Despising Dominion
- Jun 21
- 18 min read
Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
This morning, the Lord has given me a word for you titled, "Despising Dominion." It's a word that is quite heavy on my heart. Did not plan to preach this word at all this Sunday. But I want to get right into it with you in Jude chapter 1. We're going to read from verse 3 to 8. Jude chapter 1, despising dominion. "Dear friends, I've been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I found that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people." So here we right away see that Jude is writing to believers. He's writing to the church. Says, "I was planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. I'm writing to you because you are saved. Because Jesus has done a work in you." And then he changes his tone a little and says, "I was caught off guard, but now I have to write to you about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people, to his church." I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches. Saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago for they have denied our only master and lord Jesus Christ." So here he says this is a kind of people that believes in God, makes its way into the church, into the heart, but they deny Him as master, and they deny Him as lord. They confess him as savior.
They run to him for their forgiveness, but they don't make him master and lord the way that they should have. Verse five: "So, I want to remind you though you already know these things that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them, but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. And don't forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God's judgment. In the same way, these people who claim authority from their dreams, live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings." The King James version reads verse 8 this way: "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities."
See, he begins to become very specific here in boiling it down to how you recognize the problem he is seeking to address. Says in a similar way as all these examples, the three examples that he gives, in a similar way these people who claim authority from their dreams. Now that's not just talking about someone who is is trying to speak into your life and they say, "I have a dream for you," or, "I've had a dream about you," and now they radiate, they radiate the sense that you should listen to them because this means something or this is important or this gives them authority to say something. That's not necessarily what this scripture is referring to. This is the kind of person that has dreams for their life, and because they have dreams and desires for their life, they claim that that gives them the authority to go and spend their life on that, and go do with their life what is the dream in their heart. Go do with their life what is the desire in their heart. They claim that they have the authority to do with their life what they want to do with their life because they have a dream. And the word says they live immoral life. That doesn't mean that they are in obvious sexual sin.
It simply means that they call things good that are not good, and that they call things evil that are not evil. And it happens in the church so widespread today that when we talk about the need that you have to lay down your life and follow Christ Jesus, who said himself, "Unless you pick up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy to be called my disciple." People hear the very word of God and say, "Well, that's too radical. That is, that cost too much. God is love. He wants me forgiven. He wants me happy. He wants all of these things." And before you know it, He wants your dreams, not His for your life. And what begins to happen is a life full of immorality. A life that is not defined by what God says is good for you in this season, in this journey. A life that says, "I don't need to have a prayer life. I don't need to submit to authorities. I don't need to honor the Lord. I don't need to be so dependent on the spirit of God and take time to wait on Him and to pray and to seek after the Lord." No, they defy it. They take it lightly. And the Lord asked me a question in prayer that hurt my heart so much. And He said, "How many people would live the exact same in their choices?
How many people would live the exact same if there was no name given under heaven through whom all men must be saved? If this was their only life they got to live on this earth, how many people would live different? If there was no Jesus to run to, if there was no Jesus to deliver."
And the Lord in that question, he wasn't talking about what you do with your hour and a half on Sunday morning. This is about how you make your choices. Do I live based on the dreams that are in my heart and the dreams that I come up with? Or do I live led by a master, led by a lord, defined by someone who is in authority of my life, and I'm clearly not that one? Am I living according to the master of my life, or am I honestly, I would live the same? The only thing that has changed is that I a little bit more faithful, maybe show up to church. You see the Lord high and lifted up. He is king of kings, and a king rules and reigns. What that means is there's an area where that king is king, and whatever area that entails, that king rules that area but he also reigns over that area. That means that whatever that king decides is good or evil, whatever that king decides needs to happen or is going to leave his dominion, it needs to be done, and it will get done because that king has the authority to send out the command and all of the subjects have to now go and do it. We read about that king in Psalm 72, verse 4 to 9. "He will bring justice to the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear you as long as the sun and the moon endure throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like sers that water the earth. In his days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace until the moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from river to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before him, and his enemies will lick the dust."
