Jentezen Franklin - Contend Your Faith
The book of Jude. I'll begin reading with verse 3, "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting". He wanted to write about common salvation. He wanted to go in and preach on the virgin birth, the death, the crucifixion, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but he says, "God has shifted me, and I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ".
And verse 6 says, "And the angels that did not keep their proper domain, not left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains of judgement for that great day as Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities round about in similar manner, these having given themselves," it's such an important phrase. "Having given themselves over". There is a point where you give yourself over to lifestyle, to sin, to wickedness. You give your... There's a place where people is no longer convicted, is no longer feeling bad, it's no longer the conscience screaming. You give yourself over. It's a powerful, powerful, statement. I need to preach on that sometime. That's not what I'm preaching on, but notice it. "And they have given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, and are set forth as an example, serving the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise, also," King James says, "These filthy dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries".
And then, I want you to notice that verse one more time, "Contend," verse 3, "I earnestly exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith". The reason you have to contend for the faith is because there are those who are... the world book is about false teachers who come in and begin to preach a different gospel. The Bible now, by many, is regarded as an evil book. It's filled according to some sexism, racism, homophobia, oppression. Today, to be moral is not to obey the Bible, but rather to oppose the Bible by many people who professed themselves to be wise. I believe that the United States of America, historically, is where the book of Judges is. There is an interesting historical comparison that I wanna show you for the next few moments.
The book of Judges covers the first 300 years of the nation of Israel. And we are in our 248th year, we're coming up on our 250th year in just two years. So, we are in the same era that Israel was in being 300 years old, and the same things that were happening in that society in the book of Judges to a nation that was founded by God, blessed by God, we're seeing happening in our nation. It was in that season that God raised up a deliverer, a mighty deliverer by the name of Samson. He was the 12th judge of Israel and the final judge of Israel. They would ultimately elect a king, but it was Samson who served as the judge. He served in a position that the people had put him in. It's interesting when you look at Samson and the condition of Israel in the book of Judges and where we are as a nation. It's kind of curious that Samson was incredibly strong and resilient.
The Bible tells us that the war that he fought was against the Philistines who are the ancestors of the Palestinians. And the area of land that Samson rose up and fought over is clearly described in the book of Judges, I think it's the 16th chapter where it says, "He went down to Gaza to fight". It actually says that he went to Gaza, which is the Gaza strip that Israel is fighting for even as we speak, he went there to fight. In the book of Judges, people did not care what was right in God's eyes. They only did what was right in their own eyes. The Bible gave them warning after warning. For example, Deuteronomy 6:18, "Do what is right and good in the sight of God".
Deuteronomy 12:25, "Do what is right in the sight of the Lord". Deuteronomy 12:28, "Do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord". Deuteronomy 13:18, "Do what is right in the sight of the Lord your God". Deuteronomy 21:9, "Do what is right in the sight of the Lord". God warned His people over and over, and over, to do what was right. Not in their eyes, not how they saw things, not how they felt about things, not how emotionally or whatever, but do what is right in the eyes of the God. It said in Deuteronomy 12:8, "You shall not do according to all that you are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes".
And then, you move into the book of Judges and the theme, according to theologians, of the whole book of Judges in complete defiance to what God told 'em over and over, and over, "Don't do what's right in your eyes. Do what's right in God's eyes". And then, in Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25 it says, "And everyone did what was right in his own eyes". And when a nation begins to be filled with people and especially in the church that say, "I can do what is right in my eyes even it goes against what is right in God's eyes," they are in a crisis moment. In Samson's life, he was the last judge, and he serves as a painful example of doing what is right in your own eyes and how devastating it can be. I believe it is the summary of what and where we are in America.
The Bible said in Judges 14:1, notice His eyes now, God has said over and over, "Don't do what is right in your eyes, do what is right in my eyes". But here we go in Judges 14:1, Samson saw one of the daughters of the Philistines, he saw her. Judges 14:3, "Samson said to his father, 'Get her for me.'" Listen to the words, "For she is right in my eyes". Judges 14:7, "She was right in Samson's eyes," not in God's eyes. Don't just marry somebody because they look right in your eyes. You better marry somebody that looks right in God's eyes. Judges 16:1, "Samson saw a prostitute and went with her". He saw the prostitute and he said, "This looks right". He was a Nazarite. He was keeping rules and he was set aside. But when you start going with what is right in your eyes and ignoring what is right in God's eyes, that is when trouble is inevitable.
And later in life, there is a tragic plot twist to the story of Samson, because Samson who didn't do what was right in God's eyes, but did what was right in his own eyes, had his eyes gouged out by the Philistines. They plucked his eyes out. Because when you don't do what is right in God's eyes and you keep doing what is wrong in God's eyes, there are always consequences. And it's amazing to me that in Judges 16:28, when Samson's hair begins to grow back, because we wanna throw Samson in the pile of losers, but actually, he hit rock bottom. And when he hit rock bottom in the prison grinding meal, his hair begin to grow back. His covenant with God, his relationship with God, begins to grow back.
And the Bible said that they took him to the temple of the Philistines to make fun of him, to make sport of him. And suddenly, the young lad puts his hands on the pillars of the temple and he, in a moment of final triumph from defeat and from the ashes, he pushes on those pillars, the strength and anointing of God hits him and he tears down the house of worship of the Philistines, and suddenly, revival hits the nation of Israel. And that would bring about the greatest prophet Israel has ever had, Samuel. The word said that, "Not one of his words fell to the ground".
