Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
Jude 3
Today we celebrate 50 years of God’s faithfulness to us as a body of believers here at our local church. We are not here to brag on all the things accomplished over the years by the congregation. We are not here to compare Pastor Young’s work with Pastor Smith’s work with Pastor Frampton’s work or Pastor Reynolds’s work. All things that have been accomplished have been by the grace of God and nothing more. We are not here to puff out our chest and say look at what we have done, nor are we here to apologize for our failures; we are after all just men. We are here by the grace of God and nothing more. We are here to praise God and his Son, Jesus Christ.
From this church’s humble beginnings to its simple present day existence, God has been honored, we pray. Souls have been saved and saints have been edified. Missionaries have been and are still supported, men have been called to the gospel ministry, and families have come and gone. Many souls have come through these doors. Many have heard the gospel given in its clearest version. Some have said yes, but many have said no. Either way according to Paul’s writings in II Cor.2:15-16 “For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other, the savor of life unto life...”
Many believers have come through these doors. Some have said yes to growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and some continue to do so at great loss of friends and family, and finances. Many believers have come who were more attuned to activity and song and they have long since found other places to go. Some reached a level of toleration with God’s conforming work in their lives and they have gone on to be molded by this present age. Conformity to Christ in certain areas of their lives was not an option.
Some have moved to far away locations where God has provided for them a place for edification and fellowship. And some have gone on to be with the Lord.
Christianity has changed a lot in the past fifty years, but Jesus Christ has not. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Heb.4:12 proclaims His word is alive and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword piercing into the dividing of the soul and spirit and is a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Ps.119:89 says “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” And just like the Lord, the word of God is immutable.
His ability to transform our lives is just as powerful today as it was fifty years ago though our culture in America has sought to undermine the sanctity and integrity of our worship.
So many things have slipped into the Christian church worship culture today that opening up the Bible for many is foreign. I am glad that is not the case here.
Sunday used to be anticipated as the day to come out to worship. I am glad it still is for us. It used to be a day when God’s people got together and came to church with Bible and notebook in hand to shore up their faith. I am glad it still is for us. Sunday used to be a day when folks would look with interest to the welfare of the souls sitting around them. I am glad it still is for us. It used to be a day when the preacher was expected to pour out his soul in his message after many hours of scholarly study. I am glad it still is for us.
Will we continue to do as Jude 3 says? That is, will we earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints? Jude said he had to write to them, exhorting them that they should earnestly contend for the faith. The participle exhort, [parakalon,] means to come along beside of another.
Jude was on their side when he tried to encourage them to stay true to the faith. The legalist would add to the word of God and the liberal would take away from the word of God.
Jude wasn’t chiding them or nit picking at them. They were on the same team just as we are. Jude exhorted them that they should earnestly contend for the faith. The words, should earnestly contend is from one Greek word, ep/agonizomai. It means to agonize strenuously in defense of something. The something saints are to agonize strenuously in defense of is the faith, te pestei. This is not one's personal faith, it is the whole realm of God’s inspired word. The use of the definite article [the] stresses the identity of this faith. This is the faith which was once delivered or entrusted to the saints. This word delivered, paradidomi, means something that is handed over. We are not to stray from the standard of Bible doctrine which has been handed over to the saints as Jude says under divine inspiration. We are not to substitute the word of God with any thing else as our standard of instruction. God’s word is the pattern for which we are to be molded. If we pervert the mold by substituting something else in the local church then we have changed the mold and there is no way we will look like the Christ of the Bible if we do.
And what good is God’s standard of instruction if it remains closed up to us? Society will comply with powers and principalities in many ways and unfortunately so will the church if the divine standard of God’s word is not explained.
The pioneers of the Protestant Reformation were used of God to make it possible for us to have a form of worship where we might have the word opened up to us so that we might see through the eyes of faith the things of God. Let us not take that privilege for granted. We live in a free nation where we can assemble for worship and for edification in the knowledge of God. Let us not take that privilege for granted.
Satan is real. He is not sleeping as some suppose. Like a roaring lion he and his horde of fallen demons are walking about seeking those whom he may devour. And thus the Apostle Peter calls on all saints everywhere to resist Satan by remaining steadfast in the faith, I Pet.5:9. Our faith is not in the methods and philosophies of men. It is not in music. It is not in feeling, or fashion. Our faith is in the inspired word of God and to it we will go each and every service and to it we will be steered in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. The Apostle Peter as well as the Apostle Paul and Jude called the saints of their day to remembrance of the things of God lest they forget and stumble in their faith. Brethren we are not called to a life of ease and entertainment. We are called to be upright and sober minded. The last thing Satan wants is for this church to remain faithful to the word of God. The last thing our old sin nature wants is for us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, I Pet.5:6.
Today I call on you to remember all the Lord has done for you. To ask yourself if you still remain dedicated to Him. Are you still submitting yourselves to his refiner’s fire? Are you still humbly allowing Him to be the Potter and you the clay? Or have you retreated from the purifying work of the Spirit of God? Have you said no to the molding process the Potter uses in forming your life to the image of his dear Son Jesus Christ? I ask myself these same questions as I ask you as we look forward to the next 50 years if the Lord should permit. If any of you have ever wondered why we make so much out of our relationship and service to the Lord it is because the love of Christ calls on us to be this way. Jesus Christ died at Calvary to pay the ransom price God demanded upon sinful mankind. That is a price none of us can pay. The Bible says all of us have sinned and come short of God’s glory; that the penalty for our sin is death and eternal separation from God. So God sent his Son as that ransom payment. If you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died on the cross for your sins and he rose from the dead, will you then confess him as your Savior? Will you go to him for forgiveness of sins? If you will you will inherit eternal life and once you do you will see why we make so much of God’s gift to the world.