That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. I want to draw your attention
especially to that last phrase, the word of life. And who and
what the word of life is. We read of the word in several
places in the scriptures. But obviously here, this is not
maybe a written word which is spoken of, but this is a living
word, the word of life. This is a person. Christ. But we know that the word of
life and the word of God is made known in several ways. We have
the written word, the scriptures. We have that word which is preached
and which is spoken. And we have of course here, that
which is called the word of life or the word of God, a person.
Firstly, we have the scriptures. In the first of our readings
in Hebrews from chapter one we read about the scriptures. We
read about God's speech of old. We read about both the scriptures
and his speech of old. Hebrews chapter one and verse
one read, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his son. whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. God, who at
sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets. Before the coming of Christ,
before these last days, when God would speak unto us by his
Son, by the Son, by the word of God, by the living word, Before
the coming of Christ in the gospel, we read that God at sundry times
and in diverse manners in various places at various times in various
ways, spake unto man, spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets. God had dealings with mankind
throughout the ages. He spake unto mankind, he made
his will known, he made his truth known. And he sent forth his
word in various ways, he spake to various men and various prophets
and he sent forth his word by those prophets and by those who
would declare and preach his word. Moses spake the word of
God, David spake the word of God, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. All the various prophets which
we have recorded in the scriptures all brought the word of God.
We read in various places of the different prophets that they
heard the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord came unto
them and said. The word of the Lord came unto
me and said. And they've left us this record
of what the Lord said unto them of the prophecies which were
given to them. And others have written a record
of those events and those accounts of God's dealings with his people
throughout the ages. And this record has been written
down in the scriptures, and we have this written down in the
scriptures, collected together in the entirety of 39 books in
the Old Testament, 27 in the New, 66 in total, which God has
been pleased to gather together, although written by numerous
authors, numerous prophets. He's collected it together as
a record of his word, So we see here that we have the scriptures,
we have the word of God, the written word. And the written
word of God is all inspired by God. It was all declared by God,
spoken by God, revealed by God to his various prophets, various
preachers, the apostles in the New Testament. All holy men who
were moved by God to write down the things which he spoke unto
them. to write down those truths which He declared unto them,
and to write down those accounts of those dealings which He had
throughout history, throughout the times and the seasons of
His dealings with His people of Israel, and the nation of
Israel coming up to the coming of Christ. Those dealings and
events which occurred in the Gospels, when Christ walked upon
this earth, when that living Word of God came into this world. and declared unto his people
the truth of God in person. All these things were recorded
in the scriptures. All the word of God, all spoken
by God and all recorded and written down in a written word. And indeed
this word of God, these 66 books of the Bible are called the word
of God. But these are the written word
of God. They're inspired, they're spoken They're authoritative,
they are God's word, they are a written record of his word
and of his dealings with men. They are written. As we read
in 2 Timothy and 3 16 of the scriptures, we read that all
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. All is given by inspiration of
God. All is true. All is at God's
hand. These are not the words of merely
men. These are not the myths and writings
and collected tales of various tales passed down from various
people. All gathered together, all various
writings and wisdom of men. But these are the inspired writings
of God. These are the words of God given
to His holy prophets which they have been instructed to write
down, and which God has preserved and collected together as the
entire scriptures, and which he has preserved throughout thousands
of years, and preserved to our very day. These are writings
unlike any other. Many speak of there being many
religions in this world, as though all religions are equal. And
they speak of the holy books of these other religions, they
speak of the Quran and the other scriptures, the other writings
which the other religions have. But if ever these writings are
actually examined and compared to the Bible, to the scriptures,
to the word of God, they will be found to be wanted. No other
writings on this earth are comparable to the Word of God that we have
in the Scriptures. The unity which is found in the
Scriptures, the truthfulness of the Scriptures, the wisdom
of the Scriptures, the poetry, the light, the insight. The way
all Scriptures have been fulfilled, all the Old Testament promises
concerning the coming of Christ have been fulfilled in the coming
of Christ and fulfilled in the Gospels and the New Testament
writings. The amazing way how the writings
and the record of those who lived thousands of years before the
coming of Christ, what they wrote of him, came to be true, came
to be fulfilled to the letter. when David in spirit wrote of
the coming of Christ in the Psalms, when he wrote of the sufferings
and travail of Christ in the 22nd or in the 40th Psalm, when
he was told those things by the Spirit of God, of the Saviour
who would come, that Saviour who he never lived to see, who
would come hundreds of years after the time at which he wrote.
