Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. Jude 5.
There is a kind of knowledge which you accept mentally, but that kind of knowledge you can also reject. In times of stress you can change your opinion concerning things that you know only with your mind. When Jude wrote that there are certain things which you know once for all, he was talking about revelation knowledge which does not come through the mind. It comes through the Holy Spirit by revelation; and those things you really know. When you hear a certain truth, you may recognize it as something you already know. Though you have never put it into words or heard it expressed by anyone else, yet when you hear it, you know in your heart that you have known it and believed it all the time.
Nothing seems more jarring than the fact that God requires more faith of you as you go on than you had at the outset of your walk with God. That is a reality. You can start off with just a little faith, but as you progress in your walk with God, much more faith is required. You get into situations which you did not foresee; you had no foreknowledge of them. Do you think that any of the children of Israel realized what they would face when they marched out of Egypt? When they reached the wilderness and had no water, they began to murmur and complain. They faced circumstances that made them want to go back in spite of the fact that for many years their cries had been coming up to God out of Egypt, asking for deliverance, They wanted to get out so badly; yet when they were brought out, they were happy only until they realized how much faith was required. Their situation was symbolical of what you often face. When you are delivered from situations of slavery to certain bondages and habits, and you start to walk with God, it is not as simple as you thought it would be. It takes much more faith than you ever anticipated.
Some people have the kind of faith that looks to the future and says, “Oh, hallelujah! I believe that one day there will be a glorious rapture and the Lord will catch me out of this mess, and then I will really be walking with God.” It is good to have hope in your heart and to look for the day when your situation will be changed, meanwhile continuing on in your present walk with God. But how much better it is when you realize that this is the day of the manifestation of the sons of God, when you recognize that the great spirit of futility is warring against you, and you have to break through. It takes quite a bit more faith to expect to actually walk in the reality of a promise than it does merely to anticipate it, with a doctrine which teaches “pie in the sky in the sweet by-and-by.”
Let us have the kind of faith that does more than merely embrace something in the future; let us believe for it right now. That requires more faith. Even if we would have ten times as much prophecy as we have now, we still would be required to walk a great deal by faith and not by sight. We would actually be put in a situation which requires much more faith. It was much easier for the children of Israel to believe that they would be delivered out of Egypt than it was for them to believe that they would inherit the land of Canaan. Only two men, Caleb and Joshua, had that kind of faith, and they were the only ones of their generation who escaped the judgment. God subsequently destroyed the entire generation who had not believed.
When you read in the book of Jude that you are to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints, do not forget that you will walk in problems greater than those which the early saints walked in. This generation will find their faith being tested more than any generation that has preceded them. It is of this generation that Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). You must reach the place where you realize that everything depends upon your believing God. Believe His Word. Believe the promises that He has set up for you.
Jude 6 tells about the first reaction of people when they are put under fire and testing. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Those who were first delivered came into a situation so difficult that many of them doubted, and they perished. The Lord destroyed them.
There is another reaction that people have when they start to walk with God and are put under pressure. They take things into their own hands instead of trusting God. This is deadly. The angels left their domain—the area and sphere that God had given them to minister in. When human beings do that, it is because they, too, are under great pressure, and they take things into their own hands.
This occurred in the life of King Saul in the Old Testament. He had blown the trumpet and summoned the people throughout all the land to come and fight the Philistines. Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance.… Now he (Saul) waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. And it came about as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, that behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”
And Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” 1 Samuel 13:5, 8–14.
One of the main reasons that the Lord rejected Saul as king over His people was that Saul moved out of his place as king. With an arrogance he assumed the priesthood which belonged to Samuel. He probably had a good reason. Samuel had not come when he said he would, and the people were all leaving. So Saul took over the priesthood.
Jude wrote, And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness. When people move out of the domain which God has appointed to them, they often find God rejecting them or bringing them into difficulties. If you want to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints, you must believe that God will deliver—not by your taking the initiative to move out of your sphere and do something else, but by your being submissive to be what you are supposed to be.
A man and his wife usually have some real problems when the wife moves out of her domain and takes over the spiritual headship of the family, instead of being absolutely submissive to her husband. She may give the excuse that he will not take the responsibility. She should put him on the spot and be completely submissive to him as her spiritual head. This would position him in the place of responsibility. But if they argue back and forth, then God has no one to charge with the responsibility. She must back off and move into the place that God wants her to fill as a woman, and that will automatically place her husband in a position where he is responsible before God for his place.
