10/29/12

John 17 – The Word of God – Part 2


Last week we spoke of the Word of God as:
·  Referring to the OT and NT Scriptures.
·  Referring to the Gospel.
·  Referring to Jesus Christ

It is these things that are to be kept, received and given.
·  It is these things that are the truth.

Today we will finish up our lesson on the word of God.


INTRO – OUR TEXT REVIEW

John 17:13–21 (ESV) — 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Jesus’ work and petitions concerning the Word of God:
(1) Jesus tells us that one specific reason He speaks is so that the disciples might have His joy – “these things I speakthat they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (vv. 12, 13).
·  Fulfilled is “to bring to completion that which was already begun” – BDAG.
·  In other words, Jesus is saying that the words He spoke (in this prayer and in His ministry) were so that His joy in believers might be complete.

And He associates the completion of His joy in us with the things He has just spoken:
·  The Holy Spirit (John 16:13)
·  His Departure to the Father (John 16:17)
·  The “Given” of God
·  The Glory of God
·  The Name of God
·  The Word of God

(2) Jesus asks the Father to “sanctify them in truth” (vs. 17), and goes on to tell us that the word is truth.
·  Sanctification is the “separation and consecration to the service of God” – WSITNT.
·  Or more specifically, it is “to include a person in the inner circle of what is holy…” which would be the service of the Father – BDAG.
o   And this privilege of inclusion is only for the “given” – the born again believer.
·  So we are included into the service of God, the “inner circle”, by the sanctifying truth of God’s word.
·  And importantly, Jesus also speaks of the necessity of His consecration (crucifixion, resurrection, exaltation) for our consecration (vs. 19).

(3) And He goes on to make clear that it is by the word of God spoken by the disciples that more will come to believe in Him – “who will believe in me through their word” (vs. 20).
·  In other words, the means by which God will use to call the “given” to believe is the spoken word of God – in this case the Gospel.

So we see that the kept, received, given and true word of God has the power to:
·  Complete Christ’s joy in believers (vs. 13)
·  Sanctify believers (vs. 17)
·  Call the “given” to believe (vs. 20)

How does the word of God, as just reviewed, have the power to:
·  (1) Complete Christ’s joy in believers?
·  (2) Sanctify believers?
·  (3) Call the “given” to believe?

We will deal with the first and third of these today.
·  We recently spent four weeks or so on sanctification, so please refer back to that to see how the word of God can sanctify believers.


1) THE WORD COMPLETING CHRIST’S JOY IN BELIEVERS

We will see two things.
·  (1) What Christ’s joy is – Christ’s joy is obedient work on our behalf.
·  (2) What Christ’s joy isn’t – emotion, feelings and circumstances.

We need to look back at Jesus’ emphasis on joy throughout His Farewell Discourse to grasp what His joy is.

(1) What Christ’s Joy Is:
John 15:11 (ESV) — 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
·  Here Jesus virtually says exactly what He said in our text in John 17:13.
·  And it is important to point out that the “things I have spoken to you” here refer to:
o   Abiding in Him
o   Abiding in His Love
o   Bearing Fruit
o   Glorifying God
·  So it is these things He associates with His joy.
·  And these are in addition to the things He spoke of between 15:11 and our text at 17:13.
o   The Holy Spirit (John 16:13)
o   His Departure to the Father (John 16:17)
o   The “given” of God
o   The Glory of God
o   The Name of God
o   The Word of God

John 16:20-21 & 24 (ESV) — 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world…24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
·  Here Jesus associates joy with His death, burial, resurrection and exaltation.
·  These are directly related to the joy that we will be fulfilled in us.
·  Matthew 28:8 (ESV) — 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

1 John 1:4 (ESV) — 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
·  And demonstrating just how good of student John was, he speaks very similarly to Jesus.
·  He associates joy with the very things we just mentioned.
·  He refers to them as the things “which we have seen and heard” from Christ (1 John 1:3).

So what is the Joy of Christ fulfilled in us?