All these things were fulfilled to the letter, And if you read
the Gospels and the accounts of the crucifixion, these Old
Testament writings written by so many different prophets, written
by the Psalmist, by David, written by Isaiah, written by Hosea,
these various writings are all quoted, and they are quoted to
the letter, and the people who crucified Christ, the soldiers,
the scribes, the Pharisees, all these different events which
took place, enacted those prophecies which were written hundreds and
thousands of years before the coming of Christ. The scriptures
are not only true, but they have a truthfulness and a clarity
and an authority which is found in none other writings upon this
world. For these are God's words. He
spake them, He proclaimed them, He prophesied the coming of Christ
and when Christ came He fulfilled that which was prophesied. They
have an authority and a weight unlike any other writings. And the Old Testament Scriptures
pointed to the coming of Christ. They pointed to Him who was not
merely the truth. Not merely the fulfillment of
that written word and that spoken word of God by the prophets.
But He who is the living word. He who is the embodiment of the
word of God. He who is the word of God, the
word of life. Yea, the scriptures which God
has left us with, the scriptures which have written down those
words which he spake by his prophets in diverse places, in various
manners. These scriptures declare the
creation of the world, the creation of mankind upon this world. They
declare the fall and the rebellion of man against his maker. They
declare his ruin and his lost condition. They declare his state
before God and the eternal destiny of all mankind outside of God's
mercy. They declare his ruin. They declare
his darkness. They declared the oncoming judgment
of God and the wrath of God against all the darkness and depravity
of man in his fallen state, in his state and sin. They declared
God's dealings with his chosen nation, Israel. They declared
all those promises, all those types and figures which were
given to them, throughout the hundreds of years, throughout
their captivity in Egypt, when the nation when the children
of Israel, those 12 sons of Jacob, went down to follow Joseph into
Egypt, and when they multiplied in Egypt and became a mighty
nation, and when God brought them out of Egypt and called
them his people, and brought them out by the hand of Moses
and brought them into the wilderness, and when he gave them the priesthood,
when he gave them the law, the tabernacle, when he gave them
the Levitical priesthood and all the types and the figures
which would point to him and his saviour and the coming of
Christ the Redeemer. All these are set forth in the
scriptures, all God's dealings with Israel as he brought them
out of Egypt, as he led them through the wilderness, as he
led them by the hands of Joshua across Jordan and into the promised
land, as he went forth before his people and took them, brought
them into Canaan as he fought their battles before them and
gave them that land which he had promised them. All the dealings
with that people in their waywardness after the death of Joshua, after
the coming in of the judges, after the eventual appointment
of a king to lead them and after the various kings which were
raised up to lead Israel, after their being taken into captivity
in Babylon, After they're being brought back from captivity.
After they're being brought into captivity at the hand of Rome.
All the dealings of God by sending the prophets to such a people
in their continual turning from Him. And in their eventual being
brought in under the rule of Rome, under the might of Rome. And that time when God would
be pleased. After many years, after much
waiting. after many prophecies of His
coming, when God would be pleased to send forth Christ, the Redeemer,
the Messiah, into this dark world, unto this nation, which has had
so many dealings and so many blessings at the hand of God,
and yet had turned time and time again against its own God, time
and time again away from God, away from His true worship, when
this nation of Israel had turned away and away and away, At long
last God would send forth that saviour, that messiah. All these things are in the scriptures.
