Contend For The Faith

I'm working and I'm praying too.

Glory to God.

I'm going through.

Well, he set me free, yes, he set me free.

He broke the pump of prison for me.

Well, I'm glory bound, my Jesus, to see.

For glory to God, he set me free.

I'm climbing higher each day.

Well, the darkness of night has drifted away.

And my feet are planted on higher ground.

And glory to God, I'm onward bound.

Well, he set me free, yes, he set me free.

He broke the pump of prison for me.

Well, I'm glory bound, my Jesus, to see.

For glory to God, he set me free.

Well, he set me free, yes, he set me free.

And he broke the pump of prison for me.

Well, I'm glory bound, my Jesus, to see.

For glory to God, he set me free.

Oh, if there's anybody in the house free,

give him another good praise offering.

Hallelujah.

That's one of them good ones right there.

It's one of them old redbacks.

He set me free, amen.

I like them.

Because once you start singing that one,

you automatically want to go to page 116,

which declares I'm getting ready to leave this world.

Laying up my treasures in that home above.

Oh, trusting, fully trusting in the Savior's love.

Oh, doing what I can for heaven's holy.

Well, I'm getting ready to leave this world.

I'm getting ready to leave this sorrow.

I'm getting ready for those gates of pearl.

Well, I'm keeping my record watching.

Well, I'm getting ready to leave this world.

Well, to prepare a mansion, Jesus said, I'll go.

And if it were not true, I would have told you so.

Just a little while to linger here below.

Well, I'm getting ready to leave this world.

Well, I'm getting ready to leave this sorrow.

I'm getting ready for those gates.

Well, I'm keeping and I'm watching.

Well, I'm getting ready to leave this world.

Hallelujah.

Getting ready to leave.

And then our old song leader, he wasn't a choir director,

he was a song leader, you know.

It hit page 279.

As I journey through this land, singing as I go,

pointing souls to Calvary, to that crimson flow.

Oh, many arrows pierce my soul from within.

But my Lord leads me on and through him I must win.

Well, I want to see him look upon his face.

Oh, there to sing forever of his saving grace.

And it's on those streets of glory.

Let me lift my voice.

Oh, cares all pass, home at last ever to rejoice.

Then there's a verse in the old song, it said,

when before me billows rise from the hangry deep, right?

Then my Lord directs my bark and he does safely keep.

And he leads me gently on through this world below,

guiding me as I onward go.

Well, oh, I want to see him look upon his face.

Oh, there to sing forever of his saving grace.

And it's on the streets of glory.

Let me lift my voice.

Oh, cares all pass, home at last ever to rejoice.

Amen.

That's that top ten I was telling you about.

That's about three of them.

Amen.

And they just keep going.

They just keep rolling on.

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn with me.

I could sing, and I'm trying to discern the weight in the room,

whether it be bed or off for me to just go ahead and sing about three more,

call you up for prayer if you need it or want it,

and let you go about your way.

Because there's a weight in here like yesterday was Thanksgiving.

I mean, you just got the dropsies this morning.

I mean, how many know what I'm talking about, the dropsies?

I mean, you brought it in here.

So it's just like, whew, it's hot.

It's sticky out there.

Amen.

If I get started and you don't get with me, I promise I'll quit.

We'll get it over with early and pick it back up next week.

Is that okay? Is that fair?

If you ain't having it, I won't try to force feed it to you.

Oh, for those of you that showed up, you can start turning to the book of Jude.

Get to Revelation, hang a short left.

Go to Revelation, hang a quick left, and you'll be at the book of Jude.

For those of you that came to camp meeting Wednesday morning and supported me,

thank you so much for being there on that day.

Good crowd, good representation.

I guess the question that was asked the most is, does he preach like that every Sunday?

Everybody said, yeah, pretty much.

And so for you to come back every Sunday really just encourages me to keep on going.

But you know, there are some folks who don't mind the unadulterated,

the straight version, you know, and I appreciate that.

Because that's the kind it takes for me to make it, you know.

I just got to have it.

If I'm missing it, tell me I'm missing it and let me get straightened up and go on.

Amen.

Because my feelings have never been easily hurt.

