It is His Word
The Lord is looking for a few good men and women. Those who are willing to be in the Word and growing in Christlikeness. Before we can become all that we should be in Christ we need to decide that the Word of God will be the controlling factor in the decisions we make. We have to decide what will be the authority in our lives. Some want reason to be the authority in our lives but this fails first because our minds are finite and we do not know everything. Those that I know that have much learning and degrees in education have said that it only brought them to realize how little they know. Another point that our reasoning will not be good is because our minds have been polluted by sin. Others want feelings to be in control of what they have as authority. So they let their emotions rule them. You know as I do that emotions can change many times in one day. Another authority some like to rule is the conscious. Their own sense of right and wrong. The conscious can only be guided by what it has had put in. Pro choice VS. pro life. In Titus 1:5 "To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. There is only one source of authority that we can really count on and that is the Word of God. God’s word is inspired. We believe that the books of the old and new Testaments constitute the Holy Scriptures. They are the inspired and infallibly written Word of God, fully inerrant in their original manuscripts and superior to all human authority, and have been transmitted to the present without corruption of any essential doctrine. We believe that they contain all things necessary to salvation; so that whatever is not read therein, nor any be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man or woman that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. The New testament teaches Christians how to fulfill the moral principles of the Old Testament, calling for loving obedience to God made possible by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit. I want us to hear one aspect that will enable us to benefit from following God’s Word.
God’s Word is a Revelation of Himself. It is the only source that lets us know what He wants us to know. In the Revelation of His word we pull back like a curtain to see God. Revelation is very critical because this is the only way we get from god what He wants us to know about Himself. If we want to know Him better then we must be more in His Word. One of the first things we find out is that God is totally different from us. So different that it tells us that if we would look on Him as He is in these bodies we would die. God is so far above us that if we were left to our reasoning, emotions or conscience we would have no way of finding Him. Many have used these and found something totally dissimilar from God. Let us look at Is 55:8,9. We cannot adjust God to how we think or feel. We would also see here a liking to a preschooler coming to a parent and saying "hey I know what is best for life." Can we counsel One who is wisdom? Can we advise One who created us? God must reveal Himself if we are to know Him. Let us look at revelation more closely:
1. REVELATION IS COMPELLING. God’s Word goes out from His mouth. It is personal and tired up in His person. When the bible is opened to you, you are getting what God is like. When the Bible is opened you get to see God. How that would and should change us the next time we hear or read the Word of God. Not only do we see God, we find that God is seeing us. "The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." If you want to follow Him then you must be a person of His Word. Be Reconcilers
"It is easier to be a problem-solver than it is to be a reconciler. It costs less to preach advice than it does to participate in the hurting. It’s easier to pray for someone than it is to confront him knowingly with his sin. What is the fruit of reconciliation? Peace. Peace with God; peace with other people. We are called to leave the ranks of troublemakers and find peace in reconciliation. Let us join in accepting the challenge Christ has put before us. Let us count the cost and consider it of no consequence compared to the joy of fellowship. Let us celebrate the end of enmity and promise of peace! For blessed are the reconcilers who mirror Christ’s self-sacrificing love. They shall be called the sons and daughters of God" (Kathleen Catrett)
II. REVELATION IS CALCULATED. The Word tells us that when the Word of God goes forth it will do a work in the heart that God wants it to do. I believe with all my heart that the reason many are much less holy than they should be is because they do not expose themselves to the Word of God. For we are told in 2 Tim That all Scripture is inspired (God breathed) by God and beneficial. It is the Word that does things in our lives that God desires to happen. So God does not give us His Word and then say let us have a vote on it. He does not give out His Word with no purpose. So every word is infused with the purpose of God in it. His Word gives life so if you are not feeling very lively today my word is get into His word. God’s Word always has an effect on your life. Gods’ Word is full of purpose. To lose is not always failure A man named James Rogan in the house of representatives was facing a critical decision. He had been elected in an area that usually voted for the other party and he had won by a slim margin. An important issue came up during his term that would mean a choice of being morally right. He knew that if he followed his convictions it might cost him being elected again. If he followed what was politically accepted he would be certain to have another term. He prayed and he went with what his convictions led to do. It id cost him in being re-elected but his words were, "It hurt to lose. But I’ll never regret my vote... It is easy for elected officials to succumb to the illusion that the greater good is served by their sel-perpetuation in office. But something larger gets lost.... the ability to lead." If we are followers of Christ we have to live by the principles of the Bible. This may at times cost us being popular or even success. For truth may cost more than a lie; conviction more than convenience and honesty more than cheating. When we decide to do what is right, we gain approval from God which is most important.
