THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD
Study Text: Psalms 107: 19 – 20
Introduction:
- The great reservoir of the power that belongs to God is His own Word, the Bible. If we wish to make it ours, we must go to that Book.
- Yet people abound in the Church who are praying for power and neglecting the Bible. Men are longing to have power for bearing fruit in their own lives and yet forget that Jesus has said: "The seed is the Word of God" (Luke 8:11).
- They are longing to have power to melt the cold heart and break the stubborn will of those to whom they witness, and yet forget that God has said: "Is not My Word like as a fire? and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jer. 23:29).
- If we are to obtain fullness of power in life and service, we must feed upon the Word of God. There is no other food so strengthening.
- If we will not take time to study the Bible, we cannot have power, any more than we can have physical power if we will not take time to eat nutritious food.
- We cannot obtain power, and we cannot maintain power in our own lives, and in our work for others, unless there is deep and frequent meditation upon the Word of God.
- If our leaf is not to wither and whatsoever we do is to prosper, our delight must be in the law of the Lord and we must meditate therein day and night (Psalm 1:2-3).
- We shall discuss the topic under three sub-headings:
1. The Composition of God’s Word
2. The Characteristics of God’s Word
3. The Capacity of God’s Word
1. The Composition of God’s Word
- The word of God is composed of:
i. The whole Scriptures as written in the Bible 2 Tim 3: 16 -17
ii. The truth of the Scriptures preached by a true servant of God
iii. The gospel message preached by any faithful believer to a sinner to receive salvation.
iv. The promises received and believed upon from the scriptures
v. The prophetic utterances by a true servant of God, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that has basis in the scriptures. 2Kings 7: 1- 2
vi. The pronouncement of judgement upon the wicked by a true servant of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that has basis in the Scriptures.
vii. The declaration of the word of authority against the kingdom of darkness under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that can be supported with the scriptures.
2. The Characteristics of God’s Word Heb 4: 12 – 13
1. It is A Living Word (v. 12a)
- The Bible, the word of God, is unlike any other book you have in your home or in the library. This places the Bible in a unique category all to itself.
- The word of God is no dead letter, but as the word of the living God it cannot itself fail to be living. As the living word it continues through each age with compelling relevance.
2. It is a Powerful Word (v 12b)
- The word translated “powerful” is the word from which we get energy and energetic. The word literally means “at work.” Only the living, active Word of God can transform us.
- Well, it is living and active and so when we read its words they reach out and touch the needs of our lives in an almost tangible way.
- Isaiah 55:11 describes scripture as being a living agent or messenger that God sends to touch our lives. Listen to what God says in this passage... " ....My word will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." So, unlike any other book, the Bible is living and powerful.
3. It is a Penetrating Word (v 12c)
- Like a sharp sword which can lay open the human body with one slashing blow, so the sword of the Scripture can open our inner life and expose it to ourselves and to others.
- What the author is saying is that God’s Word can reach into the innermost recesses of our being! No heart is too tough and no soul is too dark. “When God wills it, his word can pierce anyone.
4. It is a Discerning Word (vv. 12d -13)
- From this passage, we can see three truths.
i. God Sees Everything There Is No Escape.
- We want God to see us when we are hurting and when we are going through difficult times. We want Him to see and come to our aid.
- But when it comes to our sin and wrongdoing we would rather that God looked the other way. But verse twelve concludes by saying that the Word of God “… is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
- As the word of God penetrates into the innermost recesses of man’s being it does so as his critic or judge.
ii. God Sees Everything There Is No Hiding.
- Only the Word of God is capable of exposing the thoughts and attitudes of a single human heart.
- There really is no use in hiding. Why is it when we fear that something is not quite right physically we tend to put off going to the doctor because we fear we will hear bad news. The same is true spiritually.
- The Word of God possesses the diagnostic perception that picks up inconsistency even in motivation. With God we cannot smooth over with outward actions, the real intentions of our hearts. We may appear to be sincere to others but God knows if there is an ulterior motive.
iii. God Sees Everything There Is No Excuse.
- The last part of verse thirteen says, all things are “… open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” This verse plainly tells us that there is a coming day of reckoning upon which we will each give an account for our lives.
- The Bible, the word of God is a miracle of literature, a perennial spring of wisdom, a wonder of surprises, a revelation of mystery, an infallible guide of conduct, and an unspeakable source of comfort.
- Pay no attention to people who discredit it, because they speak without knowledge. It is the Word of God itself. Study it according to its own direction. Live by its principles. Believe its message. Follow its precepts.
3. The Capacity of God’s Word
i. God’s Word Has Power to Convict of Sin. Acts 2:37
- If we look back and see what it was they had heard that produced this deep conviction, we find that it was simply the Word of God.
- If you will read Peter’s sermon, you will find it one of the most biblical sermons ever preached. It was Scripture from beginning to end. It was, then, the Word of God, carried home by the Spirit of God that pricked them to the heart.