When someone has a certain need that requires ministry by the elders of the church, but there are no elders around, do not step into a place that is not yours. Do not act as Saul did. Because he was under pressure, he moved out of his place as king and took over an area that God had not appointed to him. After a pastor has committed certain jobs to the elders and the ministers whom God has appointed, then he should back off and let them do it. They may need counseling and supervision from an authority over them, but he cannot take those specific jobs away from them. Once God has established a domain or a sphere of moving, you must stay in that place. Then God will bless you.
Sometimes the pressure of a problem pushes us so that we do not know what to do. Instead of trusting God, we take over the responsibility ourselves and go beyond what God tells us to do. A young person sometimes gets into difficulty with his parents because he wants to walk with God. At his own initiative, he may even sever his relationship with them. If this has happened, he should go to them and heal the relationship, and tell them, “I want to walk with God, but I want your blessing. I want you to know that I am submissive.”
When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they faced a situation that required them to walk with faith. When they came to the Red Sea and were waiting for a Word, they were told to stand still. They had to wait until it was too late for them to do something about the situation themselves. It was too late to scatter to the hills or to build boats or rafts to take them across the Red Sea.
They were told to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. That was difficult to do, for people are always moved by unbelief to take matters into their own hands. If you do not have a Word from God to move, then stand still. Even if it looks as if utter disaster is coming, trust God until you get the Word to move on. If you do not, you are liable to move presumptuously out of your domain.
The children of Israel stood still until it was too late for any kind of help, humanly speaking. They were completely hemmed in. Behind them and to their right were the mountains, in front of them was the sea, and to their left they could see Pharaoh and his troops approaching. Then the Lord said, “Why are you crying out to Me?” That was an unusual question, considering the fact that they were in that spot because they had obeyed God.
Sometimes when an individual finds himself in a difficult situation, he comes to the pastor or the elders for counsel. They may tell him, “In a way, we are sorry that you are in this position, but we realize also that you are there because we prayed you into it. That is why we feel responsible to be a channel of blessing to you now.” Many times problems arise in a person’s life because he has been delivered over to the thing that is in his heart. Until things get worse, they sometimes cannot get any better. The Lord may have to put that person in a place where it is humanly impossible for him to make it by himself.
When the children of Israel started forward, they again had to have faith. The Lord parted the sea for them, and they went through on dry ground. It took faith to move out and go across the Red Sea, but it required more faith to stand still and watch their last human hope evaporate. It would have taken faith for King Saul to stand still while the children of Israel wandered off and the Philistines were gathering against him. Because he did not have that faith, he lost his kingdom. God took it away from him and gave it to a man after His own heart.
David had received prophecies from the Lord, and he had been anointed to be king. Yet he was content to live in caves like a fugitive so that he might survive until the hour when God would make him king over all Israel. With a type of patience, he did not move out of his sphere. No doubt his friends often asked him, “Why don’t you take a spear and see if you can pin Saul to the wall, as he did to you? He hates you, and he wants to kill you. David, don’t you know that? An evil spirit has come over King Saul. Someone should kill him!”
“I know that, but God says, ‘Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm.’ I will not move out of my sphere. I will not move out of the area God has given me and what He has given me to do. I will not speak evil of Saul, nor let anyone else speak evil of him.”
There are some things that belong completely in the hands of the Lord. Unbelief will take hold in a perverted way, causing you to take a situation into your own hands in a way that you think God wants. God may want it, but He does not want you to move out of your place. The angels who left their own domain are reserved in darkness. Unbelief moves in strange ways. We want to be delivered, but let us beware lest we come under the judgments of God and are destroyed because we have not moved with faith. Do not become rash under pressure and do something you will regret afterwards. Actions that are taken and things that are said under pressure are often wrong.
Whenever a pastor or other ministry of authority is under pressure, he should either make himself unavailable for decisions, or refuse to make decisions at that time unless he has a definite Word from God. When he is going through spiritual battle, he should refuse to make decisions, lest he respond in any way to the pressures that are on him. He should move in faith.
Do not manufacture a word, even if there seems to be a crisis situation. Nine times out of ten, when the devil insists that it is a crisis and you must do something, it is actually not necessary to act. Just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. This takes a great amount of patience and faith.