Contending for the Faith: The Struggle against False Teachers

Five years ago I gave a sermon on biblical justice that landed me in trouble. It was during a time of chaos in our society, at the height of the COVID pandemic and a summer of political riots. During that time I had observed the rise of an ideology called social justice that was beginning to infiltrate the church.

Biblical justice is based on the scriptures and builds from there, but I saw that the social justice ideology was built on the oppressor vs. oppressed paradigm common in Marxist ideology. It was based on critical theory, a concept of criticizing and tearing down perceived oppressive structures in society. And I saw this ideology was infiltrating the church under the guise of justice ministry.

I became increasingly concerned, sensing God calling me to speak up in the struggle between biblical justice and social justice ideology.

On July 5th 2020 during the height of this societal chaos I gave a sermon on biblical justice that I titled “…And Justice for All.” The sermon was live streamed. I spoke about the dangers of critical theory based ideologies. I spoke about the importance of unity in diversity among the body. And I encouraged the body of Christ to embrace biblical justice, which includes deep love and mercy.

Immediately after giving the message, the sermon had received over five thousand views and a mob had formed on social media with the goal of cancelling me. They lobbied leadership in The Salvation Army, and I was banned from preaching for a period of about one month. And for a moment it looked like I might be removed from leadership altogether.

However, officers, soldiers, and leaders throughout The Salvation Army world spoke up on my behalf, and in the end, all the complaints were dropped and my preaching rights were restored. Leadership viewed the original text of the message and decided the message was not blameworthy after all.

I remember when I was first writing the sermon this feeling came over me, I could almost sense what was coming next. I got on my knees in distress to pray. And I said, “Lord, would you like me to change this message in some way?” And I heard the Lord say to me: “Every word.”

It was a scary moment in my life as a new officer, just out of my first year, but God used it to mold and shape me, and I saw the army’s approach to justice ministry begin to shift toward a more biblical approach. I knew that in some small way, God had used that sermon I gave that day to help guide the movement toward a more biblical path. But I was never treated the same in the movement after that day. I began to feel like an outsider.

Yet it was worth it to see a real change in the struggle between biblical justice and social justice. Nevertheless, it is a continued struggle to this day in the body of Christ, such teachings are always attempting to infiltrate the church, teachings that divide people into disparate groups, sow distrust among believers, and encourage hatred and resentment instead of love.

In the struggle against false teachings and false teachers, you may pay a price for the witness you bring, but if the Lord is calling you to speak up, speak up boldly. Despite the price you pay, remember our Lord paid an infinitely higher price when He died for you on the cross.

Today we examine the book of Jude, in particular the last half of the letter. Jude was a brother to Jesus, his real name was Judas, but, we call him Jude, because that name Judas is more often associated with the disciple who betrayed Jesus.

Jude was probably one of the younger brothers of Jesus. He did not follow Jesus during his earthly ministry, but after the resurrection of Jesus, Jude became a leader in the early church.

Jude is writing this letter to a church that is struggling against false teachers. So Jude writes early in the letter, that he had hoped to write a letter about all the wonderful depths of salvation in Christ, but instead he has to write this letter challenging the church to “contend for the faith.”

And the Greek word for contend here is very strong. It implies to fight, as a combatant.

If we turn to the 1828 Webster’s dictionary, it says this about the word contend:

1. To strive, or to strive against; to struggle in opposition.

2. To strive; to use earnest efforts to obtain, or to defend and preserve.

3. To dispute earnestly; to strive in debate.

I like that word earnestly because it implies you have a good heart about it, you love the truth, you aren’t disputing because you want clicks or because you want to make some point, but because you love the truth. It’s honest disputing.

So that’s the challenge, to contend against false teachers. And these false teachers that Jude is dealing with are making a particular claim, that is very common in the modern church. Jude writes in verse 4:

“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.”

They take the concept that we are under the grace of God, to be a license, to practice and live in sin. They say, if we’re under the grace of God, we can do whatever we want.

What is a license? It gives you permission to do something. If I have a fishing license, I am officially allowed to fish in the area. They treat the incredible gift of the cross of Jesus, as a license to sin.

I had a Christian who was disputing me with, because he and his wife felt I was a teaching a works gospel, and they made the statement, “a Christian can sin as much as they want.” That my friends, is a false teaching.

This has been a theological dispute in the history of the church, a heresy we now call today antinomianism. The phrase antinomian breaks down into two words in Latin, “anti” meaning against, and “law” meaning moral good. Martin Luther wrote extensively against antinomianism, so did John Wesley.

So that’s our first point for today, contend for the faith. Keep your guard against false teachers who want to make the claim that because we are under Christ, we can live and sin however we want. This is very common today, so many ministries teach a grace-heavy gospel, that removes the need for holiness and for purity, and rebukes good works as attempts to earn your salvation.