III REVELATION IS CERTAIN. The Bible contains the complete Word of God to us. It is all we need but does not claim to be the total description of God or a total record of everything God does. John said that if all that Jesus did on earth were written there would not be enough books to contain it all. Have you ever been to the Library of Congress? In the Gospels we only have the highlights of Jesus’ ministry. It gives us the details of what the holy Spirit wants us to know. In the O.T. we are told "The secret things belong to God, but the things revealed belong to those who love Him. So what Jesus tells us about Himself is what He wants us to know but it not all there is to know about Him. He lets us know what we need to know when we need to know it. It is like when we used to buy groceries for month. We did not sit down when we first bought it but used it as we needed it. If we would have eaten all the first day we would have been hurting the rest of the month. With God He knows we could not take in all there is to know about Him at once so He gives us His Word as we need that we might be spiritually fit. Even when we have been in heaven for a million years we still will not know all about God or He would not be God. God’s Word is Particular in what He wants us to know. Oh that we would be complete in what He has given us to know. I read this from a man about keepingthings in right perspective, "I keep a magnifying glass in my top right-hand desk drawer. I don’t use it often, but it’s there when I need it. Like its name implies, a magnifying glass makes objects appear bigger than they really are. And for a 65-year-old whose eyes aren’t as sharp as they once were, that’s helpful! Some things in life, however, you don’t want to let appear bigger than they really are--like problems. You know what will magnify problems if you let it, what will make them appear bigger than they really are? The answer is fear. Fear lets problems take on proportions they were never intended to have. Fear allows pygmy-size problems to look like they’re giant-size. When problems arise--personal problems or church problems--pray, "Lord, let me see this problem from your perspective, the size that it really is."
IV. REVELATION IS CONTINUOUS. God spoke in olden times by His prophets and now has chosen to speak to us through His Son Jesus Christ. A Word From Billy Graham
"Without God we cannot put the world right, because we cannot put ourselves right. It is beyond us to put away the sin in our own hearts. We cannot save ourselves, let alone the whole world. Sin permeates all that we think, feel and do; like a shadow, sin pursues us wherever we go. Those in rebellion against God have no terms of peace to offer that are acceptable to God. Only God Himself can make peace, and this He has done that through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. Through the merits of Christ’s life and death we are offered full and free forgiveness. Beautiful, ethical precepts cannot save us, but Christ can. When Christ comes into a life, He revolutionizes it so that the person becomes a ’new creation’ (2 Cor5:17). This, and this alone, is our hope. When we have genuine faith in Christ, a change takes place. We will have a new kind of relationship with our families, our employers, our employees and even our enemies." God gives us His Word as He knows we can take it and put it in out lives. Let us be certain here that we need to heed what we read and hear because it tells us that God’s Spirit will not always strive with men. It also says that we cannot come to God unless the Spirit draws Him. The Holy spirit is the only One that make so we can understand the Word of God. We dare not say or live with an attitude that I will get into the Word when I decide. For if the Spirit has drawn to the Word and we have refused His leading it could be that He will not come to us again. One man who was used in a mighty way by God fell away and it says, "He did not know that the Spirit of God had left him." I have also read that Judas who betrayed Christ may have been thinking when he betrayed Jesus that Jesus would use his miracles to get away. Judas had left following the Spirit and he would never hear the voice of God again. The Word of God is progressive. It is a book that contains 66 books, written by more than 40 authors over a time period of 1500 years. Yet it reveals one message. This is the only book that is written by many men but has only one purpose and written about one person and that man is Jesus Christ.
V. REVELATION IS COMPLETE. We read that ‘Your Word is truth." There is nothing in this Book that is not truth. God has only put in the Word what is truth. The Bible is the only book to give you the real deal. It is absolute truth. God is perfect so what comes through His word has to be perfect. As we take time to look into his word He gives us a look at who He is. So if He could speak and say "let there be" and bring the heavens and earth into being we can trust His word for life. If we want to be the few good men and women that God needs we have to men and women of the Word. I Chr. 6: 30then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of men." WHAT DOES HE SEE IN YOUR HEART TODAY? Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I ask you to forgive my sins. By faith, I give you my sins, my failures and lifestyle and by faith I receive your righteousness into my life. I open the door of my heart and invite you in. Please be my Lord and Savior and I will live my life for You and follow Your will. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins.
