The Bible Says…
The Bible says in Jude, "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."
The people to whom Jude was writing had faith, but a generation of ministers, whom God had not called, had slipped in among them and led the Church away from "The Faith." Jude further described these false prophets and teachers in v. 11. He said, "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit."
Two "ways" are in conflict here. There is "the way of God" and "the way of false religion." The way of God is here called, "the faith which was once delivered to the saints." One day Aquila and Priscilla heard a mighty man of God who was a follower of John the Baptist, and who was already "instructed in the way of the Lord." After he had finished speaking, they got together with him and "expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly." (Acts 18:24-28) The other "way" is revealed in the examples of Cain (Gen. 4:3-8) , Balaam (Num. 22- Num. 24) and Core (Korah, Num. 16)
The way of Cain, the way of man, includes the majority of those who profess the Christian religion, as well as all religions which come some way other than through Jesus Christ. It was this deficiency which provoked God to tell Cain, "Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." They offer themselves to God; that is "My works," "My righteousness," "My alms." It is demonstrated well in Luke 18:11-13, "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." Unto whom it is written, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat..." (Matt. 7:13,14)
On the other hand, the way of God is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God." (Rom. 14:17,18) The person who comes to God with a broken and contrite spirit, offering the only acceptable sacrifice which is the offering up of Jesus Christ of Nazareth on the cross, has found the way. That is our only justification, our only ransom, our only way to be reconciled with God. As it is written, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: ... Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matt. 7:13,14) Those who find this way will one day hear from God those wonderful words, "Well done, good and faithful servant; ... enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matt. 25:23)