All these things of his dealings with his people, of his sending
forth Moses to that people to bring them out of captivity,
of his giving the law of God to that people through the hands
of a mediator Moses to prove the people. of their being proved
as a people to be guilty before God, as the breakers of God's
law, as those who were bound by sin and captive to sin. And
not only were Israel guilty before the law of God, but in type and
figure that law proved the whole world guilty before God. God
gave that law to prove all mankind to be in darkness and all mankind
to be guilty before him. and all in need of that one who
would come, that one who was prophesied, that one of whom
the prophets spake in times past, and that one who in his last
days God has spoken by his son. The scriptures declare all these
things, and they declare them in authority and in truth, for
they are true and they have been born out to be true. All that
they said of the coming of Christ, of the coming of the Word of
God into this world have been shown to be true. For the scriptures
not only declare God's dealings with Israel, and they not only
declare the giving of the law by the hand of Moses, but they
declare Christ in his gospel. They declare his gospel. And
that Christ, that Saviour, that Son of God declared in the Gospel,
that Messiah who was promised, came, He came into this world,
He came a Saviour of sinners, He came bringing salvation, He
came as the mighty conqueror, as the anointed, God sent forth
His Son to save His people, He came. and the Scriptures make
him known. The Word of God, the written
Word of God, make him known. The Gospels make him known. The
Old Testament Scriptures which pointed to him, make him known.
The New Testament Epistles make him known. The Scriptures, the
Word of God, make him known. They make known the Saviour,
the Messiah, His salvation, They make known His death on the cross
as a substitute for His people, as a substitute for those who
turned against Him, as a substitute for sinners. They make Him known,
the Saviour of sinners, as a substitute for sinners, for sinners like
me, for sinners like you, the substitute, the Saviour. of those
who are guilty, those who are wayward, those undeserving, lost
rebels that deserve nothing but the judgment of God, but who
in Christ find nothing but the mercy and the love of God. Yes, the written word That word
which was made known by God as he spake by the prophets. That
word which was set as pen and ink to paper. That word which
was written down. All speak of the coming of Christ. But it's not good enough to have
the written word of God alone. God has been pleased to preserve
this word. Pleased to preserve it for the
last 2,000 years in its entirety since the close of the New Testament. Pleased to preserve it for the
hundreds of years even before the onset of the printing press. In the 1500s, we take it for
granted that we have printed books in our day and age. Printed
books, it's multiplied by the number, they're so easy to come
by. But God preserved this word for 1,500 years before the printing
press. And he preserved it for thousands
of years as the scribes passed down the Hebrew words, as the
Masoretic scribes would pass it down by oral tradition originally. And eventually it was written
down. God preserved this word through the ages. And he's given
it to us today. It's preserved even though mankind
rails against it, even though man in our day would scoff at
it. and would seek to set it aside
and would discredit it. Nevertheless, we have it. Nevertheless,
it's been preserved for us. But this word of God in the written
word is not good enough. It's not good enough to make
you wise unto salvation. It has the truth. It is the scriptures,
it is the word of God, the record of what he has said, it is truth
in itself. But if it's just the word on
the page which you have, you'll never know Christ. If it's only
the written word which you have, and if it remains just written
word which go into the intellect, you'll never know what it is
to know the living word. Something else must be done with
this word to make it living word, to make it real, to bring you
to Christ. Yes, we have the written word,
but God takes this word and he makes it known not just as words
upon a page, but as those words which are spoken, as those words
which come in power into the hearing of his people. This word
must not just be written, it must be preached. When God first
made his word known by the prophets, They did not at first come with
a written word. They did not just send out a
book which they gave to the people. But they came preaching. They
came declaring what God has spoken unto them. They came declaring
a message in power and in forcefulness, with vigor. They came with a
spoken and a preached word. They came declaring orally that
which God had spoken. They came as the prophets to
the people with a vital message which the people needed to hear.
