Herbert W Armstrong

   There have been people in Church of God that talked about that. I remember back in 1974, Mr. Armstrong learned that he had been incorrect in his understanding about how to count Pentecost. Those of you been around church for a long time, remember we used to celebrate Pentecost on Monday, and Mr. Armstrong came to understand that, uh, you know, we had, we had misunderstood uh some passages of scripture and that in reality, a Pentecost was a Sunday. Well, there were folks that left church at that time, and they said they did so because they were going to hold on to the faith once delivered. In other words, by that they meant what Mr. Armstrong was teaching prior to 1974. They considered that the faith once delivered.

   There are others, you know, at different times that that focus in on what Mr. Armstrong said at some particular point in time and anything different than that. Well, you're leaving the faith once delivered. My question to you is: what is the faith once delivered? What is the faith once delivered? When was it delivered? And who delivered it? Because if you're going to hold on to the faith once delivered, you got to know. You got to know what it is. You have to know when it was delivered and who delivered it. Or else how are you going to hold on to it? I, I want us to focus in on that today.

   There are a lot of things that we can learn from the scripture and, and the Bible is very specific in terms of what is the faith once delivered, when it was delivered, who delivered it. The expression is taken from the book of Jude. Now, you don't have to go very far in the book of Jude because there's not, you know, a whole lot of chapters in the book of Jude. Only one chapter, unless you consider each verse a separate chapter, then it has 24, [25]. It's a short little book, but there's a lot packed in there.

   Jude writes, and he's writing of course in the perhaps mid-sixties A.D. Jude writes in Jude, we'll pick it up in verse 3 (Jude 1:3). He says, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered under the saints," or as it could be rendered, many translations rendered, "the faith which was once and for all delivered to the saints." The faith once and for all delivered.

   Now here is Jude, you know, sometimes we think back and think, oh, you know, we were back in the first century, all things would have been so simple then. You could have talked to people that that directly knew Jesus Christ. You could have talked to people that heard him. Jude was his own brother. He is the brother of James, who was, of course, uh, is referred to uh elsewhere in the New Testament as the Lord's brother. James, and Jude and others were the sons of Joseph and Mary after Jesus had been born and Joseph and Mary uh came together and they had you know a normal marriage and other children. Jude was one of those. So you certainly say, well, he had inside knowledge, he, he grew up with Jesus Christ. Jesus appeared to James and Jude and and the others of his immediate family after the resurrection. He was right there, right there in Jerusalem. You look at the 12 who had spent those 3 1/2 years with Jesus. So we think back and we think, well, it would have been so simple if you were back then. There couldn't have been, you know, how would there have been any confusion?

   We look around and it's sometimes discouraging to look at all the splits and the splinters and all the different directions people have gone, and you look back the first century and say things would have been so simple while you just, you know, looked at James and John and Peter and Paul and and and those men and life would have been simple. Well, here's Jude writing about 35 years after the crucifixion and the resurrection. And he said, you know, it's needful for me to write to you, to exhort you, to really stir you up, try to motivate you, you need to earnestly contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered.

   "Because there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lawlessness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." You realize that there were doctrinal problems, there were heresies, there were all sorts of misunderstandings and things that were coming in. Jude says there's certain men crept in unawares. Now, who was unaware of them? Was God unaware? They sort of showed up, moved in, uh, moved up the ladder, and God never noticed what they were up to until, no, God wasn't unaware of them. Jude was unaware of them and Peter was unaware of them, and James was unaware of them, and John was unaware of them, and Paul was unaware of them. They didn't know who these guys were and what they were up to until they had already maneuvered and manipulated and got in such in certain positions, they were crept in unawares. You sort of get the picture. Some sort of sneaking in on all fours, you know, the uh lights are down them and he sort of sneaks in the door and nobody knows he's there.

   What were they doing? They were turning grace into lawlessness. So the, the first heresies, uh, as you go through the New Testament, the first two major heresies had to do one with law and grace and two with the nature of God. Those of course are pretty fundamental. They were turning grace into lawlessness and they were denying the only Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they weren't denying them by saying God doesn't exist. But by distorting and perverting and and bringing in all sorts of pagan ideas. They were distorting the truth.

   Now Jude is writing in the 60s, but you can go back to books that are, as far as we know, some of the very, uh, I think we can pretty well demonstrate that a couple of the very first books written in the New Testament period, the couple of the letters that Paul wrote, uh, probably around 50-51 A.D. The books of I and II Thessalonians. Now, notice what he says here in II Thessalonians. Paul had written in I Thessalonians, and he wrote back evidently just a few months later trying to clarify some things in II Thessalonians, and he's talking about in II Thessalonians 2:3 about the day of Christ's coming having to be preceded by certain events. And the coming of this final individual, this final uh man of sin, as he's called, this final wicked wicked one. The one that will... there have been a lot of wicked ones, but this is the specific wicked one that the Lord will consume when he returns.