So Jude spends the first half of the letter dealing with these false teachers and pointing out that we can know them by their fruit. We will know them by what their lives produce. Their words may seem very wise or powerful or seem right to our emotions, but their fruit will prove who they really are.

Second point, you can know a false teacher or a false Christian by their fruit. Does their lifestyle match what they say? Now, no ones lifestyle perfectly matches Christ, but, you will be able to sense, by the Spirit’s guidance, whether they are walking in the way of Christ or in their own way.

But I want to focus in on the second half of the letter. Which gives instruction from Jude about how to live, despite the false teachings around us.

But let me just say one more thing, we live in a time in the body of Christ, when there are false teachings everywhere. I believe we live in the era that Jude is about to talk about, where we see false teachers everywhere, and false teachings damaging the faith of millions. We live in those times now.

I’ve done research on the churches here in Traverse city, I would say nearly half of them are gay pride churches, churches that are teaching against the leading the Holy Spirit, against Christ, that is wild. This is up north traverse city of all places. But it’s true in every city I’ve been in, from Escanaba to Chicago to Owosso to Gary, there is always a big gathering of churches that are apostate, against the faith, against Christ, because they teach against his word.

So you may be sitting there thinking what do I need to worry about false teachers? Brothers and sisters, they are all around us. And on tv, and social media, and YouTube.

So Jude addresses this, verses 17-19: “17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”

Notice that phrase, “in the last times.” Jesus spoke repeatedly about a period of time at the end of human history, known as the end times. He spoke about difficult times that would come on the Earth. And part of that story of the end times was, scoffers who would mock the idea of Jesus’ return.

There were signs of this even in the time of Jude. Jesus predicted that after he was crucified and resurrected, vicious wolves would sneak in among the flock and lead many astray.

Third point, be on guard in your thinking. Watch out for soothing, clever statements made by leaders. There are all sorts of clever arguments intended to sway you away from faith in Christ, or to get you to accept false doctrines. Their arguments will appeal to your emotions, and manipulate your emotions. They make statements like: “If God was really good, why would he send someone hell? If God loves everyone then why shouldn’t we accept all lifestyles? We just need to listen and learn from other peoples experiences. We can’t convert anyone that would be wrong, they need to stay in the religion they were raised in. There are many ways to God, not just one.”

All of these statements can be so appealing to our emotions. But we can’t let our emotions rule us. Not everything that sounds good, is good. Here’s my challenge to you, the best way to be on guard in your thinking is to let God’s word stand in authority above your emotions. Then we can’t be led astray, because we’ll say, well, what does God’s word say? There’s a check and balance against our feelings.

Let God’s word stand in authority above your emotions, and you won’t be led astray.

So we understand we’ve got to contend, keep watch, keep our emotions in check, and resist and overcome false teachers.

Notice verse 19, they follow mere human instincts, they do not have the Spirit. That is one way to identify a false teacher, do you sense the Spirit working through their ministry? Certain speakers I’ve watched over the years in church, they would come up and speak and I would sense the Spirit moving through them. But numerous times a speaker would come forward, and my wife and I would say afterward, where was the Holy Spirit? We would listen and become troubled, grieved, even upset as they spoke because we sensed a different spirit, but not the Holy Spirit.

Next, Jude is going to explain to us how to live, despite all the frightful things we see happening around us.

Verses 20-21: “20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”

This is the key scripture for our message today. Build yourselves up in your most holy faith. But I thought it was God who was building us? That is true. We are saved by grace through faith, this is not of ourselves, it is a gift of God. Yet the word of God also says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

So many people get annoyed with me in my preaching because I mention those pesky scriptures that no one likes to talk about, the ones that mention hell, and judgment and the fear of the Lord, falling away, and the call to holiness. Is it because I enjoy being controversial? Not at all.

But, it’s like we have this long list of our favorite scriptures, John 3:16, Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11. And then we have this other list of scriptures, the challenging ones, that few preachers will talk about, because these scriptures make us feel uncomfortable. But if I only teach from the list of feel good scriptures, I am a false teacher, because by excluding the difficult passages, I’ve carved an idol out of God, making him all love and no justice. Now the converse is true as well, if I only preach on the tough verses, I’ve also made an idol, of all justice and no love, that is a false teaching as well.

We must teach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), as one who must give an account, in accordance with James 3:1.

Point four, build yourselves up in the most holy faith. I’m on a journey, and I know you are too, to build yourselves up in your faith journey. We are people always seeking to grow, always seeking to learn new things, looking for opportunities to build our faith, and to go on into maturity.

And if you’re wondering, how do we as Christians overcome all these lies and falsehoods and false teachers and evil agendas around us in the world, the answer is to build ourselves up. We often think we must fight harder. But Jesus said, overcome evil with good.

