When it comes to the faith, we must be determined to never compromise.  What is the faith?  It is the total teachings of the New Testament…that which has been once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).  A part of the faith are the instructions on how to be saved.

Throughout Paul’s ministry, he had to deal with Judaizing teachers who were demanding that keeping the law of Moses was necessary to be saved, especially the command to be circumcised.

Acts 15:1 (ESV)
1But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

In Galatians 2, we find that Paul was never going to give in to these Judaizing teachers, for to do so would be to compromise the faith, and that was something that he was not willing to do.  When these teachers tried to enforce the law upon Titus, Paul made his stand.

Galatians 2:4–5 (ESV)
4Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—
5to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

Not for a moment was Paul willing to give in to false teachers and their teachings.  We should have the same commitment to the faith as Paul.  The truth is, not only are there still false teachers in the world today, there are more of them.  The number of false teachers and erroneous doctrines seem to multiply continuously.  Our job is to never grow weary of standing for the truth.

Jude 3 (ESV)
3Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

I have always been impressed with the attitude of Jude and his willingness to write what was most needed for the brethren.  He did not write to them on the subject that he wanted.  His preference was to write about our common salvation.  As preachers, we all like to write, teach, and preach about salvation because it is edifying to all.  But, the time comes when brethren need to be reminded about the importance of the doctrine of Christ and standing for the faith.  Due to the false brethren who had crept in unnoticed and were perverting the grace of God (ver. 4), it was important for Jude to encourage these brethren not to compromise.  In a world in which the faith is under constant attack, we, too, need to be reminded to do the same thing.

False teachers who are insistent on peddling their doctrine to the church,  are not to be coddled, indulged, or humored in any way, nor are they to be simply ignored.  Instead, they need to be identified and rebuked. and if unwilling to change, marked.

Romans 16:17 (ESV)
17I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

Paul did not only teach the brethren to stand for the truth, he practiced it.  Tolerating error was not in his nature, and it should not be in ours either.  Let us all stand firm in the faith, encourage one another to do so, and never tolerated those who are determined to pervert it.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things