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Christians are called, even commanded to defend the faith. 1 Peter 3: 13-15; and the book of Jude. Jude had intended to write a different type of letter, one about the readers common salvation. Instead he felt compelled to write a letter instructing them to earnestly contend for the faith, and goes into detail as to why. Let me say right up front that the church is at war, and always has been. The enemies of the faith reared their heads in NT times, even as the foundation was being laid. But our enemies are not flesh and blood, but spiritual. We do not fight against men, but against spiritual powers. Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, against the authorities, against powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Just as God often works His purposes through men, and equip them for the work, so does the counterfeit god, the counterfeit Christ, the unholy trinity, the liar and the father of lies, come against Christ's church with a counterfeit gospel. It is these ideas and words and teachings that we must come against, and we can only do so if we know the full council of God. If we know the gospel as it is given in scripture, ourselves. And make no mistake about it, the doctrines that define what Christianity is, and what the faith is, are definite and made clear and easy to understand in scripture. Any teaching that cancels any of these gospel doctrines, or denies one or more of them, is not Christian. At best they are the result of severe indoctrination that a person cannot escape on their own, because it blinds them, but it must be done by God Himself. At worst, the name Christian attached to a teaching that denies the gospel doctrine or doctrines is sheep's clothing. The doctrines of the the person and work of Jesus. This is what we are called to defend. There are other teachings in the Bible that have varying levels or ways of understanding among different Christians. Things that do not affect salvation, and these we are not called to defend, as long as they do not change any part of the gospel. We can discuss them of course, but we needn't defend our views, as though a person's eternal destiny depended on them. Jesus warned us to be on the alert for these ravenous wolves. Paul and Titus and Peter and others warned of false teachers coming into our midst, with the intent of leading people astray.
So what is this faith we are to defend and contend for? It is the faith that saves. Eph. 2:8; Rom 3:22. When we define faith we must be careful to define it as the Bible is using it, and the Bible uses it as a conviction of the truthfulness of something that comes from outside of us, and is given to us, and placed in us. The word translated as faith refers to something of divine origin. So what is this faith, or what does it contain? Faith in what? The gospel. And the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the doctrines of the person and work of Jesus, those doctrines that define what is Christian and what is not, that we are to defend, including, but not limited to the doctrines pertaining to Christian behavior. There is no tension between salvation through faith alone and obedience. Such tension is manufactured as we struggle to see the place of the commands in the gospel of salvation through faith and not works. It can happen in our early walk with Jesus, but familiarity with the whole council of God , should gain the balance. One way of putting it is that the faith produces the good works. But also the faith and obedience go hand in hand, they are both part of the same package, but it is the faith that gives and secures our salvation. One of the fall outs of not understanding this, and not being able to defend it, opens a door for the enemy with a false doctrine to come in. Either that we are now at liberty to live a lifestyle of sin with impunity, or the teaching that we are saved by both faith and works.
Centuries ago, when the world was kept in darkness because the power of the light was kept from the people, reserved for the few church elite, and then distorted with all sorts of false doctrine which was spoon fed, force fed, to the populace; God began to raise up men to bring the light back, make the light available to all, and the light of the word of God destroyed the strongholds of the devil. They rose up to contend for the faith. Many died for this and knew they might. They were burned at the stake, beheaded, kept in dungeons in chains, tortured.
