28/2/2021 [Thematic Message 122] www.lifechurchmissions.com
Contend for the Faith <Gen 3:1-5; 2 Co 11:13-15; 1 Pe 3:15>
Prelude: <Jude 1:3> exhorts that believers must contend for the faith. In this world of unprecedented changes, if we are not cautious in guarding this exhortation, believers will soon become a group of people who hold the truth in their hands but are not faithful to the word. Think about it, what will become of a generation that does not contend for the faith? If our ideas, values, emotions or the love and relationship we have with people do not have the truth, we will be led by the empty trends of this era, and what kind of plight would we and our loved ones land up in? We could possibly become a very advanced and modern society, a fashionable and trendy group of people, but if the heart of a person does not have an absolute unchanging benchmark, can his final outcome not be one of competing and vying with others? Right, it is possible that sinners have weakness in their human nature and hence cannot completely follow and act based on the truth but if the truth is being guarded, it at least becomes a warning to the human conscience such that humans do not go beyond the limits in what they do, or it let people introspect after going through failure and not do what they please without restraint, such that the result becomes worse. Today, the greatest weakness of the church could be that the preachers do not question hard if what they preach is faithful to the truth. What they pay more attention to is whether what they preach is welcomed by people, whether it can attract people into the church and build up the church size. The underlying meaning behind this is to discard the truth. A generation which abandons the truth is a hopeless generation. A church which abandons the truth is one that awaits defeat. But think about it, where does the truth come from? No fallen person can know the truth. Therefore, God revealed the truth to people of this world through Jesus. The truth does not come from any person's moral concepts or philosophy of life but is revealed by God, like what <2 Ti 3:16> said, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” Regardless of how good the world's moral teachings are, they cannot surpass the teachings given by the Bible. This is because the teachings from the Bible go deep into the renewal of the human soul, not only the transformation of character. Regardless of how righteous the world's laws are, they cannot surpass God's laws. Because the spirit of God's laws ultimately not only asks a person not to sin but calls a person to love God and man. All these reveal God's truth. But we must know that the prince of this world is Satan. He was a liar from the beginning, for there is no truth in him <Jn 8:44>. He killed our ancestors with lies, he infiltrates the world with his lies, and governs all the people and organizations in this world. His work of lies fills every generation, particularly aiming to infiltrate the Lord's church. Therefore, the apostles warned believers in every epistle to be aware of false teachings and false prophets. Indeed, Satan cannot triumph over the truth but he spares no effort to introduce information, operations, methods, styles, and even Christian songs that can weaken and obliterate the truth into the church in every age. Therefore, a believer who contend for the faith does not just adhere to some basic beliefs and traditions. He is very careful to observe how the enemy tells his lies, so that he can contend for the truth. Martin Luther brought out a very provoking insight. He said, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battle fields besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” Think about it, in this era, what is the little point that Satan is attacking at the moment? Where is the “frontline where the battle rages”? That is where we have to contend. We cannot watch the younger generation of believers live with false beliefs. When we see people open the Bible, but pursue the wealth and success in this world, isn't there vigilance in our hearts? When we see the prevalence of postmodernism, and even Christians do not have a firm stand on issues such as homosexuality, feminist movement, family planning, etc., should we do nothing? We see that some churches preach social gospel, use psychology to counsel the believers and manage the church like business administration, don't we raise voices of discontent? Where do we see the frontline of the battle? Only those who see the crisis will know how to contend for the faith.
1. Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and a liar <Gen 3:1-5>
1）What is the cause of the failure of the entire human race?
We often seem to think that the origin of all mankind’s failure is because Eve ate something. In fact, “eat” is only an outcome, the main thing is, both Adam and Eve thought that God was not telling the truth, but only what Satan said was true. Such reality also exists in the entire human history. We have to know that the one who lied in the beginning will continue to lie. Those who belong to Satan do not believe in God and they continue to make up lies to blind people. If we carefully study the words of demons, we will know that they are lying spirits. They cannot be seen, but they work in the spirits of humans. What they say are not consistent, such as telling people to believe one thing today and another tomorrow; or love one thing today and another thing tomorrow. However, only one thing makes them unanimous, that is, they all oppose God and hate His truth. They fabricate God’s “yes” into “no”.