We have seen that this “…joy comes on account of what Christ has done” – LBD.
·  His work of enabling us to Abide in Him
·  His work of giving the Holy Spirit
·  His Departure – Death, Resurrection and Exaltation
·  His Glory
·  His Name
·  His Word

Scripture confirms all this for us:
·  Hebrews 12:2 (ESV) — 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
·  Romans 14:17 (ESV) — 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
·  1 Thessalonians 1:6 (ESV) — 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
·  Galatians 5:22 (ESV) — 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
·  These verses clearly set the joy of Christ in context of His work and the Holy Spirit whom He sent.

Summary of what it is:
·  So the Joy of Christ is His person and work on our behalf and all that each confers upon us.
·  But what isn’t it?

(2) What Christ’s Joy Isn’t:
We have seen in this joy no mention of emotions or feelings.
·  In other words, this joy is not rooted in our emotions.
·  It is not contingent upon how we feel.
·  It is not contingent upon our circumstances, i.e. our works – rich or poor, sick or well, etc.
·  This joy is “irrelevant of whatever other circumstances are happening in one’s life” – LBD.
·  Thus it cannot be taken away by the “tyranny of circumstances”.
·  “This joy rises above circumstances and focuses on the very character of God. For example, the psalmist rejoices over God’s righteousness (71:14–16), salvation (21:1; 71:23), mercy (31:7), creation (148:5), word (119:14, 162), and faithfulness (33:1–6). God’s characteristics as well as His acts are the cause of rejoicing” – NNIBD.

It is contingent only on our salvation – this is how we receive the work of Christ and His joy.
·  In one sense, then, it is “a result of choice” – LBD.
·  A choice to believe Jesus!

So what isn’t the joy of Christ?
·  It isn’t our feelings, emotions or something dependent on the circumstances we find ourselves in.

BTW – This joy will and should manifest itself in an outward response of gladness and happiness.
·  But this joy, as we have seen, is not defined by such things.
·  They are its permeations.
·  The absence of these emotions does not mean an absence of joy.
·  To say this would be to say that Christ did not work on our behalf or that we lack the Holy Spirit.

BTW 2 – The joy of Christ that is completed in us is connected both to the past work of Christ and to our future glorification and Christ’s 2nd Coming.
·  “It is a quality, and not simply an emotion, grounded upon God himself and indeed derived from him (Ps. 16:11; Phil. 4:4; Rom. 15:13), which characterizes the Christian’s life on earth (1 Pet. 1:8), and also anticipates eschatologically the joy of being with Christ forever in the kingdom of heaven (cf. Rev. 19:7)” – NBD.
·  In other words, this joy supernaturally connects us to the past work and future work of Christ.
·  This boggles the mind if given much thought.

Summary of Christ’s Joy Completed in Us:
·  The word of God completes Christ’s joy in us because of the person of Christ and His work on our behalf.
·  It is completed in us because, pertaining to His work, Jesus said “it is finished”.
·  And this word does a miraculous joy-giving work in those who receive it and our saved by it.
·  This joy is not rooted in feelings and emotions and is not dependent on circumstances.
·  This joy is free from the tyranny of circumstances!

THE JOY OF CHRIST FULFILLED IN US COMES FROM OUR PARTICIPATION AND POSITION IN CHRIST SECURED THROUGH HIS WORK ON OUR BEHALF AND ALL THAT THIS CONFERS UPON US!


2) THE WORD AS A MEANS TO CALL THE “GIVEN” TO BELIEVE

We will see two things.
·  (1) How the word is means to call the “given” to believe – our speaking and their hearing.
·  (2) And by implication, what isn’t a means – our works.

(1) How the word is a means:
Paul sums it up like this:
·  Romans 1:16–17 (ESV) — 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
·  Romans 10:17 (ESV) — 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
·  1 Corinthians 15:1 (ESV) — 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,  

Luke put it like this:
·  Acts 14:21 (ESV) — 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,
·  Acts 15:7 (ESV) — 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

Peter puts it this way:
·  1 Peter 1:23 (ESV) — 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
·  What was the “word of God” he is talking about?
·  1 Peter 1:25 (ESV) — 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

So how is the word a means to call the “given” to believe?

