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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 22
26 October 2008
Live by Every Word of God
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Worship
Service, 2:00 pm, Oct 26, 08)
Text: Luke 4:4
Today is Reformation Sunday
but sadly many so-called Christians do not know about it or remember it.
In the 16th Century, many did not have God’s Word in their
own languages. They could not read nor understand God’s Word in Latin,
so they depended on the interpretation of Roman Catholic priests and
bishops, who misled them away from God’s Truth with idolatry, human
traditions and unbiblical doctrines, rituals or sacraments. Thank God
for sovereignly and providentially using His Word to convince His
servants, even Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and John
Knox, of His Truth, to transform their lives, and to prepare them for
the 16th Century Reformation in order to contend for His
Truth and to bring His people back to His Word and His Truth—salvation
by grace through faith in Christ alone. When the Bible was translated
into German, most of the Germans came back to God’s Truth and enjoyed
God’s salvation in Christ by grace through faith alone despite the
fierce persecutions from the Roman Catholic Church. The same blessings
to the English and the Scottish when the Bible was translated into
English! It is God’s Word that made them free from the bondage of sins
as well as from unbiblical doctrines, traditions, rituals and practices!
The most significant blessing
of the 16th Century Reformation is the faithful translation
of the King James Bible based on God’s perfectly preserved texts—the
Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Received Text of the
Greek New Testament. Sadly, many nowadays take God’s Word for granted
and arrogantly criticise and cast doubt on God’s Word with a spirit of
compromise, worldliness, and ecumenism. How about you and me? How about
our attitudes toward God’s Word? Do we live by every Word of God as our
Lord Jesus did?
Jesus Lived by Every Word
of God
When our Lord Jesus was hungry
after His fasting for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness,
Satan came to Him, challenging His eternal Sonship and tempting Him to
turn stones into bread (Matt 4:1-3). Our Lord was truly the Son of God
and was able to turn stones into bread, but He did not listen to Satan
nor do his will despite His hunger. Our Lord Jesus could overcome
Satan’s temptation because He did live by “every word of God” and
submit Himself to God’s Word and God’s will, even unto death (Phil 2:8),
saying, “It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word of God” (Luke 4:4).
Adam and Eve succumbed to
Satan’s temptation as they failed to resist him and live by “every
word of God” although they were enjoying all the good things from
God, without thirst or hunger! Nowadays, many blame poverty for crimes,
saying that if they were wealthy and had everything they need, the
society would be good without crimes. They naively fail to see the
sinful, deceitful and wicked heart of human beings before God after the
Fall of Adam and Eve (Jer 17:9)!
Many are very “open-minded” or
“simple-minded,” not caring about “every word of God”, saying
that the sound doctrines are more important and they do not want to
argue about “words”! Are they better or smarter than our Lord Jesus
Christ, who lived by “every word of God”? How can they have sound
doctrines without every sound word of God? No wonder they easily fall
into the trap of Satan and cannot overcome temptations, their sinful
nature, worldliness and wrong doctrines. It is worse for those who
criticise and attack God’s Word!
Our Lord Jesus lived by
“every word of God” because He fully believed in God’s perfectly
preserved Word. Although our Lord had only the copies of the original
manuscripts of the Hebrew Old Testament in His days, He being the
all-knowing God, never doubted God’s Word, criticized or questioned
God’s Word, nor did He see any discrepancies like many modern “scholars”
do nowadays. Our Lord used the perfect tense in the passive voice,
“It is written” (Matt 4:4, 7, 10), which means “It was written and
is still written” or “It stands written and is still in force” when He
quoted the Scriptures to confirm that God’s Word is always living,
powerful and unchangeable throughout the ages. He confirmed the perfect
preservation of the Scriptures, “For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from
the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt 5:18). As our Lord Jesus
believed in and lived by every word of the Holy Scriptures, He knew the
Scriptures thoroughly, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself… And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:27, 44). Jesus was able to use God’s
Word effectively as the Sword of the Holy Spirit to overcome Satan’s
temptations (Matt 4:1-11), to teach God’s Word to the people (Matt 5-7)
and to refute the wrong concepts and doctrines of the Jewish leaders,
e.g. about the Sabbath (Mark 2:25-28; John 7:22-23), the divorce (Matt
19:5), the resurrection (Matt 22:23, 32), etc.
