So what starts out perhaps as a friendly, encouraging, comforting letter ends up as a call to arms,

a war cry to believers to join the truth war, taking their side with the Lord.

For more than 50 years, John MacArthur has been teaching verse by verse through Scripture.

Explaining the life-changing truth of God's Word, and those years of study have led to his current series here on Grace to you,

titled The New Testament Beginning to End.

It's a collection of some of his most compelling sermons, and today's landmark message from the book of Jude is going to show you a foundational commitment every Christian must have.

Something you need to be willing to fight for, whether you follow Christ as a pastor or a business person, a college student, a stay-at-home mom, or whatever your role.

What commitment am I talking about? Find out now as John begins today's lesson.

As we look at the epistle of Jude, I want to take you into verses three and four.

We read, beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation.

I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.

For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation,

ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ.

This is one of the most interesting introductions to an epistle, because Jude, the half-brother of our Lord,

tells us that he had one intention when he sat down to write,

and he actually wound up writing something other than he had intended.

He wanted to write about our common salvation, but he felt the necessity to write about contending earnestly for the faith.

And he realized that the very salvation which he wanted to celebrate, the very salvation which he wanted to write about was in danger,

of being severely compromised unless the church rose to the occasion of fighting for its survival.

So what starts out, perhaps as a friendly, encouraging, comforting letter, ends up as a call to arms, a war cry,

to believers to join the truth war, taking their side with the Lord.

And behind the letter is a little bit of insight in verse 4.

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