   Now notice what Paul says here, speaking of this system and out of which this wicked one, this man of sin, would ultimately arise. In II Thessalonians 2:7, he says, "For the mystery of iniquity does already work. Only he who now restrains or holds back will continue to do so, uh, that he might be revealed in his time," that this individual at the proper time will emerge, come up out of the midst. The mystery of iniquity, the mystery religion of lawlessness was already at work in 50 A.D. Jesus Christ hadn't been ascended to heaven 25 years. And here you had a system that grossly distorted the teachings of Jesus. They didn't come along and say, you know, we don't believe anything about Jesus. We're pagans or we're followers of of Diana or we're followers of Baal or we're followers of Jupiter or we're followers of this or that. No, they paid lip service. They call themselves Christian. They talked about Jesus Christ. They talked about the Bible. They claim to be preaching the gospel.

   Paul, writing in II Corinthians here around the same time period, maybe a little bit later, a few years later. II Corinthians 11. He told him in verse 3 (II Corinthians 11:3), he said, "You know, I'm afraid. Lest by some means is the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." One thing about it, you know, God's way is simple. This is something that came to my mind and that I pointed out to a number of folks back about 10 years ago or so, all this convoluted reasoning began coming out of Pasadena and by the time it was over, you heard some of these presentations. You just about had a headache, somebody all this this convoluted, complicated reasoning and and everything and you know the scripture says the simplicity of Christ. The truth is simple. There's a simplicity to the truth. You don't have to go spend 10 years at Harvard to understand the truth. In fact, if you spend 10 years at Harvard, it's a pretty good guarantee you'll never understand the truth. I don't know very many folks that have gone through, you know, Yale Divinity School or something that have come out and they even had a glimmer about what the truth was.

   Uh, I've known folks that, uh, uh, you know, I remember 1, 1 old man down in South Louisiana. Who uh started listening to Mr. Armstrong on the radio, on an old battery operated radio back in the late 40s, and he could barely read and write, had had only maybe a year or two of school. And he said, you know, I really, I got my education from listening to Mr. Armstrong. I followed along in the Bible and I that's really where I learned to read is is by following along in the Bible that Mr. Armstrong would read and I would follow along and then I took the Correspondence Course, and I, you know, that's really not only where I got my, my education in the Bible, he says that's, that's the main education I ever got. I'll tell you when they came out with all this confusion, uh, that old fellow was one of the very first ones to see through it. Now, you know, he never made it into Yale or Harvard, but what he knew, you know, he had forgotten more than any of those folks ever knew when it came to the truth of God. The simplicity of Christ. God's way is simple. It makes sense. You can explain it to a child, and he can sit there and understand it, you know, when you explain about God and God's plan and God's purpose. There's a simplicity to it.

   Now Paul went on to talk about verse 4 (II Corinthians 11:4), "If he comes preaches another Jesus, different than the one we've preached. Preach, you receive another spirit, different than the one you've received. Another gospel, you know, different than the one I preached," he says, "I'm, I'm afraid you might bear with it, you know, somebody comes along and tells you they've got something new, you may just sit there and take it all in." Well, Paul talks about going on down in verse 13 (II Corinthians 11:13), he says, "These are people that are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Oh marvel, Satan himself is transformed as an angel of light. No great thing of his ministers are transformed as ministers of righteousness." They don't show up and say, I'm the devil's minister, and I'm here to deceive you. You know, when the time comes, false prophet emerges on the scene that you know, he appears on television, they're not gonna have an announcement. All right. And now a word from the false prophet. Uh, you know, here he is. Not unless uh me or Mr. Meredith or somebody gets to do the announcing, but uh uh you know, that's not the way he's going to present himself.

   Here were people, Paul's writing to Corinth in the 50s A.D. Jesus Christ has been ascended into heaven, what, 25, 30 years? There are all sorts of people around who, who still have a memory of of Jesus Christ, you know, if you're 30 years after the ascension into heaven. Uh, if you were 25 when he ascended, well, you'd only be 55, you know, there'd be a lot of folks around who would have certainly Jews in the area of Judea who would have had a very firsthand memory of of Jesus Christ, who remembered his ministry, remembered his teaching, maybe stood in the crowd and when the 5000 were fed, you know, I don't care, you could have been a little kid 10 or 12 years old, uh, you would have remembered that. You have a very vivid memory at the time. Uh, there were, uh, what was it 5 loaves and 2 fishes, and all of a sudden 5000 men besides the women and children ate and they took up 12 baskets after it was over with. You were a little kid sitting there. What about the little boy that actually had the lunch, you know, uh, his mother had remembered to send lunch with him, uh, which evidently there weren't a whole lot of folks hadn't come prepared, but he was prepared. Christ took it and fed the whole group. Well, you know, imagine that thousands of people. Uh, so you think of some of those who were children who were there, uh, who, you know, had decades of life, a number of them must have had, you know, lived for many decades on beyond that. They, they would have had very vivid memory of some of those things.