Dear friends, if we do not
surely believe that God has perfectly preserved His Word for us today,
we cannot wholeheartedly live by “every word of God.” Then how
can our spiritual life be strong to overcome Satan’s temptations and our
sinful nature and to contend for God’s Truth? God’s Word must be our
spiritual food as well as the foundation of our faith, salvation,
doctrines, worship, preaching, teaching and practices. We can safely and
wisely follow our Lord Jesus Christ’s example and build our saving faith
and saving knowledge on this perfect foundation no matter what others
even “scholars” may say.
Do You Live by Every Word
of God?
Many assume that they are
living by God’s Word when they read God’s Word every day with several
English Bibles and commentaries! What does it mean to live by “every
word of God”? It means we are to read, study, meditate, expound,
receive and practise “every word of God” with a prayerful,
teachable, faithful and submissive heart.
Carefully and Reverently
Listen to God’s Word:
Many hear God’s Word without trust or reverence. Others hear God’s Word
mixed with human thoughts. Surely they cannot be blessed by God’s Word.
We must be careful about what is not the pure word of God if it is based
on the corrupt texts or twisted by human thoughts, ideas, mindset,
philosophies, dynamic translation or textual criticism.
Many complain and say, “That
pastor preaches God’s Word all the time!” and when the pastor just
starts quoting a verse they have memorised, they think they have known
that verse already and fail to carefully listen to God’s Word and
receive it with reverence; as a result, their souls are not nurtured.
Many others say, “I like that pastor. His preaching is very powerful. He
tells so many interesting stories and experiences. He quotes many
profound sayings from great men, etc.,” but they fail to examine
themselves and ask, “What did God say to me today?” If they are fed with
the junk food of stories, experiences, and human words, their souls are
not nurtured at all.
Dear friends, the proper
attitude when we read or hear God’s Word is our prayer to the Lord,
“Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth” (1 Sam 3:9) with trust,
reverence and trembling as God’s Word says, “but to this man will I
look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth
at my word” (Isa 66:2). No matter how well we have already memorised
God’s Word, each time we hear God’s Word, e.g. John 3:16; Ps 23; Ps
12:6-7; Matt 6:33, etc. again and again we are to carefully and
reverently listen to “every word of God” as it is being spoken
out of the mouth of God, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4). This
is my experience after I was born again. I thirsted for God and His Word
so much that I spent whatever time I could find just to read God’s Word
and communicate with God. At my church worship service, the pastor
usually started his preaching with a Bible text and then told a lot of
interesting stories and some experiences. Knowing that I had to live by
“every word of God,” when the pastor finished reading the Bible
text, I just focused on it, meditated on it, and tried to memorise it as
my spiritual food. I also experienced that the Holy Spirit guided me to
learn more about His Truth through other relevant verses stored in my
mind and I just turned my Bible to study it and found that my soul was
nurtured and satisfied by the Word of God.
Dear friends, interesting
stories and human words may entertain your minds but can never nurture
your souls. We shall feel hungry, thirsty, weak, wearied, and then
exhausted if we do not take any food or drink for one day. We also shall
get sick if we do not take healthy food but junk food every day. How
about our spiritual life? If our spiritual life is not fed by God’s Word
and grace, how can we obey God’s will, rejoice in Him and serve Him, how
can we overcome our sinful nature, temptations and worldliness, how can
we refute against wrong doctrines and contend for God’s Truth, etc.?
Receive God’s Word with Trust
and Submission:
Many read or hear God’s Word with an arrogant and rebellious heart,
trying to find fault with God’s Word and criticise it! Surely they
cannot be blessed by God’s Word. Every word of God is pure milk for our
spiritual growth, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). It is vital for us
not only to listen to God’s Word carefully and reverently but also to
wholeheartedly receive it, depend on it and submit to it without any
addition, subtraction, or modification.
Dear friends, let us not be
deceived. Only God’s Word is able to regenerate us and sanctify us,
“Being born again …by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for
ever” and “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”
(1 Peter 1:23; John 17:17). The more we are submissive to God’s Word,
the more freedom the Holy Spirit has to use God’s Word to transform our
lives, regenerate us and sanctify us.
Be Doers of God’s Word:
Many can cite God’s Word, but their lives and worship are not according
to God’s Word. God’s Word warns us, “But be ye doers of the word, and
not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). We shall
be spiritually healthy if we put into practice what we have heard and
received from God’s Word. The more we do God’s Word, the firmer
foundation we have in building our spiritual life and the more
effectively we can use God’s Word as the Sword of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
Dear friends, our Lord Jesus
lived by every Word of God. How about you and me? May God graciously
help us live by every Word of God with our prayers, trust, reverence,
submission, dependence and obedience. Amen.
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