From the above, we see a relationship between our speaking the words of Christ and the unbeliever’s hearing, understanding and believing.
·  The “Word of Christ”, “the gospel”, “the word of the gospel” and the “good newsall refer to the saving work and ministry of Jesus Christ done in obedience to the Father and on our behalf.
o   The very things that fulfill His joy in us.

And it is these words that speak of the work of Christ that God uses as a means to call the “given” to believe in Him.
·  These are the words that are “preached” and these are the words that the “given” are capable of “hearing”.
·  So the way God brings about the new birth in dead, unbelieving hearts is by the gospel, the good news – John Piper.

BTW – we must make a distinction between God’s role and our role:
·  God’s role in bringing about the new birth is decisive, and our role in bringing about the new birth is essentialJohn Piper.
·  Our role in speaking the gospel is essential because God has ordained that faith comes from hearing the Gospel.
·  God’s role in using our speaking the Gospel to bring someone to salvation is decisive because it is He that regenerates their heart and thus enables them to hear the Gospel.
o   He who has ears let him hear

John Piper sums it up as follows:
·  But the fact that you can’t make electricity or create light never stops you from flipping light switches. The fact that you can’t create fire in cylinders never stops you from turning the car key.  So don’t let the fact that you can’t cause the new birth stop you from telling the gospel. That is how people are born again—through the living and abiding word, the good news of Jesus Christ – John Piper.

Summary of How the Word is a Means:
·  The Gospel is the obedient work of Christ on our behalf.
·  God has given us the privilege of speaking the Gospel and thus being part of the means to call the “given” to believe.
·  God has ordained that the Gospel must be spoken and then heard.
·  We speak (essential) and God sees to it that the “given” hear (decisive).

(2) What isn’t a means to call the “given” to believe:
We have seen that the Gospel we are to speak, preach and tell is the work of Christ done in obedience to the Father on our behalf.
·  In fact, we saw Paul define the Gospel as the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ last week in 1 Cor. 15.
·  All of these things have a huge implication for what isn’t a means to call the “given” to believe.

And that implication is that we are not the Gospel!
·  Our works, our fruit, our lifestyle, our going to church, our being honest, our being a good father, our being a good husband, our love of Christ – all of these things – THEY ARE NOT THE GOSPEL!
·  We must speak the Gospel of Christ with words!
o   We cannot speak the Gospel with our actions.
·  And by the grace of God, He will use these words to call the “given” to believe.


10/21/12

John 17 – The Word of God


Last week we spoke of the Name of God as:
·  Referring to the Attributes of God.
·  Referring to Yahweh Himself.
·  Referring to the personal representation of Yahweh in context of the Israelite godhead.
o   Which in the NT, was identified as Jesus.
·  In our text today, Jesus speaks of the Word of God.


INTRO – OUR TEXT

John 17:6–8 (ESV) — 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

John 17:13–21 (ESV) — 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Jesus’ work and petitions concerning the Word of God:
(1) Jesus tells us that the disciples “have kept the word” (vs. 6), “received” the word (vs. 8) and that He gave the word to them – “I have given them your word” (vv. 8, 14).
·  The evidence He gives the Father for this receiving and keeping is that they believe:
o   (a) “everything” about Jesus’ ministry is from the Father (vs. 7).
o   (b) that Jesus “came from” (is God), and was “sent” by the Father (vs. 8).
·  This reveals for us the foundational importance of getting right the identity of Jesus and His relationship to the Father.
o   What religions get this wrong?
o   Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, etc.
·  This also shows us that in our context, whatever else the word of God is, it definitely refers to the revelation from Jesus that He is from the Father, that is to say He is God, and that He was sent by the Father!

