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Voddie Baucham - Contending For the Faith · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Would you join me in a word of prayer? God,
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  Speaker 1: we are so grateful, again, for another opportunity to gather
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  Speaker 1: together as your people and to worship you and to
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  Speaker 1: proclaim your goodness and to proclaim your glory, to proclaim
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  Speaker 1: your majesty. And as we come to this moment, this
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  Speaker 1: time where we will feast together on the bread of life,
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  Speaker 1: We ask that you would feed us until we want
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  Speaker 1: no more. Pray that you would teach us, that you
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  Speaker 1: would encourage us, that you would convict us, that you
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  Speaker 1: would transform us and conform us to the very image
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  Speaker 1: of Christ, in whose name we pray and ask all
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  Speaker 1: of these things. Amen. Amen. I am honored to be
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  Speaker 1: here with you today, and I mean that. I have
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  Speaker 1: looked forward to this for quite some time. And I
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  Speaker 1: want you to know that you helped me today with
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  Speaker 1: my prayer life. Because as I got up this morning
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  Speaker 1: and walked around the campus, I envied you for being
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  Speaker 1: able to be here and study here. And I had
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  Speaker 1: to pray and confess that sin of envy. But it
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  Speaker 1: is indeed an honor to be here. And thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for that song. It was especially meaningful to me.
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  Speaker 1: I travel about 10 days a month doing different conferences
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  Speaker 1: and things like this. And that means that 10 days
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  Speaker 1: a month I'm away from my home. But, you know,
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  Speaker 1: when we're there, we worship together as a family every morning.
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  Speaker 1: and my children, my older children, I have a 15-year-old daughter,
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  Speaker 1: a 12-year-old son, and a 13-month-old son, and the older
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  Speaker 1: two are both classical pianists, and they both, you know,
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  Speaker 1: study and play and compete and all the rest of
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  Speaker 1: that stuff, and I never learned to play, but As
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  Speaker 1: a family, we would always gather around God's Word every morning,
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  Speaker 1: and we would sing songs together. So on March 10th
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  Speaker 1: of this year, I turned 36 on March 11th of
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  Speaker 1: this year. On March 10th of this year, I called
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  Speaker 1: the kids' piano teacher, and I said, I have to
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  Speaker 1: learn how to play. I want to lead my family
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  Speaker 1: in worship. I want to play, and I want us
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  Speaker 1: to sing, and I want you to teach me. So
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  Speaker 1: on March 10th, I took my first piano lesson. And
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  Speaker 1: the first song that I ever learned to lead from
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  Speaker 1: the piano was In Christ Alone. So this morning has
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  Speaker 1: been very meaningful for me already. If you would, open
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  Speaker 1: your Bibles with me this morning to the book of Jude.
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  Speaker 1: Second to the last book in the Bible. This small letter,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes referred to as a postcard. The book of Jude.
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  Speaker 1: Don't ask what chapter. If you ask what chapter, we'll
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  Speaker 1: make you start your seminary education all over again. Let's
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  Speaker 1: read those first four verses. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus
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  Speaker 1: Christ and brother of James, to those who are the called,
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  Speaker 1: beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved,
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  Speaker 1: while I was making every effort to write you about
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  Speaker 1: our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write you
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  Speaker 1: appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was
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  Speaker 1: once for all handed down to the saints. For certain
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  Speaker 1: persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand
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  Speaker 1: marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the
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  Speaker 1: grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only
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  Speaker 1: Master and Lord Jesus Christ. I want to talk to
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  Speaker 1: you this morning about contending for the faith. Contending for
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  Speaker 1: the faith. Now, that makes us uncomfortable, and I want
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  Speaker 1: you to know why. It makes us uncomfortable because we
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  Speaker 1: live in a culture that values tolerance above all else.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, some would argue that tolerance is the only
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  Speaker 1: virtue that we have remaining upon which we agree en
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  Speaker 1: masse in our culture. And when I say tolerance, don't
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  Speaker 1: be confused. I'm not talking about the kind of tolerance
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  Speaker 1: that led Voltaire to write, I may disagree with what
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  Speaker 1: you say, but I will defend to the death your
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  Speaker 1: right to say it. I'm talking about the kind of
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  Speaker 1: tolerance that led one public school superintendent in a very
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  Speaker 1: large school district in the United States of America to say,
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  Speaker 1: it is the mission of the public schools not to
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  Speaker 1: tolerate intolerance. I've been trying to meet her. I want
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  Speaker 1: to meet her. I really do. I... I just want
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  Speaker 1: to ask, you know, Ms. Superintendent, ma'am, lady, doctor, ma'am,
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  Speaker 1: can I just ask you just one little old itty-bitty question?