   The point is that only 25, 30 years, here was the mystery of iniquity already working. Here were individuals trying to palm themselves off as apostles. Remember what Christ said to the Ephesian Church? "You've tried those that say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars." There are individuals claiming to be the authoritative teachers. So we find that there were all sorts of problems that were besetting the early New Testament Church within a matter of 2 or 3 decades after Christ's ascension into heaven, a time when even the original apostles, nearly all of them, were still alive. And yet Jude was having to write to the church, and he said, you know, I've got to earnestly exhort you. You really need to earnestly contend for the faith once and for all delivered.

   Now that tells you something. When was the faith delivered? Well, it was delivered before Jude wrote in the 60s. The faith wasn't delivered, uh, you know, in the 1500s or in the 1600s or in the 20th century, the faith was once and for all delivered before Jude ever wrote his letter. Now, that brings in something interesting too because, um, you know, the Catholics will tell you that the Bible is not a sufficient guide to salvation. They'll tell you that it's not a sufficient guide. You've got to have church tradition. You've got to have the teachings of the quote church fathers. Who of course weren't supposed to really be fathers, though some of them were, that's another story, uh, but, uh, you, you were supposed to have their teachings. You've got to have that. You can't just take the Bible.

   It's interesting some of the admissions the Catholics make. There was an excellent quote, by the way, just a few weeks ago, uh, some of this ecumenical stuff had been going on. Some Catholic theologian over in America was quoted as as talking about how all of the, uh, uh, you know, Protestants and Catholics were all sister churches. The Vatican issued a clarification about two weeks later. Uh, they said we're not sister churches. We're the mother church. They're the daughters. I thought that was an excellent quote. It's very scriptural. It comes right out of Revelation 17. I want to make sure we get a copy of the quote, you know, we can use it in the magazine sometime, maybe feature it in Mr. Meredith's article on the Antichrist or the book on the Beast of Revelation or something, because that's that's really true. They are the mother and they got a bunch of daughters.

   But you go back and you read some of the quotes from the Catholic Church about Sunday, for instance. There's an excellent uh quotation in Mr. Meredith's booklet on the Christian Sabbath, uh, taken not from what other people say about the Catholics, but from what they themselves say, one particular book written by a Catholic cardinal that goes through My Catholic Faith and he's going through and explaining different things and one of the statements that he makes talking about the fact as to why the Bible alone is not sufficient, he said, "Take for instance a Sunday. He says all Christians acknowledge that Sunday is the day that we ought to gather and worship. He said, You can search the Bible from Genesis Revelation and you'll never find a single verse that sanctifies Sunday as the Sabbath." Oh, that's interesting. He went on to say, he said, "the church. The Holy Mother Church." Which is not holy, though it is a mother. Uh, the, uh, it says the church changed the sanctity, transferred the sanctity from Saturday to Sunday. They said all the Protestants acknowledge that, you know, Sunday is the day, but they don't get that from the Bible, they, they get that from us, you see that proves that the Bible alone isn't enough. Well sort of interesting. I make the Protestants squirm because that's the last thing they want to admit is that they got their teaching not out of the Bible but from the Catholic Church.

   Now, it's interesting, you know, different things. I, I remember back several years ago at a particular college located uh just a few miles from here, one of which we're all very familiar. There was a certain man who was teaching the epistles of Paul class and uh in the course that was the time when they were really beginning to promote the Trinity and trying to teach that and he was going through uh Paul's epistles and one of the students in his epistles class raised his hand, said I have a question. So why is it when you go through Paul's epistles? That he never uses a Trinitarian formula. You start in Romans and go through I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and he starts out and he says, uh, you know, peace be unto you and grace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And he repeats that it's sort of a a formula type greeting over and over. You can just go through it. He said, why did Paul say it that way? Why didn't he use a trinitarian formula? You know what the professor's answer was? Paul did not really understand the nature of God. Paul didn't really understand the nature of God. So what did you have to do? You had to wait for somebody like Tertullian and Origen. Those men really understood the scripture. They, they really...

   Uh, you know, you go back and you read about some of those, I mean, some of those guys were, were nutty as fruitcakes, frankly, uh, without going into a whole lot of detail, uh, Origen uh didn't, didn't get the point on, on most anything. They, uh, you know, he read the verse there where Christ talked about if you're, you know, if your hand offends you, uh, cut it off. Well, he didn't cut off his hand. I won't mention what he cut off, but it, uh, he certainly didn't understand the point of, of what Christ was talking about. I mean, he didn't understand what the Bible was saying. He certainly didn't understand what the nature of God was. If he didn't understand some of those simple scriptures, why would he suddenly understand what Paul didn't understand about the nature of God? Crazy.

