The Wonder Of God's Word Series

The Wonder of God’s Word

Romans 9:17-29

* Let’s Read a couple of verses together this morning;

* Psalms 119:11 “I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You.”

* Ps 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”

* Ps 119:160 “The entirety of Your word is truth, and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.”

* Notice that all three of these verse (In the HCSB) uses the identity “Your Word” while KJV says, “Thy Word”. But with either term, we get the idea, this is God’s word. Now think about that, this is a “word from God” to us which gives the instructions about all things. Whatever we want to know about life, death, truth, marriage, family, vocation, behavior, and eternity, are all found in this book which was given by the hand of the creator of all things. THIS IS THE OWNER’S MANUAL.

* About a year ago, the copier in our church office began to give us problems and (by the way) our lease had just expired. So Alice began the process of replacing it. After several demos, we settled on a great machine which has all kinds of capabilities. Just one of those capabilities was this new copier had the potential of serving as a network printer for our office network. That meant we could now print from our computers to the copy machine without leaving our desks. When I started setting up my machine, I got the setup completed (well, what I thought was completed) and tried to print something and nothing happened. So I went back through the same steps which I thought would setup this feature only have NOTHING happen once again. Candidly, I wasted about 2 hours trying to get this thing to work. When I finally consulted the owner’s manual, I discovered that there was one little, insignificant setup feature which I lacked. I knew this would have to be done, but had just forgotten to check it out. There was no cable between the copier and the network router. By the way, this was one of the first things that the owner’s manual said to do.

* May I suggest to you that many live their lives in this way? (I know that in times past, I have done so) We try our best to do what God wants us to and somehow it never seems to work out. Could it be that one reason for this is that we have forgotten or simply forget to consult the owner’s manual?

* When we fall in love with God’s word, study it, think about it, and digest it, supernatural things happen. Paul writes to Timothy and says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” This is the wonder of God’s word. It is that wonder which we discover today. I suggest 3 things about the scripture.

1. The Scriptures Teach Us – Let’s begin in verse 17 which begins, “For the scripture tells Pharaoh.” Now remember that Pharaoh is not a believer and yet, the scriptures teach and tell him. All the translations use the word “tell” or ‘says’ while the Greek indicates that this is a TRUTH which is laid forth. There is no debate or confusion; it’s simply an established fact. Paul uses Exodus 9:16 to make the case in three ways. {To remind you, Exodus 9 contains the story of Moses confront Pharaoh about letting the Children of Israel go and announcing the 7th plague (hail).}

a. About Position – The phrase here is “for this reason I raised you up and even let you live.” The scriptures teach us that wherever we are, whatever station in life, even the responsibility we might have; they are all a gift from God and controlled by God. He has a reason for the position you hold in life. Your position could be a reward for a life well lived or, just like Moses in Midian, a place to bring life in perspective. Can you make a determination today about what type of position you have today?

b. About Power – This is a concept which we get confused about. The power we are interested in is the power WE have. The power we are taught about in scripture is HIS power. He desires to display HIS power in us. Sadly, the power of God which we see displayed in Pharaoh was an overcoming power. That is, God’s divine power overcame the earthly power of Pharaoh. That same thing can and will happen to us if we are all about our own “personal” power. Acts tells us that ‘we’ll receive power’ only after “the Holy Spirit comes on us.” No other words bring fear into Baptists like “the power of the Holy Spirit.” Invariably someone will ask, “Are we getting charismatic or Pentecostal?” My question is this; “What exactly does that mean?” If by Pentecostal you mean we can “fall from salvation” or we “have to speak in tongues”, the answer is no. However, it you mean we are getting full of “charis” or grace, and we are excited about it, then YES, by all means. IN the SPIRIT is where power is found.