And they stood up before the people. And they said, thus saith
the Lord God of hosts. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Listen, hearken unto him, hear
the word of the Lord. They came and they preached the
word. If they brought the word of God
in the scriptures, they didn't merely read it, but they took
it up and they preached it. And they demanded the attention
of the people that they should hear the word of the Lord as
a message, not just upon the page, but as a word which they
needed to hear that day, a word which concerned them, a word
which was vital to them in their condition at that time, they
preached. The word must be preached. And today the gospel and the
word of God is not just given to us as a book, not just given
to us as something which we can go to, which we can choose to
pick up and read when it suits us, when we feel interested,
when we have a bit of time to turn to the book and to inquire
and to wonder what it contains. But God sends forth His Word
into this dark and evil world, into the corners of this world.
He sends it forth as that which is preached. He sends forth a
preacher. He sends forth a preacher to
seek out His sheep, to seek out His people, where'er they may
be. And He takes this Word which is in the Scriptures, and He
gives it to the preacher, and He puts it upon the preacher's
lips, As with Isaiah and Nicol, which was taken off the fire,
which was put upon his lips, which he was sent forth to preach.
God gives his preachers a message to preach. And he sends forth
his preachers to seek out that which was lost, to seek out the
lost sheep of Israel, to seek out his people with a message,
to seek them out with this message of salvation in Jesus Christ,
in his gospel. To seek out that which is lost
with that which is living. To seek out that which is dead
with that word of God which is living and abideth forever, which
endureth and abideth forever. To bring that living word, that
word of life to those people who dwell in darkness and in
death. He brings the word to save those
whom he would bring to life. For truly God uses the foolishness
of preaching to save those that believe. As we read in 1 Corinthians
in chapter 1, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save those that believe. Not the foolishness of reading,
not the intellect of man as he seeks out the meaning of the
scriptures, but God takes those scriptures, takes those truths
which he has preserved for us in his scriptures and he gives
it to his preachers to declare by the Spirit of God in power,
to bring it forth as a word which men must hear, that they hearing
might believe, that they hearing might be granted faith and that
with faith they might understand and comprehend and believe that
gospel which is preached unto them. You must hear the gospel. You must hear the gospel. And
this gospel must be preached. Yes, there's the written word,
but there's also the preached word. That which comes in power,
that which comes by the preached word. For the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. Paul writes in Romans 1 and verse
16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Yes, the gospel
is the power of God unto salvation and the gospel as we read in
1 Corinthians 1 is preached. This power of God, Christ, the
power of God, is preached. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Now Christ is the power
of God. But Christ is made known in his
gospel, which is also called the power of God. And Christ
is preached by that gospel. Why? For none other reason than
that it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that
believe. For surely if it pleased God,
he could use the scriptures alone. He could put the scriptures before
a man and just let people read the scriptures and save them.
If it pleased God, he could come upon a man without the scriptures
and bring a man to life. But God's way is to send forth
the truth of those scriptures by the gospel as it's preached
by those whom he sends forth. and by those by whom he speaks
by his Spirit. For he will have the glory in
salvation, and he brings the glory to himself in saving sinners,
by taking that which is utterly unglorious, by taking that which
is utterly foolish in the sight of men, by taking that which
is weak and foolish and base and nothing, by taking a foolish,
blind, dark fool of a man, and bringing him out of the depths
of depravity, taking him as the beggar off a dunghill, and revealing
Christ under him, and saving him by grace. Taking a nothing,
taking a fool, taking a man whom the world looks upon and scoffs
at, taking one who is not wise, one who is not clever, one who
is not bright, one who is not an intellect. taking a fool and
revealing Christ to him, and then sending forth such a man
to preach the gospel, and to preach it in the power of the
Spirit, that sinners might be saved. And by taking such a word
by such a man, there's no glory to the man, no glory to that
preacher, for there's nothing in him to be able to present
the word. But there's everything in the
word presented. for the glory and the power is in the gospel
which he brings. And the power is not in the man
to bring it, but in the gospel, and in the power of God as he
declares that gospel by the Spirit. Yes, the word of God has been
given to us in the scriptures, but the word of God is preached.
