Jude 1:1-11

“Contend Earnestly for the Faith”

Jude 1:1

Kept is the keynote of this Epistle. It occurs in Jude 1:1; Jude 1:6; Jude 1:21, and in another form in Jude 1:24. Many evil doctrines and practices were intruding into the Church. Certain persons had crept in, who quoted the mercy of God as an excuse for immorality and practically disowned the teachings of the Lord Jesus.

In contrast with these were the disciples whom Jude addresses and who owned the Lord Jesus as their beloved “Despot,” (the Greek for Master, Jude 1:4, r.v.) They were kept for him, as the others were kept in chains. Let us also keep ourselves in the love of God, Jude 1:21. It is much easier to live consistently in hours of storm than in hours of ease.

Let us be warned against drifting back from our first faith. Let us take heed from the fate of fallen angels, of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Cain and Balaam, of Korah and others. Let us watch and pray and earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, Jude 1:3, bearing it through the world as the pilgrim host bore the sacred vessels in the days of Ezra. See Ezra 8:28.