we must contend for the faith

At the time of the birth of Jesus, the devil was determined to destroy Him and the truth He came to impart.  The devil knew that Jesus was born but he didn’t know who He was, so he had King Herod kill all the male babies under the age of two.  When it comes to the devil and his campaign against God, everything is on the table.  We would be well served to acknowledge the tenacity of the devil, he is a relentless foe.
 
1 Timothy 4:1 The Holy Spirit spoke clearly, that in the last days many shall depart from the faith (reliance on Christ for salvation), giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
 
There is nothing the devil can do to alter his judgement, he is out to hurt God by rustling God’s children away from Him.  God has empowered His people to resist the devil but many are resisting God and assisting the devil.  The devil has recruited a large number of people that are willingly teaching his doctrines.  The devil has no natural voice so he uses men to propagate his doctrine.
 
Mathew 24:4 And Jesus said, take heed that no man deceive you.
 
Folks who are not paying attention are being deceived, deception is a choice, you can take it or leave it.  The devil’s greatest challenge are people who want only the truth.  The truth makes you free so these folks will not accept anything that will put them in bondage.  The devil preys on the lusts of our flesh but we are not debtors to our flesh, we have power to resist the pleasures of sin.
 
Romans 6:11 Reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive to God through Jesus our Lord.
 
Our old sinful nature died with Christ in our baptism. What can the devil do with a dead man?  Nothing, no thing.  The devil can’t make us do anything, he neither has the power nor the authority to make demands of us.  In fact, just the opposite is true, we have dominion over him through the Name of Jesus.  We are pretty good about resisting the devil but we need to go the offense and put him out.  We are instructed to fight the good fight of faith, a good fight means you have a good defense and a good offense.
 
Jude 1:3 Beloved I exhort that you should contend (fight) for the faith, which was once delivered unto the believers.
 
Jude instructs us to fight for the truth because the devil has slipped some men into the church who are actively preaching the doctrine of devils.  We fight to protect and preserve the truth for ourselves and our family, we don’t fight with flesh and blood.  People who hold to error will fight tooth and nail to protect their demon.  The religious spirit is one of the hardest demons to deal with, often it must be bound with the Name of Jesus before you can appeal to the prisoner.  We are in a precarious position because we must preach liberty without being judgmental.  If I must choose between friendship and truth, the truth will always prevail.  We cannot live apart from the truth, only the deceived would try such a futile exercise, we must contend for our faith.     

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