Samson was a political leader who did what was right in his own eyes, not God's eyes. But I thank God for the fact that God says, "I choose people. I knew he had problems. I knew he had issues, but I'm gonna use him". And he ends up in the hall of fame, in God's Hall of fame, in the New Testament in Hebrews 12. He's one of the heroes. Because God is a God who wouldn't give up on a man who was a womanizer, a man who went with prostitutes. He went to a brothel in the middle of the day, your Bible says that. He was a gambler. He gambled with the wedding party of 30 wicked men who came to his wedding and said, "If you tell me the riddle, you have to give me 30 outfits or garments".
And the scripture said that they gambled, and they went to Delilah. I don't mean to get into this, but here I go. They got into Delilah. They go into Delilah and they said, "Tell us his secret". And that's when the secret stuff started telling 'cause they told it. And to make long story short, he got mad and killed them all. Amen. But he had a crazy temper. He had all kinds of issues. But God said, "I'm not done with him, and I choose him. And I didn't ask your permission, that's who I chose". What do you do? The Bible said that in this time frame, the second thing that happened is they begin to worship. Along with Jehovah, they worshiped two demon gods, Baal and Asherah. Baal was a male god and Asherah was a female god. Baal means the god of fame, the god of money, the god of success.
In America, we're seeing these things fame, popularity, success, and money, bigger in our eyes than doing what is right in God's eyes. And then, Asherah was a demon of lust. She represented pleasure, sex, beauty, and seduction. Today, in the western culture, we have an invasion of the porn industry, and sex trafficking, and prostitution, and friends with benefits. And even in the church, there is fornication, and sexual immorality, and young people hooking up, and people who are not valuing marriage but saying, "We'll just move in and try it out and live together".
And I'm not here to beat up on people, but I'm here to preach the truth of God's word. We must be careful. We must be careful when sin becomes so easy that we no longer have a conscience that even bothers us. When sin is mentally and verbally defended, there's something wrong. Churches are woke, pastors are afraid of criticism, Christians are willing to compromise on everything and do what is right. "In my eyes, it's alright if I wanna get drunk. In my eyes, it's alright if I wanna commit adultery. In my eyes, it's alright if I wanna live with my lover. In my eyes, it's alright to get an abortion. I wanna," but what about in God's eyes? You cannot be Biblical and not be political.
What do you mean? Daniel was Biblical and Daniel was political. He affected the whole political system when he went before Nebuchadnezzar with the anointing of God on him, and he broke through the powers of the enemy, and walk through the fire, hallelujah, and came out unburned because God was with them in the fire. Esther was political, but she was Biblical. And you can't be Biblical without it mixing into your politics, so don't tell me to stay out of it. Everything we are is supposed to be Biblical including the political. You see, the lines have been drawn by the word of God. Gender has been drawn by the word of God. There's only two options, male and female.
Marriage has been drawn by the line of God, one man with one woman for life. That is God's plan, that is God's will, and it's the right way. Will God forgive divorce? Yes, but the one you're in, you're responsible for. Make it work and quit jumping from bed like a jumping bean. Amen. Sex is solely for married heterosexual couples. That's the line that's been drawn. "But I see it like, I see it like this, and here's how..." We don't care how you see it. You are wrong, the Bible is right, and you better do it God's ways.
These things still matter. Purity still matters. The word of God still matters. I'm saying today that we must contend for the faith. I looked that word up, contend. It means to exert intense effort. That's not something laid back. The church can't be silent. The church can't be quiet. The pulpits can't be quiet. We are contending for the faith, now. We're hearing another gospel. Did you notice what He said? He said in Jude, He said, "Be careful because evil men who are lustful will creep in". One translation said, "Like that of an alligator that just creeps into the water".
There's a lot of creeps. Amen? They're creeping. They're creeping in saying that the mutilation of genitalia is fine and that we should use cert, the government should use cert authority over parents. They should have no say so if an eight year old feels like that, if they're born a male and they wanna be a female, and they wanna have surgery, a nine, ten, 13, 14. Do you understand these are perfectly, healthy, teenagers and young people going through things that we all went through, confusing things sometimes, and they don't need surgery, and they don't need all kinds of doctrines of devils being taught to them in their mind.
We need to contend for the faith. When you see this stuff taking over, you have to contend for the faith. The word contend denotes strenuous struggle, expand one's energy in order to prevail. Sexual sin of every sort is happening. And He says, listen, one translation said, "To fight, standing upon the thing which is under assault. To fight, stand standing upon the thing which is under assault". Do you not understand that there is a demonic pressure that is coming on all of us to blur the line of the word of God, to erase the line, to give more and more territory? And at some point, folks, if you're a real Christian, this...
See, there are fake Christians that's what Jude was calling out. He said, "They are creeping in. They are lustful. They are saying that the real gospel is one of tolerance of sin, not repentance of sin". And they will even use some of these things... When you see people running for office and their main issue is, "I promise you that I will allow you to kill babies all the way up to birth". What is going on? That's the main issue? That's the main issue. And the world and the church says, "It's okay". It's not okay. In your eyes it might be okay, but it's not okay in God's eyes because He said, "Before you were in your mother's womb, I formed you, I knew you, and I called you to be a prophet to the nations". Contend against Godless government.
Christian pastors, hear me today, who declare that you're gonna avoid political issues and you're never gonna stand up because you don't wanna split your congregation. Well, one day you're gonna stand before the Lord. I tell you what, if I lose people for telling the truth, I'm okay with that and I don't want anybody to think if you don't vote like I vote then I don't love you and that you don't belong here. That's you. That's you, between you and God. But I must contend for the faith. I must contend and stand on that word and defend it. We can disagree, but we can't change and edit this book. It is what it is in the eyes of God.