It Has Been Necessary...

FROM: FEBRUARY 19@25, 2019

TOPIC: "It Has Been Necessary..." Jude 1:3, 4 Someone wrote: “It is not so important how the apostles died, what is important is the fact that they were all "willing to die for their faith." If Jesus had not been resurrected, the disciples would have known. None of them would have “died” for something they knew was a lie. The fact that all the apostles were willing to suffer “horrible deaths”, refusing to renounce their faith in Christ, is a tremendous evidence that they actually witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

I. The missionary journeys of the disciples had a great purpose:

A. That purpose was to establish the "faith"

1. (Acts 12:2) The only death of an apostle recorded in the Bible is that of James.

2. Historians say that Peter was crucified head-first in Rome.

3. It is said that Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, having died from a sword wound.

4. About John we know that he faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge cauldron of boiling oil when there was a wave of persecution in Rome; however, he was miraculously saved from death.

5. James, brother of Jesus, leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown from a height of more than 30 meters from the southeast pinnacle of the temple when he refused to deny "his faith in Christ." He was alive when he fell and was struck with a club until he died.

6. Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a missionary in Asia; he was in what is now Turkey and was martyred, he was flayed with a whip to death.

7. Andrew is known to have been crucified on a cross in the form of an "x" in Greece. He was severely beaten; his body was tied to the cross with ropes to prolong his agony. He said to his own: "For a long time I have desired and waited for this happy moment, because the cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it." Andrew preached to his executioners for two days until he died.

8. Thomas was pierced with a spear in India on one of his missionary trips to establish a church.

9. Matthias, the chosen apostle to replace Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.

10. It is not the death of the apostles; it is the faith that led them to defend it with their lives!

II. In this epistle Judas had first intended to write about a monumental theme:

A. The theme about the glorious salvation that is the "common" possession of all believers!

1. But the Spirit of God influenced this docile scribe in such a way that he felt the change of direction that was indicated to him.

2. News reached them that some evil and misguided people had been spreading a destructive teaching.

3. And for Judas it was fully his obligation to be a watchman of the flock of God, he assumed his responsibility to free them from the deceivers full of evil.

4. He understood that the faith of the recipients was in great danger!

5. He struggled for common salvation, the one he shared with all other believers; if that faith was destroyed, then everything that faith moved in their lives would come to an end!

B. Then, propel the exhortation to a burning struggle to defend the faith!

1. Defend the faith of the truths of the Gospel that have been given to us.

2. Such truths are immutable: they cannot be altered; they cannot be removed and nothing can be added!

3. The Gospel is eternal (Revelation 14:6). It is eternal because Jesus Christ, who is the center of the Gospel, is the same YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOR THE CENTURIES!

4. The purity of the faith was in danger and Judas was quick to defend the faith as well as his sheep.

5. Faith is something that has been entrusted to us, the facts of the Christian faith are nothing that we have discovered by ourselves.

6. It is tradition, something that has been transmitted from generation to generation until reaching us.

7. They go far back unto us in an uninterrupted chain since Jesus Christ himself.

8. It is something that is transmitted from person to person throughout the generations.

9. Centuries pass and the faith does not wear out! Hallelujah!

10. Your strength wears out, therefore the advice to contend (fight) ardently for the faith.

11. The chain of the Christian tradition is a living chain whose "links" are "men and women" who have experienced the wonder of the facts of the gospel.

12. The Christian faith has been entrusted to us once and for all!

13. It is unalterable, its permanent center is that Jesus Christ came into the world and lived and died to bring salvation to humanity. That is the faith, the Salvation!

14. The Christian faith is something that has been entrusted to the people consecrated to God!

15. The Christian faith is not the possession of any individual person, but of the Church!

16. It is transmitted within the Church; it is maintained within the Church and it is understood within the Church!

17. The Christian faith is something that has to be defended!

18. Every believer should be an advocate of it!

19. If the Christian tradition is transmitted from generation to generation, each generation should pass it uncorrupted and uncontaminated.

20. Defending the faith is until the agony!

21. The defense of the faith may well be something costly (you pay the price of being hated, abandoned, etc.), but that defense is a duty that belongs to every generation of the Church! Amen.