It is so precious. It is through this faith that souls are saved and won. It is this faith and belief in these things and response to them that determines all eternity, heaven or hell. It must not be polluted and diluted and ruined. You must contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Now that is the situation and that is the background. And the enemy of souls is always at work raising up people, and in this case they come from within the church. They are people who would appear to be or have professed to be believers in Christ. But they have renounced those beliefs, and we will see in what manner they have renounced them. And now they are agents of Satan to contradict the Word, to undermine the Word, and we have to watch and be prepared. So this is a whole dimension of Christian discipleship and action, the defence of the faith.
A good pastor of God’s people must always be on the lookout for the dangers that confront God’s people. He must adjust his teaching ministry to what is most needful for them. It is always more pleasant to deal with positive subjects, subject to do with our blessing in Christ, our future reward, but the dangers of the present moment may dictate otherwise.