Trusting God's Word Series

July 12, 2009

Morning Worship

Text: Hebrews 4:12-13

Subject: Part 5 in the Seven Steps to Receiving God’s Miracles

Title: Trust His Word

Let’s start this morning with a two-part question.

First, do you have anyone in your life that you can absolutely trust all the time? I mean, that without any doubt, you know that person will be there for you in every circumstance to stand behind you. You know that person has your back at all times. I would hope that most of us has a person like that in our lives.

Now, the second part… If you have someone like that in your life, and I hope you do, are you willing to actually come to the place where you are willing to put that trust into action? Not just saying you trust but actively trusting!

How many of you remember your first time on an airplane? Tell me the truth; were you a little apprehensive about the ability of a thing so huge flying through the air? There is a story that goes like this:

Uncle Oscar was apprehensive about his first airplane ride. His friends, eager to hear how it went, asked if he enjoyed the flight. "Well," commented Uncle Oscar, "it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but I’ll tell you this. I never did put all my weight down!"

Many Christians can relate to Uncle Oscar in their relationship with God. They are apprehensive when they first get on. They see that it works just fine, but they never put their full trust in Him. That creates a real dilemma. First, how can you ever come to the place of complete trust unless you make a conscious decision to do so? Second, if you haven’t placed all your trust in Him is it really trust?

We have the ability to know God as He truly deserves and desires to be known. We have a holy book that is God’s perfect revelation of Himself to mankind. It is His word! And since it is His word and not our rendition of His word we can trust it. 2 Peter 1:20-21, 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So, if this book that we hold so dear, is what it claims to be – God’s Word – then we must realize that in order to receive a miracle from God one of the steps we must take is to trust this word completely and without doubting.

Lord open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

I. GOD’S WORD IS LIVING 12For the word of God is living… The Greek word translated “word” here is “logos. I have often taught you that the logos refers to God’s written word and the rhema is God’s spoken word. That is somewhat accurate but not it goes deeper than that. Logos refers to God’s disclosure or revelation of Himself to the world. It comes from the root word lego which means, to lay forth, or an individual expression or to break silence. If you look at the logos in that way we can see three things. 1) The word lays forth a foundation – God spoke the world and all of creation into existence with what? His word!. In Genesis 1:3,6,9,11,20,24 before each creative act we read, “and God said…” 2) God’s word is an individual expression of His being. John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The very nature of God was revealed through the person of His Son Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:3, The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. 3) the word of God breaks the silence. Since the fall of man there has been a great disconnect between heaven and earth. It is not that God was silent in that He did not speak to men, but it has become increasingly difficult for men to hear God’s voice. But through the work of the cross and because of His written word the silence is broken. We can understand the very nature of God by looking at Jesus and by seeing His nature revealed through the scriptures. Now, that tells us what the word of God is and that should be enough to make you trust His word. But let’s go a step further. What is God’s word doing? First, it is a living word. One of the great arguments to be brought against the bible is exemplified in this statement from an article written by a muslim apologist Ahmed Deedat, "Yes, the Bible is human, though some, out of zeal which is not according to knowledge, have denied this. Those books have passed through the minds of men, are written in the language of men, were penned by the hands of men, and bear in their style the characteristics of men." In this same article Deedat quotes so-called “Christian leaders” as saying that they themselves do not believe the bible to be the word of God. But our passage and the internal evidence of the bible itself dictates that we profess otherwise. The word of God is living. It is not some ancient manuscript that has outlived its usefulness. It is timeless. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. There is a great theological chasm that is cast between bible believers and liberal theologians. We believe that the bible is God’s word. They believe that it contains God’s word but is not totally God’s word. One of the evidences that we have is the evidence of changed lives. A side note here; I read on Friday that an Episcopal Bishop has proclaimed that individual salvation is a heresy. Salvation can only come through the church and the church alone and for anyone to believe that an individual can be saved by his repentance and confession makes him a heretic. I don’t know what bible they have been reading, but when I read the bible it changes me. I am saved by grace through faith and the word is still changing me because it is active. The truth of the word is to be taken literally unless it is declared within itself to be symbolic. That is why there is such a vast difference in understanding of the Word. Many try to make too much of the bible an allegory instead of taking the words for face value. The word is not only living, it is active. Isaiah 55:10-11, As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. But the truth of the Word is hidden from unbelievers. 2 Corinthians 4:1-4, 1Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. If you want to take a step toward receiving God’s promises you must come to the place where you can confess that, One, it is God’s word, two, it is a living word, and three it is as active now as it has ever been.