We read of this king high and lifted up, dominion all over. There's no end to his dominion. And then we read this incredible thing that in his days the righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace until the moon is no more. That's the definition of how this king rules and reigns his dominion. So whatever falls in the dominion of the Lord Christ Jesus, it causes the righteous to flourish, and it causes abundance of peace. That word dominion means this: the power to govern, the power to control, and to have the right to exclusive use. That's what it means to have dominion. The word tells us he has that dominion from sea to sea. And then we read and remember this incredible thing, that accusation that says some despise this dominion when people brought things or even other persons into the dominion of Jesus. We saw what happened. You know the stories. They brought the sick into the dominion of Jesus, and the sick began to recover. The sick were healed. Lives restored.
One story, if you remember, a little boy brought to Jesus into his dominion. What did he bring? He brought five loaves and two fishes. And he brought the little that he had in a situation that was so big. Thousands of people were there. What he had in his hands couldn't possibly make a difference. But it was brought into the hands of Jesus. And in the dominion of Jesus, all of a sudden, that little that the boy had ended up feeding beyond what he could imagine. Every single boy, girl, parent that was there, thousands of people fed by the little that he had because it was brought into the dominion of Christ. And suddenly the impossible was possible. Suddenly he was able to be a part, small part, of a miracle that is one of the most famous miracles in the entire Bible. They brought the lame to Jesus, and the lame walked again and danced again before the Lord. They brought children to Jesus, and he blessed them. He blessed them; they became blessed children of God because they were brought into the dominion of Christ. Church, you can bring your kids to church all you want. That does not mean that you are bringing them into the dominion of Christ. You can bring kids to church your entire life. It is your job full time to bring them into the dominion of Christ, where he can bless them, where he is allowed to govern them, where he is allowed to be in control over them, where he is allowed to have exclusive use of their lives. You bring your kids into that, but you can't if you're not living it.
They brought the dead. And the dead begin to experience the dominion of Jesus as Jesus comes to Lazarus tomb. And the dead begin to experience that even death has no power, and there are no limitations to what Jesus will do when you are brought into His dominion. And so the Lord has had this call out to your life and my life all these years that we would bring our stuff to His dominion, that we would bring it to Him, that He may rule over it, that He may reign over it, and that he may bring an abundance of peace and cause you to flourish. And you may ask yourself, how can anyone despise this kind of dominion? How can anyone despise it? If this God, this King of Kings is high and lifted up, his dominion from sea to sea, his power unmatched, his favor and his intentions so good for every single person he's ever ran into, I'll read to you again Psalm 72:8 and 9. "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from river to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before him, and his enemies will lick the dust." How can one despise it? How can one stay out of that dominion?
How can someone stay out of that dominion and not experience the dominion of the Holy One of Israel? The dominion that causes the flourishing, that causes the peace abundant.
Remember that word dominion: the power to govern, the power to control, and to have the right to exclusive use. How is it possible that Jude had to deal with this so near, so close to the actual events of Jesus dying and rising from the grave? How is it possible that he had to deal with this? How is it possible that he had to warn for the churches to come? Not everything of the early church was recorded into scripture, but this sure was. How is it possible? Daniel 7, we're going to start reading in verse 7. "After this, I saw in the night visions. And behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth. It was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had 10 horns." See, here we begin to be read into some of the visions that Daniel had of times to come. And many of the beasts, even the horns, can be clearly connected to actual physical kingdoms that rose and fell over time here on this earth. But when that fourth beast comes, and the scripture already says something was different, and you'll see it as we continue, there is a spiritual battle that begins to unfold and that begins to show us something of our time and what we are going through.
Verse 8: "I was considering the horns, and then there was another horn, a little one coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking. I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame." Here we begin to see that that spiritual battle that is also woven into this vision, where that little horn that came up and that speaks pompous words. Remember what the word says about the enemy: that he is the accuser of the brethren, that he is a liar and seeks to speak into your spirit, appear to you as an angel of light.