And here we are today, all these centuries later, with the walls of doctrine that protected Christ's church, His doctrine and that of the apostles He appointed for the work, broken down. And the gates of His church, the visible church on earth, have been burned with the fire of complacency, of lack of good shepherds and stewards, of our own love of the world, and seeing inclusiveness and the commandment to love, in a way that barely skims the surface of what the Bible says and means, even concerning love. We want unity and peace above all and at the expense of truth. We hate doctrine, let alone want to defend it, or even know what that doctrine is. We accept as Christian whoever says they are Christian, as though Jesus and the apostles never set protective boundaries of doctrine around His church to keep it separate in distinction and sanctification from the world and wiles of the devil. Someone tells us they are Christian and we call them brother or sister in Christ, even though they may deny the atonement of Christ, or say that our Savior is a man, just a man, who was created, a creature. Even if they tell us that no one is saved now, no one will know until judgement day when God weighs your works in the balance to see if the good outweigh the bad. We may even know these things are not true, are not the gospel or the real Jesus, but we do not want to say so. It would be politically incorrect. We might get in an argument in which we were unable to defend our faith. We might get into trouble. They will pull scripture from isolation to prove they are right, and do we know how to counter this, to defend the gospel? Do we have the whole council of God under our belts and in our hearts so that we are able to do this? And if we do, and we counter their assertions with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and we do so with conviction and force and no backing down, they will then pull out another scripture with which to condemn us. One that accuses you of disobedience to the commandment to love, or of accusing the brethren as if they are a brother or sister in Christ; they will use scripture to attack your character. Do we believe them? Do we bow our heads in shame, not recognizing that they have merely called something by what it wasn't. Defense of truth as one in battle and wearing the armor of battle, the shield, the breastplate the shoes of battle, have they suddenly made us believe was a personal insult, and we have offered offense.
If someone tells us they have raised the dead or performed other miracle to imitate the biblical sign of a true apostle, as a messenger from the very God, while telling us that there was no blood atonement made by Christ, do we know how to gauge with certainty that the miracle is either a lie or a counterfeit worked by the counterfeiter? If we listen to a preacher tell astounding tales of the miracles he worked, of his visits to heaven and back, that God whispers in his ear and gives him prophecy, while he promises us our own miracle, or breakthrough, for a price, tells us to give out or our need, not our abundance, and that God has told him to say this; preaches a sermon on the dangers of touching God's anointed, never once mentioning the gospel; says God bless, exits stage left to get in his hired limo to take him to his waiting private jet. Do we suppress that God given discernment that tells us something is off here, this does not line up with the teachings of scripture or something crucial was missing. Because we can't pin point what was missing, and we don't know scripture well enough to give clarity to exactly what was wrong. So instead we err on the side of caution and dare not touch God's anointed, but rejoice in the "wonderful things that God showed us."
Wake up O sleeper and Christ will shine on you. Rise up you Joshua's and David's and Deborah's, and fight the good fight. Be strong and of good courage, for the battle is not yours but the Lord's. Be not afraid of the persecution that will come but delight that God has chosen you to fight the good fight and equipped you to do so. And above all remember that we do not wear the armour of pride, or arrogance, but we wear the armour of God. Truth. Righteousness. The gospel of peace between God and man. Faith. Salvation. And we carry with us the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Learn what that word is. Be prepared day and night to give a defense of the hope that is in you. Bind it around your heart. We are the army of the Lord. No more standing down. It is time to rebuild the walls of Christ's church here on earth. It is time to set the gates and close them against the world and cultural norms where they oppose His word. This, my friends will resonate in the heavenlies to the pulling down of strongholds, demolishing the wiles of the devil, refusing him entrance, in any way shape or form, into the flock of Christ's pasture.
So what is this faith we are to defend and contend for? It is the faith that saves. Eph. 2:8; Rom 3:22. When we define faith we must be careful to define it as the Bible is using it, and the Bible uses it as a conviction of the truthfulness of something that comes from outside of us, and is given to us, and placed in us. The word translated as faith refers to something of divine origin. So what is this faith, or what does it contain? Faith in what? The gospel. And the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the doctrines of the person and work of Jesus, those doctrines that define what is Christian and what is not, that we are to defend, including, but not limited to the doctrines pertaining to Christian behavior. There is no tension between salvation through faith alone and obedience. Such tension is manufactured as we struggle to see the place of the commands in the gospel of salvation through faith and not works. It can happen in our early walk with Jesus, but familiarity with the whole council of God , should gain the balance. One way of putting it is that the faith produces the good works. But also the faith and obedience go hand in hand, they are both part of the same package, but it is the faith that gives and secures our salvation. One of the fall outs of not understanding this, and not being able to defend it, opens a door for the enemy with a false doctrine to come in. Either that we are now at liberty to live a lifestyle of sin with impunity, or the teaching that we are saved by both faith and works.