   No, the reality is these men came out of a pagan Greek background. Uh, they were most of them had a background as what was called Neoplatonists, Plato and then somebody came along and sort of refreshed Plato's teachings a little bit. He was a neo-Platonist and so these fellows came through that sort of school and that was their background. Uh, they came in and viewed with all these pagan ideas of Greek philosophy. And then they tried to read it into the Bible. And their understanding of of the nature of God didn't come out of the scriptures. It came out of Greek philosophy and they tried to find a verse or two here or there that that would sort of fit in with that.

   Well, the faith was once and for all delivered when Jude wrote. So you didn't have to wait for Tertullian and Origen. You didn't have to wait for the church fathers of the Catholic Church. They weren't the ones who delivered the faith. It was once and for all delivered before Jude ever wrote, people were in danger of losing it because there were certain men crept in unawares who were teaching another gospel teaching about another Jesus. Who were turning God's grace into lawlessness.

   You know it seems human nature, law and grace is something that the carnal mind cannot get straight. The, the concept of, of mercy and obedience. Some people, you know, in the world in general tends to go off on one extreme, and they, they misunderstand grace and they think that they just turned grace into licensed dissent. You know Christ did it all for you. You don't have to do anything. There are others that I've known and certainly I've known even in the church over the years, some who went to the other extreme. They had a very legalistic concept. Everything had to be earned. And they really didn't have the balance of understanding God's grace and God's law and the two going together.

   You know, the Protestants, some of them come along and their teaching is what they call progressive theology. In other words, the Bible is OK. I mean, the Bible is fine as far as it goes. But you see, we understand a lot better today because they were sort of limited. That's what a lot, particularly of the limit of the liberal Protestants teach, that's the way they get away with ordaining women and ordaining homosexuals and and uh you know, doing all sorts of things. They say, well, you know, that was what Paul understood. That, that was, you know, way back then, 2000 years ago, we're smarter today and we've made a lot of progress and, you know, God keeps revealing new things. Well, according to Jude, the faith had been once and for all delivered.

   Now the faith was once and for all delivered and it has to be contended for, it has to be fought for. Jude says, you've got to put forth effort or you will lose the faith that has been once and for all delivered. So it's not uh just automatically easy to hold on to it. It wasn't easy in the first century. Here we are, many, many centuries later. You know, almost 20 centuries later, and um um so if we, if they had to earnestly contend and strive for it back then, uh, certainly so today.

   Now in Philippians chapter one. Paul talked about the fact that uh verse 27. Philippians 1:27, he said, "Only let your conduct be as it becomes the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent. That I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." So the faith once and for all delivered is the faith of the gospel, and Paul says, I want to hear that you're standing fast in one spirit with one mind, you're striving together. You're putting forth effort. You're exerting energy and effort striving for the faith of the gospel, the faith that was once and for all delivered.

   You know, the faith of the gospel, the faith once and for all delivered, is not just a set of beliefs, something you tack on the wall and say, well, you know, I believe in this, I don't believe in that. It demands action. In the book of Acts chapter 6. Acts 6:7, we read that the word of God increased in the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem. And we, and then we read a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith. The faith of the gospel demands obedience. You know, it's not just a matter of, quote, I believe in God, that's fine, that's good. You know, the devil believes in God also. So if all you do is believe in God, you're not even one step up on the devil. Uh, you're, uh, you know, you're just sort of keeping pace with him. That's what James says. He says, "You believe in one God, you do well, the demons also believe and tremble." So we went on to explain that what God is after is a living faith. Here were individuals who were converted, who became obedient to the faith. The faith of the gospel.

   You see, brethren, the gospel message makes demands upon us. It's not a cheap grace, not just sort of an easy thing. All you got to do is, you know, come down the aisle, give your hand to the preacher and your heart to the Lord, you're saved. Once saved always saved. Well, you know, some of us grew up with that. I did, heard that. Nobody ever explained to me that the gospel was something, the faith of the gospel was something that had to be obeyed, but it involved obedience. You had to contend for it, uh, you had to obey it.

   You know, Jesus said, "If any man will be my disciple. Let him deny himself. Take up his cross daily and come after me." He made demands on those who would be his followers. He said, "If you, you know, love father or mother more than me or brother or sister or whomever, you can't be my disciple. I, I won't take 2nd place. I won't come behind anyone. It doesn't matter how close they are, how precious they are to you, how much you love them, I've got to come first. I won't take 2nd place. You've got to love much less by comparison, family members, everything and everyone." Oh, that's the first commandment, love God with all your heart. Can't put anything before the true God. The faith of the gospel makes demands upon its adherents.

