Since the fall of some angels and all of mankind into sin, world history is the record of the never ending battles of wants and wills. It all began when one fallen angel put his will above the Will of God and, through deception, led the father of all mankind down the same pathway of corruption. Since then, every conflict between individuals, groups of individuals, and nations of individuals has been the product of putting someone-else's want or will above that of another. In the battle of the ages, those who battle for Truth, or “the faith,” do not battle directly with fallen angels. We battle against those deceived by them and who are being led by them through ongoing deception, false doctrines about God, and in varying degrees of unbelief regarding the Person and work of God. The Christian should not lose this perspective of the battle between good and evil. Although satanic opposition comes to us in the bodies of human beings, the human beings are only instruments in their power controlled and manipulated through demonic deception. The spiritual struggle is that of innumerable individual battles fought against false philosophies, mythologies, distortions and perversions of Truth, lies, manipulations, selfishness, greed, lusts, and a million other battle fronts of variations and combinations of corruption.
“10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:10-13).
The primary focus of this onslaught of evil is directed against the home and especially against the God appointed spiritual guardian of the home; i.e., the FATHER. To somehow think that a man can win this never ending and unrelenting onslaught, by supernatural beings with powers beyond our imagination, against the home and family is certainly an operation in human vanity. The spiritual man lives each moment in an ongoing declaration of dependence upon God and in his understanding of the absolute necessity of living in unbroken fellowship with God.
There is only one Will in existence that deserves such levels of conflict; the Will of God. It is this to this seemingly never ending struggle that the Word of God directs us in the short epistle of Jude, the half brother of our Lord, Jesus Christ centering around the statement in verse 3, “that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” The Word of God reveals the Will of God, which defines “the faith.”
“1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11 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. 12 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, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. 17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 1:1-25).
Defining what is meant by the words “the faith,” that we are commanded to “contend for,” is a critical aspect of what defines the struggle of the Christian life and the primary ministry of the father as the guardian of his home. No man will take the responsibilities of the spiritual guardianship of his home seriously until he understands the wicked purposes of the enemy and the cost of failure. Men have difficulty in dealing with intangible probabilities. Men tend to deal only with things they can see, touch, and smell. However, if a man knew there was an invader coming who would steal all that he had worked for, rape his wife and daughters, and then sell them with his sons into slavery, he would do everything in his power and intellect to provide for their protection. Why then is it that most men are apathetic about spiritual things, about church going, about Bible study, and about prayer? They are apathetic because they do not really believe there is any real danger to them or their families.
We also find the phrase “the common salvation” in the verse 2. The soteriological reductionism modern evangelicalism defines this “common salvation” as merely the salvation of the soul from condemnation and deliverance from Hell. The salvation of the Bible has three levels of deliverance of the body, soul, and spirit of a person (I Thessalonians 5:23). There are times when the word salvation is used to refer to all three of these aspects of salvation (such as in the case of Jude 1:3). There are also times when the context determines to which aspect of salvation the text is referring. The three aspects of a person’s salvation are:
1. The salvation of the soul through propitiation and justification
2. The salvation of the spirit (one’s life) through practical sanctification
3. The salvation of the body through glorification
The phrase “common salvation” in Jude 1:3 refers to all three aspects of a person’s salvation. In fact, perhaps we can go so far as to say that the words “common salvation” embody all that defines Christianity as a whole. Although any phase of a person’s ongoing salvation (he has been saved, is being saved, and will be saved) is an operation of God, He has numerous human partners in this “work of the ministry.” God has commanded all believers to preach the gospel and make disciples. God has called all believers to work together through the local church towards spiritual growth (practical sanctification). However, God has but one person that He has put in charge of the home and with whom He wants to work in a formal partnership so as to protect the family members of that home against the unrelenting onslaught of satanic deception and corruption. God calls him the father. Wives call him honey. Children call him dad. That man’s primary line of defense is to maintain unbroken fellowship with God so that His family is never left unguarded against the supernatural onslaught of evil that only God can protect against.
