Theological term
The Faith Once Delivered
2 sermons · All terms
The Defense of the Faith
Jude 3 commands every believer — not merely church officers — to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This sermon works through the exhortation (v. 3), the motivation supplied by the reality of internal heresy (v. 4), and the disposition required of faithful contenders (vv. 17, 20–21). The defense of objective Christian truth is grounded not in combative temperament but in the knowledge that God loves his people, and is sustained through the study of Scripture, prayer, and a forward orientation toward the return of Christ.
The Book of Jude
The epistle of Jude issues an urgent call to God's people to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, in the face of ungodly men who have crept unnoticed into the church and are turning the grace of God into a license for immorality. Working through all twenty-five verses, this exposition traces the letter's anatomy — salutation, statement of purpose, denunciation and doom of the heretics, positive exhortations to believers, and closing doxology — showing that Jude's 'sandwich' structure encloses a hard confrontation with false teaching within the glorious realities of calling, sanctification, and preservation in Christ. The sermon argues that the body of objective doctrinal truth committed to the church must be held with zeal, not limp-wristedly accommodated to include those who deny the sovereign lordship of Christ. Believers are to rejoice in their preservation, know troublemakers for what they are, and deal pastorally but distinctly with those in danger of or already ensnared by heresy.