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  Speaker 1: What do you call the act of not tolerating intolerance?
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  Speaker 1: Could it be intolerance? You see, the new tolerance argues
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  Speaker 1: that you can't disagree. You must embrace. And so this
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  Speaker 1: idea of contending for the faith Completely untenable. We don't
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  Speaker 1: understand that. That does not compute. That is intolerant. And
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  Speaker 1: in our culture, that's the only thing that we absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: positively refuse to tolerate. But I agree with G.K. Chesterton
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  Speaker 1: who wrote, Tolerance is the virtue of a man without conviction.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not tolerant. Not in the nuisance of the word.
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  Speaker 1: Because I serve a God who's not tolerant. He's just not.
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  Speaker 1: Have you read the Ten Commandments lately? This is a paraphrase,
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  Speaker 1: but it works for me. God says, I'm God all
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  Speaker 1: by myself. You don't get another one. I won't tolerate it. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: And so in the midst of this culture, That won't
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  Speaker 1: tolerate intolerance. We are called upon to contend for the faith. Now,
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  Speaker 1: let me be clear. I'm not saying that we ought
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  Speaker 1: to be contentious. And I'll be the first to admit,
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  Speaker 1: I struggle with that. Because there's this guy who lives
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  Speaker 1: on the inside of me. His name is Bad Vody.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not even sure that brother's saved, you know. Um.
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  Speaker 1: I try to let him out once a week late
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  Speaker 1: at night when nobody's around, you know. But every now
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  Speaker 1: and then he'll raise up his old ugly head. But
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  Speaker 1: we're not called to be contentious. We are, however, called
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  Speaker 1: to contend. And I just want to say a few
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  Speaker 1: words about Jude's command for us to contend for the faith.
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  Speaker 1: The first is this. Contending for the faith is the
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  Speaker 1: responsibility of every believer. Look at what he says here. Judah,
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  Speaker 1: bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to whom?
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  Speaker 1: To whom is he writing? Let's see. To those who
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  Speaker 1: are the called, I'm claiming that one. Amen? Anybody else
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  Speaker 1: want to jump on that bandwagon with me? To those
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  Speaker 1: who are the called. Okay, let's look at number two.
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  Speaker 1: Beloved in God the Father. I put two hands up
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  Speaker 1: on that one. Amen? That's me. And kept for Jesus Christ. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what else to raise on that one,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm in that one. Amen. It's almost as though
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  Speaker 1: he is using a teaching tool here to refer to
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  Speaker 1: one group of individuals three times using three different terms.
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  Speaker 1: This is for all believers. The called, the beloved in
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  Speaker 1: God the Father, those kept for Jesus Christ. That means
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  Speaker 1: every last one of us who is a blood-washed, born-again, Bible-toting,
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  Speaker 1: on-the-way-to-heaven follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of us
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  Speaker 1: have been called upon to contend earnestly for the faith.
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  Speaker 1: To agonize greatly, he says, for the faith. It's for
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  Speaker 1: all of us. Now, sometimes we try to sideswipe certain
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  Speaker 1: things like this, and we want to say, no, no, no,
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  Speaker 1: that's just for the Dr. Mollers of the world. That's
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  Speaker 1: just for those people who are trained in apologetics or
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  Speaker 1: trained in philosophy. That's not for me. But my job
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  Speaker 1: is just to love on people and to live my
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  Speaker 1: life in such a way that they will look at
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  Speaker 1: me and say, I've been watching the way you mow
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  Speaker 1: your lawn. There is something different and magnificent about the
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  Speaker 1: way that you trim your hedges. Please tell me what
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  Speaker 1: I must do to be saved. Don't we do that?
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  Speaker 1: We do that with the Great Commission. Bad voting loves
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  Speaker 1: it when people try to sideswipe the Great Commission. He does.
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  Speaker 1: That's one of those times when I gladly let him out.
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  Speaker 1: People try to, you know, go ye therefore and make
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  Speaker 1: disciples of every people group. That was for the original hearers. Oh, really?
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  Speaker 1: Is that your final answer? Well, okay, maybe it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: just for the original hearers, but it was for those
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  Speaker 1: people who were called to missions. Really? You like that
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  Speaker 1: one better? You tell me when you're ready to stop
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  Speaker 1: because I got a friend who wants to talk to
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  Speaker 1: you about that. It wasn't for me. Oh, really? Because
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  Speaker 1: if you keep reading, he says, lo, I'm with you always,
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  Speaker 1: even to the end of the age. If you don't
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  Speaker 1: get go ye therefore, you don't get lo, I'm with you.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I want some, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: I'm with you. Amen? Which means I get, go ye therefore.