The word of God is preached. In 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter
1, We read that by the word of God
we are born, born again. By nature we are dead. And no
man can see the kingdom of God except he is born again. As John's
gospel records in chapter three, as Christ said to Nicodemus,
you cannot see the kingdom of God except you be born again.
By nature you're blind to the things of God. You can pick up
the scriptures. Nicodemus knew the scriptures.
He had the scriptures of the Old Testament. He should have
known who Christ was when he came, but except he'd be born
again, he could not see. He could not see who this was
who stood before him. And except you'd be born again,
you cannot see the kingdom of God. So you must be born again. And to be born again is not something
which we can do. To be born again is not something
which we choose. You can no more be born again
by the Spirit of God than you could choose to be born when
you were born as a physical being upon this earth. You have no
more part to play in the new birth than you did when you were
born of your parents. You were born, you were conceived,
because seed came to seed, because mother came to father, and because
A child was conceived and a child was born. It happened to you
and you were brought forth as a living creature into this world. Always outside, always because
of your parents. And if ever you were brought
to be born again of God, ever you were brought to be born again
of the Spirit, to not only hear the Word of God as it's preached,
or read the Word of God as it is declared in the Scriptures,
but to be given that new life and that new faith that you hear
spiritually and you see and you see the Kingdom of God, that
you're born again of the Spirit if ever you be born again. It's
not of your will. It's not of your doing. It's
not of your decision. It's because God is pleased to
bring you unto life. God is pleased to take a dead
sinner and breathed life into him as he took Adam off the dust
of the earth and breathed life into him, then a sinner is brought
to life. It's of God's doing, it's of
the Spirit. And we read in 1 Peter of this
new birth, that it says in 1 Peter 1 and verse 23, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. by the word
of God which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as
grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of
the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. It's preached, you must be born
again. And it's by the Word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever, which you will be born again.
And that Word of God, which lives and abides forever, is not just
the Scriptures upon the page, but it's those Scriptures as
they are made living by the Spirit. It's those Scriptures as they
are in Jesus Christ, the living Word. And Christ is preached. and he's made known by the gospel,
this word which by the gospel is preached unto you. The word
is preached. You see, the written word can
lie upon the page, detached from us. We can pick it up, we can
read it, we can put it down. The choice is ours. But when
a preacher comes to us bringing God's word, he comes to us He
comes into our hearing. The activity is on the part of
the preacher and him who sent him. He comes into our presence
and he comes with a word that commands our attention, that
demands our hearing. We're called upon to listen to
it, and we're called upon to listen there and then. No longer
can we take it or leave it. No longer can we be the one that
chooses when to come and pick up the words, but the words come
to us. And when God the Spirit takes
those words and preaches them with power unto us, they're sent
to us as his words, as those to whom God will speak. And by
those words, he demands the attention of the hearer, and he sounds
an alarm, and he blasts the trumpet, God sends forth a preacher with
his word to seek out his sheep. He goes to them where those sheep
are hiding, to search them out, to find them out. The Spirit
goes forth with this word and he goes forth with the preacher
to find those to whom that preacher should preach. And when the Spirit
goes looking, he finds what he's looking for. When the Spirit
goes finding, he finds What he's looking for, he finds it out. He finds that lost sheep, he
finds him where'er he be and he finds him out. He not only
finds him but he finds him out. He turns the rebel upside down
and inside out. He comes with a word which breaks
him, a word which cuts him, a word which sounds an alarm, a word
which brings him to his knees. He comes with the word of God,
and he preaches the word to him, and he preaches Christ to him.
Oh yes, this message of salvation must be preached, and it must
be heard. And when it really is preached,
then it's true of that word as Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians
1 and verse 5. It's true of that word that this
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and
in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. For you see, you not
only must read the word in the Scriptures, you not only must
hear that word preached by a preacher, but it must come not just in
man's words, not just by the words of the preacher, but it
must come by the Spirit of God, It must come in power and in
the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. It must be the Spirit of God
who preaches, and He must apply it. He must apply it to your
heart. He must apply it to the hearts
of dead sinners. And by applying it, He must quicken
those dead sinners unto life. For it's by this word that dead
sinners are born again. This word, this living word,
these words of life, dead sinners must hear, they need to hear.
