SCRIPTURE Jude 1:3–6 “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 ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.  For 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 lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.  I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”   

COMMENTARY Jude wrote that we must contend (Greek epagōnízomai) for the faith.  “Contend” means “to struggle with and uphold,” meaning that we have a part to play in maintaining our faith.  Furthermore, the passage reminds us that God will destroy those that lose their faith, condemning them to the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41).  We also note that the angels, who were once spiritually alive in heaven with God, also lost their faith to obey.  They had no doubt about God. They had first hand evidence He existed. I ask our friends who believe guaranteed, unconditional eternal security: how would this have been possible if a sovereign God had not granted them the same free will He granted us?