The Power Of God’s Word

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning, when I answered the doorbell, there were two women, one older than the other at my door, and the older said that she wanted to read one scripture to me, which was from Revelation chapter 21 and verse 4, and which emphasized the last part of that verse says the former things shall pass away. And then she began to explain what I knew was the doctrine taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses, in which they believe that there are two classes of people. There’s a hundred and forty-four thousand that are going to be in heaven, a kingdom class, they call it, but the majority are left on earth.

If indeed you believe the that means that there will be in the future world a perfected earth, in which a multitude of no man can number will be on it. Then I’d like to ask you what you believe about those who will inherit the kingdom of heaven. And I ask her specifically, do you consider yourself to be humble? To be poor in spirit? She didn’t answer. And then I ask her again, Well, have you been persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Because both of the scriptures at the very first of the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then it closes in verse 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

She said, Well, what do you think it means that those who are meek shall inherit the earth? She never answered my questions about the other two. And I began to explain, well, I’m convinced that what it means is that those who are meek are people who are obedient to follow the will of God, and consequently they are the ones who really understand how to live this life to the fullest. Someone who really serves the Lord is someone whose marriage is the best, who make the best neighbors, who make the best employees and employers. And in fact, they simply understand the peace that surpasseth understanding. She said, That’s an interesting explanation. And then I said, Well, actually, you know, if you take verses in context, what Jesus there in what we call the Sermon on the Mount began with what we call the Beatitudes.

And all of these simply describe a Christian. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. And blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Hoping that by that I would begin a study with her. But to my surprise, she said, Well, it’s obviously obvious that we just see the Bible differently.

1. It Is Written

And I think we’ll go on our way. And she turned and left. Indeed, it is a sad fact that there are many who have their minds made up and can isolate scriptures. And sometimes we’ll take one passage that seemingly proves a point of they want to prove without understanding what comes often before it and or follows thereafter. It made me think about, of course, the power of God’s word and the very principles that we learn from the Word of God itself. In fact, I was made to remember how that even when Jesus was tempted, we find him answering, It is written. It is written. It is written. Three times. In Matthew chapter 4, of course, as the devil tempted Jesus after having fasted for forty days and forty nights.

He said, You know, if you be the Son of God, command these stones that they be made bread. Well, Jesus could have done that. He answered, It is written, men shall not live by bread alone. He took him up on the it into the holy city and on the pinnacle of the temple. And he said, If you be the Son of God, you know, cast yourself down, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and they shall bear thee up lest you dash your foot against a stone. Again, Jesus said, It is it is written again. Indeed, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. And finally, they took him on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said, If you’ll but bow down and worship me, then indeed I’ll give you all of these.

Again, the devil, who indeed rules this world in that sense, has a power to have caused maybe the majority of the world to bow down.

But Jesus again answered him, Away with you, Satan, for it is written. You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. You see, we need to be able to have the Bible in our hearts. While we certainly are not maybe like the Son of God, yet all of us who serve the Lord, who are call ourselves disciples of the Lord, should be able to say, you know, I hear you use this verse over here, but it is written. What does the Bible say? How do you answer that? You know, Jesus didn’t say, now, devil, you should go talk John the Baptist. You know, he baptized me. He didn’t say, Go grab your preacher or whatever. He said, It is written. Here’s what the scripture says.

And that’s why, indeed, the apostle wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. The time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall heed to themselves teachers, having itching ears. That is, you know, you can find someone who will preach what you like if you just hunt long enough. It may not be really the word of God, but there are those who will turn aside to fables. It’s so important, therefore, that we be familiar with God’s word. And not just come to assembly here, and this is the only time we ever open our Bibles, and that’s it. But take time to learn that you might indeed be able to teach others also.

2. Handle Aright the Word of God

Truth is that the Bible has often been used as false proof of error. It was the devil who quoted Scripture. Did you notice? He quoted Psalm 91, where indeed it is said that he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, lest you dash your foot against a stone, they shall lift you up. But Jesus said, it is written again. You know, let’s see what the scriptures really say. The scriptures are consistent. And we need to learn how to use or handle a right the word of God. In 2 Timothy 2 15, the Bible says, study to show, or give diligence to show yourself approved unto God. A workman needeth not to be ashamed, handling a right or rightly dividing the word of God. There’s so many people who misuse the scripture, maybe sometimes not knowing how they’re misusing it because they have it out of its context.