Secondly, understanding the numerous levels of personalities, individuals, and forces we contend against is also critical. The primary enemy is the corrupting influence of demonic forces. In defining that corrupting influence, we must include our own corrupted nature with its corrupted, selfish desires and all of our idols of the heart. Because each of us, including fathers, has a corrupted nature, we are a potential danger to our own families from within the home. In most cases, corrupted individuals become the tools with which demonic corruption is advanced in families, cultures, and nations. Warning about these corrupted individuals is what the epistle of Jude is all about and the primary focus of the command to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
There is no escaping this warfare in this life. A new battle is always looming on the horizon of the next moment. The army of enemy is constantly being refreshed with new deceived souls willing to evangelize the world with their deceptions and mock all that contradict their heresies. There is nothing sacred to them. The most difficult aspect of “contending for the faith” is that those individuals we contend with are also those to who we are trying to evangelize. At that level, our enemies become our ministry.
False doctrine is an attack against “the faith.” False doctrine is the most significant enemy of the family in the arsenal of satanic opposition to the will of God. Right doctrine determines right practice. Fathers who do not make learning doctrine a priority of their lives will never be able to transfer right doctrine into the practice of the lives of their families.
According to Jude 1:4, not all of the enemies of the family are demons. Some of them are false teachers who have been deceived and corrupted by demons. These people enter the local church under the guise of orthodoxy with a covert agenda to take control. Once they have gained positions of favor, they begin to sow their seeds of corruption.
We might ask why this is so easily accomplished. There is a simple reason. When a genuine man of God labors “in word and doctrine” (I Tim. 5:17), his work is often resisted by degrees. Some people resist his teaching/preaching because they think it is too restrictive on their lifestyles and practices and they quickly shut their ears to anything he says regarding these issues. Others may resist the laborious detail in which truth is presented. Others simply resist because they really do not want to labor in learning and they allow their minds to wonder towards more interesting things of the world. These individuals will welcome someone who will remove the restrictions, make church going fun, entertaining, and not require any effort of their parts to learn and live the Truth. Another dynamic is that a pastor eventually just gets so discouraged in trying to get a dead horse to run, he just gives up and starts bringing cotton candy sermons.
For those individuals who would so easily follow one of these teachers of false doctrine, they are admonished to remember where those false teachers are headed, because when they follow them, they follow them to the same destiny. Jude 1:5-7 details three instances of God’s predetermined judgment upon similar circumstances.
1. When God delivered Israel out of Egyptian bondage, but everyone over the age of 20 that followed the advice of the 10 spies who gave a discouraging report regarding being able to conquer the Promised Land died in the next 38 years in the wilderness because of their unfaithfulness in unbelief.
2. The fallen angels who followed Satan in his insurrection and rebellion against God’s divine order in giving mankind “dominion” over the creation, including angels.
3. The cities of “Sodom and Gomorrha” as they gave themselves permission against God’s will to live in sexual licentiousness and homosexuality. God’s judgment on the people and cities of “Sodom and Gomorrha” is “set forth for an example” (Jude 1:7).
Do we think that we can minimize the importance of doctrine and not suffer similar consequences at the hand of God? Do we somehow think that we are excluded from this for ordained judgment warning of which we have hundreds of similar examples in the Scriptures? Doctrine is what defines the Church as the “pillar and ground {foundation} of the truth” (I Tim. 3:15). Take away doctrine from the Church and you remove its foundations. Take away doctrine from the home and you remove its foundations. If false doctrine is Satan’s main weapon in his arsenal against the family, right doctrine is the primary weapon of opposition against him. Show me a father who does not think that learning doctrine and teaching doctrine to his family is not a priority and I will show you a household destined for destruction in one way or another. That is the warning of Jude 1:3 in the command to “earnestly contend for the faith.” Christ gave a similar warning.
“46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:46-49).
The words “earnestly contend” in Jude 1:3 are from one Greek word; epagonizomai (ep-ag-o-nid'-zom-ahee). The epi prefix raises the issue of the struggle to its highest level. In other words, contending “for the faith” must be at the highest level of priorities. We are to use everything at our disposal in contending “for the faith.”