BTW - What a huge encouragement.
·  In spite of the disciples’ inability to get most of what Jesus taught them to this point, Jesus characterized them as keeping and receivingthe word”.
·  Even on our worst of days, we as believers, have also kept and received the word of God because of the work of God on our hearts…amen!

(2) Jesus tells us that one specific reason He speaks is so that the disciples might have His joy – “these things I speakthat they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (vv. 12, 13).
·  Fulfilled is “to bring to completion that which was already begun” – BDAG.
·  In other words, Jesus is saying that the words He spoke (in this prayer and in His ministry) were so that His joy in believers might be complete.

(3) Jesus asks the Father to sanctify the disciples in His word of truth – “your word is truth” (vs. 17).
·  Sanctification is the “separation and consecration to the service of God” – WSITNT.
·  Or more specifically, it is “to include a person in the inner circle of what is holy…” which would be the service of the Father – BDAG.
o   And this privilege of inclusion is only for the given – the born again believer.
·  So we are included into the service of God, the “inner circle”, by the sanctifying truth of God’s word.
·  And importantly, Jesus speaks of the necessity of His consecration (crucifixion, resurrection, exaltation) for our consecration (vs. 19).

BTW – Interestingly, in the O.T. the priests were often spoken of as being consecrated to service.
·  Exodus 28:41 (ESV) — 41 And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.

(4) And He goes on to ask for all these things on behalf of all believers – all those “who will believe in me through their word” (vs. 20).
·  As we just saw, this presumably means that they would believe that Jesus’ ministry is from the Father and that Jesus “came from” and was “sent” by the Father.
o   And logically these believers would therefore be keepers and receivers of God’s word.
·  And Jesus points out that the source of the word spoken to these believers is “their word” – which is referring to the disciples’ words.
·  As Jesus spoke the Father’s words, so the disciples spoke Jesus’ words.
·  Speaks to the chain of custody of God’s word we have so often discussed.

So Jesus speaks of the word as something that is:
·  Kept (vs. 6)
·  Received (vs. 8)
·  Given (vv. 8, 14)
·  Truth (vs. 17)

And this kept, received, given and true word has the power to:
·  Complete Christ’s joy in believers (vs. 13)
·  Sanctify believers (vs. 17)
·  Call the given to believe (vs. 20)


So what is the word of God that can be kept, received, given and is truth?
And how does the word of God have the power to:
·  Complete Christ’s joy in believers?
·  Sanctify believers?
·  Call the given to believe?


1) WHAT IS THE WORD?

We are going to briefly look at three things that are considered to be the word.
·  (1) Word of God as OT and NT Scripture
·  (2) Word of God as the Gospel
·  (3) Word of God as Jesus Christ

(1) Word of God as OT and NT Scripture:
The Baptist Faith and Message says the following about Scripture:
·  “The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation” – Baptist Faith and Message.

Examples of Word of God as OT Scripture:
·   5:1–5 (ESV) — 1 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 4 The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, 5 while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord
o   The giving of the 10 Commandments and the Law on Mt. Sinai.
·  Jeremiah 1:9 (ESV) — 9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
o   The proclamation of prophecy.
·  Zechariah 7:12 (ESV) — 12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts.
o   The words of the law and prophets as the “words” that God “sent by his Spirit”.

Examples of Word of God as NT Scripture:
·  1 Corinthians 14:37 (ESV) — 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.
·  1 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV) — 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
·  1 Timothy 5:17–18 (ESV) — 17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
o   The first quote Paul references is Deuteronomy 25:4.
o   However, curiously, the second quote comes word-for-word from Luke 10:7.
o   Notice that Paul refers to both as “Scripture says”.
·  2 Peter 3:15–16 (ESV) — 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
o   Remarkably, Peter explicity implies that Paul’s letters are Scripture.
o   Paul’s letters, Peter says, are twisted by the “ignorant and unstable” just like the “ignorant and unstable” twist “the other Scriptures”.

BTW – We have just seen examples of how Scripture is self-attesting.
·  It makes claims about its own divine origins.
·  Issues relating to the reliability of these claims as well as the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture are a separate issue from today’s lesson.
·  To read more on this subject read “TheReliability of Scripture” paper from Deeper Life.