One Christian who really seriously seeks to build themselves up in the faith, and become all God has called them to be, is greater than 450 false teachers (just ask Elijah). They can overcome all of it, and change an entire city. Because Christ is glowing within them.

Next it says, “And praying the Holy Spirit.”

Point five, pray in the Spirit. What does that mean? Pentecostals talk about that a lot, praying in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit is when we allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us. It’s not necessarily praying in tongues, but it can be. But more so, it’s allowing the Spirit to guide your prayers. Sometimes I do this when I pray, I’ll say Holy Spirit please pray through me before I start.

I can tell when I’m praying in Justin, because it’s not too powerful, but when you start praying in the Spirit, you feel the Spirit surging through your being, and you get passionate, excited, and focused. Your prayers become powerful when you pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep that in your back pocket. Ask the Spirit to guide your prayers before you start.

Verse 21, “keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”

What do you mean keep yourself in God’s love? Isn’t God the one who keeps us? God certainly does keep us, and we’re told in his word there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Nothing outside ourselves, nothing demonic that can separate us. But, we can choose to separate ourselves.

It’s all outlined in John chapter 15, Jesus said, “If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love.” It’s the concept of abiding, remain close to Jesus, which keeps us in God’s love. But God’s love is also keeping us. It implies two entities interlocked together, God and you holding onto each other.

Point six, keep yourself in God’s love as you wait. We are all waiting for something as Christians. We are waiting for the Lord Jesus to return, and bring us to eternal life. We are all waiting for that one day when Jesus will part the sky and take us home. In the meantime, abide in Christ, as Christ abides in you, keeping yourself in God’s love as you wait.

But in the meantime, as we wait, we receive instructions on how we should live. Verses 22-23: “22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”

If someone is having doubts in their faith walk, don’t judge them, be merciful to them. Encourage them. Listen to them. Pray for them.

For others, snatch them from the fire. Many countless souls out there today, in this city, are perilously close to the eternal hellfire of damnation. And they need someone like you and me, to come and snatch them from the fires and show them to the feet of Jesus.

To still others, show mercy, mixed with fear. So a balance of mercy, along with deep concern for the sins they are in, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. That’s the concept of love the sinner, hate the sin. Some say it’s not scriptural, show them Jude 23.

Essentially, it’s saying as we wait for Jesus to come back, be at work in his field, as ambassadors to the community on His behalf.

So lastly, verses 24-25, “24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

Jude has just told us to build ourselves up in the most holy faith, but then he also reminds us, God is able to keep us from stumbling, and to present us before the throne of God the Father without fault.

It’s all very synergistic. God’s presence and help and power, connected with our prayers, obedience, faithfulness, and practice of purity.

The entire Trinity is involved in preparing us for judgment day.

Jesus makes us clean by dying on the cross for us, and covering us with his blood. Jesus goes with us on the journey, walking with us, and advocating for us to the Father. He also keeps us holy on the road.

The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, encourages us, convicts us, and helps us to hear God’s voice. He builds us in purity of heart.

God the Father, molds us, shapes us, loves on us, builds us, and protects us along the way.

All for the purpose of one day presenting us before the throne of God, faultless, and with great joy.

Point seven, trust that God our Savior will be do His part to present you faultless before God our Father’s throne.

Jude concludes by declaring, all glory to God, God the Father is our savior, through Jesus Christ, glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to God. Forever. Amen.

Review of Main Points:
1. Contend for the faith

2. You can know a false teacher by their fruit

3. Be on guard in your thinking

4. Build yourselves up in the most holy faith

5. Pray in the Spirit

6. Keep yourself in God’s love as you wait

7. Trust that God our Savior will be do His part to present you faultless before God our Father’s throne

In conclusion today, let’s wrap it all together. God is painting a beautiful canvass on our hearts. He’s molding and shaping us into people of incredible glory, from one degree of glory to the next. He’s creating something amazing. And it’s messy on the way, there are setbacks, and trauma and pain and tears and grief, but also victories, hope, healing and renewal.

As we engage in this journey, and we build ourselves up step by step with God, we must guard against false teachers that would smear their own designs all over the beautiful canvass God is painting. Their false teachings would ruining and sideline us on our spiritual journeys. The false teacher is great at getting us to stop on the road, and pitch a tent in a place where we were meant to keep going deeper and higher toward God. Keep your guard against their clever schemes and high sounding speech. Contend for the faith, speak up boldly, but also remember, we overcome false teachers by doing good, not by lashing out with anger.

Apply your heart to building yourself up in the most holy faith. In so doing, you will grow and grow, praying in the Spirit, helping others who are in danger, and waiting patiently for the return of the Lord Jesus. On that day he will present you, God willing, faultless and with great joy before the throne of the Father.

As Jude writes, “Glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to God!” Amen.