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  Speaker 1: It's the responsibility of every believer to contend for the faith.
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  Speaker 1: This is for all of us. Every last one of
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  Speaker 1: us is called upon to plant our feet, to square
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  Speaker 1: our shoulders, to hold our heads high, and give an
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  Speaker 1: account to anyone who would ask us the reason for
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  Speaker 1: the hope that is within us. and to do so
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  Speaker 1: with gentleness and with reverence. Contending for the faith is
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  Speaker 1: the responsibility of every believer. That includes me. That includes you. Secondly,
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  Speaker 1: contending for the faith is a primary, not a secondary issue.
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  Speaker 1: Look at the next part of this passage. Beloved, while
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  Speaker 1: I was making every effort to write to you about
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  Speaker 1: our common salvation, now, maybe some of you haven't been
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  Speaker 1: here long enough, but let me help advance your theological education.
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  Speaker 1: Salvation is a primary issue. Amen? You don't get more
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  Speaker 1: primary than that. He says, while I was making every
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  Speaker 1: effort to write to you about our common salvation. Here's
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  Speaker 1: what's interesting. Can you imagine if all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: there's a press conference called today? Can you imagine? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: the president was going to make a speech. He was
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  Speaker 1: going to address the nation. And by the way, that
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  Speaker 1: just crawls all over me. Not that I'm against the
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  Speaker 1: president addressing the nation. Not that I'm against any of that.
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  Speaker 1: Not that I don't like it. Just whatever. W is
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  Speaker 1: fine with me. He's a good old Texas boy. He's fine.
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  Speaker 1: Drives me crazy sometimes, but he's fine. That's not what
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  Speaker 1: I'm saying here. Here's what I can't stand. If he's
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  Speaker 1: going to make a speech for two days, they tell
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  Speaker 1: me what he's going to say. At one point, the
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  Speaker 1: president is expected to drive home the point. Let the man.
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  Speaker 1: That's bad voting right there. Okay. And then it gets worse.
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  Speaker 1: Two days they tell me what he's going to say.
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  Speaker 1: He makes his speech, and then for two hours they
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  Speaker 1: tell me what he said. And half of that doesn't
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  Speaker 1: match what I just heard.
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  Speaker 2: Amen?
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  Speaker 1: Imagine if you will. Two days set up. He's going
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  Speaker 1: to make this speech. He's going to address the nation
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  Speaker 1: over the primetime airways. And he stands and he says,
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  Speaker 1: I was making every effort to make a speech to
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  Speaker 1: you today concerning those people in New Orleans who desperately
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  Speaker 1: need to be rescued from the rising water. However, I
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  Speaker 1: felt compelled to speak to you concerning. Whatever comes after
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  Speaker 1: that is a primary, not a secondary issue. This is
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  Speaker 1: not the President of the United States, but an apostle
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  Speaker 1: under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who says, I
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  Speaker 1: was making every effort to write to you about our
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  Speaker 1: common salvation. But it's necessary for me to make a
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  Speaker 1: turn here. It's necessary for me to appeal to you here.
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  Speaker 1: To appeal to you. That you would agonize greatly for
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  Speaker 1: the faith. That you would contend earnestly for the faith.
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  Speaker 1: This is a primary, not a secondary issue. This is
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  Speaker 1: of utmost importance. You'll understand why in a moment. But
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  Speaker 1: for now, let's look at this third principle. Contending for
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  Speaker 1: the faith is the responsibility of every believer. It's a primary,
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  Speaker 1: not a secondary issue. Thirdly, it requires familiarity with God's
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  Speaker 1: revealed truth. Look at what he says here. That you
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  Speaker 1: would contend earnestly for the faith that was once for
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  Speaker 1: all handed down to the saints. I love that. It's
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  Speaker 1: a done deal. That you would contend earnestly for the
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  Speaker 1: faith that was once for all handed down to the saints.
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  Speaker 1: Not that you would contend earnestly for the faith. That
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  Speaker 1: was once for all handed down to the clergy. That
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  Speaker 1: was once for all handed down to the priesthood. The
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  Speaker 1: faith that was once for all handed down to the saints.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, we are not called upon to contend
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  Speaker 1: for the way we were raised. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: God bless your mama. But she's fallible. God bless your
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  Speaker 2: Sunday school teachers. But they're fallible.
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  Speaker 1: We're called upon to contend earnestly for the faith that
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  Speaker 1: was once for all handed down to the saints. That's
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  Speaker 1: you and that's me. It's the responsibility of every believer.
