The Power of the Word of God.

 The power of God's word.  Do we think about it enough? Seriously. 

God's word spoke all we know into existence, only it was all we know unmarred when He spoke it into existence. Sin's degradation of all He created is obvious all around us. When we strip away sin's touch we can truly comprehend a bit of what God intended for us to see, to know. So much beauty is marred by the deadliness it can become. A beautiful stream can claim the lives of anyone through drowning. A mountain beautiful beyond imagining, deadly for the one falling. I don't have to go into the numerous ways that the beautiful is also deadly. Sin has put its mark of everything. Still, we mustn't neglect to comprehend the wonder of God's word which spoke into existence all around us and even, us. This is our God, this is the power of our God, the power of God's word and we have to think about the power of our awesome God so we don't become complacent in our existence as if we had a hand in our own creation, or the creation of the world and the things of the world. 

Excerpt  -  EJ Waggoner

'The Sabbath

The particular truth that must be held up in these last days is the Sabbath. We cannot believe it or preach it too strongly. It is there that the great breach has been made in the law of God. Have you ever stopped to consider why it is that Satan has concentrated all his forces on that fourth commandment? The root of the whole matter is found in Hebrews 1:10. In speaking to the Son, God the Father says, "And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands."

Then when we read, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork," we know that they simply manifest the power that there is in Christ. 

John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." John 1:1-3. Everything that is made is made by Christ.

In Psalm 111:2-4, I read, "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious, and his righteousness endureth forever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. 

Literally, and according to the Jewish rendering of the Hebrew, the first part of verse 4 would be, "He hath made a memorial for his wonderful work." What is His work? The heavens are His works and He laid the foundations of the earth. 

I wish you to note that those three words--righteousness, gracious, and compassion, are grouped together by the psalmist with these thoughts on the creation of the world. 

We shall see why, presently.

What is the memorial of God? "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Genesis 2:1-3. 

What then is the memorial? The seventh day, which is the Sabbath. It is the crowning day of the week, a memorial of creation completed--a creation in which the power of God's word was manifested, "for he spake and it was; He commanded and it stood fast."

If you will just keep the word of God and the power of the word of God before your minds, it seems that you cannot fail to see why it is that David groups grace, compassion, and righteousness all together with the works of God's hands.

It is the word of God that created the heavens and the earth. The Sabbath is the memorial which is given that we might commemorate and meditate upon the power of God's word.' 

The Law - Christ's Righteousness

 

Christ Jesus our savior lived a sinless life. Another way to put that is- Christ Jesus our savior kept the ten commandments- the royal law, perfectly.

Christ Jesus could do no less than keep the law perfectly- He gave the law.

We hear the word law and we immediately think of strictures placed upon a person's actions. When a government enacts a law we like to imagine it is for the good of all people, a law all people can agree upon. The stricture placed upon a person for their own good and the good of all mankind. Not all laws mankind enacts are done so for this purpose. Opinions on what is good for all mankind begin to vary and the variances have to be dealt with. As soon as a majority opinion rules over another- and the law is enacted, it becomes a law not agreed upon by all mankind, but a law of popular opinion.

God's law, the royal law, the ten commandments that He held to be so vital above all other civil laws and such, that He had them placed in the ark of the covenant and put in the most holy place of His sanctuary- no other law occupied that position- not one.

The royal law embodied all that Christ stands for, all that He is, the truth. Every single law kept unbroken by the lawgiver is a law we are to keep- through Him. He died to offer us His righteousness, His ability to keep the royal law perfectly, and we must keep HIM in our lives because only then through Him in us are we keeping the law perfectly.  

Read more on this from E.J. Waggoner's excerpt-- May God help us to ever have Christ in us, Christ and His righteousness.

Excerpt - E.J. Waggoner- 

We will now take up a few of the different lines of doctrine that we preach and see how we may preach them and at the same time preach only Christ and Him crucified.

And first, as to the doctrine of the Bible. The Bible is all doctrine. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself." John 7:17. 

The word doctrine means "teaching." Sometimes we get afraid of doctrine. We talk of doctrinal and practical sermons. But doctrine means teaching, and if any man do the will of God, he shall know the teaching. But teaching must be practical, or it is useless; then, brethren, the teaching of the Bible is all practical.

Now if we do not know the doctrine of the Bible, we do not know how to practice what it teaches. If a thing is not practical, it is impractical. But we will not say the teaching of the Bible is impractical, something that cannot be practiced. So perhaps we can throw aside that distinction of doctrinal and practical sermons. A servant of God ought never to preach anything but practical sermons; but as all the teaching or doctrine of the Bible is practical, it is evident that in preaching really practical sermons, we must preach nothing but doctrine, and that doctrine must be the doctrine of Christ.