We know how Revelation speaks of the dragon who gave its power to the beast that appeared in Revelation. Again, that connection to Satan himself being involved in all of this. We read in Revelation that the dragon is taken and that he is cast into the lake of fire. Here we read it as well, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. Verse 12. "As for the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed." Dominion: the very power to govern and control and to have the right to exclusive use. How is it possible in the church that there's people that despise this dominion? How could they stand against this kind of dominion? How would they even get away with it? How is it even possible?
You see it in Daniel's vision as well, how the dominion is taken away, but a time is given. Same goes for the enemy of our souls. The battle's won. The victory belongs to Jesus and to all of us as we are in Christ. Yet he is given a time in which the word says he goes around as a lion seeking whom he may devour. That dominion that Christ has received is not being enforced hard handed yet. There's still a time where the spirit of God dwells. There's still time where the spirit of God dwells in the churches, and he's drawing people. He's inviting people to to come into the dominion of Jesus. For now, there's still an invitation. We're still in a time where we have to choose to surrender things, where we have to choose to take areas of our life and to take it to Jesus and to let go of it and to experience that even on this side of eternity. He will use His dominion. He will rule and reign over whatever we give to him. We have to take our time and choose to give it to Him. We still live in a time where we have to take our possessions and make it available to Him and however he desires to use it. And some despise that. They despise it. That we're despising. I mean, it it sounds very strong today in our ears, but this is what it means. It means to set it aside. That's what this word means in the Bible.
Some will set it aside and say, "I don't really care for God to control me. I don't really care for God to have a say over every single decision I have to make. I don't really care for that. I'd love to be saved. I'd love to worship him a couple of days a week, but I don't really care for him having exclusive use to my life. I don't really care for that. I set that aside, and I'm not rude. I'm not against God. I'm not I'm not upset with him. I'm not against him. This is that would this doesn't work for my life." And we don't really have that conversation with God. But that is what what he was addressing. Some have set the dominion aside and say, "I don't have to bring everything into that. I don't have to bring all of my life into that dominion. I don't have to bring all of it right now. I worship him as the risen Lord. I worship him as the one who has all dominion. I'd have to take everything of my life today and abandon it into the dominion of Christ. And the result is that the King of Kings does not rule and does not reign in that area of your life.
He doesn't reign it for you. Now you have to do it. And remember what Psalm 72 says: "in His days the righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace until the moon is no more." And I want to ask you online today and here in the house, in what area of your life have you set his dominion off to the side? And honestly, it's not flourishing. There's no abundance of peace. There's not more peace than you could ever use up. That's what it means to have abundance of peace. You can throw every painful, difficult, challenging event in this world at me; my peace, there's just too much peace. It all gets swallowed up. It has no effect. Fear has no place. See, there's areas of our heart. There's areas in our mind. There's areas in our strength. Love the Lord with all of your heart, mind, all of your strength. There's areas when we set aside the dominion of Christ before the day comes when all will confess and all will see and all will bow down. That's when the dominion, the rule and reign of Christ will be enforced. There's no options anymore. But when this that day is the first day that that dominion begins to touch some parts of your life, it's too late. You will suffer loss to every area that gets touched by the dominion of Christ only on the day when it is being enforced. The word is very clear about it.
You can be forgiven. You can be saved and you can at the same time suffer loss at his appearance. That doesn't mean all of a sudden you're going to hell. We don't know the details. And I can only comprehend it so much. But I know that there's such an urgency in the heart of God that says, "Now that you still have time, why don't you give it to me? Why don't you try out how I would rule and reign that area of your life? Why don't you give me a chance to govern this? Why don't you give me a chance to show you what decisions I have in store for you? What life I would give to you if you would just give it up? Why don't you give me a chance to show you that I'm good, that I love you?" And for some of you, maybe online or here in the house, the spirit of God is showing to your heart that that's you. That in some areas of your life, you've set the dominion aside. You're not against God. You believe in him. You want to be forgiven. You want to be a good man. You want to be a good woman, and you want to be a follower of Jesus, but the spirit shows to your heart this area of your life.