Maybe they want to take an old testament passage that apply it as though it fits those for Christians today. Handle or write the word of God. Do not isolate a verse and use it against the word of God. And in fact, really, God’s word is consistent with itself. I think what Jesus was saying to the devil when he quoted again, that in fact we should worship the Lord God and Him only should we serve, that we should not tempt the Lord God, that He was He was saying, Look, let’s array other verses against the one you have misused and mishandled. First Corinthians 14 and verse 33, God is not the author of confusion, but of peace as in all the churches. And God is not really saying, Well, it really doesn’t matter what you believe.

I know this church teaches one doctrine and that church teaches another doctrine, and you just choose the church of your choice. You never find that in the scripture, and so it makes no difference. In fact, in Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 through 8, early in the history of the Lord’s church, when the Apostle Paul, after having preached his first preaching journey, going through Galatia and baptizing different Gentiles, even, and there were the false teachers who came back around and said, Look, you know, these Gentiles, you’re going to be saved, you need to be circumcised like the law of Moses commanded. But the book of Galatians deals with the fact that we’re no longer under the law of Moses. And they’re false teachers by trying to take that old testament right and ceremony and apply it to Christians.

And Paul very sternly said, I’m amazed at you. I’m amazed. What does he say? Because you so soon remove from him the call you and the grace of Christ, and he called it to another gospel. But though we are an angel from preach, though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed. Indeed, the scriptures are consistent. You may take a verse out of its context and you may misapply it. And if you misapply it and you teach their error, you shall be accursed. The scriptures agree with himself. That’s a principle true in life. You know, always two plus two is gonna equal four, doesn’t it? It’s a consistent truth. It’s consistent in this life, but certainly in the word of God.

3. Man and Animal Are Not Alike at Death

How important it is, therefore, that we handle right the word of God. I was also made to think the other day, how many scriptures there are that sometimes are answered rather easily if we know the context. If we can simply say, well, you know, what does the Bible really say about that verse? Let me illustrate the point with you in a few verses that I simply really sometimes say there are common errors that can be answered by that next verse. By that next verse, as an illustration of that. There are those who teach that man and animal have the same spirit. For example, our Jehovah’s Witness friends are those who would say, Well, you know, when we die, we just cease to exist. There’s no consciousness after death.

In fact, the philosophy goes something like this. They say that man is a soul. He does not have a soul. And then there are some definitions of words, and they say, Well, we’re actually made up of body and breath. They use the word spirit as though it always means wind or air or breath. And so when a person dies, his breath goes out. That’s his spirit, they say, and his flesh, of course, ceases to be animal activity. And so therefore that’s death. And there is no consciousness after death. Well, proof that, would you? Well, here’s their proof. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, in verses 19 and 20, the Bible says, For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals. One thing befalls them. As one dies, so dies the other.

Surely they all have one breath. Man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place, all are from the dust and all return to the dust. Proof? Well if that’s all you have that sounds pretty strong, doesn’t it? We die just like animals. And when animals die, that’s the end, isn’t it? So when we die, we just cease to exist except in the memory of God is their thinking. Actually the book of Ecclesiastes is one of the wonderful books that concludes with what is the real purpose for life. You’re familiar with Ecclesiastes, you know in chapter 12 verses 13 and 14 he says here the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole of man.

For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or bad. If you want to know what the real focus and point of living it is to prepare yourself for death and for the final judgment. That is to respect and fear God hold to his word keep his commandments and then your life will be a success doesn’t matter how much money you’ve made doesn’t matter how brilliant you might be a knowledge of this world you may have if you’ve lost heaven you’ve lost everything. So fear God put him first that’s the real gist you might say of the book. In the process of developing that theme though Solomon supposedly the writer of Ecclesiastes examines different avenues of life and how there are different things in life but his summation is well while we live finally for that final conclusion, he says, learn to enjoy life now.

But understand there will be death. You can store up riches like the rich fool Jesus spoke about in Luke, and then that night die and be a fool. You leave it all behind. Learn to live this life to the fullest, but recognize there will be death. Now, understanding that principle, an underlying theme throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, even in this context, back in chapter 3 and verse 17, I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. I said, in my heart, concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals. For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals.