 

 

The Law

Now as to the specific lines of doctrine in Christ. We will first consider the law. I have only to call your attention to the fact that Christ is in the law and the law is in Christ and that you cannot separate one from the other to prove that the two go together and that preaching the law without Christ in it will have no power or effect on the hearts of men. Our study of the book of Romans has brought this plainly before your minds. We do not make void the law by faith, but it is only by faith in Christ that we establish the law in our hearts.

The law condemns the sinner and therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight. 

But it is by the obedience of one that many shall be made righteous, and that obedience can be made ours by faith in the word of God and by making Christ ours. 

To make Christ ours is to bring Him into our lives and to have Him in our lives is to have life eternal. Christ is the truth, and the law is in Him in its perfection, and if we keep Christ in our hearts day by day, we have the law in our hearts in its perfection, so long as we do not waver.

If we have Christ, He is our salvation, but we must have Him every moment of our lives. One act of faith will not suffice for all time; "the just shall live by faith." But we can live only one moment at a time; and since faith is our salvation, it is evident that we are saved moment by moment. 

There is no power in the law apart from Christ, and the preaching of the law without Christ in it is simply preaching damnation to men and not hope. 

But Christ has sent men as His ambassadors to proclaim liberty to the captives, to tell them that they are prisoners of hope. Then we are preaching the preaching of Christ; are we carrying out His commission, if we preach the law, which only condemns, without Christ? No. We are to preach "hope."

While the law is held over the sinner with all the terrors of Sinai, he is to have his mind directed to, not simply the law, but to the giver of the law, who has grace as well as truth in Himself. Truth and grace are in His hand, and when that truth condemns men, the grace that is held out by the same hand converts from sin.

When men have Christ, they have His righteousness, which is the righteousness which the law demands. But the righteousness of Christ carries everything else with it, for He has said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33. That is the one thing needful, and if we have it, we have the whole gospel, for it is Christ and His righteousness, and He is our righteousness, our salvation, and our life, both here and hereafter.

Christ- the Glory of God.

 GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD GLORY SAVE IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST!  (Galatians 6:14)

Without our first and foremost preaching Christ crucified and risen, nothing else we say matters, not a single bit. 

Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen, this is the gospel of our salvation! Without this very firm foundation everything else crumbles. You can believe all you want in a hundred different doctrines, but without being established on Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection, those doctrines are meaningless.  

Christ crucified must be first in all things, ALL things, not some things, but ALL things! 

God help us put Christ first in all.

1Co_10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 

Excerpt - EJ Waggoner-

Leaving this point, we return to Revelation 14:6, where we read, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth . . . saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come." 

This is a work that prepares men for the last judgment and consequently a work which carries everything for man's perfection, as we saw by the twelfth verse. But that message is nothing more nor less than the everlasting gospel. 

The second angel went with the first, and the first accompanied them both, and all three together sounded one cry.

The question arises, If the third angel came along and added his sound to the cry of the first and the second angel, do not we have something more to tell the world than those who labored under the first message had? 

Well, we certainly can have nothing more to preach than the everlasting gospel. The second angel announces a fact, that Babylon is fallen, because of her apostasy from the gospel. Mark you, the second angel has no new truth to tell; merely a fact, that something has occurred. The third angel merely announces the punishment that will fall on the men who do differently from the truth announced by the first angel, but the first angel keeps sounding and the three go together, and since the three keep sounding together and the first is telling the everlasting gospel--that which is to prepare men to stand blameless before God--and the third angel is telling the punishment that will befall them if they do not receive the everlasting gospel, it necessarily follows that the entire threefold message is the everlasting gospel.

Mark it, the first angel proclaims the everlasting gospel; the second proclaims the fall of everyone who does not obey that gospel; and the third proclaims the punishment that will follow that fall and come upon those who do not obey.

So the third is all in the first--the everlasting gospel. Yes, that everlasting gospel carries with it all truth. It is the power of God. That everlasting gospel, remember, is summed up in one thing--Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and of course risen again. 

We have nothing else in this world to proclaim to the people, whether we be preachers, Bible workers, colporteurs, or canvassers, or simply people who in the humble sphere of their own home let the light shine. All that any of us can carry to the world is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Says one, That is taking an extreme view; are we going to throw away all the doctrines we have preached--the state of the dead, the Sabbath, and the law, and the punishment of the wicked? Throw them away? No, by no means. Preach them in season and out of season, but, nevertheless, preach nothing but Christ Jesus and Him crucified. For if you preach those things without preaching Christ and Him crucified, they are shorn of their power, for Paul says that Christ sent him to preach the gospel, not with words of man's wisdom, lest the preaching of the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. The preaching of the cross and that alone is the power of God. I say again, the gospel is the power of God and the cross is the center of the gospel. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Galatians 6:14. To Paul there was nothing else worthy of glorying in, save the cross of Jesus Christ his Lord.