(2) Word of God as Gospel:
Some examples of this claim:
·  Mark 1:14–15 (ESV) — 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
·  Acts 18:28 (ESV) — 28 for he [Apollos] powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
·  Philippians 1:14 (ESV) — 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
·  1 Corinthians 15:1–11 (ESV) — 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
o   Most believe this to be the oldest creedal statement of Christendom.
o   It demonstrates that within a handful of years after Jesus’ departure the Gospel centered on the historicity of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
o   And that the truth of these events could be verified by the many witnesses.

(3) Word of God as Jesus:
·  There is no doubt that the NT referred to Jesus as the “Word of God”.
·  John’s Gospel has the most famous example of this belief.
·  But he wasn’t the only one in the NT to make this claim.

NT Examples of Jesus as the Word of God:
·  John 1:1 (ESV) — 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
·  John 1:14 (ESV) — 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
·  Hebrews 1:2 (ESV) — 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
·  Revelation 19:13 (ESV) — 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

But what of the OT, did it also speak of God as the Word?

OT Examples of Jesus as the Word of God:
·  Genesis 15:1–6 (ESV) — 1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
o   Here we have “the word of the Lord” first coming to Abram in a vision.
o   Then “the word of the Lord came to him” and actually “brought him outside” and spoke to Abram.
o   And then we see that Abram believed in the “word of the Lord” as “the LORD”, YHWH.
·  Genesis 1:3–26 (ESV) — 3 And God said…
o   The word of God is associated with creation some 8 times.
·  Psalm 33:6 (ESV) — 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
·  1 Samuel 3:21 (ESV) — 21 And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.  

As we discussed last week, the OT contains what are called theophanies.
·  The Jews would consider these appearances a Yahweh godhead – known as the coregent of the divine council:
o   The Angel of Yahweh
o   The Wisdom of God
o   The Name of God
o   And now we see the Word of God.
·  And post-Jesus, we see these as clear appearances of Jesus Christ.
·  The “Word of God” who took His right place seated at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1)

Summary:
So in answer to our question – what is the word of God – we see that it includes:
·  (1) The OT and NT Scriptures.
·  (2) The Gospel
·  (3) Jesus Christ.

It is the word in these forms that is truth, and that is to be received, kept and given.
·  BTW – What are ways these things are done with the word of God as just described?

But what of the second question we raised.
·  How does the word of God have the power to:
o   Complete Christ’s joy in believers?
o   Sanctify believers?
o   Call the given to believe?
·  We will get to this final question next week.


2) TRUST IN THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD

We need to make an important comment concerning the word of God as truth.
·  It should come as no surprise that the extent of our trust in the word of God is ground zero for much of Satan’s attacks and our failures.
·  Scripture has two stories to illustrate for us this fact.
·  One ended in failure and one ended in success.

(1) The Fall
·  Genesis 3:1 (ESV) — 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
·  They bought into the serpent’s interpretation of the facts instead of Gods as declared by His word.
·  Instead of “Right Thinking”, they had “Stinking Thinking”.
·  And as a result, death entered into the world and they were shut out of the garden.

(2) Jesus’ Temptation
·  But Jesus set a different example for us.
·  Matthew 4:3–4 (ESV) — 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
·  Two more times “the tempter” sought to challenge God’s word and shake Jesus’ trust in it.
·  But unlike Adam and Eve, Jesus could not be swayed from trusting in the truth.
·  He ended the temptation with these words, “…it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (vs. 10).

Why is it so hard for us to trust in the truth and promises of the word of God?
·  Isn’t our lack of trust tantamount to calling God a liar?
·  We have just seen that Jesus calls the word truth!
·  Doesn’t our lack of trust impede our work in sanctification and our witnessing?
·  For example, Scripture makes it clear that we are no longer slaves to sin, yet we far too often treat sin as our master instead of our vanquished foe.