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  Speaker 1: And if we are going to conduct ourselves accordingly, we
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  Speaker 1: must be familiar with God's revealed truth. Part of the
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  Speaker 1: problem that we have in our day is that people
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  Speaker 1: are contending for things other than that which was handed
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  Speaker 1: down to the saints. People are contending for their own
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  Speaker 1: sort of theological predilections. People are contending for their own preferences.
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  Speaker 1: People are contending. We have people arguing over contemporary versus
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  Speaker 1: traditional music. Help us! You know what that argument is?
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  Speaker 1: What we call traditional has its origins somewhere around the 1950s.
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  Speaker 1: You know, three hymns and a special followed by three
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  Speaker 1: points and a poem and an altar call? That's somewhere
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  Speaker 1: around the 1950s, all right? What we call contemporary, where
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  Speaker 1: we got the band who comes up and they play
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  Speaker 1: and all that, that has its origin somewhere around the 1970s.
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  Speaker 1: So you know what we're arguing about in our churches?
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  Speaker 1: God lives in 1950. No, he doesn't. He lives in 1970.
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  Speaker 1: He lives in 50s. No, he lives in the 70s. Hello, somebody.
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  Speaker 1: It's 2005. We contend for the color of carpet. But
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  Speaker 1: we won't contend for the faith. We contend for our
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  Speaker 1: little preferences. But we won't contend for that which serves
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  Speaker 1: as the foundation upon which everything that we are is built.
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  Speaker 1: Why is this so important? Two reasons. If we don't contend,
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  Speaker 1: two things happen. Look there in the next verse, verse 4.
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  Speaker 1: For certain persons have crept in unnoticed. Those who were
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  Speaker 1: long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly persons who
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  Speaker 1: turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny
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  Speaker 1: our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Why is this
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  Speaker 1: so important? I'm glad you asked. It's so important because
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  Speaker 1: there are individuals who call themselves Christian and are not.
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  Speaker 1: It's so important because there are individuals who say that
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  Speaker 1: they represent us, but they do not. This is so
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  Speaker 1: important because there are those who have crept in unnoticed
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  Speaker 1: who are redefining what Christianity is all about and undermining
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  Speaker 1: our witness in the culture. Can I just give you
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  Speaker 1: one example? Listen to the words of John Shelby Spong.
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  Speaker 1: I want to meet him too. No, I don't. Prayer
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  Speaker 1: life is already tough enough. John Shelby Spong served as
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  Speaker 1: a bishop in the Episcopal Church. As a pastor for
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  Speaker 1: some three decades. Best-selling author. Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to what he writes in his book, A New
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  Speaker 1: Christianity for a New World. I do not believe that
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  Speaker 1: Jesus entered this world by the miracle of a virgin
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  Speaker 1: birth or that virgin births occur anywhere except in mythology.
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  Speaker 1: I do not believe that he was born in Bethlehem
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  Speaker 1: or that he fled to Egypt. I do not believe
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  Speaker 1: that a literal star guided literal wise men to bring
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  Speaker 1: him gifts at his birth. I do not believe that
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  Speaker 1: the events Christians celebrate at Easter was the literal resurrection
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  Speaker 1: of the three days dead body of Jesus. He doesn't
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  Speaker 1: believe any of the essentials of the historic Christian faith.
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  Speaker 1: But not only does he call himself a Christian, but
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  Speaker 1: he is often called upon by individuals like Larry King
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  Speaker 1: to represent Christianity. When the late Peter Jennings had a
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  Speaker 1: primetime special called The Search for the Historical Jesus, I
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  Speaker 1: began to look at the names of some of the
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  Speaker 1: characters that he brought on. And there was something disturbingly familiar.
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  Speaker 1: about all of them. Most of them had some alignment
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  Speaker 1: with or allegiance to the Jesus Seminar. But they were
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  Speaker 1: referred to as experts and New Testament scholars. And when
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  Speaker 1: he should have been saying, the majority of these individuals
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  Speaker 1: who are outside of the pale, who are not Christian
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  Speaker 1: by their own profession, according to the Bible's definition of Christianity,
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  Speaker 1: most of these individuals believe this about the gospel. But instead,
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  Speaker 1: he would make statements like, the majority of scholars agree.