Being prayer for Pastor Brian's family over the next few days,

visitation for his grandfather begins at 2 o'clock this afternoon,

2 to 8 at Jim Rush Funeral Home.

And then tomorrow I think the service starts at 11.

Service will be at 11.

And then Tuesday, as he is a Vietnam veteran,

he will be buried in the military graveyard in Chattanooga.

So that will be on Tuesday.

So just remember Pastor Brian, his mother, and his uncles, his family, his aunt.

Amen.

His grandmother so deeply needs a touch from the Lord.

The Book of Jude, I know that's kind of an odd place to go,

but I would like to say that this isn't part of a carryover from Wednesday,

but I can't because it is.

The Lord has really stirred me this week as I've listened to some of the messages

through camp meeting and I know what the Lord laid on my heart.

And to me it seemed like the theme is for the church for us to kind of wake up

and get our act together, kind of what I got out of camp meeting.

You know, Monday night, Brother Morgan preached that wonderful message,

don't run from your resource, you know, run to it, not away from it.

And I know what the Lord laid on my heart.

And that was just a Holy Ghost blow up.

The man didn't really get to preach.

He just kind of exhorted a little, pulled his coat off,

and got an altar and went to work.

Hallelujah. Amen.

And then the fellow Wednesday morning, I don't know what he did,

but it got cleaned up good Wednesday night.

Amen.

Number three out of the book of Jude.

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 you should earnestly

contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Yesterday afternoon, as my mind's just kind of getting wrapped around today,

the Lord began to deal with my heart.

On the message from Wednesday morning, a word for the watchman,

where Isaiah, the Lord moved on him, and the man from Edom came

and asked him, watchman, what of the night?

That really stirred my heart.

Watchman, what of the night?

How much longer? What's going on?

Do you see anything? What's happening outside the gate?

And he says, well, it's not long.

Day's coming, but the night is to follow.

And so pondering that and some of the theme and the other word that went out this week,

the Lord began to deal with me on this thought, contending for the faith.

Contending for the faith.

And y'all know me, you've been around here long.

I'm not much of a series type preacher,

but we're going to do a little summer series on contending for the faith.

Amen?

And just see what the Spirit of the Lord has to say to us,

because I know it's vacation season and you need them,

so you take them and you rest and you enjoy,

or you just have so much fun you're worn out and have to come to church and sleep

to rest when you get back. Just come back.

Amen?

Summer's a tough time for your pastor.

It's a tough time, because I know you're out and I'm here

and this stuff's still burning and you're not getting it.

Amen?

I'm not, I just don't do homilies.

I think I need to entreat the Lord on our behalf as a church.

Amen?

And see what the Spirit of the Lord's saying to us,

and I know you're going to be gone.

I think, boy, they need this, but they're gone this week.

That's just me.

Because I love you.

You know that? You know that?

If I didn't love you, I'd just let you go about your business

and play church and yada and probably end up in hell one day.

I mean, that's what's going to happen if that's what you're doing,

just playing with God and you ain't going to make it.

Well, I better start preaching and quit meddling.

Lord, I love you. Thank you for your word.

Help me now, Lord, to be expedient.

Lord, don't let me go past the time that is productive

in the hearts and minds of your people.

Please, Lord, let us hear what the Spirit's saying to the church today,

and we will praise you for your goodness, praise you for your mercy,

glorify you for who you are, for you are good.

In Christ's name, amen.

You can be seated.

I think we as the Watchmen need to be alert on our posts

for the hour in which we're living

and things that are surrounding and going on in our time.

This little small letter from the Apostle Jude is a powerful instruction.

It's very short, 25 little verses,

but man, they are so packed for the believer and for the church today

that we are to be mindful of what his instruction is.

In his day, he's talking about people who have crept in

with a false doctrine, with a false gospel.

He's talking about them and wanting them to contend for the faith,

which we'll talk about just a little bit in a moment,

because you've got some immorality going on,

and they're saying these things are okay.

And so Jude is addressing the issues of the church,

and he's wanting the true church, the believer, to fight, to contend.

That word contend means the meeting of effort by effort,

the effort of something coming against you

by the effort that you're putting back forward

to turn the tide of whatever's coming against you.

