Part III ~ The Power of His Word
I. The Authority of His Word
A. Text: John 1:1-5
B. We can also look at I John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life…”
C. When we read and study the Word, we need to do so in faith believing every letter of it! You need to read the Bible the way some of you read the newspaper or watch TV…. believing everything you hear! It’s unfortunate, but sometimes God’s people read the newspaper, or watch TV news and believe that junk more than they do the Word of God!
II. The Word Produces Faith
A. Romans 10:17 “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
B. What is the opposite of faith? Fear. So, if faith comes by hearing the Word, from where does fear come? By hearing the lies of the enemy. As Jesse Duplantis says, fear comes by hearing, and hearing by CNN (Continual Negative News)!!!
C. If faith comes by hearing, then we should make it a habit to speak and pray the Word of God! Let’s not go around saying what we think is right, or what we think we know…why don’t we just say what God says!? After all, what He says is total truth! God is not a man that He should lie. We, on the other hand are, and can lie. Satan would like for us to think that our bodies are sick. He would like for us to think that we are in debt and can’t get out. However, as you and I know, anything Satan says is a lie! Anything God says is the truth. So, whom are you going to believe?
D. Think about it, when you pray the Word of God, what is He going to do? Disagree with you? I don’t think so. He is not going to go against His own Word. He said His Word would not return void.
E. James 5:15 says that the prayer of faith shall save the sick. Notice it doesn’t say the prayer of “fear.” Many of us pray out of fear!
F. We may believe in healing but why do we wait until we’re sick to believe for it? Why not wake up every morning and claim healing upon your life in Jesus name? It’s God’s Word after all. And, there’s power in His Word!
G. Some of us won’t pray for healing until we’re diagnosed with some crippling disease and, then, we’re usually just praying out of fear, rather than faith! In other words, saving God’s way until after we have tried everything else!
H. Listen to me! God is not obligated to hear our prayers of fear! He is obligated and will hear and answer our prayers of faith!
III. The Word Made Flesh
A. As our text reminds us, Jesus is the Word made flesh. That’s why we can believe God’s Word in faith! Because there is power and authority in Jesus, in His name, in His blood, then there is power in God’s holy Word also!
B. How can I, a wretched sinner that I am, have the ability to say God’s Word and make it effective? Because, Jesus’ blood washed our wretchedness away…He washed our sins away…He made us worthy!
C. We must know who we are in Christ Jesus! Have you ever noticed the many verses that speak “in Him,” “in Whom,” and “in Christ?” That is speaking of you and I! Who is “in” Him but you and I? I’ll show you some examples:
(1) II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
(a) Incidentally, when it says a “new creation,” the original translation of that statement is
(2) Colossians 1:9-14 “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed (transferred) us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
(a) Praise God, because I am “in” Him, I have redemption!
(3) Ephesians 2:1-10 (Notice how this passage speaks of everything in the past tense). “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses, and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, (in other words, when we used to be dead in our sins and lived for Satan) the spirit (again Satan) who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised (you’ve already been raised) us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come (now he’s speaking of our future) He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
(a) It’s already done! His promises are past tense so that we can live in the present tense that will lead us to the future tense!
(b) Say this with me, “I am what the Bible says I am.” “I can do what the Word says I can do.” “Now.”
(c) Notice we didn’t say we looked like it, or sounded like it, or even felt like it! But we are!
(d) The Word says I am redeemed in Christ Jesus, then it means I am redeemed. The Psalmist says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” Okay, I am redeemed and I say so! (Psalm 107:2) NOW! You see what I am doing is believing the Word of God in faith, and my faith is causing me to move when nothing else wants to help me move! Why? Because Jesus Christ is my Lord…NOW!
IV. The Faith-Producing Word is Working NOW!
A. Look with me at the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1. It says: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
B. When is faith the substance and the evidence? NOW!
C. So, when we have faith, now, in God’s Word, we can begin to see the authority and power of it and we can see what we can have in Christ Jesus! But we must speak it in faith! You can speak God’s Word day and night, but you must speak it in faith before mountains will move!
D. Hebrews goes on to say that, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him…” (Hebrews 11:6)
V. What Happens if We Deny or Defy His Word?
A. God’s Word is His covenant for the righteous in Christ Jesus, sealed by the blood of Jesus.
B. If we deny, defy or simply disobey His Word, we are in essence denying, defying or disobeying God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son!
C. While in Hebrews, let’s look a chapter behind, chapter 10:26-39 {read}
D. Verse 29 says, that, when we’ve not believed and disobeying the Word of God, we have trampled the Son of God underfoot, we have considered the blood of that covenant a common, everyday kind of thing, and, we have insulted the Spirit!
E. Verse 31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
F. We better be careful with out doubt and confusion and fear. We better believe God and take Him at His Word! There’s power in His Word.
G. And, if there’s power enough in His Word to bring life to us, or, even to destroy us, then there’s power in it enough to destroy the works of the enemy! And don’t you forget it!
