As Jude gets into the meat of his epistle, he addresses the saints to contend for the faith once delivered unto them by God (Jude 3). This communicates to us the need for us to be on the offense in the realm of spiritual warfare (1 Timothy 6:12).

Scripture is clear in revealing that faith in The Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel will come under great attack in the last days (2 Timothy 3:1-5) by the spirit of antichrist (1 John 2:18,19). That being the case, those of us who are called by God to follow Him are to be girded with the truth of God’s Word (Ephesians 6:14), ready at all times to give an answer to those who may ask us what is the basis for our hope in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:15). But spiritual preparedness does not just drop out of the sky. The faith that we have been given is also one that we are called to develop and mature in (Hebrews 5:12- 14). It is so easy to get lulled into the “normalcy” of the here and now that we no longer are gripped by the urgency of eternal matters (Hebrews 2:1).

Need I mention to you that the true faith once delivered is under incredible attack and abuse in our day and age like never before in the history of the church? Other Jesuses and other gospels are in abundance in our day and age (2 Corinthians 11:1-4). A liberal gospel is packing religious shrines with followers who deny the verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and now call sexual sin “an alternative lifestyle” (Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:24-27). It is time for the body of Christ to take a stand and be heard and counted (Acts 4:29)!

Instead of standing for the faith, however, the contemporary church is blending the precious faith given us, not only with the world, but also with a touch of Hinduism and many other kinds of -isms. Do we dare look at Scripture and the history of Christian martyrs in days gone by and do nothing? If we are not militant for our faith, then the downward spiraling of our faith will dwindle to just a remnant, who will stand, regardless of the opposition (Romans 11:1-5). God has called us to persevere under pressure (2 Timothy 2:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:4), and the easy, believe-ism gospel of today will not endure the days ahead.

May God by His wonderful grace equip us to have the courage and strength to do our part in contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints!