faith, and a warning that there will be some who will depart from the faith, that there will be some false teachers and preachers, some who will come in to teach that which is opposite of what the Bible teaches. And so in our text, Jude writes to these saints and he says, beloved while I was making every effort to write to you, bear in mind his original recipients here, these men and women they were not in error. He was not addressed in a group of people who had fallen for anything as of the writing here. This was not like the churches of Galatia where he's rebuking them. He is not writing to them like what Paul did to the churches of Galatia and so on and so forth, but what he's doing here is writing to them to warn them because there were certain individuals who had crept in unnoticed, unawares.

They were in danger of falling prey to apostates." He said, I was making every effort to write to you. I really like the King James translation here when it says I gave all diligence to write to you making every effort making I was giving all diligence there was a sense of urgency in Jude's urgency in Jude's writing, even when the letter turned out to be something more uncomfortable than what he had originally intended to write. As Thomas Manton, the old Puritan, wrote in dealing with this, he said, It is not enough to do good, but we must do good with labor and care and diligence. And So if we were to put ourselves in Jude's shoes or his sandals as it were, Jude by his own admission here, he says, beloved, verse 3, beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down 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 sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ.

What I gather from this is that his original intention of writing was more of a sunshiny type of a letter, more of a happier letter to write about our common salvation. But he felt a necessity to write exhorting that they contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the sapients. And rather than sugarcoat it, he went straight in and said there are certain persons that have crept in unnoticed. And he goes in. And as I said, this book of the Bible has been nicknamed the Acts of the Apostates.

He could have said, well, Maybe I really want to write this nice letter and maybe I'll just press forward and write it anyway and they'll figure out their own issues. But he didn't. He could have said, well I know what I need to do, and I just ignore it. And maybe we would have read about Jude in a similar way that we read about Jonah. You know Jonah had a work to do to go to Nineveh.

The Lord had to get his attention, didn't he? God had a work for Jude to do, And you did it. Sometimes, sometimes the Necessity is there, the urgency is there, and we have to do the good even when it's hard. He said, I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation and I felt the necessity. It's not enough to do good, but we must do good with labor and care and diligence.

The urgency was there, even when he realized as the Holy Spirit was working with him and in him and through him to pin the word of God that we know here is the book of Jude. In our day, the Holy Spirit is not working in us and through us in the same way that there's not new books of the Bible being written and so on and so forth. But, but we ought to take these things in mind and consider them. Titus chapter 3 in verse 14 says this, and our people, and our people must also learn to lead in good works to meet pressing needs so that they will not be unfruitful. And so sometimes there are pressing means that may prove to be difficult, but let us learn to lead in those good works so that we will not be unfruitful.

Fruitful. And Paul, as he wrote that to Titus, he was not writing something that he himself did not do. He also wrote to Timothy over in 2 Timothy chapter two. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Begin in verse 14, Remind them of these things, solemnly charging them in the presence of God not to dispute about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth. But avoid godless and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their word will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place and they upset the faith of some." So Paul as he wrote to Timothy, he says to remind them of these things, the things that he's written here, to not just dispute about words. And what does he say there? In verse 15, be diligent.

This goes along with The idea that Jude, he gave all diligence, every effort to write what he did to his original recipients. We are to be diligent, just as Jude was diligent, just like Paul wrote to Timothy and said, be diligent to present yourself approved to God. The Greek here in 2nd Timothy, It denotes zealous persistence in accomplishing a goal. Does it involve study? Absolutely it does.

Accurately handling the word of truth. Literally, that means cutting it straight. Think of Paul as being a tent maker. And he was involved in the tent making process and he took the leather or whatever material he was using to make the tent and he had to measure and he had to cut it right in order for that tent to measure up. If he didn't he'd be out of business.

You and I, as we handle the Word of God, we've got to accurately handle the Word. But if we never get past the words on paper, beloved, we're never going to get anywhere. What's the word he uses here? He says, be diligent to present ourselves a proof to God as a workman. He doesn't say be diligent to present yourselves approved to God as a student, as a good reader.

Those things are important. We ought to be students of the scripture. We need to be good readers for sure. But would it be workmen? Some people have a whole lot of head knowledge, know a lot what it means to share the gospel, how to organize a church, how to baptize somebody, how an ordination is supposed to go, so on and so forth, but at the end of the day it's just theoretical knowledge.

They know nothing of practical, nothing about experimental. What if Jude put all those words on paper, sent the letter off to the original recipient, they wadded up the paper and after they read it and so that's a nice paper, that's a nice letter, threw in the waste basket and went on with their lives. They would have got tricked real quick. They've got to earnestly contend for the faith. Same thing with us.

We're to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. Again, quoting Manton, Wicked men may stumble upon good, but they do not study to do good. Many have theoretical knowledge of great Bible doctrines, and not only that, sadly, have theoretical knowledge of Jesus Christ. You may know about Jesus, but do you know Him? You see.

And this is why it's so important. This is why Jude is so worked up about these things, because the apostates, the war effort, lives are being lost on the battlefield. A person may get the age of the earth wrong. A person may get the timing of the rapture wrong. A person may be mistaken about the head covering.