One thing befalls them, as one dies, so dies the other. Surely they all have one breath. Man has no advantage over animals. For all this vanity, all go to one place, all are from the dust and all return to God. But don’t stop there. What he is saying at that point is, we all shall die. If you’ve had a pet and you’ve had a dog, what a sad time. But you know, animals die. And Solomon simply said, so do we as human beings. But notice the next verse. In verse 21, who knows the spirit of the sons of men which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal which goes down to the earth. In the very next verse, he’s not speaking simply about human breath, as though the breath of men goes up and the breath of an animal goes down.

But rather he’s talking about that inward part, the spirit of man. In fact, in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, and in verse 7, there he speaks of death when he says, How that the flesh or the body returns to the earth, the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Man’s spirit separates from the body. This is what death is. It’s a time of separation. That’s why Jesus, in fact, said in Matthew 10 and verse 28, fear not them that are able to kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear him who’s able to destroy both soul and body in hell. There’s a difference. Man and animal are not alike at the time of death.

We are alike in that we both die, but the spirit of man returns upward, the spirit of an animal goes downward, or the spirit of man returns to God who gave it and made us in his very image. In fact, when the Sadducees, you may recall in Matthew 22, the Sadducees who did not believe in a resurrection, and they came to Jesus and they formed what they thought was a real dilemma for Jesus. They said, Here is this man who dies. He’s married and he dies before he has in his children according to the law of Moses, that if a man died without children, then his brother would marry and bear up a child to his lineage or to his seed. And so they presented, here’s a man, he dies, and there are seven brothers in all.

And just so happens that they each one marry and they don’t have a child before they die, and so she’s been the wife of seven different men. Whose wife will she be in the resurrection? Oh, they’ve really got Jesus trapped, don’t they? His answer was, You know not the scriptures. You know, you that answer wouldn’t be hard if you knew the scriptures, for uh in the resurrection, neither shall they marry or be given in marriage. They shall all be even his angels, he describes. Indeed, God said, I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. How could he be God of the living, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob if they were not conscious or existing?

And so even Jesus spoke about life as though it is ongoing. Our bodies, our flesh may cease and returns to the dust, but not our spirit. It returns to God. And frankly, that’s illustrated in Revelation chapter 6, where there, in Revelation chapter 6, the fifth seal is loosed, and what John sees standing under the altar are souls that have been beheaded. Physically they were dead, but they were pleading before the Lord, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood? In other words, the question is, Lord, there are others, and they’re told they were given white robes, and then they were told, indeed, that wait a little while, and God’s justice would bring out even against bring vengeance against those who have disobeyed him and had spilled the blood of many saints.

4. No Prophecy of Any Private Interpretation

But here were consciousness after death in Revelation chapter 6. Read that next verse. Keep passages in their context. There are those who said, Well, you know, we really cannot understand the Bible alike. In fact, if you’ve ever talked to those, I would say, especially of many of our friends in the Catholic Church of generations past, they were taught specifically that the church was the only one that had the authority really to understand and to explain the scriptures. And as far as proof text for that, in 2 Peter chapter 1 and in verse 20, the scripture says, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. Now you can play on the words, it’s not of any private interpretation, as though to say, well, you know, just to yourself, you cannot properly or fully understand the scriptures.

You need the priest or you need the church to explain that text for you. I grew up at a time when many Catholics were told don’t even study with people who don’t have the Catholic Bible because they don’t have the right Bible. And I would have to say, I’m happy to say times have changed, and many of our Catholic friends will at least now take a Bible and not be afraid to study with you. But their parents and grandparents before them were really emphasized, hey, you cannot really understand the Bible correctly, so don’t try to listen to what the church has to say. Interestingly, someone has counted, there are 31,000 ninety-three verses in the Bible. And uh 31,092 you cannot understand, but this one in 2 Peter 1 20, you can.

You can understand this to tell you that you cannot understand the rest.

In verse 21, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. What indeed the apostle Peter is saying, even here in chapter 120, is that it didn’t come from man from privately. It wasn’t of Peter’s mind. It wasn’t of Paul’s mind or any of the other writers of the Bible, but they were inspired of God. And in fact, that’s the real point of the scriptures. That as Paul wrote to the Church of Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 2 13, he said, I thank God that when you received the word which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh in you who believe.