- If you wish to produce conviction, you must give men the Word of God.
ii. God’s Word Has Power to Regenerate. James 1:18
- In 1 Peter 1:23 we read, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
- The process of regeneration on our side is the simplest thing in the world. On God’s side it is mysterious, but with that we have nothing to do.
- The process is simply this: the human heart is the soil; you and I are sowers. The Word of God is the seed which we drop into the soil. God quickens it by His Holy Spirit and gives the increase (1Cor. 3:6).
- The heart closes around the Word by faith, and the new life is the product. The new birth is simply the impartation of a new nature, the impartation of God’s nature.
- The Word of God is the seed out of which the divine nature springs up in the human soul.
iii. God’s Word Has Power to Produce Faith. Rom. 10:17.
- You can never get faith by merely praying, nor can you ever get it by any effort of the will. You can never get it by trying to pump it up in any way. Faith is the product of a certain cause, and that cause is the Word of God.
- It is so for example with saving faith. If you want a man to have saving faith, simply give him something definite from God’s Word upon which he can rest.
- The Philippian jailer asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30), and Paul answered: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31).
- But Paul did not stop there. Read verse 32: "And they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house."
- They did not merely tell the Philippian jailer to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then leave him floundering in the dark without giving him something to believe, or something for his faith to rest upon. Faith must have a foundation.
iv. God’s Word Has Power to Produce Prevailing Faith
- Not only saving faith comes through the Word of God, but prevailing faith in prayer does also. Mark 11:24:, "The way to get anything I want is to believe I am going to get it."
- Real faith must have a warrant. Before I can truly believe I am to receive what I ask, I must have a definite promise of God’s Word, or a definite leading of the Holy Spirit, to rest my faith upon.
- We come into God’s presence. There is something we desire. Now the question is, "Is there any promise in God’s Word regarding this which we desire?" We look into the Word of God and find the promise. All we have to do is to spread that promise out before God. 1 John 5:14-15
- The only way to have a faith that prevails in prayer is to study your Bible, and know the promises, and lay them before God when you pray.
- The faith that gets the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; the faith that wins mighty victories for God, is also through the Word. 1 John 5:4; Eph. 6:16; Heb. 11:33-34.
v. God’s Word Has Power to Cleanse.
- The Word of God has power not only to take impurity out of the heart, but to cleanse the outward life as well. If you wish a clean outward life, you must wash often by bringing your life in contact with the Word of God.
- Ephesians 5:25-26 we read, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word."
- We all live in a world whose atmosphere is polluted, a very dirty world. As we go out from day to day and come in contact with this dirty world, there is absolutely only one way to keep clean, and that is by taking frequent baths in the Word of God. - A daily, prolonged, thoughtful bath in the Word of God is the only thing that will keep a life clean. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word" (Psa. 119:9).
vi. God’s Word Has Power to Build up
- In Acts 20:32 we read: "I commend you to God, and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up."
- We hear a great deal about character building. The Word of God is that by which we must carry it on if it is to be done right.
- If we are to grow, we must have wholesome, nutritious food and plenty of it. "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Pet. 2:2).
- A Christian can no more grow as he ought without feeding frequently, regularly, and largely upon the Word of God than a baby can grow as he ought without proper nutriment.
vii. God’s Word Has Power to Make Us Wise
"The entrance of Thy Words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Psa. 119:130).
- There is more wisdom in the Bible than there is in all the other literature of the ages. The one who studies the Bible, if he does not study any other book, will know more of real wisdom.
He’ll know more of the wisdom that counts for eternity as well as time, wisdom that this perishing world needs to know, wisdom for which hungry hearts are starving today. He will know more than the man who reads every other book and neglects his Bible.
- Men who have greatly affected the spiritual history of this world, the men who have brought about great reformations in morals and doctrine, the men whom others have flocked to hear and upon whose words people have hung, have been Bible men in every instance. In many cases they knew little beside the Bible. 2 Tim. 3:16-17.
viii. God’s Word Has Power to Give Assurance of Eternal Life
"These things have I written unto you that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).
- That is, the assurance of eternal life comes through what is "written." Suppose one has not assurance of salvation, what shall we do? Tell him to pray until he gets it? Not at all. Take him to some such passage as John 3:36: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."
- Hold him right to that point until he takes God’s Word for it, and then is sure that he has everlasting life because he believes on the Son, and because God says that "he that believeth on the Son HATH everlasting life."
Conclusion:
- Many people are looking for peace today, longing for peace, praying for peace. But deep peace of heart comes from the study of the Word of God.
- Fullness of joy comes through the Word of God. There is no joy on this earth from any worldly source like the joy that kindles and glows in the heart of a believer in Jesus Christ as he feeds upon the Word of God, and as the Word of God is brought home to his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit.