It's a stirring against opposition.

It means to enter into the battle, if you will.

And so when we think about contending for the faith,

there's only one faith, the faith.

He makes that distinction very clear.

We need to understand that I think I heard or read somewhere

that there are over 10,000 religions in the world,

not just the big three.

There are over 10,000 different religions.

That means different faiths, different articles,

different belief systems.

But Jude is saying there's only one true faith,

and we know that that is the faith that is in Jesus Christ,

the Son of the Living God.

We know that, and that's what he's writing to the church,

and he said, don't let the creepers come in.

Don't let them slip in and deceive you from the faith.

Don't let these things arise.

You be aware, and I want you to contend.

I want you to stand firm.

I want you to stand against the opposition with and for

and through and by the faith.

I want you to contend for it.

Sometimes we do so very well physically,

as in battle in Deuteronomy 2 and 9.

We hear the Lord tell Moses not to engage.

Distress not the Moabites.

Don't go against Moab.

Neither contend with them in battle

because they were protected.

They had been given to Lot, Abraham's nephew,

for the descendants of Lot.

That land had been given.

Later, God would change his mind,

and he had put some stipulations on Moab and some others

and draw a line for them.

They couldn't even come in to worship

because they received not his children when they came out.

When they got out there, they didn't bless them.

They didn't provide for them,

and so God said, well, I've got a rule for you.

Amen?

And so sometimes we have to go in battle,

but sometimes not.

The Lord said don't engage them in battle

because the word is over them.

At times we see there is a contention with horses.

And you read Jeremiah 12 and verse 5,

and the Lord said to Jeremiah,

if thou hast run with the footmen,

and they have wearied thee,

then how canst thou contend with the horses?

Jeremiah is making a complaint about everything

he's having to deal with and he's having to go through,

and the spiritual battles he's having to fight,

and then God says, look, if you're tired and weary now

just because you've been contending with the footmen,

how in the world when the battle increases,

is the symbolism here, when the battle increases

and the battle picks up,

how do you think you can contend with the horses

if you're having struggles

just dealing with the normal things of life?

When you put it that way, we are to contend for the faith,

but when we think about engaging,

if we struggle with some of the minute things of life,

how are we gonna contend when the battle really gets turned on,

when the heat really gets cranked up,

if we get offended because folks just don't like this or that about us

and we're ready to quit church because we overheard somebody say this

or somebody say that, you know, it's gonna take a little bit more than that

to keep me out of the house of the Lord.

Amen? It's really gonna take a little bit more than my,

I've already told you, my feelings aren't easily hurt,

I may be a greater offender than I am an offende from time to time,

but if we can't contend with some of the simple things, if you will,

some of the everyday mundane things of life that the enemy brings against us,

then how are we gonna continue to contend for the faith

when the heat really gets turned up like we've sung about this one?

How are we gonna contend for the faith when the flood comes rushing in?

You remember when the enemy comes in like a flood,

are you gonna be washed away by the flood

or are you gonna be able to take hold of the standard

that is raised up against the flood?

We've gotta get our minds made up as to whom it is we believe

and the trust that we have in him and the confidence that we have in him,

and we've gotta see evildoers coming in.

We gotta know that our faith's not gonna be perverted

because we're not gonna be easily seduced

because we know what the faith really is and what it's all about.

You've gotta learn to contend.

Don't be so wimpy, don't give up so quickly.

Come on now. Why can you say that, pastor?

Because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world

because we do not contend by our own strength and by our own going on.

We don't just contend in our own might and power.

We contend, as the ruble heard the word of the Lord when he was told this,

it's not by might nor by power, but it's by my spirit, saith the Lord.

Oh, the ruble that you can speak to the mountain

and it be cast like a plane before you.

I'm here to tell somebody this morning, don't be so quick to give up.

Don't be so quick to wanna quit because you've gotta contend.

You've gotta be willing to do battle when battle is required.

You've gotta be willing to run with the horses when it's required

to have strength and stamina to go into not every battle is won in a day.

Not every victory comes tomorrow.

There are times as the apostle Peter would tell us,

we may have to suffer for a little while.

You may have to go through a season,

but if we're so easily and readily to surrender the faith,

do we really have the faith to start with?