This is the only word which can bring the dead to life. And when
they do hear, when the dead hear, the dead hear the voice of the
Son of God and they live. They live. They hear words which
are living. They hear not only the words
that are written, Not only the words which are preached, but
they heard the words which are living. They heard those words
which are living, they heard the living word. The word of
God. Not only the written word of
God, not just the preached word of God, but the word of God. The word of life, the living
word. For you see, there is a word
which is living. Which is living, words which
bring life. Not just written words, not just
man's words, as a preacher brings the words of men, but living
words, the word of God, that word which is testified to by
the written word, which is declared by the preached word, but that
word which is embodied as a man, as the son of God, as the living
word, as the word of life. This word is living, the logos,
the Christ, the Word, the Word of Life. As John 1 says, In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. In Him was Life, and the Life
was the Light of Man. Logos, the Word, the Word of
God, Logos in the Greek, this word means Word, meaning, reason,
purpose. It's not just the word that conveys
what we would think of as words. There's more to Logos than that.
Logos conveys meaning, conveys reason, conveys purpose. Christ is the word of God, the
speech of God, but he's also the reason of God. He's also
the meaning of God. He's also the purpose of God.
People today ask what the meaning of life is. What the purpose
of life is. What are we here for? Well, God
has declared to man what the reason for life is, what the
meaning of life is, what the purpose of life is. Christ is
the meaning of life. Christ is the purpose. He is
God's purpose. He's the purpose of life. He's
the very reason for the existence of this world. He's the very
reason for the existence of mankind. He's the very reason that you
are here today. He's the only reason that you
have life today. He's the only reason that you
have been given breath this very morning. He's the only reason
that you have been spared another day. Christ is the only reason
that this world exists. He is the purpose of this world,
the reason of this world. This world and mankind is put
here for Christ, for His glory, for the salvation of His people
for whom He died, and for the destruction of those wicked who
will have none of Him and none of His ways, that God might be
just and might be right and just in the declaration of His justice,
in saving those whom He would save, and judging those whom
He would judge. Christ is the purpose, Christ
is the reason, Christ is the Word of God. Do you know Him? For we must know Him, He is all. All is for Christ, all is by
Christ, all is in Christ. We must know Him, we must hear
Him, we must hear His Word, we must hear the Word of Life. The
Word of God, the Word of Him who died, Him who rose again,
that the dead might hear, and that hearing His voice they might
live. For the hour is coming and now
is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live. Are you dead this day? Are you
dark this day? Are you in darkness and rebellion? Are you dead in trespasses and
sins? Or have you heard the voice of
the Son of God in his gospel? You may have read the Word of
God in the Scriptures, you may have heard the preaching of the
Word of God in the Gospel by the lips of a preacher, but have
you heard the Word of Life in Christ? Have you heard the voice
of the Son of God? Well, the hour is coming, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. Have you heard him? Have you
heard his voice, his word, the word? Well you won't hear him
apart from the written and the preached word. Christ is not
made known in the abstract, he's the word of God, the logos, the
living word, the word of life, It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. This is the word, the
living word, the word which liveth and abideth forever. This is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. The living
word is made known. Christ must be made known. The
living word must be made known. He must be heard. He must be
comprehended. Therefore he is preached. and
he is preached from the written word. You cannot know Christ
the word apart from the word. The word is made known through
his word. John chapter one, 1 Peter chapter
one, these verses where we read of the word of God, the word
of God being made known, the word of God living and abiding
forever, being born again by the word of God, the Word of
God enduring forever, the Word being preached by the Gospel,
all these verses that speak of the Word of God and the Word
of Life, though in certain cases they speak particularly of Christ
as the Living Word, all link together the written and the
preached Word with the Living Word. For if ever we are to know
the Living Word, if ever we are to know the Word of Life, We
will know him through the Scriptures and through the Gospel. We will