Indeed, the word of God, revealed by the Holy Spirit, was revealed so that we could understand. Listen to the language in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, when the scripture says, What man knows the things of a man save the spirit of man that’s in him? In other words, can you read the mind of anybody in this room? You know, you wives probably can think you read the mind of your husbands, and vice versa, but let’s cross the aisle. Can you read the mind of somebody else? You cannot read another man’s mind. And the apostle is saying, if you can’t read the mind of someone else, what makes you think you can read God’s mind? He says, Just as you know what’s in your mind, so only the Spirit of God knows the mind of God.

And then he says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12, Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual words. What he’s saying is that the Holy Spirit has revealed to us, and we that we might know. Sounds like God intended for us to understand. Ephesians chapter 3, verses 3 to 5, even more clearly says that. When the apostle Paul said, How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge and the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it is now revealed in his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

5. Whoever Calls on the Name of the Lord

It’s been revealed to me. Paul said, I’ve written it, and you can you read it, and when you read it, you can understand like I understand it. God revealed the word by the miracle of the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t the word of men who gave their own private explanation, but rather it was through the Holy Spirit, and therefore intended that we do read, intended that we do understand it. But then there are those who even teach today what to do to be saved. And it’s very common to isolate verses here. You might hear today many preachers say, Well, just pray the sinner’s prayer. Do you believe the Lord? Just pray the sinner’s prayer. And I’m afraid there are many who probably thought, you know, all I have to do is just say a few words, Lord, I am a sinner.

Please forgive me. And they go on their way thinking, surely they’re in a saved condition. You can read the Bible through, and you’ll not one time, not one time, find any alien sinner being told by an inspired man of God, just say the sinner’s prayer. Not once. But if you want proof text for it, perhaps Romans 10 and verse 13 comes close as any. Because in Romans 10 and verse 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, first of all, that sounds like all you’ve got to do is just call out, call on the name of the Lord, and you’ll be saved. But that’s a misuse of the very passage. It’s quoted in Romans 10 13. It’s quoted in Acts chapter 2, because it is from a prophecy of Joel, chapter 2, in which Joel was foretelling the coming of the Holy Spirit, of the time of the Messianic era, of a time when the Lord Jesus would come and there would be provision of salvation.

And then whoever calls on the name of the Lord carries more the idea of invoking God’s blessing. When we do what God says, then there will be the response of the Lord. We can call upon his name as one in whom we place our trust. In fact, I would say, let’s read those next verses. In Romans chapter 10, the very next verse says, where it’s the question, how then shall they call on him in whom they’ve not believed? Wait a minute. There’s more involved than just saying words. Jesus said in Luke 46, 6, 46, why call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say. So even here in Romans 10, verse 14 says, How can you call if you haven’t believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach unless they are sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not obeyed all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed I will report. And then hearing verse 17, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If you really want to call on the name of the Lord, there has to be belief. But how can you believe if you hadn’t heard? How can you hear if you don’t have some inspired record? He says the word preacher there, but the inspired record of God. And then the absolute conclusion, faith comes by hearing.

Hearing by the word of God. Now, when a man hears the word of God, there is that response and obedience to it. You want to call on the Lord? It’s more than prayer. Perhaps the best illustration is in Acts 22 and verse 16. When Saul of Tarsus, after he had seen the vision of the Lord on the road to Damascus, in Acts chapter 9, there it is recorded. And he goes as a believer now into the city of Damascus. Three days. Three nights he’s been praying and fasting. But in Acts 9 and verse 11, the Lord said to Ananias, When you go there, you’ll find him praying. I suppose if there was ever a sinner’s prayer, that ought to be an example of it. If there’s ever a man who could have been saved by just praying, he ought to have been in a saved condition.

He’s seen a vision. He’s a good and honest man. Blameless as touching the righteousness of the law. And furthermore, he’s a believer. Else. Why didn’t he not go? Why did he go to Damascus? Three days he’s been praying. Fasting, a sign of repentance. He’s now convinced he’s been wrong. He’s been persecuting Christians. He’s been against Christ, and now he understands the truth. Jesus really is the Son of God. But when Ananias comes to him, and this is in his own words, Paul’s own words in Acts 22, when he’s explaining to the Jews later on what he did, Ananias said to him, And now why tarry us there? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. He had been praying for three days, but now to arise and obey.