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  Speaker 1: Certain persons have crept in unnoticed. Were long beforehand marked
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  Speaker 1: out for this condemnation. And they do two things. They
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  Speaker 1: turn grace into lawlessness. And they deny our only Master
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  Speaker 1: and Lord Jesus Christ. We see how these individuals are
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  Speaker 1: denying Jesus Christ. And we like to point outwardly at
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  Speaker 1: those individuals today. and say, that's them, that's those people,
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  Speaker 1: those are those outsiders. You know what's interesting? On that
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  Speaker 1: first point, turning the grace of God into licentiousness, I
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  Speaker 1: turn your attention to my hometown, Houston, Texas, where a
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  Speaker 1: year before last, the pastor of the largest black Southern
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  Speaker 1: Baptist church in the country at that time came into
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  Speaker 1: sharp focus in our nation. He came into focus because
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  Speaker 1: there was a scandal in the church. This man was
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  Speaker 1: a past moderator of Union Baptist Association, the largest association
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  Speaker 1: of churches in the world. And the reason that he
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  Speaker 1: came into such sharp focus was because there were accusations
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  Speaker 1: made against him of sexual harassment against a man who
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  Speaker 1: used to be on his staff. He denied these accusations,
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  Speaker 1: vehemently denied these accusations. This man is disgruntled. This man
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  Speaker 1: is trying to bring me down. This man released tapes.
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  Speaker 1: They were vile. They were absolutely disgusting. Damning pieces of evidence.
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  Speaker 1: This man was telling the truth. This pastor gave himself...
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  Speaker 1: Four weeks of paid leave to deal with his issues.
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  Speaker 1: And still serves at the helm in that church. Under
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  Speaker 1: the guise of what? Grace. Grace. We've heard it before.
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  Speaker 1: We don't need to shoot our wounded. We need to
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  Speaker 1: show grace. Grace. You know what grace means? Grace means
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  Speaker 1: God should have killed me, but He didn't. Grace doesn't
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  Speaker 1: mean I can live any way I want to and
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  Speaker 1: still qualify as beyond reproach. You see, grace doesn't mean
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  Speaker 1: that 1 Timothy 3 no longer applies for those who
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  Speaker 1: wish to stand behind this sacred desk and call themselves pastor.
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  Speaker 1: Grace doesn't mean that we erase Titus chapter 1 or
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  Speaker 1: consider it something that was just for those individuals at
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  Speaker 1: that time so that we can sideswipe the requirements of
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: those who call themselves the leaders and shepherds of God's people.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: That is turning grace into lawlessness. There is a higher standard.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: And we're called to it. Do I believe this man
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: should have been taken out and given 30 lashes? No.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Do I believe that he should have just been shunned? No.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: But I believe he should have been disciplined. And I
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: don't believe he should stand behind that pulpit and call
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: himself a pastor. And virtually nothing was said. And there
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: were two reasons for that. Number one, because we shy
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: away from issues like that because we don't want to
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: seem like people who are not gracious. And number two,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: because he's black. And for whatever reason in the SBC,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: we still play the race card. And everybody in the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: SBC knew The minute white leaders and white pastors would
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: have opened their mouths, they'd have been crucified. Here's what's ironic.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: You sexually harass men who work for you, and that's excusable.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: You call a black pastor to the carpet for immorality.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: That's inexcusable. God help us. Because we're turning the grace
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: of God into lawlessness. And denying our only Master and Lord,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Contending for the faith is the responsibility of
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: every believer. It is a primary, not a secondary issue.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: It is as important as anything else that we deal
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: with as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. It requires
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: a level of familiarity with God's revealed truth. And the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: reason that it's so important is that there are those
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: who have crept in unnoticed, who call themselves Christian, all
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the while undermining and denying the very core of the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: historic Christian faith. And if we do not contend, they
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: get to represent us unhindered. I could have come and
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: talked to you about the tragedy in New Orleans. However,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: I felt compelled to urge you, to admonish you, to
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: beseech you, to contend earnestly for the faith that was
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: once for all handed down to you and to me.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: With every fiber of your being. With every breath in
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: your body. With every moment that God grants you. Stand for,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: contend for, represent and proclaim the authentic, unadulterated gospel of
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ and let the chips fall where
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: they may because there are some things worse than being
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: called intolerant by this culture in which we live. Would
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: you bow with me? Father, as we bow before you,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: we say to you that we are grateful. Grateful for
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: your word, grateful for your truth, grateful for these moments
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: that you've given us in your presence. Pray that the
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: things that you have taught us would sink deeply and
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: that we would bear them in the forefront of our minds.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: as we go throughout the balance of our day and
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: the balance of our days contending for the faith, regardless
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: of the cost. We pray these things and ask these
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: things because we believe that they are in accordance with
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: the will and the nature and the authority of Jesus,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: who is the Christ. And all God's people said, Amen.