Contend For The Faith!
In II Kings 11 and II Chronicles 22, we read of the daring rescue of Joash from the murderous plot of Athaliah to kill all of David’s descendants, effectively ending the Messianic lineage. Joash is then raised by Jehosheba and her husband Jehoiada. As the high priest, Jehoiada trained Joash in the ways of the Lord. In the following chapters, Joash is named king of Judah at age 6, and he begins a restoration of the temple as he attempts to bring God’s people back to a faithful walk with Him.
Tragically, after Jehoiada died, “ the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and the king listened to them ” (II Chron. 24:17). These men brought their worldly wisdom to King Joash, who chose to accept it over the Word of God. Dire consequences soon followed. “ They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols ” (II Chron. 24:18).
When one begins to trade the wisdom of God for the wisdom of man, it may not be long until there is a tragic loss of a precious soul. This is why Dr. Sharp founded Creation Truth Foundation in 1989. Seeing the disturbing trend of nearly 3 in 4 Christian young people leaving the faith, Dr. Sharp sought to minister in a way that would reestablish in the hearts and minds of Christians the essential foundations of the faith.
Taking to heart Jude 3, CTF’s mission is to show forth the infallible accuracy and trustworthiness of the Bible. Jude 3 states, “ Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.”
In the Greek, it says to earnestly contend for the “ once for all having been delivered to the saints faith.” This faith is “once for all” ( hapax ), meaning it is final, universal, definite, and without any additional revelation to come. No other “faith” will be given. It has been “delivered” ( paradotheisē ), meaning personally handed over or given to be safely kept, managed, and used.
THAT faith is THE faith we are to “earnestly contend for” ( e pagōnizesthai ), that is to exert oneself as an athlete to the point of agony in the effort to win the contest. With such intense effort are we as Christians to defend the whole Word of God. As Dr. Sharp wrote, “The idea is that God gave Christians…a final deposit of truth to be defended, to be cherished, and not to be abused.”
Unlike Joash, we need to defend against the wisdom of the world that teaches a false doctrine of origins with billions of years of evolution, defaming the Creator God and His Word. Rather, as Paul exhorted Timothy, “ guard the deposit entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent chatter and the opposing arguments of so-called ‘knowledge,’ which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you all ” (I Tim. 6:21).