   You go through and read what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. You know, he told those who would be his disciples, this is the way you've got to live. This is the way you've got to treat people. This, uh, if you want to be forgiving, you've got to forgive. He made demands upon his disciples. Now the world's religions that profess Christianity, they don't teach that. Well, if they don't teach that, then they're not teaching the faith once and for all delivered. The faith once and for all delivered must be obeyed. It makes demands upon its adherents.

   Paul said in Romans 10:10, he said, uh, that with the heart, man believes unto righteousness. When you believe from the heart, it changes your life. If it doesn't change your life, then you obviously don't believe it very deeply. It's not just a perfunctory agreement. It's not being argued into or talked into some particular doctrinal idea. I remember years ago Mr. Armstrong uh, talked about something and I heard it as a young student at Ambassador College. And I didn't fully get the point of what he was saying, I think only in retrospect, as he talked about conversion and talked about the fact that there were a lot of people who had been uh sort of convinced of the truth on and on some other doctrinal point or a number of doctrinal points. But he said they're not really converted. They've never been conquered by God. That was the expression he used. Conquered by God. And I think as the years have gone by, I've come to understand and see that far more clearly. The, the faith once and for all delivered makes demands upon us. We must be conquered by God because the faith of the gospel must be obeyed. The faith of the gospel must be stood fast and you've got to hold on to it, not only contend for it, obey it, but you've got to stand fast, you've got to be, uh, be steady. The apostle Paul talked about people who were tossed about to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Some blows through this way and blows back through that way. People just sort of blown like leaves in the fall.

   In the book of Acts chapter 14. Paul had been uh uh. He um in verse 20 (Acts 14:20-21), he and Barnabas departed to Derby, and then in verse 21, when they had preached the gospel of that city, it taught many, they returned again to Listra and Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. He exhorted them. He came back through, you see, he had taught the truth and, and many of these people had responded and been baptized. Now he came back through and he was confirming them. And he was, you know, explaining more and encouraging them and trying to, to help steady them. And explaining to them that they had to continue in the faith. They had learned something, they had surrendered to it, they had embraced it. Now they had to continue in it and he said, you know, it's through much tribulation that we'll enter into the kingdom of God.

   The word tribulation in the Greek language comes from a a term that that refers to a press like a wine press, you know, in a winepress to put the grapes in and they they they screwed the lid down until it pressed all the juice out. Same thing with olives and olive press, the same principle. Now, it's that expression or that term that refers to to a press or to pressure from which our word, which the word tribulation or the Greek word that's translated tribulation comes. And of course that's sort of what tribulation is, it's like you're getting all the juice squeezed out and sometimes we go through periods in our life when we feel like we're getting all the juice squeezed out. Um.

   Paul said through much tribulation, a lot of pressure. And you know, Satan can pressure two ways. One kind of pressure is through enticement and the other kind of pressure is through intimidation. He sometimes entices, he attracts. It's like, hey, all the glitter, the glamour, the gimmicks, uh, you know, hey, fall down and worship me and I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world, you remember? took him up on a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of this world in their glory. And he said, oh this is delivered to me, you know, I could, I could give it to you right here, right now. You fall down and worship me and I'll give it all to you right now. You don't have to go through all this stuff. I'll just sign it over. Well, you see, enticement is one form of pressure. The other form of pressure is intimidation. To try and press and intimidate and frighten and and and just uh put great pressure to bear. It can come either way. The faith is something that must be stood fast, with.

   Let's just note it back in Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter 1 verse uh. 23. In verse 21 (Colossians 1:21, 23), he talked about how we were sometimes alienated in the past, alienated and enemies in our mind by wicked works. Our former way of living and thinking and acting uh, had alienated us, cut us off from God. We were enemies in our mind. "Yet now has he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've heard." Continue in the faith grounded and settled, not blowing to and fro with every wind of doctrine but grounded and settled. Anchored. Continuing in the faith. The faith must be continued in. We have to stand fast and continue uh in, in the faith.

   Now, let's go on, let's look a little further. Paul explains um back in uh II Corinthians chapter 13. II Corinthians 13:5. Um, he says, "Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves, knowing not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate." You know, people can fall from the faith, they can deny the faith. We're told to examine ourselves whether or not we are in the faith. How do you prove your own selves? Here's the key. Jesus Christ must be in us. He must be in us. That's what you're, that's what we're looking for. To what extent is Jesus Christ living his life in us? You know, Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." Christ lives in us. He said, examine yourself, you know, we're coming up here to Passover, not too far distant future, a couple of months. We always begin to focus in, talk about examining ourselves. What do you look for? Whether or not you're in the faith. In other words, is Jesus Christ in you? Is he living his life in you? You see, the faith uh, is something that people can fall from. They can deny. You can deny it in more ways than one.

