Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew

                                                                             Receiving the Word of God!

1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

"Receiving the Word of God" is the theme for the year 2017. It is taken from 1Thessalonians 2:13. The Word of God is the Bible. The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. This was what the apostle Paul referred to. Most of us use a translation of the Bible. When we hold up a translation in our hands, and when we call it the Word of God, we actually mean the Bible in the original languages. A faithful translation is the perfect Bible translated for us to read, understand and obey. This has always been the only purpose of the Bible – to be read, understood and obeyed. If reading and understanding it does not result in obedience, then all that we say and all the Bible studies would be futile.

For all children of God, receiving the Bible as the very Word of God ought not to be stated. It should be the obvious response of a child of God who has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit compelling him! Yet that does not seem to be the case as seen by the kind of lives of professing Christians today. Why is this sad condition the apparent norm? The Word of God gives us the answer! The reason is that Christians are living in the final period of the last days. One of the prophecies that will be fulfilled before the return of Christ is the falling away of the Christian church. With the birth of the Charismatic movement in the early 1900s, and the ecumenical and neo-evangelical movements in the middle of the 20th century, Christianity is dying exactly as Christ had prophesied. In order for this to succeed, the only obstacle that stands in the way of the fulfilment of this end-time prophecy has to be removed. That obstacle is the perfect Bible, the very Word of God that has to be removed from Christianity. True believers must not let this happen in their lives! This observation by the apostle Paul in 1Thessalonians 2:13 needs very much to be highlighted more today to convict true believers to obey the Bible than in Paul’s days or in any period of the church’s history.

In the final moments of the 19th century and into the turn of the 20th century, Satan has dumped tonnes of corrupt versions of the Bible into the Christian market. By this master stroke, he has successfully diluted the Word of God. Millions of Christians today, including seminary and Bible college professors who are supposed to know better, do not care much about which version is to be rejected and which one is to be accepted. All kinds of versions of God’s Word are being read and studied and obeyed. But these bad versions that masquerade as the Word of God (simply because it is called "Bible") contain poison (some more, some less) that will kill the reader spiritually. It is a sad but true contradiction that men and women today are overly concerned for their physical well-being regarding their physical death, and are totally lackadaisical for their spiritual well-being regarding their spiritual and eternal death! The result of this attitude toward the Bible versions is that readers who use these bad versions will have a low view of God and sin. The truth and importance of holy living in Christ after salvation are lost to many. The evidence is the death of the church today as seen by the sinful lives of millions of professing believers worldwide. Professing believers today do what is right in their own eyes with the idea that they have a place in heaven secured for them by Christ because they have "believed" in the gospel of Christ. They are living in sin and have no place in heaven and do not even know that until it is too late. They will find out after they die! Christ warned all professing believers nearly 2,000 years ago to beware of the broad way that leads to destruction (cf. Matthew 7:13-14). Many walk in it. Those who are going to heaven are the ones who do the will of God the Father who is in heaven, i.e. obey the Bible unconditionally. One is not a believer because he says he is or behaves like a Christian. Matthew 7:21-23 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Some are completely indifferent to what spiritual diet they have from the version they read. Due to this indifference to the necessity and importance of choosing the best and most accurate Bible version in the believer’s language to read and study and obey God, professing Christianity has spawned generations of false believers who are reflecting false Christs all over the world. This is a grievous sin even though this sin is committed in ignorance and in sincerity. The false Christs portrayed by these false believers come from churches like the Roman Catholics (who add to the gospel of Christ the traditions of man - a superstitious Christianity), the Charismatics (who subtract the truth from the gospel of Christ and replace it with experience – a carnal Christianity), the neo-evangelicals (who mix the gospel of Christ with errors by their failure to separate errors from truth – a compromising Christianity), and last but not least the professing believers in fundamentalist churches who deliberately ignore the truth and live a Christian life framed by their own "do-what-is-right-in-their-own-eyes" mentality – a lifeless Christianity! This is indeed the period of the last days!