We need to learn to contend that we are able to run with the horsemen

and do battle when battle is required.

Sometimes we do so verbally, Nehemiah 13 and 11.

Then contended I with the rulers and said,

why is the house of God forsaken?

And I love the rest of that verse.

You need to go read it.

If you're a note taker, go back and read some of these.

I'm just hitting the highlights of them.

But he said, and I took them and I set them down and I put them in their place.

Oh, my, my.

Every now and then we just need to be sat down and just put in our place.

You don't need to be fearful.

You don't need to be wondering.

You don't need to allow this fright to come over you.

Let me set you down and tell you this morning to earnestly, diligently, faithfully,

keep on keeping on contending, engage in the battle for the faith that you have in Jesus Christ.

Don't allow the enemy so easily to remove you from the pain.

Paul said that he said, how is it that you're so easily removed from the faith that has been preached to you?

The gospel that had been delivered to you?

How is it you're so quickly to surrender that and just go back to your wondering?

We got to contend for this faith.

We got to engage the meeting of effort by effort.

So sometimes we do so verbally.

Other times we do so spiritually.

Isaiah 57, verse 15 and 16.

Isaiah 57:15

For thus saith the high and the lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy,

I do well in the high and holy place with him also.

Listen to this, that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble

and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

For I will not contend forever.

Neither will I be always wrought.

Oh, my Lord, the Lord's trying to let us know something.

You keep contending for the faith.

I'm not always going to keep contending for you in my wrath.

But one thing I want you to know is I am the high one.

I am the holy one.

I am the lofty one.

And I am endeavoring to contend for you.

But I'm not always going to do that.

You got to make up your mind that you're going to surrender to he who is putting forth effort

against the effort that's being put against you.

God is the one who was high.

He is the one who is holy.

He is the one that is lifted up.

And spiritually, where is Jesus today?

Where is the son of the living God today?

Isn't he at the throne of the right hand of the Father there ever making intercession

every day contending on your and my behalf?

He's contending for us because we are in the faith.

You are in the faith.

And he's contending for you on your behalf.

But he said, I'll not always do that.

So you better come on while the coming is good.

Don't ever think of God running out of patience with us because he is long suffering.

But I'm here to tell you there's an end to his patience.

He's not just eternally long suffering.

He won't just keep on suffering long for you.

There's a line that he's got drawn somewhere in eternity in the time span.

And when he gets there and you're not on his side, it's not a good place to be.

I know we don't in our culture today, I know we don't hear about this side of God,

but we have to comprehend the fact that he is a just, he is a holy, he is a pure,

and he is a true God.

And we've got to get that in our mind.

And it's hard for us to fathom those attributes of God because we don't see those things demonstrated.

Those attributes are not demonstrated in the leadership of our nation like any other place.

But God wants you and I to know he is righteous, he is true, he is holy,

and there is a time when I will say enough is enough.

We read about it throughout scripture, judgment came upon Israel,

but I love it so much when judgment came, his grace was still there,

and he offered for them the alternative to come back to himself.

Amen.

Contend for the faith.

We think about this faith, it's not something abstract, but it's in the uniqueness of itself.

There's no other faith like the faith.

The belief, the confidence, the trust in who God is.

And that all that God has said comes to pass and is reality for the life of those who believe it.

Hebrews 11, 1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Drop down to verse 6.

For without faith it is, say that again, it is without faith it is impossible to please him.

But he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek after him.

And I'm telling you now a contender diligently seeks after.

If you're the number three contender in the world in the boxing arena,

all you want is to get inside the ropes with numero uno.

Right?

Come on now, if you're number three, you're going to contend with all comers.

Give me number two, give me number four, give me anybody who'll get in here.

But the one that I'm after is really number one.

That's who I won't end the ring with.

And so you contend with all opponents until you face the one in whom you're seeking after.

My God, just relate that to the world.

The one that I don't fight against and beat against the air is one without purpose.

But I do it so that I bring my own body under subjection so that I may continue to contend for the faith.

My contention is this, that I see God.

Hallelujah that I see him.

He would declare I have not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me.

This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, somebody needs to hear it again.