   Notice back in I Timothy chapter 4, verse 1, "The Spirit speaks expressly." I Timothy 4:1, "The Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith." They'll depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. So there's some that will depart. And they will do so following a seducing spirit. "Speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats that God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." Now you have to read that whole verse. There's some who've gotten all tangled up and they say, well, you know, uh, doesn't matter what you eat. Well, he says he's talking about commanding to abstain from meats that God created to be received. Receive with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. What is truth, thy word is truth. Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14, give you a list of, of what uh foods are to be received with Thanksgiving and which ones were not created to be eaten. You know, God made buzzards and they have an important place in, in the ecology, but that place doesn't involve being on a platter on the dinner table. Most people can figure that out, you know, whether they're in the church or out of the church. God created different things for different reasons, you know, the horse was created to ride and the cow was created to eat. Most people can figure that out. Anybody who's ever tried to ride a cow knows that, uh. Uh, it's a whole lot better to stick to the horse. Uh, God created different things for different purposes. But Paul here talks about those who depart from the faith because they give heed to seducing spirits, seducing spirits. There are those who departed from the faith even in recent years. They gave heed to seducing spirits. There are a lot of different seducing spirits around. They have different seductions. You know, some appeal to intellectual vanity, uh, some appeal to covetousness, uh, some appeal to, uh, uh, sort of being accepted and just wanting to fit in with the world.

   You know, it's, it's amazing, you see. What's important. You remember the account and I believe it's John 8, it's right in that section where Christ healed the blind man, and this really created consternation with the Pharisees. They were all upset and they didn't like it because he had done that. So the first thing they wanted to do was see if they could deny the fact that the man had ever been blind. So they scurried around and they found his parents. And they hauled them up here and they said, they demanded of him, "Is that your son? Was he born blind? How is it that he now sees?" Well, the poor parents were intimidated. They said, "Look, he's our son. We'll testify to that. He was born blind. We'll testify to that. We don't know anything about how he sees, uh, he's over 40 years old. You want to know, you ask him." Now, this gospel goes on to explain why they said it that way. Because the Pharisees had already agreed that anybody that confessed Jesus as the Messiah, they're going to cast him out of the synagogue. They're gonna kick him out. Well, these folks were scared. Why were they scared? They were intimidated. They were worried about what people were going to say and all their neighbors had ostracize them and they just sort of be excluded and people wouldn't want anything to do with them. Some of us can relate to that, right? Uh, you know, it's, it's amazing. Sometimes people that you knew and had association with for years. And the fact that you continue to believe what all of us said we believed uh at one time, now they're mad because you still want to believe that, and they don't believe it anymore. Well, we're gonna kick you out of the synagogue, you know, we don't want you in here. But uh you know, it has to come down as to whose opinion counts. Who do we desire to please the most? Uh, you see, the Pharisees use their leverage to try to intimidate people. And Christ talked about some of those who love the praise of men more than the praise of God.

   Well, there are those who gave heed to seducing spirits, and departed from the faith. Uh, coming on back a little later in I Timothy 5:8, Paul talks about those who won't provide for their own and especially those of their own house. They denied the faith. In other words, you can deny your faith by actions. Here were people, evidently there were some that just were sort of lazy and wouldn't work, wouldn't provide, uh, certainly didn't want to help elderly relatives or parents, uh, and really didn't even want to provide for their own immediate household, their own wives and children. And Paul said, you know, anybody who, who's just totally self-centered and they won't even take care of their own family and they won't try to help, they've denied the faith. Because the faith demands actions and obedience and, and if you're uh the faith of the gospel directs our lives.

   There are people on down in chapter 6. I Timothy 6:10, he says the love of money is a root of all evil. "While some coveted after. They erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." The love of money, you know, there's virtually nothing that people haven't done for the love of money. They betrayed other people, betrayed in some cases, close friends or family members, people who betrayed their country. They have committed every sort of crime imaginable, even murder, every type of immorality for the love of money. You know, if the price is right, the love of money is the root of all evil. It can lead to virtually every sort of evil that can grow up from that, while some have coveted after. That's what the money itself is not evil, but, but a covetous attitude toward it has led many to err from the faith. So the faith can be denied, it can be denied by our actions, it can be erred from, turned from, fallen from. Many ways.

   The faith is something that must be handled or held in sincerity. You know, it talks about that in I Timothy 3:9. Paul here was talking about deacons, but what he described, one of the things he described in I Timothy 3:9, uh, that they were individuals who held the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. It wasn't just a matter of having an academic set of beliefs, they were sincere. They held it in a pure conscience. They weren't trying to play little funny games. They held it in a pure conscience. They were serious about it.

