It didn’t take long. Less than 70 years into church history and there were already those who wanted to water down the Word of God and the call to personal holiness. And others who wanted to add things to the requirements for salvation and Christian living. Nothing much has changed. There are still those who distort the gospel truths. Instead, we’re to teach and understand the whole counsel of God. In 25 verses Jude’s epistle called believers to contend for the truth. It still does today.
Sadly, many still prefer to teach only the easy-to-swallow parts … those things that don’t make anyone uncomfortable or the Christian life seem too hard and others who claim that something else is necessary.
How about you? Are you contending for the truth and seeking to understand the whole counsel of God? And why is doing so as important as ever?
Welcome to “God’s Word Day by Day.” Why not make the coming year the best ever when it comes to your understanding and enjoyment of Scripture by signing up for these daily devotionals or subscribing to the YouTube version? (If you are already signed up, you will automatically continue receiving them.)
And now on to the Word …
Today’s Readings:
Hosea 11 & 12
Psalm 139.17-24
Proverbs 29.22
Jude 1-25
What Is the “Whole Counsel of God” & Why Is It So Important?
Jude 1-25:
False Teachers & Our Own Hearts
The introduction to Jude in Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary says:
This epistle is addressed to all believers in the gospel. Its design appears to be to guard believers against the false teachers who had begun to creep into the Christian church, and to scatter dangerous tenets, by attempting to lower all Christianity into a merely nominal belief and outward profession of the gospel. Having thus denied the obligations of personal holiness, they taught their disciples to live in sinful courses, at the same time flattering them with the hope of eternal life. The vile character of these seducers is shown, and their sentence is denounced, and the epistle concludes with warnings, admonitions, and counsels to believers.
Jeremiah said our own hearts are deceitful (Jer. 17.9). They will lull us to sleep where nominal Christianity and sin are concerned. If that’s not dangerous enough, false teachers and others preach a watered-down version of the truth rather than the whole counsel of God. Those shallow doctrines allow us to be comfortable in our sin and sometimes trust in outright error.
Study the Word Personally & Corporately
God is a God of grace, mercy, and patience. But that doesn’t mean we should get comfortable with our sin. A heart that has truly been reborn by the Spirit of God is a heart with new desires. We must grow those righteous desires by carefully studying God’s Word. That should include the personal study of the Bible as well as attending a church where the Word of God is being preached from cover to cover, not just the comfortable parts. We need to know and understand the whole counsel of God.
We also need to cultivate friendships with people who will encourage us to grow and change, not make it easy for us to remain spiritual babies (Prov. 27.5-6).
But in the end, it’s His enabling that causes us to keep growing (Phil. 1.6) and His grace that will cause us to one day stand before Him perfect. Verse 24:
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
Distorting the Truth
But sadly, there are always those in our churches who may have an intellectual understanding of the Bible and do many external Christian things but have never fully committed their lives to Christ.
The Apostle Paul in his final message to the elders at Ephesus warned them that false teachers would attempt to come in and lead their people astray.
26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock (Acts 20.26-39 NKJV).
And verse 30 in the NLT says:
Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.
Notice, false teachers don’t always teach what is obvious heresy. Sometimes they merely distort the truth. They often take passages out of context and ignore things that don’t fit their doctrines.
The best defense against false teaching is to study all of God’s Word, the whole counsel of God, and to continue in it.
What Is the Whole Counsel of God?
The NLT translates that phrase, “all that God wants you to know.” “All that God wants us to know” includes things that may be hard to hear. Things like the need to lay down our own selfish agendas in order to love others sacrificially (Lk. 9.23-24). That God isn’t just a God of mercy and grace but also a God of justice and judgment (Rom. 6.23; Ex. 34.7). That God doesn’t heal all diseases in this life and He doesn’t want to make everyone rich (Phil 4.11-12; Heb. 12.5-8). He wants us to know that tests, trials, and persecutions are part of the Christian life (Jn. 16.33). And that He is more concerned with our holiness than our happiness (Rom. 8.28-29; 1 Thess. 4.3; 1 Pet. 1.15-16).
If we don’t understand these things, we will be blindsided when the truth becomes apparent. We may even get angry at God or decide He isn’t real or good.
Our Responsibility
Each of us is responsible for studying God’s Word, all of it (2 Tim. 3.16-17), for ourselves, to read the Bible in context, and to seek to be in a solid Bible-teaching church, one where the whole counsel of God is taught. One good indicator of a solid church is one where its pastors teach expositionally a large percentage of the time.
If you don’t already have a reading plan, I hope you’ll sign up to read through the Bible with me here or subscribe to the YouTube version. But the important thing is to have a plan to read God’s Word in a systematic way whether that takes you a year, two years, or whatever.
Note: If you would like to learn more about false teaching, the importance of good doctrine, and an understanding of the work of Christ on our behalf, you might want to check out my series on the book of Colossians.
Today’s Other Readings:
Hosea 11 & 12:
God’s Purifying Love
God’s love is not a pampering love, but a purifying love. The nation of Israel was ungrateful and disobedient and He would allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions, but He will eventually restore them because of His love and mercy.
Psalm 139.17-24:
Search Me, O God
Because our hearts are so deceitful and we can be blinded to our own sin, we need to pray like the Psalmist in verses 23-24:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives (Jer. 17.9-10a NLT).
We need God’s Word and His Spirit to help us see our pride and selfishness and areas where we have justified sin. Only His Word can renew our minds and consciences.
But merely reading or knowing what it says on an intellectual level is not enough. We must allow His Holy Spirit to convict us of the sin and unrighteousness in our hearts. And then we must become doers of the Word or we will continue in our deception while believing we’re right with God.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it (Jas. 1.22-25).
Proverbs 29.22:
Defending Our Right to Sin
An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.
Anger spills over onto everything it touches. When we give vent to anger, we “give place to the devil” (Eph. 4.26-27).
That’s pretty easy to see … in someone else’s life!
But too often our deceitful hearts can allow us to justify and defend our right to be angry, instead of repenting and allowing God to do His work in our hearts.
Closing Thoughts:
Do you invite God to examine your life on a regular basis? Is there some area of your life where you know God’s truth, but have failed to apply it to your life? Have you justified some sin?
Do you read and study your Bible daily?
Does your church teach God’s Word in its entirety, the full counsel of God, or just the easy-to-swallow parts … those that don’t make you uncomfortable?
Do you have godly friends who challenge you and help you grow in your walk with God? If not, will you pray that God will bring at least one mature Christian friend into your life?
Coming Up
In the next few days, we’ll talk about judgment, the Rapture, the Tribulation, grace, the responsibility involved in being a true friend, and discuss the question, “Are you losing that loving feeling?” I hope you’ll join us.
Get Ready for the Coming Year with a Plan for Your Bible Reading
The holidays are just around the corner and the new year will be on us before we know it. What will you do to make Bible reading an ongoing habit in the coming year? I want to encourage you to set a goal to read through the Bible again or for the first time. If you join me here, I’ll take you through a plan that covers both the Old and New Testaments in about 15 minutes a day.
You can read each day’s post or watch as I read through the passages on YouTube. Sign up here for my daily email. It has links to the written post and the YouTube video. It can serve as a gentle reminder to stay on track and I believe you’ll benefit from the additional information I share and grow as you learn to apply God’s Word to your own life. Why not invite someone to join you as you both read through the Bible?
Here’s a short video about what we’re doing on YouTube.
If this post spoke to you, I hope you’ll share it on your favorite social media platform.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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