Jude, oh how we need your voice today!

The epistle of Jude, tucked away at the end of the New Testament just before the final book of Revelation, may be small in size but it packs a punch that belies its brevity, (it would be good for us as preachers to learn this grace)

The letter begins addressed, "to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved by Jesus Christ".vs1

Alternative translations say, "to those who are called, beloved, and kept."

I like that translation best.

We, who have come to know Christ and experience this new life through the salvation He has given to us, are now, by the powerful working of the grace of God in our lives, called beloved of God in Christ and kept by that same power unto that final Day.

From this beautiful opening greeting, Jude immediately launches into a passionate warning to those who would attempt to cheapen this salvation and pervert the true knowledge of God's grace, false teachers, who "Turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ."vs4

These false teachers are preaching a message that is emptying the cross of Christ of its power to save and sanctify those who are seeking to find and press on to know the Lord.

It is a message that is turning the grace of God into licentiousness or into a license to sin.

Their message is," God understands. God knows. Don't be legalistic.

It doesn't matter if you sin, after all, nobody is perfect, God's grace is there. He understands your weaknesses."

The message of God's grace was being distorted and reduced to an acceptance of every kind of self-indulgent behavior and immoral conduct.

The message of God's grace had been changed from a deterrent from sin into a license to sin.

It was one of the french philosophers who once declared, "God will forgive me I am sure if He exists that is His character."

His attitude of disdainful arrogance was that he needed no repentance or real faith in Christ, rather he would chance to fate the belief that if God truly exists, surely His duty is 'to show me mercy' at death.

I wonder how many irreligious souls there are inhabiting this planet who are headed towards eternity with the same cavalier thoughts towards Christ and about eternity and death.

The same arrogance was motivating the thoughts and words of these false teachers who had infiltrated the church with a message of false grace, a cheap grace, a grace that had no cross, no repentance, and no holiness in view whatsoever.

Let us be clear on this, the salvation that Jesus Christ came into this world to bring is a salvation that comes manifestly by the grace of God from first to last.

But it is a grace that comes to save us from our sins, not confirm us in them, to deliver us and to set us free. It is a salvation that is able to transform our lives into shining displays of God's immense mercy as those who have believed, in bringing us out of darkness into His wonderful light, out of death into the unconquerable power of the life of Jesus Christ that God places as a seed, a growing seed within.

If the false teachers were distorting the message of the grace of God, then it is the calling of the true teachers to preach the true message of the grace of God, a grace mighty to save.

In the book of Titus, we have perhaps the clearest and most succinct description of the true nature of God's grace anywhere in the New Testament.

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you." Titus 2 vs11-15

These are the things which we are to speak and encourage one another with, to spur each other on to greater love and good works.

This is the true message of Grace. Not a weak and paltry message of God's love that seeks to justify our disobedience and wink at our so-called peccadillos. Rather it is the message of God's love fully manifested in sending His Son to bleed and die upon the cross of calvary 2000 years ago, so that this life-transforming grace of God and new life-giving salvation may be seen in all those who choose to look to Christ as their Savior and as their Lord and to follow Him.

It is a grace that has saved us in order to make us His own special treasure, His own treasured possession washed from our sins and made new to display the majesty of His redeeming love.

It is also a grace that teaches us to say no to those things within us that would grieve His Spirit and that would dishonor our Lord. It is the grace of God within us that now instructs us to aspire to live godly and holy lives.

When a leading "bishop" in the Anglican Church of England defends the right to "bless" so-called same-sex unions by arguing that we now need to see that the scriptures of truth have "evolved" and thus so must our understanding of them, that is turning the grace of God into a license to sin.

Actually, that is seeking to call good evil and evil good, and believe me, God will judge that man accordingly, as too all those who follow the lusts of their own hearts into a lifestyle of sin, claiming for themselves a Divine benediction upon their errant ways.

How we need preachers like Jude to come forth into the fray once again.

How we need preachers who can unapologetically call for holiness of life among the saints of God, holiness let it be said, that is costly and always has been.

Jude exhorts believers to,

"Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

Contend. The true faith entrusted to us is at stake, nothing less.

This is not just an issue of discipleship, this is an issue of the true message of the grace of God that alone brings true salvation to those who believe.

Today we are, oh, so tolerant in the church. Where are the contenders among the people of God, those who are contending for the truth?