   Uh, James talks about it the same principle in the book of James 2:1. He says, "My brethren, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons. Somebody comes into your assembly, a man with a gold ring, goodly apparel, there comes in a poor man and vile raiment. You have respect to him that wears the gay clothing." Now, let me just pause here, you know, it's interesting how the English language has changed over the last several 100 years. Uh, you know, if you talk about somebody today coming in wearing gay clothing, uh, that would sort of have a different connotation. I don't know he would be the fellow that you would just, uh, what he's talking about here is, you know, someone who... he's talking about just simply the externals. He's talking about an individual uh who exudes wealth and prominence. Someone that comes in and they are expensively dressed. And you immediately began to uh defer to them and all you sit over here and here let's, you know, can I get you something. And then some poor fella comes in and he doesn't have much and you can look at him the way he's dressed and say, well, this fellow, he doesn't have anything, you know, well, I'll tell you what, there may be a place where you can sort of stand up over there in the back. He's a footstool over here. We're saving the comfortable chairs for the rich folks. Uh, that's that's what James is saying. He says, look, you can't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect to persons where you treat people differently because you look at one man and say, well, that fellow looks like he's rich. He's got big fancy flashy car. I think I'm gonna invite him over for a meal. We're we want to buddy up to him. That poor fella, you know, he's in an old beat up truck and doesn't look like he has anything. I don't think I want to associate with him. I we don't really uh.

   It's an attitude, you see, it's it's based on judging, based on simply the externals. You know, God does, God looks on the heart. The fact that somebody may have a lot of money, that's not a reason to treat them poorly, it's not a reason to treat them any differently. The point is you treat everyone with kindness and courtesy and love. You deal with people as we want to be dealt with. We don't make distinctions based on trying to curry the favor of someone we we think is is wealthy and prominent. Don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons, you know, treating people differently based on their station in life. I'm not talking about a matter of giving honor and respect, you know, if the president were to come, where you would show honor and respect to his office. That's not what it's talking about. If you go back to the law, it talked about when the, the judges were told that when a case came before them, they were not to give favoritism to the rich because he was rich, they were not to give favoritism to the poor because he was poor. They were to be equitable. They were to be fair. They were to do the right thing. Not a matter of favoring someone just simply because of their economic status or you could say because of their race or because of their nationality or because of any number of external factors. You know, there are a lot of things that none of us really have any choice about. What we do have a choice about involves our character and our behavior and our conduct. But you see, the world makes a lot of distinctions and there are people that exude a certain air of success. They get ushered in and maybe have direct access to the to the governor or to the president while others. There's no way in the world they never get in the front door. Well, you know, it's not that way with God. I don't care how rich you are, how poor you are. I don't care what your race is or whether you're male or female, whether you're young or old. Every human being can have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ. And all of those external things that are totally irrelevant in terms of, oh well, I'll listen to this fellow first, he's got a big bank account. Do you think God's impressed with that sort of thing? God owns everything. He owns the whole universe. He doesn't need what you and I have. The faith must be held sincerely.

   The faith is not just something you can hold on to. Faith has to be shared and proclaimed. Paul talks about that a number of places, so let's just notice one in Galatians 1. Here's Paul talking about uh when after his conversion. How he did not immediately go to Jerusalem, Galatians 1:17. Went to Arabia and was directly taught of Christ. Then returned back to Damascus. See, after 3 years, he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. Stayed there 15 days, didn't see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Then he came on back to the region of Syria and Cilicia, where he had grown up. He was unknown by face to the churches in Judea. They had only heard verse 23 (Galatians 1:23) "that he which persecuted us in times past now preached the faith which once he destroyed." See, Paul didn't just take it and sit on it. He shared it, he proclaimed it. The faith must be proclaimed.

   Paul told the Thessalonians that he says we, we have the gospel in trust. In other words, it's been entrusted to us. It is we hold it in trust. We're going to ultimately, if you hold something in trust, ultimately you're going to be held accountable for what you've done with it. Christ talked about that in the parable of the pounds, you remember when uh the the ruler was going to go into a far country and receive a kingdom and return, all these servants and delivered to them. You know, pounds. When he came back, having received the kingdom, he called his servants and one came, "Lord, your pound has gained 10 pounds." That's what some of us say after the feast, right? uh. Not think of pounds. "Lord, your pound has gained 10 pounds." Another one said, "Well, Lord, your pound has gained 5 pounds." Another one came along and said, "Well, Lord, the pound you gave me hadn't gained anything, but I didn't lose it. I sort of buried it in the ground over here." Christ said, you're gonna lose it now. You don't want to take it away from you and give it to the fellow with 10. You see, the gospel is something that has to be proclaimed. It's got to be shared. The faith of the gospel is intended to go forth.

   And the faith of the gospel requires patience and that patience will produce reward. We're told in Revelation 14:12, "Here's the patience of the saints. Here they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are compatible. They're not exclusive. The patience of the saints are those who keep both.