know him by the preaching of the Gospel and by the hearing
of the Gospel. Whether we hear this Gospel by
a preacher, whether we read the truth of it upon the pages of
the Scriptures and the Spirit point us to Christ, or whether
as in the exceptional case like Saul upon the road to Damascus
when he was brought to his knees and he heard a voice from heaven
and he saw a light shining from heaven and he heard the voice
of the son of god calling down to him from heaven nevertheless
paul heard christ speak and he heard christ speak in the gospel
and he heard the truth of the gospel by the very words of christ
christ is made known by his word he's not known in the abstract
He's not merely some force, some experience, or some sensation. Some people may speak of coming
to know Christ, of having some wonderful experience, of having
some wonderful charismatic experience. Oh, they knew such peace in their
hearts. They had such a power come upon
them. But they divorce such experience
from the truth of the gospel. And God's word and the truth
of the gospel is not divorced. Christ is not made known but
by his gospel. He is the power of God. And the
gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. He is
preached and he is made known by his word. He must be made
known for he is the way, the truth, and the life. And as such,
as the truth, he's conveyed by truth. He's God's speech, God's
message to mankind. He's made known by words. He's
made known by truths. He's made known by a knowledge
of him in doctrinal terms. He's made known by the gospel.
Christ the truth is conveyed. He's conveyed, he's conveyed
by words, by the gospel, by the spirit. The preacher may come
and the preacher may hold forth the word of life. as we read
in Philippians 2 verse 16. But that word must be made known
by the Spirit. The preacher comes and preaches
the word of life in the gospel, but he must be made known by
the Spirit. This knowledge of Christ is not just in the head,
it must penetrate the heart. It must penetrate the heart. Has this word penetrated your
heart? as it penetrated your heart. Hebrews 4.12 tells us that the
word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of
the joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. This Word penetrates the heart,
it quickens, it comes in like a sword, it finds you out. Has
it come to you? Has the Word of God, the Living
Word, come to you? Have you been laid bare before
God? The Gospel, the Word of God,
is made known unto us. by the preaching of that gospel,
by the preaching of the gospel, by the Spirit, but it will bring
us to our knees. If we ever really hear Christ
in the gospel, we'll be brought to our knees, because it will
come and it will convict, and it will break us down and it
will bring us low. It puts us in the dust, in need
of cleansing, in need of newness of life, in need of righteousness. And in so doing, when the gospel
comes in power, Bringing us to our knees it makes known unto
us the One who is Truth, the One who is the Word of Life,
the One who is Life. It makes known unto us the One
who is Righteousness. It points the guilty sinner to
his cross, it points him to Calvary, it points him to Golgotha, it
points the sinner broken by the by the law, broken by the word
of God, broken by the hammer of the word of God. It brings
that broken sinner, that broken and contrite sinner who cries
out to mercy, it brings him to the foot of the cross and it
points him to the travails and the sufferings of that one who
died upon a cross for his people. It points him to that one who
was nailed to the cross, that he might save the guilty, that
he might save the wayward, that he might save the weak, the blind,
the lost. It points him to his wounds.
It points him to his hands and to his feet. It points him to
his side. It points him to that blood flowing
from his side for guilty sinners. It points the sinners to the
righteousness of God accomplished in the death of Christ. It points
him to the righteousness which is made known by that blood,
to that righteousness which was satisfied and established. It
points the sinner to salvation. It points the sinner to Christ.
It points the sinner to the Saviour. It points the child of God, those
who were brought to be born again by the Spirit. It points such
whom God is pleased to show His mercy to. It points such to Him
who first loved us. that we may love him. For God
commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us, us, his people. Are you one of that us? Are you
one of his people, one for whom he died, one for whom he suffered,
travailed? Do you know him? Do you know
the gospel? Have you heard him? Have you
heard this One who is the Word of Life? Have you by faith have
you seen Him? Have you by faith looked upon
Him? Have you by faith handled Him,
the Word of Life? For that which we have seen and
heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with
us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son Jesus Christ, the Word of Life. Amen.