2）The most cunning liar also continues to lie today
Satan’s lies come little by little. He seizes opportunities and selects his targets. He did not target Adam who was the symbol of authority established by God and who received commands directly from God. However, he targeted Adam’s helper, who had a meeker temperament and was a female. Here, we cannot imagine but he merely brought out two strategies (two lines) and Eve’s heart was completely turned away from God. After Eve spoke with him over two lines, she completely believed that God had lied and she ate the forbidden fruit. What did the serpent say?
(1) Question: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” In fact, Satan pretended to start with a harmless question, but this question contained many hidden insinuations. The meaning behind this is: “Did God really say? How could God say this? How would God give you such restriction?” This is the first question in the entire Bible. The words God gave man were only answers and commands but not questions. Because God is good and He has complete sovereignty. His blessings are in His commands. “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth...” “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil...”. God will not say, “Do you want to be fruitful and increase in number? Can you eat this and not eat that?” God will not say this. But Satan will. This is his strategy of planting doubts in human hearts. Just like today, he always says to people, “You submit in this way, is it really what God says? Will it really turn out well if you believe God’s words?” Then within the question, Satan once again expanded the hints of the question, saying, “Did God disallow you to eat from any tree in the garden?” In fact, God only said they could not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but Satan used this question to hint that God’s command was very strict and extensive, implying that God seemed to be taking away all their freedom. Think about it, what did God permit them to eat? Actually, they were allowed to eat from all the trees in the garden, but only forbidden to eat from that one tree. Thus, Satan’s question looked simple, but he already planted a misunderstanding toward God in the heart of Eve. That hidden hint is: “In such a perfect world, why did God set such a burdensome restriction?” Later, from Eve’s reply, we know she had wavered. Because she said, “God did say, ‘You must not eat, you must not touch it, or you will die.’” In fact, God never said cannot touch, but Eve must have already felt that God was strict, thus in her helpless answer she added her own understanding to God’s command. Today, many people seem to fall into the same trap too, such as wondering why God should forbid them from marrying non-Christians, or why God prohibits their homosexual tendencies. However, they do not see that God has given them many more and better paths which they can enjoy. The more they stare at the forbidden fruit, the more they feel, “Only that is the best. Only that can bring me happiness”.
(2) Conclusion: “You will not certainly die! For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The meaning of this line is: “You must discern for yourself, you actually may not die! You cannot let God’s command restrict or dominate you. Furthermore, God’s character may be doubtful. He does not let you eat because of His jealous heart, so He does not want to share His glory with anyone else. I am also one of the victims.” Here, we know that Eve was completely taken in, and she also gave the fruit to her most beloved husband for him to eat. People always give the best to those whom they love most, but they do not realise that when they do not believe God’s words, they only bring harm to their loved ones. Today, what are we passing on to our loved ones? Is it: “We must be successful, we must get rich, we should enjoy all kinds of blessings in this life, etc”? In fact, in this dialogue, Satan wanted Eve to understand that what he was advocating were freedom and rights, but what God was advocating were law and restrictions. Thus, let us understand that the fall of our ancestors was not due to merely eating one fruit. “Eat” is only outward expression, but in their hearts, they had blasphemed God and cut off His glory. They slandered God’s holiness, and viewed God as a liar. Is this like the postmodern trends today which advocate freedom but do not believe in the Bible? Is this the kind of influence that media brings to the younger generation of believers? Is this like the bible interpretation of our modern churches? Nowadays, when many believers hear God’s commands, they say those are laws, which restrain people’s freedom. But where is that exact point which Martin Luther said Satan is attacking at the moment? Where is the frontline of the battle?