To save ourselves from these spiritual ills and deceptions of the last days, we need to regard the perfect Bible as the Word of God once more. This means that when the Word of God is read or preached, God’s children must reverentially listen closely to what has been read or preached, for they have just heard the very Word of God and not the word of man! The reverence and the fear we need to have when the Word of God is heard must result in loving obedience to a gracious heavenly Father from grateful children. When this happens it will bring forth the following truths.

I. Cause for Continuous Thanksgiving – When the children of God obey the Bible because it is the Word of God, fellow believers who see this obedience will thank God without ceasing. They will see the power of the Word of God in action. They will witness the love of God in Christ manifested. They will be encouraged. The apostle Paul was very encouraged as a servant of God. All true servants of God experience the greatest joy when the ministry they do sacrificially and constrained by the love of Christ are rewarded by the transformed lives of sinners and saints alike. When the Word of God was preached or written to the Christians in the church of Thessalonica, they received the Word of God as the very words of God. This means that they obeyed every jot and tittle of God's Word. God had only to speak once and the Christians in the church in Thessalonica obeyed twice! They dared not disobey the Word of God. The fear of God was made alive in their hearts when the Word of God was given to them so that they would not sin against God. They listened with gladness and obedience. There was no sitting in judgement of God's Word which is so common today. Their lives were transformed to Christ likeness. There was no doubt and no question, only complete and quiet obedience. They were thankful that God would speak to them. These are some of the biblical reactions of saints in the Bible that can be gleaned. They received the Word of God as God's words and not man’s.

There is no better reason for thanking God in ministry than the transformed lives of the ones who receive the teaching. Ask any faithful Sunday School and Adult Bible Class teachers, and preachers, and they would readily express the same heartfelt sentiments as the apostle Paul. It is not fame or fortune that brings joy to a servant of God. It is not money or financial remunerations or a larger congregation or a bigger house but simply the transformed lives made more Christ-like through the Bible. This experience is priceless. This transformation is eternal. This makes all the sacrifices worthwhile when hearts are changed and lives are made right in Christ because they are lived in accordance with God's truth. This was the one and only time that the apostle Paul made such a statement regarding the receiving of his epistles as the Word of God and not the words of men. This is special. This is also rare.

Paul was not only referring to his epistles but also that of other writers of God's WORD. The use of the plural personal pronoun "us" in the phrase "received the word of God which ye heard of us" (emphasis added) points to this truth. We know that these inspired and preserved epistles of the NT were circulated to other churches as well. They were also received as God’s Word. We need to restore back into our lives this high regard for God’s Word, the whole Bible.

II. Truth and the Word of God – The Word written by the men in the NT is the Word of God just like the Word of God in the Old Testament. This is true. The Word of God has power! The same Word of God declared this universe and this earth and all that are in it into existence. God says so and it was so! God made this whole universe out of nothing and it is a reality! The same Word of God stilled the raging storm. The power of the Word of God raised the dead, healed the blind, lame and the mute. There is nothing that the Word of God when spoken cannot accomplish! All the prophecies that God prophesied came to pass exactly according to God’s Word. When God said that Christ was to be born of a virgin, Christ was born of the virgin. There is nothing more powerful than the Word of God. The simple reason is that the speaker is the almighty God Himself who spoke them. If what God says cannot come to pass or is not able to come to pass because there is someone more powerful than He, then He would cease to be God! God’s Word will always have omnipotent power because God always exists. The moment God ceases to exist, the power in His word ceases too. When the president of a powerful country is alive and still holds office, his word has the might of that country behind it. If he declares war or commands that weapons of mass destruction be fired, it will all be done! The moment he dies, his power is gone. His word is worthless and powerless after death! Thank God that God always exists and He is eternal. Not only does He exist eternally, He is also immutable in His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. These immutable attributes of God means that His Word continues to have the same power and might just like when they were spoken for the first time. They never diminish in power or strength! For example, the power of the gospel’s potency to save continues to save today when it is preached according to Holy Scriptures. The Word of God’s potency to sanctify believers remains too.