6. Not Faith Only, but Faith That Obeys

He would be calling on the name of the Lord in the sense of invoking the blessings of the Lord. The Lord promised them, and then if we obey, those promises will be fulfilled. And you call on the name of the Lord in that sense. To say, Lord, here am I. I’m willing to obey. Now, as I trust in you, so the blessings of the Lord given to me. But I’ll tell you also today, it’s very popularly taught, all you have to do really is just believe. In a mental acceptance, accept the Lord as your Savior. And often the Bible verses are read something like this. It’s from Acts chapter 16, when Paul and Silas had been preaching in the city of Philippi, and in fact had cast the spirit of dividation out of the young woman, and because her master saw that they lost their means of profit or gain, they make of all false accusations against Paul and Silas.

And so they’re beaten and they’re cast in the inner prison and treated as though they’re dangerous criminals. And yet at midnight they’re praying and singing praises to the Lord. I’m sure those Gentiles who were in other areas of that prison, and no doubt the jailer himself must have been startled. When at midnight the earthquake occurs, the doors are opened, bands are loose, and they could have escaped and they didn’t. No doubt that that jailer must have been surprised even that even before that happened. They have every reason to be complaining, falsely accused, mistreated, treated like criminals, and they’re praising God. They’re singing. And then when they could have escaped and they don’t. Indeed, when he he’s about to take his own life because his life stood for the prisoners, and Paul said, Don’t harm yourself, we’re all here.

In Acts 16 and verse 30, he brought them out and said, Sir, what must I do to be saved? These men surely know something that the jailer did not know. These men surely must know something about the true God and what to do to be saved. And so they said in verse 31 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you and your household. You will be saved, you and your household. You know, there are people who’ve read that and they say, that’s it. Close your Bible. Don’t need to read anymore. Believe in the Lord and you shall be saved. And so there are those today who trusted, Well, yeah, I accept. I’ll tell you, it isn’t that hard, I think, with many today. I know there’s someone in this audience, if I were to ask you, you believe Jesus is the Son of God?

Yes, I believe that. But they haven’t called on the name of the Lord yet. They haven’t obeyed the Lord. And they may think, well, you know, that’s all that verse says, just believe. But I say to you, look at the next verse. In Acts 16 and verse 32. Then they did what? Spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. Spoke the word of the Lord. Why? Because faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. And so there was the hearing. The word of God was preached. And then what? Verse 33, he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized. Where’d he learn baptism?

No doubt in verse 32, when he spoke to him the word of the Lord, he must have taught him something like, even as Paul said, Ananias said to him, Why tarry? Arise and be baptized and do what? Wash away your sins. Why? Is baptism the time sins are washed away. It’s not the water that does it. But as Romans chapter 6, 3 and 4 teach us that we’re baptized into the death of Jesus Christ. It’s where the blood of Jesus Christ can wash away our sins. It isn’t just the mental faith only that saves, but it’s the kind of faith that obeys. Book of James, chapter 2, especially illustrates that very point so very ablely, and he said, hasn’t it? So what does the prophet a man though?

Conclusion

He say he has faith and have not works or obedience. Can faith save him? In fact, it’s the only place in all the Bible where faith by faith only is found. It’s James 2 24. And instead of saying it’s by faith only that we’re saved, he says, even as Abraham was justified by works or obedience, you see that we’re justified not by faith only. I say to you this morning, how are you handling and responding to the Word of God? Do you really trust it? Or do you have a way of taking an isolated verse here or there and trying to proof text your way that pleases you rather than pleases God? There needs to be within us that spirit, that attitude that says, Lord, your will be done.

Help me to know, not just isolated verses, but to know context. Help me to learn the word and help me to be able to answer to my loved ones, my neighbors and friends. It is written. Turn to the scriptures. Let’s study the Bible together. Let’s all obey it. Perhaps there are those in the audience today who are ready to obey. I trust that there are some who believe and who are ready to call on the name of the Lord. You’re not a Christian, why not become one this hour? You can do so by responding to the invitation. Obeying, even making that good confession before these your friends, and then being immersed, baptized into the death of Jesus Christ. And anyway, you’re subject to that invitation. We appeal to you to come right now while together we stand while we sing.