A person may have all of those things wrong and still make it to heaven. A person may be wrong about the amount of water in the baptistry. A person may be wrong about the church and all manner of things, But if you get the gospel wrong, if you get Jesus Christ wrong, there's no hope, you see. And this is why, this is why This is so important when he says to contend for the faith. Jude was making every effort.

He was being diligent, not just to go war, to war against the apostates. But notice, he didn't start off this letter, and we looked at that some last time, but He loved the truth. He loved the saints. And this was what was driving him to write this letter. He wasn't just writing this out of a bitter anger against the apostates.

He had a love for the Lord. He had a love for the Lord's people. And over in 2 Corinthians we see something similar from Paul. We talk a lot about Paul here, but for good reason the Lord used him to write much of the New Testament. Over in St.

Corinthians chapter 12 verse 15 chapter 12 verse 15 So I will most gladly spend and be fully spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? You see, Paul said to the church of Corinth, I will most gladly spend and be fully spent for your souls. Now that was for Corinth. That church that too many of us would probably say, well they've got too many issues to number.

I don't even know if I would even want to have any fellowship with those guys. He said I'll almost gladly spend and be fully spent for your souls. Now the spending had to do with finances but being spent has to do with willingness of giving himself for those who were in his care. Physically and spiritually there's application here. A missionary, a pastor.

It's a, it's, it, it, it, there's something about it and in, in, in, in those days it was apostles and prophets too, but there's something about it. And the man who is not willing to spend and be fully spent for the cause of Christ, He ought not to be in the office that he's in for the care of others. And so Jude, Jude takes a pen to paper and he writes, or ain't to papyrus I guess it would have been in those days. And he writes about the faith that was once for all handed down to the saints. And he doesn't write about the battles that he's doing.

You know, some of these guys, they get around and they're battling people, and they're battling people, ministries, for what cause? To make themselves look good. So I was on the internet and I had an argument with this group and that group and this group for what cause? To make me look good? Jude could have done that I suppose.

I mean there was no internet back in those days but he could have done that sort of thing, but he was not doing that. Number one, he pointed out as he wrote that this was the faith once for all handed down to the saints. It was the faith once delivered. It was not invented. It didn't originate from man or man's wisdom.

It wasn't Jude's. It would income from man's philosophy. And in this war on apostates, he reminds his readers, after he wrote his greeting, reminding them that he was slave to Jesus Christ. Reminding them who they were, the called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. Praying that mercy and peace and love be multiplied to them, he reminds them or encourages them to contend earnestly for the faith.

Earnestly for the faith. This faith which was once for all handed down to the saints, It came from God. It didn't originate from man. Wasn't it? Man's invention.

Not human philosophy, but he says you all need to earnestly contend. Now, we're not to be contentious. There's too much of that in the world. There was some of that going on in their day as well. We're to contend, but we're not to be contentious.

And we're to contend earnestly for the faith, not to be contentious for our traditions or our preferences. He's not telling those whose conscience would not allow the eating of meats to to be contentious to make that some law in the church or we ought not to take it out of context and so well here's my pet doctrine and so I'm going to earnestly contend for that and cause some big division here or there. No, no this isn't what he's talking about. He's very specific when he makes mention of the faith. And Jude's original readers would understand what that means.

And as you trace this through The Bible, as we did a little bit a while ago, we know what he means here. We're to earnestly contend for those things pertaining to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's at war with the apostates. He's declaring war against the apostates and he's asking, he's compelling his readers to join in on the battlefield join in on the battlefield with him. Now is not the time to sit idly by.

He says, 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 sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Certain persons crept in unnoticed. They slipped in. We've got to get a grip on how devilish false teachers operate. The apostate does not come to church driving a van that says on the side of it, heretic, call this number and I'll preach for you.

He doesn't show up with a t-shirt that says apostate. He doesn't have a business card. It says, let me in your church and I'll destroy it. Doesn't work that way. If he did, that would be great.

But that's not how he operates. He doesn't show up and say, hey, can I come in? I'd like to speak to the pastor. Mr. Pastor, if you'll give me 30 minutes, I'll preach heresy, destroying the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you'll absolutely hate it, but some of your people will love it, and some of them will follow me into the depths of hell.

He doesn't, it's not the way that it works. In fact, you know right away not to allow Satan into the pulpit. You know right away not to allow a Mormon into church leadership. You know right away not to allow a gospel-denying apostate into the church. The membership.

These guys, these men and these women are much more subtle. In fact, Paul wrote of them in St. Corinthians chapter 11. 11, verses 14 and 15. Seen.

And no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their deeds." We're in a spiritual battle. We're in a spiritual battle. And even apostates like the Pope, where the Mormon comes to your door, will use terminology that sounds very much like our terminology. And so they're very sneaky about these things, but when you get down to it and look at what they preach and teach.

You understand that they are gospel deniers. But some are being deceived. And There are some who will creep in even to Baptist churches unnoticed. Those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny are only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Their intentions have been to lead God's people to stray away from the truth of God's Word, away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they creep in unnoticed.