Contend is an active word, a military word, it involves a fight, it involves battle.

Most Christians want above everything a peaceful life it would seem, as little confrontation as possible.

"I am not here to judge", you hear them say. "I am here to love others and to pray."

Then in God's name love them enough to tell them the truth and pray until you have the burden of the Lord to contend against the falsehoods so deceptive in our days, and know the power of God within you rising up to be one whose heart will not falter, one who will be valiant for truth in the earth. Oh, may the Lord raise up such a witness in our day.

"Contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints", and not just the exhortation for us to contend, but he adds the little caveat "earnestly".

We are to, "earnestly contend" for the truth in our day.

We are to earnestly contend for the faith. The cross must be preached once more from our pulpits and from our pews,and in the highways and in the byways, for the message of the cross is the power of God unleashed to bring salvation into every waiting and trembling heart.

This message of the cross which lies as the throbbing heartbeat of the true message of the grace of God is not a message to confirm the willful and rebellious, nor the proud-hearted who claim the name of Christ but continue to go on in their old sinful lifestyles and rebellious ways, unperturbed, untroubled, unrepentant and unchanged.

It is a message to those who are poor in spirit and brokenhearted, those who like the tax collector can truly say and mean, "Lord be merciful to me a sinner. Come in and change me, as only you can, transform me, wash me and cleanse and make me a vessel in your hands that you can use for your Glory." God will hear such a prayer.

We are to Contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, and that in paraphrase means blood, sweat and tears.

At the beginning of the Second World War when the newly appointed prime minister of Great Britain stood to make his first speech in his new capacity, he spoke words that have inspired generations from that time forward.

Faced with the direst of circumstances, France was about to fall to the invading German advance and Britain seemingly stood alone against a looming Nazi threat of invasion from across the narrow distance of our channel waters that separated Britain from France. It was at this moment that Churchill delivered one of his most famous speeches.

"I have nothing to offer", said a belligerent Churchill, "But Blood sweat, and tears. we have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say it is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You may ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory. Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be. For without victory, there is no survival."

Churchill recognized that such was the magnitude of both the gravity of the situation and the fierceness of the fight that was going to be required of the entire nation (and much of the free world) in order for this war to be won and victory to be gained, that he would offer no easy words of comfort or false promises of peace.

He would offer nothing other than a long and arduous road of blood, sweat and tears.

Today the battle for our nation and nations against a tyrannical spirit of state-sponsored immorality, and the battle for our children to be raised undefiled and not perverted by the transgender ideology is going to need a generation of Christians who will once again contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

In similar fashion, the battle for the unborn to be given the right to live in their mother's womb and not be to be seen as an inconvenience to be executed before they can take their first breath is a

cause worth fighting for.

The calling upon the Church to become a radiant bride spotless and without blemish, filled with first love for Jesus, a love that does not diminish or grow old, is a cause worth fighting for.

The need for the true gospel message of the grace of God once again to be heralded and heard, the grace of God that brings salvation and that teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts is a fight worth contending for.

The battle fought in Churchill's time was the battle for freedom vs tyranny against a "monstrous tyranny", that sought to enslave and to conquer. That generation fought valiantly and by God's almighty help prevailed.

The battle in our day is just as grim and just as real.

It is a battle that begins when we as Christians recognize our need daily to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him.

It is a fight that must be waged against fear and intimidation, lethargy, and a tolerating spirit that seeks to silence the Church and lethargize the saints.

The Lord is arising in these times once more beloved, but not for peace but for war.

He is not at peace with the evil and the darkness that has deceived and rendered lukewarm so many within the Church. And He is certainly never going to be anything other than a Judge, (the Judge of all the earth who will do that which is right), with indignation in His heart against those who are destroying the lives of our children with an agenda of immorality.

He will arise within His church and scatter His enemies.

"Arise shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Behold darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise on you and His glory shall be seen upon you. Nations shall come to you and kings to the brightness of your dawning." Isaiah 60 vs 1-2

This prophecy of Isaiah is where we have come to today.

The Lord is calling for a people to arise and to shine, and to know that the light of His glory is rising upon us.

As we stand prepared to fight for the truth, to contend and not to accommodate, we can be assured that the Lord is on our side, therefore we will not be afraid, for the battle is the Lord's and truth will triumph in the end.