It's not flourishing in God. It's not being ruled and reigned with God in control. It's not producing that kind of fruit. There's no abundance of peace. You keep checking your account every single month at the end of the month. You're worried, and you come to look at your idol as you check your account because you're looking for peace, wondering if there will be enough to have some peace this end of this month. And like people that are going insane, we can do the same thing our entire life, running back to places or things or even people that when we check in or we do something, all of a sudden we try to restore some peace. You haven't given it to Jesus. You haven't experienced yet what happens when he rules and reigns and commands peace to double in abundance in your heart and in your mind, when he receives something that you chose to bring to Him and entrust to Him even before that great day of the Lord.
Today, whatever he's pointed out in your heart or in your strength or in your mind, areas where there's no abundance of peace, areas where there's missing that flourishing. I love some of the trees we have here in Portland by the waterways, the pink ones. My wife knows the name. I don't. But we love to go look at them. But they bloom so short and they flourish so short. But while they're flourishing, I mean it is one of the most beautiful things that I like to see and that I like to look at. But that is what God says when you put it all into his dominion, that most precious, most beautiful, most glorious moment you see for just a couple of weeks in those trees, that is what your entire life will look like when you place it into the dominion of Jesus. And some of you, you haven't been living that, and he's calling you back. And He does that publicly.
See, the word tells us Jesus himself says, "Whoever confesses me before men, I will confess before my father. And whoever denies me before men, I will deny before my father." With Jesus, there's always a public confessing, a public saying, I need Him. I need his spirit to make a change in me. I need to bring things into His dominion. I need to come to Him for healing. I have heard from the spirit in my heart, and there's this incredible promise that whoever confesses Him before men, whoever does not fear men but is willing to be led by the still small leading of the Lord, Jesus says, I will confess him before my father. I know Him. We go way back. He has trusted me. He has listened to me. He has brought things to me. I know him. And in the same breath, he says those that in front of people don't really want to confess that the spirit is speaking to their heart, that the spirit is bringing things to mind, that the spirit has awoken in a realization that I need Jesus more, I need less of myself, I need to give things to Him. Those that deny that I am moving in their life, He says, I will deny them before my father. This is not just some great moment in your life where somebody's going to put a gun to your head and say deny Jesus now or else.
That may happen to very few of us. And yet this was written to all the church. Whoever confesses me before men and don't make themselves look like they're okay. Whoever confesses before men that they are in need of me, that they have to run to me, that they are dependent on me, whoever confess that I am in their life, I will confess before the father. I'm going to invite you to stand with me for a moment. Matthew 4 verse 17: "A word from the king. From that time on, Jesus began to preach: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." You see, there's that invitation. He says, "The kingdom has come near. All it takes now is for you to say, I'm coming to you, Jesus. The kingdom has come near. It's not being enforced yet, but it has been brought near so that whoever would believe on him and turn to him and follow him with all of their heart can come home and will not see corruption as the holy one of God did not see corruption. They will receive eternal life. They will be changed. They will be called. They will be sent out into the world, and many will be brought to safety because of your life and because you placed all of your life into the dominion of God. And he began to rule and reign that life and make something out of it that you and I could have never made out of that life.
This is Jesus saying that he's ready to rule. He's ready to reign over you if you are. I'll read it again: From that time on, Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the Lord has come near." He says, "Turn from whatever you got to turn from. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you turn to me because the kingdom is now near. I'm ready to rule over your anxiety. I'm ready to reign over your sin debt. I'll take it all away. I'm ready to rule and reign your life and I will make something out of it that you could have never imagined. I will use you in ways that you could have only imagined. God would use you to bring good and hope and restoration to many. He's ready to rule and reign. No matter what the spirit may have brought to your mind this morning, I want to invite you to bring it to him. Bring it into his dominion while there is still time. I want to invite you if you want to say to Jesus and you want to say it publicly in front of brothers and sisters, Lord, you've spoken to my heart. Lord, you've brought up something in my heart and Lord, I'm willing to give my entire life to you. If that is you, would you come and make that public confession right here at this altar as we pray together to our Lord, our King? Hallelujah.
-Pastor Stan Mons
