Power to Protect

Power to Protect
Words of Faith 7-10-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
Jude 1
[5] Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
Why was it so essential to deal with those infiltrating the Church with a message of cheap grace and denying the sovereignty of Christ as Lord? Aren't these simply different opinions that deserve tolerance? In matters so significant, the Bible never professes a posture of "tolerance."
Jude gave three historical examples that clarified the dire nature of the rebellion seeping into the Church. The rebels poisoning the Church would face a judgment similar to what the Lord exercised in these historical examples. The three examples were the unbelievers during the Exodus, the fallen angels before human history, and the rebellion at Sodom and Gomorrah.
The first example was that of Israel during the Exodus. All Jewish readers and even most recent Gentile converts to Christianity knew the Exodus story. The Hebrew people experienced an unprecedented display of God's grace as He reached out to those who were enslaved. The Hebrews saw and heard His revelation at Sinai. They received His care in the wilderness. Yet, even after all that, many of them disbelieved and rebelled. Just because people had experienced God's redemptive work did not guarantee they could not fall away and be destroyed.
This was not a matter of people being saved and then losing their salvation. Jude describes the rebels as "those who did not believe." The Israelites were physically delivered from bondage by God's covenant love and mercy, not by their faith as a nation. The warning in this judgment was against unbelief and rebellion.
For this reason, the call was exceedingly strong-- contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. We have been saved by grace, but we have also been entrusted with the truth for the sake of others. We are entrusted as stewards to protect the faith for future generations. It is not just about you or me.
It is always startling when we see someone who, at one point, appears to "come out of Egypt" yet then fall away and dilute the very grace of our Lord. We need to contend all the more for the faith and protect the truths of the Gospel so that the whole world hears. We need to seek the power of the Holy Spirit so that we might preserve the truth of the Gospel while contending for the salvation of many.
Father God, I thank You for the redemptive work of Christ in me. Give me a greater sense of stewardship concerning the Gospel that You have entrusted to me and those around me. Help me to carry the Gospel forward faithfully. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< ><> <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at https://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.
More in Daily Devotional
February 7, 2025
In Defense of BathshebaFebruary 6, 2025
Murder by WarFebruary 5, 2025
Setting the Slide Aside