2. Today, Satan also masquerades as an angel of light, his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness <2 Co 11:13-15>
1）Know the words of the Bible, yet indirectly weaken the authority of the Bible
Today, it is not that the world does not know the existence of the Bible, it is also not that the church does not know what the Bible says. The problem is, they take lightly the word of God written in it, or treat it as outdated. Those who preach God’s word also interpret it out of context, misusing it to say what they themselves want to say, instead of what God wants to say. Some boldly brought out new prophecies, and invented those new teachings that suit the taste of people. In particular, the greatest threat to the church always comes from within, such as those who claim that “the Bible is insufficient”. I ever heard a pastor saying, “The Bible gives us some principles on marriage, but there are still many details within marriage which the Bible does not talk about, thus the marital counselling of the world can supplement this.” Some people think that the Bible seems to only talk about very spiritual things, but it does not speak at length about the many psychological issues of modern people, thus the modern positive psychology can come in handy. In this pandemic, we hear some pastors say that the church must be prepared to enter a new normal, and believers should be prepared to meet online. They thought that by saying this, they are keeping up with times, but they are in fact helping to tear down the foundation of the Bible. These people who should have been “our comrades in the Lord” are the ones who have actually shot at their own comrades. They are like those who abandon God’s word and go seeking for new teachings that suit the appetite of the masses. When they preach, they do not go to the Bible to expound God’s word, but they mostly depend on modern knowledge and their eloquence. When such teachers increase in the bible colleges then the prospects of the church will become bleaker.
2）Heresies and cults
Since the beginning of church history, there has been the infiltration of heresies and cults. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, True Jesus Church, Eastern Lightning, etc, are cults recognized by the modern churches, but churches do not give grave warnings about them. We can see online that the Mormons have the best choir, singing the hymns we Christians sing. The cult has tens of thousands of believers, but they distorted Jesus’ divinity, and believe that salvation must be earned by sufficient good works. The founder of their faith had 40 over wives. This is such a terrible cult, but in the United States, it attracted tens of thousands of followers. Orthodox churches gradually have dialogues with them and do not criticize them. Last year before the pandemic, a few members of the Eastern Lightning had infiltrated our midst, their strategies were their pretentious gentleness and zealous serving. They believed that Christ has already returned, and that Christ is a woman. They used their outward zeal to seduce believers, and had Bible study with them. Some families who ever worshipped in True Jesus Church also came to our English service. They totally have no hope of resurrection from the teachings they received in the past. Some of them are people who truly seek the Lord piously, but they spent a large part of their lives under the system of wrong teachings, being unable to walk out from it.
3）Charismatic movement
When this name is mentioned, perhaps it may give many people a shock, because charismatic brethren are indeed our brothers and sisters. When we say “charismatic”, we refer to the new charismatic movement which arose in an Anglican church in California in 1960, it is also generally known as the second wave. Before this, the supposed first wave was the Pentecostal movement which arose in 1906. Charismatic brethren believe in the Bible, church history, and they hold correct views on the Trinity, but they pursue more perceptual experiences and encounters concerning the Holy Spirit. In particular, they must have phenomenal reality concerning the work of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues, healing of illnesses, casting out demons, healing and deliverance, prophecies, seeing dreams and visions, etc. They view all these as the anointing and filling of the Holy Spirit. By the third wave in 1980, charismatic movement was so prevalent that personal experiences were programmed into a unique personal theological doctrine. Some even do not call themselves charismatic, but they only say that they are filled with the Holy Spirit. However, at first glance, what they teach and behind what they do is the initial spirit of the charismatic movement. Thus, charismatic movement and the ways and practices it advocates have already gradually infiltrated many traditional churches in these 40 years. If you are with charismatic believers, you will very easily hear many interpretations which are taken out of context from the Bible. They do not clearly understand what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is, what being filled with the Holy Spirit means. They only rely on a kind of intuitive positive perception, then they always say, “God tells me this, God reveals that to me”. The evidences they advocate are mostly materialistic abundance and success. In fact, their most deviant area is not tongues-speaking, healing, deliverance, or the movement of signs and wonders, those are merely outward outcomes. But their most dangerous aspect is they believe that other than the already completed revelation of the biblical canon, God still has continuous revelations. They do not go back to the already revealed Bible to hear God’s voice, but they seek new revelations, new voices and new experiences from human perceptions and needs, and see these as coming from God. They make the convictions in their hearts absolute, and view the miracles, signs and wonders that they experienced as God’s anointing and blessings. Indeed, they are a people who cannot distinguish spirits. Today, if we are not strict about God’s revealed word, then anything can be claimed to have come from God. If so, then our faith totally has no boundary. Then, as long as someone says some moving prophecy, that is considered to have come from God. This is in fact most dangerous to the church. Because lies infiltrate the church in this way. In fact, such movement is like <Jer 6:13-14>: “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” Why was there no peace? Because they did not return to the words spoken by God-sent prophets and repent. The charismatic movement has already prevailed to a point that is out of hand. Why so? Because the good and bad are all mixed together. Orthodox and the deviant are all together. We see that a charismatic believer is more zealous than a traditional believer, then we feel that perhaps there is nothing wrong with their teachings and ways. When we see our own children worshipping in a charismatic church and learn those wrong teachings and practices, we say, “It is alright, at least they are zealous in the church.” If our hearts compromise like this, how can we be considered as a person who contends for the faith?
