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In the gospel of John, Jesus, prays an incredible prayer, a priestly prayer.   This prayer is for His people.  His disciples.  His followers.  His sheep.  His church.

“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.  But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.  I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

--John 17:12-15

This priestly prayer shows us how much God loves His people; it reveals the specific plan God has for His people not just through the salvation of Christ but through the ministry they will do with Christ—to bring Glory to Christ.  There is someone in the spiritual world that wants us to believe the promises in John 17 are not true.  There is someone who wants to twist God’s word; he wants to infect God’s family God’s church with false doctrine, with a false Christianity.

 

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come of Myself, but He sent Me.  Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.  You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”

--John 8:42-45

 

“But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be corrupted from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit which you did not receive, or a different gospel which you did not accept, you bear this beautifully.  For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  Therefore, it is not surprising if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.”

--2 Corinthians 11:13-15

 

  1. The Church must contend for the Faith. We must contend for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by the hypocrisy of liars, who have been seared in their own conscience…”

--1 Timothy 4:1-2

 

Remember, this is a church without proper structure, without men and women who will call out false doctrine, a church who is not in obedience to God and therefore following their own ways, being rocked from wave to wave instead of standing firm on the Rock of Christ.

 

--Libero position in Volleyball.  Doesn’t count as a substitute towards the 15 subs allowed in a game.  Cannot be offensive.  Plays in the back row and is a purely defensive roll meant to keep the ball off the floor.  Keeps rallies going and is a fantastic passer. 

 

How must we contend for the faith?  What is the answer / instruction Paul gives to this Church?

 

 

 

Paul’s Instruction in Contending for the faith:

a).  False doctrine must be called out (1 Tim. 4:6).

b). False doctrine must be rejected (1 Tim. 4:7).

c). One must be spiritually discipline in God’s word; in the faith of Christ.  One must know the bible (1 Tim. 4:8-9).

d). Stay focused on Christ, teach Christ, teach His word thoroughly and often (1 Tim. 4:10-11).

e).  Lead by example (1 Timothy 4:12).

f).  Preach God’s word often.  Stand firm on God’s word, not a man-made doctrine from an interpretation of God’s word, rather stand for what it is and what it is saying, stand for God’s doctrines.  (1 Tim. 4:12-16).

 

“…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and teaching.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

--2 Timothy 4:2-4

 

“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.  For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

--Jude 1:3-4

“To Contend.”

ἐπαγωνίζομαι epagōnízomai, to struggle for:—earnestly contend / argue for. 

 

Contend (Oxford Dictionary):  to say that something is true, especially in an argument

 

“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.  The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.”

--2 Timothy 2:3-6

 

What heretical doctrines are growing in the modern church in Canada today? (From the “State of Theology Canada 2026”).

 

Many responses from Canadian evangelicals align with biblical teaching. For example, 98% rightly agree that “God is unchanging.” Regarding marriage, 96% agree that “God created marriage to be between one man and one woman.” And 94% of evangelicals believe that “The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches.”  This is good!  But the same group of people then answered the below questions in a non-biblical way showing us that many people think they know the doctrines of God but they simply don’t. 

 

Statement No. 35

Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Saviour receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

Canadians age 18–34 (49%) and 35–49 (45%) are more likely to agree than 50–64 (35%) and 65+ (32%).

 

Statement No. 30

The Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.

Canadians age 18–34 (39%) and 35–49 (39%) are more likely to agree than 50–64 (30%) and 65+ (28%).

 

Statement No. 20

Hell is a real place where certain people will be punished forever.

Canadians age 18–34 (49%) and 35–49 (48%) are more likely to agree than 50–64 (37%) and 65+ (27%).

 

Statement No. 7

Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God. 

45% agree

 

Statement No. 15

Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.

73% agree. 

 

Statement No. 9

The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.

66% agree

 

This problem of false teaching, false Christianity in the ancient church has not gone away; itching ears are all the merrier today, doctrines of demons are swirling around our churches through some churches, instead of contending for the faith of Christ many contend for a faith pleasing to their own eyes, ears, and selfish desires. 

 

  1. False Christianity is extremely tempting. It is self-pleasing, self-gratifying—it appeals to our sinful nature. 

 

“By the hypocrisy of liars, who have been seared in their own conscience, who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God created to be shared in with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

--1 Timothy 4:2-3

 

These early churches would have had both men and women in them (a novel idea) and there would have been jews and gentiles.  It would have been a breeding ground for different ideas, different teachings, people would have grown up with one way of thinking or doing things—it is hard for people to change.  There were people in this church not allowing people to marry—they were also teaching Jewish food laws, holding the Jewish law to salvation over each other. 

 

We must ask the question—why did this church fall to false teachers?  False teachers twist God’s word so that they can benefit—they do it out of selfishness, out of conceit.  Sometimes it could be an error in preaching or teaching but if there isn’t a repentant heart then that is a big red flag.  

 

“For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, without gentleness, without love for good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Keep away from such men as these.”

--2 Timothy 3:2-5

 

 

“But if anyone loves God, he has been known by Him.  Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one…However, not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.  But food will not commend us to God. We neither lack if we do not eat, nor abound if we do eat… Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again—ever, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.”

--1 Corinthians 8:2-4, 7-8, 13

 

—Balaam in Numbers 22-24.  Moabite King Balak hires Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam’s donkey speaks and saves Balaam from God’s wrath, Balaam blesses Israel BUT he teaches Moabites how to trick the Israelites in sexual immorality and sin lifestyles in order to bring God’s curse on them.  Why did Balaam do this? Because he wanted the financial reward from King Balak.

 

  1. Jesus is Amazing. His Gospel is Life Changing.  His Truth is Unchanging.  The Church Needs Jesus.  We Need Jesus.

 

Contending for the faith of Jesus is worth it!  Just as protecting homes from a wildfire, or protecting our families from harm or contending for political ideals / laws as we are concerned for the future of this country for our children’s sake—it is all worth contending for, worth fighting for, worth standing up for—we are called to stand up for Christ, for His truth, For His doctrines, for His word.

 

“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

1 Tmothy 4:4-5

 

“In pointing out these things to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.”

--1 Timothy 4:6

 

Definition of “Nourish.”

ἐντρέφω entréphō, (figuratively) to educate: —nourish up in.  To educate the mind.

 

“There’s hope no matter what because God’s word is true, His presence is constant, His power never weakens, and His grace never runs out.”

--Paul David Tripp

 

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.  Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world… and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

--John 17:22-24, 26