Centuries ago, when the world was kept in darkness because the power of the light was kept from the people, reserved for the few church elite, and then distorted with all sorts of false doctrine which was spoon fed, force fed, to the populace; God began to raise up men to bring the light back, make the light available to all, and the light of the word of God destroyed the strongholds of the devil. They rose up to contend for the faith. Many died for this and knew they might. They were burned at the stake, beheaded, kept in dungeons in chains, tortured.
And here we are today, all these centuries later, with the walls of doctrine that protected Christ's church, His doctrine and that of the apostles He appointed for the work, broken down. And the gates of His church, the visible church on earth, have been burned with the fire of complacency, of lack of good shepherds and stewards, of our own love of the world, and seeing inclusiveness and the commandment to love, in a way that barely skims the surface of what the Bible says and means, even concerning love. We want unity and peace above all and at the expense of truth. We hate doctrine, let alone want to defend it, or even know what that doctrine is. We accept as Christian whoever says they are Christian, as though Jesus and the apostles never set protective boundaries of doctrine around His church to keep it separate in distinction and sanctification from the world and wiles of the devil. Someone tells us they are Christian and we call them brother or sister in Christ, even though they may deny the atonement of Christ, or say that our Savior is a man, just a man, who was created, a creature. Even if they tell us that no one is saved now, no one will know until judgement day when God weighs your works in the balance to see if the good outweigh the bad. We may even know these things are not true, are not the gospel or the real Jesus, but we do not want to say so. It would be politically incorrect. We might get in an argument in which we were unable to defend our faith. We might get into trouble. They will pull scripture from isolation to prove they are right, and do we know how to counter this, to defend the gospel? Do we have the whole council of God under our belts and in our hearts so that we are able to do this? And if we do, and we counter their assertions with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and we do so with conviction and force and no backing down, they will then pull out another scripture with which to condemn us. One that accuses you of disobedience to the commandment to love, or of accusing the brethren as if they are a brother or sister in Christ; they will use scripture to attack your character. Do we believe them? Do we bow our heads in shame, not recognizing that they have merely called something by what it wasn't. Defense of truth as one in battle and wearing the armor of battle, the shield, the breastplate the shoes of battle, have they suddenly made us believe was a personal insult, and we have offered offense.
If someone tells us they have raised the dead or performed other miracle to imitate the biblical sign of a true apostle, as a messenger from the very God, while telling us that there was no blood atonement made by Christ, do we know how to gauge with certainty that the miracle is either a lie or a counterfeit worked by the counterfeiter? If we listen to a preacher tell astounding tales of the miracles he worked, of his visits to heaven and back, that God whispers in his ear and gives him prophecy, while he promises us our own miracle, or breakthrough, for a price, tells us to give out or our need, not our abundance, and that God has told him to say this; preaches a sermon on the dangers of touching God's anointed, never once mentioning the gospel; says God bless, exits stage left to get in his hired limo to take him to his waiting private jet. Do we suppress that God given discernment that tells us something is off here, this does not line up with the teachings of scripture or something crucial was missing. Because we can't pin point what was missing, and we don't know scripture well enough to give clarity to exactly what was wrong. So instead we err on the side of caution and dare not touch God's anointed, but rejoice in the "wonderful things that God showed us."
Wake up O sleeper and Christ will shine on you. Rise up you Joshua's and David's and Deborah's, and fight the good fight. Be strong and of good courage, for the battle is not yours but the Lord's. Be not afraid of the persecution that will come but delight that God has chosen you to fight the good fight and equipped you to do so. And above all remember that we do not wear the armour of pride, or arrogance, but we wear the armour of God. Truth. Righteousness. The gospel of peace between God and man. Faith. Salvation. And we carry with us the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Learn what that word is. Be prepared day and night to give a defense of the hope that is in you. Bind it around your heart. We are the army of the Lord. No more standing down. It is time to rebuild the walls of Christ's church here on earth. It is time to set the gates and close them against the world and cultural norms where they oppose His word. This, my friends will resonate in the heavenlies to the pulling down of strongholds, demolishing the wiles of the devil, refusing him entrance, in any way shape or form, into the flock of Christ's pasture.