Preach Only Christ's Gospel.

 

Written For Our Admonition.

 

Suffer For Well Doing.

 

Obey God First Always.

 Now how about being subject to the powers yet not always obeying them? 

Take a familiar example. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, and his was certainly a government ordained of God, for God had given all the lands over which he ruled into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and all nations were to serve him and his son and his son's son. Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and commanded that when the music sounded all the people were to bow down to it. It was told to the king that the three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, had not fallen down and worshiped the golden image. The king called them to him and told them that although they had disobeyed him, he would overlook that offense, if when the music sounded again, they would worship the image. "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy god nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

They did not resist the king. He gave them an alternative. They could do one of two things--bow down to the image or be cast into the furnace. They disobeyed the order to bow down to the image, but they did not resist the alternative to go into the furnace. And moreover they told the king that their God was able to deliver them out of his hand, but they did not know whether He would or not. That would not matter anyway. If He did not choose to deliver them, they were to be burned. That was all right. They would yield up their lives, triumph in death, and in that way be delivered out of his hand, if in no other.

What is the relation of Christians to civil government?

Christ is the anointed One. For what was He anointed? "To preach good tidings [the gospel] unto the meek . . . to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Now there will be a time when the kingdoms of this earth will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, as is stated by the prophet.

In the second Psalm, we read, "Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." But what is He going to do with them? Dash them in pieces. That time has not come yet; therefore Christ, the Mediator, has nothing whatever to do with the governments of earth.

His rule is a spiritual rule in the hearts of His people. His kingdom, for He sits upon a throne and rules, is a rule over the hearts of His people. He rules in the hearts of men, where it is impossible for the kings of the earth to rule. Strife may rule there all the time, but they cannot prevent it, or peace may have dominion, and they cannot disturb it. He sits upon a throne of grace and there He dispenses grace without interfering with the governments of earth and in a way which they cannot hinder.

The great men of this earth exercise lordship over others, but Christ has commanded that it be not so among His people, but he that would be greatest among them, should be the servant of all.

Take Daniel as an example of how men should be subject to the powers that be and still be subject to God. There was a decree established that whosoever should ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days after the passing of that decree, save of the great king Darius, should be cast into the den of lions. Daniel occupied a high position in the government and he was a peaceable citizen, as every Christian must be. It would have been very easy for him to say, "I do not need to ask anything of any man for thirty days, and I can shut myself up in my house where no one can see me, and there I can worship God quietly and so I will carry on my religion and worship the God of heaven and still not stir up the anger of the king against me.

This is a question of vital importance to us. When persecution is liable to come upon us, shall we cease to work openly in our fields on the first day of the week as we have been doing and do something quietly in our houses, so that no one will see us, or should we do as Daniel did? He opened his windows and did exactly what they told him not to do--make petitions to the God of heaven. He did it openly where his enemies could see him do it, although the decree had been passed that for following such a course he should be cast into the den of lions. Are we not, when for fear of persecution, we work quietly in our houses where no man can see us--are we not hiding our light under a bushel? Some say that there is no need of being foolhardy. That is very true, but shall we be foolhardy if we do as Daniel did? Shall we say that he made a mistake?

In 1 Peter 2:13, we are told, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king." This is parallel with the statement in the 13th of Romans, as is seen by verse 7.

Rom 13:7  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 

Peter carries this same principle into the minor things of life, and immediately after speaking of the duty of obedience to the king, he speaks of the duty of servants to their masters. If we find ourselves subject to a master and there is no difference whether he rules over one or over millions, we must all be subject to him. But supposing that the master be a bad man and he commands those who are under him to do something that is wrong, then what? "For this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." 1 Peter 2:19-20.

If a man finds himself the subject of a bad master and he does everything that that bad master tells him, how can he suffer for it? He is a willing tool in the hands of his master, but the suffering is brought by the fact that he will not do the wicked things commanded, and this is what is acceptable in the sight of God. He has disobeyed the power and because he has disobeyed it, he suffers, but he suffers for well doing.

If he obeys that wicked master, he must disobey God. 

This we know would be wrong. 

But it is perfectly right to disobey the wicked decree of a master or government, provided always that when the punishment comes, we take it patiently. 

This is acceptable with God. The very fact that a man suffers for well doing shows that he is the servant of God and accepted of Him. Then how is it that we can be subject to the powers that be and yet go directly contrary to what they say? By submitting to the punishment, but not doing the evil thing they commanded us to do. As Christians we owe allegiance to God, the highest power, and to Him alone.