   You know, Paul, at the very end of his life. Writes in II Timothy chapter 4. he's drawing to the close of his life and he says in II Timothy 4:6, he says, "I'm now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me of that day and not to me only, but to all of them that love his appearing." Paul knew when he was going to receive his reward when Jesus Christ returned. He said, "I have finished my course. I've kept the faith. I've held on to it. I've endured." The faith, the true faith, the faith of the gospel must be contended for. It must be obeyed, it must be stood fast in. It can be fallen from, it can be denied. It's got to be held in sincerity, it must be proclaimed. And patiently holding on to it brings reward.

   The faith was once and for all delivered when and where. Well. If you go back to Malachi chapter 3. Verse 1 Malachi 3:1, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come," says the Lord. I'm gonna send my messenger. He'll prepare the way before me, and then the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come. The Lord will come as the messenger of the covenant.

   Now, if you go to Mark chapter one. Mark 1:1, very simple statement says "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before your face. He'll prepare the way before you. That'll be the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord." Now John baptized in the wilderness. He was the one who did that. He's the one that pointed out Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world." John preached and pointed to the one who would come after him. And then Jesus came and we're told in Mark 1:14, "After John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God." I'll send my messenger. And then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come, even the messenger of the covenant. I'll send my messenger to prepare the way, and then the messenger of the covenant will come. John the Baptist came as the messenger to prepare the way. He pointed to Jesus as the messenger of the covenant. Jesus came proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God.

   So the new covenant and the gospel of the kingdom of God is the faith once and for all delivered. Jesus delivered it and he delivered it when he came. Notice in Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. Peter is here speaking to Cornelius. In verse 36 (Acts 10:36), he says "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel preaching peace by Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. That word I say, you know, it was published throughout all Judea, began from Galilee after the baptism that John preached." Now we just got through seeing that in Mark. Malachi prophet side of it, Mark said, after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel, the kingdom of God. So Peter is rehearsing this. And he said it's the word that God sent for the children of Israel. So here's the one that sent it. It came from God to the children of Israel by Jesus Christ. It started after John's proclamation started after John was put in prison. It began from Galilee. So we're given all sorts of information about the gospel or the faith once and for all delivered.

   "God appointed, anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him, and we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day. And showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead, and he commanded us to preach unto the people, to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the living and the dead." So Peter says we were commanded to preach. We were commanded to spread the message that Jesus brought. And to point out not only did he come and pay the penalty for our sins. But he's going to return as King of kings and Lord of lords. He was, has been ordained of God to be the judge of the living and the dead. There is a time of future accountability, a time of resurrection.

   So you come on back just a little later in Hebrews chapter 8. Talks about the new covenant. Jesus was the messenger of the covenant. Hebrews 8:6 talks about he's the mediator of a better covenant established on better promises, speaking of Jesus. What is that covenant? Verse 10 (Hebrews 8:10). "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says the Lord. "I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I'll be to them of God and they will be to me a people. I'll be their God. I'll put my laws in their hearts and in their minds."

   Back in chapter 10 of Hebrews. In verse 14 (Hebrews 10:14), we, we read that Jesus by one offering has has perfected forever those that are sanctified. He gave himself as one offering for sin. We don't have to go back and offer over and over and over. Verse 16 (Hebrews 10:16). "This is the covenant that I'll make with him after those days," says the Lord. "I'll put my laws in their hearts and in their minds. Will I write them and their sins and iniquities? Will I remember no more." So the new covenant doesn't do away with the law. Rather, it is a message about the law being written in our hearts and in our minds.

   You see, as we come on down toward the latter part of Hebrews 10. Paul said in verse 35 (Hebrews 10:35), "Don't cast away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. You have need of patience that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise. You and I have need of patience. That after we have done the will of God, we might receive the promise yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. Any man drawn back, my souls will have no pleasure."

   Joshua lived by faith, the faith once and for all delivered. Jesus Christ delivered it. Jude, his younger brother, exhorted Christians to contend earnestly for the faith Jesus had once and for all delivered about 35 years earlier. Exhorted those who were his leaders to contend for it, to strive for it, because there were those who were seeking to pervert it and distort it. Who were teaching a different message and trying to attach Jesus' name to it. That has continued all the way down. The faith once and for all delivered was delivered by Jesus Christ. We must hold on to it, stand fast in it, obey it. It makes demands upon us. Contend for it. Patiently endure. Realizing that after we've done the will of God, we shall receive the promise.

   Jesus Christ came as the messenger of the covenant, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God. The good news of God's coming kingdom and how through a new covenant making possible our conversion, we can be part of that kingdom and inherit that kingdom. He once and for all time delivered the faithful message of God. We need in our lives daily to be contending and striving to understand, to practice, to hold that faithful message, you know, God's faithfulness can be counted upon to endure forever. That faithful message that Jesus Christ once and for all delivered is a message of hope. Now and forever. Let's contend earnestly for that faith that was once and for all delivered.