A central aspect of contending “for the faith” is teaching doctrine to our children so as to transpose it to another generation who will do the same. This has been the responsibility of fathers since the beginning of time and God has never removed that responsibility from the shoulders of the fathers. A father who is successful in everything else in life, but who fails to definitively teach his children about the character and attributes of God and how He wants us to live is a failure. However, as Christ said in Luke 6:47; “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them;” living the truths that are learned intellectually is the primary way those truths will be transfer into the lives, not just the heads, of our children.
“1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 6:1-12).
Read Deuteronomy 6:5. The Shema of the Old Testament was repeated twice daily, every morning and every evening. The expectation of God is the total commitment of all that we are to Him, body (might or physical strength), soul (will and personality), and spirit (desires and attitudes). Loving God (sacrificially putting Him first) involves this kind of commitment.
Read Deuteronomy 6:6. Truth must be in the heart, not just in the head. Imprinting absolutes on the psyche refers to convictions of truth that stimulate our conscience to act upon what we believe to be right and wrong. This means we accept that there is reality to what we claim to believe. That reality is evident by our moment by moment attitude about truth. Our love for God is also evident by our work at integrating God’s truth into our lives and into our relationships with others. We cannot honestly claim to love others if we fail to work at integrating God’s truths into our lives and into theirs. We cannot love others and at the same time sacrifice truth, or compromise truth.
Read Deuteronomy 6:7-9. These three verses detail the transfer of our love for God into the three other areas of relationships (husband/wife relationship, family relationship, and career or non-intimate relationships). God’s emphasis regarding loving Him seems to be centrally concerned with our attitude and actions in obeying truth. God’s emphasis in loving others seems to be centrally concerned with the integration and implementation of truth into their lives.
Deuteronomy 6:7 shows the integration of truth into our children's lives (Action+Attitude=Loving God). The emphasis is upon the INCREMENTAL IMPLEMENTATION of truth as it is INTEGRATED into every aspect of living (not just memorization). Incremental means piece by piece by piece by piece - a little here, a little there. A fortress of Biblical convictions is built one brick at a time. Each brick of truth must be carefully laid in place so that when the next truth is built upon it, the underlying structure is solid enough to support the additional stress of that new truth.
“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10).
Building truth into the lives of our children is the predominant factor in their education. Like the weaving of a basket, Biblical truth must be interwoven into the everyday education of our children. It is not something that can be done as an add-on to their education. Neither is it something that can be done separately from their education. It must be integrated with their education.
We must learn to use every opportunity in life (successes and failures) to incrementally integrate truth in the lives of our children. The surest way to accomplish this is through the continual application of truth in our own lives and in the lives of our children. There must be consistency. The surest way to destroy this is through duplicity in our lives. Duplicity is the erasure of absolutes imprinted upon the psyche.
Read Deuteronomy 6:8. The best way to incrementally integrate truth into the lives of our children is to live truth before them (by example). Can we honestly, or even intelligently, expect our children to love the Lord anymore than we do? If God’s truth is not important enough to you for you to work at translating it into the language of living, do not expect your children to make the attempt. The spiritual REALITY that is evident in your life will become evident in theirs.
Deuteronomy 6:8 is referring to being a living testimony to a reality that God’s truths are important enough to you that you will make every effort to live those truths (not just an exhibition of spiritual piety). When our lives are a living testimony of God’s truths, it brings glory to God. When our lives are just an exhibition of personal piety, it only brings glory to us. Our goal is to have our children’s lives bring glory to God by restoring God’s image in their lives.
Read Deuteronomy 6:9. God’s truths need to be integrated into our external relationships. There is a lesser degree of influence and control in external relationships. Again the emphasis is about a testimony of a living example. The intent of living truth as a public testimony is to show a testimony to what you hold valuable by what you are willing to stand for, with, or against. Your whole world is watching your attitude and actions. You are a living testimony to the reality of Christianity. Our public testimony is what we have established as a public standard. It is defined by the priorities of our lives and the truths we have determined to live by.
1. Do you love the Lord? This is measured by your attitude (God’s commands are not a burden) and actions (you obey God’s commands)?
2. What is your level of commitment to keeping God first in everything you do?
3. What efforts are you making to incrementally integrate God’s truths into your own life and the lives of others (especially your children)?
The Audio of this Message is available at the links below:
I. The Priesthood of the Home
Anonymous comments will not be allowed.Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at:http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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