4）Postmodernist culture
Those who masquerade as the angels of light are not just the false prophets and teachers from the church. They also include those who are advocating prevailing culture and ideologies. They could be the world’s leading thinkers, philosophers, journalists, academics and teachers, or renowned people in the society. Indeed, the culture of this era is one that promotes postmodernism. On the outside, postmodernism advocates man’s freedom, rights and wisdom, but their core ideology is one that denies the existence of absolute and objective truths and rejects the authority of the Bible. The ideology considers everyone’s feelings and experiences as truths. Such a concept will allow man’s feelings to slowly replace the revelations of God. Very quickly, humans will believe that homosexual inclinations are reasonable and therefore should be legal. Or, women’s leadership is equal to men’s and they can take over as leaders in society, family and church. Actually, all these ideologies are what the left-wing liberalists support. What they advocate is a movement to attack the teachings of the Bible. Therefore, we see today that there are many people who are indoctrinated by liberalism and postmodernism, who cannot rationally consider the truths in the Bible. Recently, there was a female pastor in Singapore who was talking about holiness when sharing on the issue of sexual immorality, she merely suggested for sisters to dress more modestly so that brothers will not have unnecessary temptations. This generated a lot of criticism by netizens on a Christian platform. Why a suggestion like this will create such a huge reaction? The main reason is that we are an era which is self-exalting and we do not consider and apply the truths in the Bible with a sober mind.
3. At the very point which Satan and the world is attacking, we do not compromise, but contend for the faith <1 Pe 3:15>
When we are facing such an era, we can continue to preach perfect and correct sermon, but if we do not challenge these lies to oppose them, we are living an ignoble existence. Of course, no one likes to enter into argument, but this is not a matter of preference, but of need. Some people, when confronted with these controversial issues, are often evasive and subtle. Today’s culture is one which demeans the critic, whereby we are wrong to point out the wrong in others. Even seminaries are teaching students to be humble in interpreting the Bible. Of course, we must be humble, but humility does not mean not making judgment and correction. In the matters of wrong teachings, the Bible does not tell us to humble or give in, but to contend for the faith. We need to be objective to tackle the lies of Satan. For example, if we speak with a charismatic believer who keeps promoting prophecies, unless we question the basis of his prophecies, we cannot shake his beliefs. If we need to counsel a homosexual, we must help him understand God’s love in His salvation, but we must not avoid telling him that God will not accept such a lifestyle and if he continues in it, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven. If we who preach are soft on the truths, we have a congregation that is hardened in the heart. If we bring about hard teachings, they will have softened hearts that are willing to submit. We must not compromise with the teachings and culture that Satan is using to deceive this era. Perhaps, when we speak with an individual on a relevant topic, we face him with gentleness and treat the person with respect, but we must bring out our position. Such a person is one who contends for the faith. <1 Pe 3:15> says: But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.