To say that the Bible is the word of man is to lie! God used sinful men to give us His perfect Word. The perfect Word of God was not tainted in any way by the sinful men whom God used. The Holy Spirit inspired them and the Word of God was written. God did not turn the words of men into the Word of God. These were not the Apostle Paul’s words that God suddenly turned into God's perfect Word. Inspiration is not about the process, which is a mystery, or the person, but the words, i.e. the final product or result. God used many different people including unbelievers and angels, even the donkey of Balaam, to give us His perfect Word. This is how great and powerful God is. The Bible took more than 1,500 years to complete from Genesis to Revelation. The method of inspiration includes visions and dreams, dictation and the research work of men like Luke who interviewed people, and the simple epistles written by godly men like the Apostles Paul, Peter and John. Inspiration is always about the final product that is the perfect Word of God! To say that the Bible is the very Word of God is the truth! The evidence is the transformed lives of all born again believers in Christ!

III. Continues to Work in All Believers – The Word of God continues to transform sinners into saints. The best evidence that the perfect Bible is the Word of God and not the word of men is to ask everyone who is truly born again in Christ. The inward transformation from the mind and heart to the tongue and life is the greatest evidence of the power of God. This was exactly what Christ taught too. Matthew 5:13-16 "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Before salvation takes place in a sinner’s life, the perfect Word of God has to be given and then the Holy Spirit will take the Word of God and bring about conviction and repentance. The sinner will turn to God through Christ. He will accept Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour. Christ will baptize him with the Holy Spirit who will now dwell in him for eternity. This transformation begins with the giving of the Word of God. The Apostle Paul described it this way, "which effectually worketh also in you that believe." The phrase "effectually worketh means ‘to energize’ where we get the English word for "energy." This energy continues in the life of the believer and will not stop. The believer will continue to be transformed as he serves the Lord on this earth. He becomes more and more like Christ when the Word of God is taught and obeyed. This is spiritual growth.

The Word of God also transforms believers to become more and more like Christ when the Word of God is received by God's children. John 17:17 "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." This sanctification is very necessary. Believers witness for Christ in the world. The world will do its utmost to retard and destroy this holy witness by getting believers to sin. Sadly, all will sin. But when believers repent, the Word of God has the sanctifying power to make them clean again. Through the Word of God the mind of the believer will change. All the words and actions of the believer begin from the mind, and when the mind is more like Christ, i.e. according to the Bible, the believer will sin less. With fewer sins in his life he begins to shine more brightly for Christ and for a longer period of time. His testimony improves every time he becomes more and more like Christ. The Spirit of God who dwells in all believers continues to do this transforming work! This is the truth, Paul says!

Conclusion – Restoring the highest esteem of the Bible is the protection and cure every child of God needs today to ward off the seductive entrapments of the evil one. The attack on the Bible by saying that the Bible has mistakes is a major doctrine. Those who think that the attack on the Bible is a minor doctrine have been deceived by the evil one. Those who have a low view of the Bible by saying that it has mistakes have believed the lie of the Devil. Their lives in Christ will fail. Their testimony will reflect a false Christ and not the Christ of the Bible. The only cure is to repent and to have the highest view of God's Word. Believe in the perfect Bible at inspiration and that this same perfect Bible is preserved by God perfectly and it is found in the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts underlying the King James English Bible. This means that for all English speaking Christians, use only the KJV Bible in your obedience of God’s Word. Any other modern versions like the NIV or ESV will soon poison you. Your view of God will diminish. Receive the Bible as the very Word of God and not as the word of men. Have the highest view of God's Word that it is and will always be perfect. Defend it by your words and more so by your life of obedience. Amen.