Sometimes they come in by way of the pulpit, but other times they don't even make it to the pulpit. They come into the pew. There are teaching campaigns that happen in some churches through Sunday schools, sometimes through whisper campaigns backhanded in the pews and amongst the peoples. Whether in the pulpit or the pew, warning after warning has been given in the Bible about these things. Go with me if you will.

We'll just go through some scriptures here. Over in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus gave this warning in Matthew chapter 7. Beginning in verse 15, He says, Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." You see that? The picture, the imagery is given. They come, they're false prophets, but they come in sheep's clothing.

If a wolf showed up to destroy the flock, you'd know right away to run. But these are wolves in sheep's clothing. He says you will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, so then you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, the day of judgment, Lord, Lord, in your name did we not prophesy, in your name cast out demons, in your name do many miracles. I believe he's talking about these these false prophets these wolves and sheep's clothing they are terrible individuals so terrible in fact that by the time they get to stand before the Lord.

They're still depending on their works And trying to argue with God And saying hey, we're here Look at what we've done verse 23 says then will I declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness what a terrible thing it is what a terrible thought it is that there are some who will do these things. Paul warned the church at Ephesus in Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Acts 20. Verse 28.

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. From among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be watchful, remembering that night and day for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears." And so he's telling them that be on guard. He says, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock.

After my departure, savage wolves will come. It is worth noting that the shepherds, the elders, are gender specific, but the wolves are not. Wolves can be anything and anyone. And so we've got to understand that. Over in Galatians chapter 2 verses 4 and 5, he says to the churches of Galatia, but this was because of the false brothers secretly brought in who had sneaked in to spy out our freedom, which we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us, but we did not yield in subjection to them even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

Second Peter chapter two verses one and two, Peter says, 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 brought, 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." There is a pattern with each one of them. We see that they crept in unnoticed, secretly. All of these words are being used because there's a campaign that happens. The Word of God brings to light the truth.

The truth. And Jude in his writing flips on the light switch as it were and calls them out as he declares war on these apostates. But he's not going to battle alone. He's enlisting those to whom he writes to earnestly contend for the faith. This isn't some passive call for them to sit on the sidelines and you pray for me I'm doing this I'm doing that.

No no it's not that he's saying you need to earnestly contend for the faith. He's calling them to action as he writes this warning so that they will be more engaged and more aware of what's going on. Brothers and sisters, we too live in a world where there is much heresy, apostasy being proclaimed. And when we look even in our own community, there is a lot going on. Some of it is just disagreements over little things.

Sometimes it's differences over timing of the rapture, the amount of water in the baptistry, and those sorts of things. And we know that with some of those things we can't have fellowship with some of those brethren and churches because of those things. But we know that many of those churches have Christians as members because we've talked to them. We know that they believe the gospel. We differ with them on some of the finer things of the scriptures, and that's why there's so many churches, assemblies in our communities.

But we also know that there are apostates in our community. And every once in a while we run into them. We have conversations with them. Gospel deniers. People who deny Jesus Christ.

People who deny the very death, burial, or resurrection of Jesus. People who deny the deity of Christ that he is the Son of God who came in the flesh. Maybe you've had discussions with those types of people as well. Whether it work or perhaps even they've knocked on your door like they've knocked on our door. Question is, do you believe what you say you believe?

Has it worked its way out into your life? Are you earnestly contending for the faith? Are you able to witness to others when the cult leader or the cult member, the apostate comes to your door or you meet them on the street or at work, Are you able to to engage with that person? The truth of God's Word. Don't be like the person who When the apostate came to the door, began denying the deity of Christ, didn't know what to say, and so he said, well, I'm a member of so-and-so church, And so here's my pastor's phone number.

That's who you should talk to. It's okay if you want me to talk to somebody, but you should be engaged enough in the scriptures that you can earnestly contend for the faith. That you can give an answer for the hope that lies within you. The end goal in these things is not so that we can get online and win arguments or go to Bible conferences and say look at me I was the smartest one in the room. Go off to school and hate on everybody, or go to work and everybody says, don't go near that cubicle, he'll argue with you about everything.

That's not our goal. Our goal is for the glory of God and the furtherance of the gospel and for the good of his people. We want folks to be able to know that our only hope is in Jesus. That's what we want. And I think that as we look at the tone of Jude's letter, Jude was obviously upset and at war with the apostates.

But he was not an angry, pugnacious individual. He had a love for the truth. He had a love for the Lord, the Lord's people. And as he put out this call to contend for the faith, as he declared war on the apostates, I believe we can learn a lot from him. The question is, as this war continues long after Jude has been dead, Will we be engaged?

Are we engaged? We're only on verse 4 And obviously we're not going to finish out this chapter today, 25 verses. Stay with me in this series, because we're not done yet. Many have fallen in this battle. Some are in the battle, but they're fighting it with unbiblical methods.

I really appreciate what the Holy Spirit has for us in Jude. We're not done yet. I pray that this has been a blessing. We'll continue to be as we go.