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We are living in a world of death, dissolution, and decay. This old earth is a veritable charnel
house. "Change and decay in all around I see." Man is no exception. "It is appointed unto men
once to die" (Heb. 9:27). "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (Jas. 4:14).
"Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble" (Job 14:1). "The days of our years
are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their
strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away" (Psa. 90:10). We are
here today, but gone tomorrow. "But truly as the Lord liveth...there is but a step between me
and death" (1 Sam. 20:3).
But thanks be to God that in the midst of all this death and decay there is something that is not dead, nor will it ever die. "For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). "But the word of the Lord endureth forever" (1 Pet. 1:25). "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matt. 24:35). The word of God is living, active and powerful! In second Kings five, we have an account of a man who learned this great lesson. Naaman was captain of the host of the king of Syria. He was a great and honourable man, but the record says he was a leper. He had an incurable disease. The Syrians had gone out to the land of Israel and brought back captives. Among them was a little maid who waited on Naaman's wife. This little girl said unto her mistress, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy." Finally, the king of Syria fitted Naaman out with fine horses, a chariot, ten talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment, and sent him to the land of Israel. The king of Syria wrote a letter to the king of Israel. He wrote to the wrong fellow! How many today go to the wrong source for their spiritual light? The little maid had not directed him to the king of Israel, but to the prophet of God. When Naaman presented himself to the king, the king was wroth. He thought the king of Syria was seeking a quarrel against him. But Naaman did at last contact Elisha, the man of God, and this old prophet told him how to get rid of his leprosy. The cure was simple. In fact, it was too simple for the "great" man from Syria. It filled him with wrath. He was told to go to the Jordan River and dip himself seven times and he would be clean. He was indeed mad at this, but his servants eventually persuaded him to obey. He dipped seven times and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Where did the virtue lie? Was it in the waters of Jordan? We all know that it was not. The virtue was in his obedience to the word of God. "The word of God is quick and powerful." When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he learned the lesson of the power of the written word. At every turn Jesus met the devil's temptations with the simple statement, "It is written." So ought we to meet the temptations that confront us along life's pathway. In fact, in no other way can we successfully overcome the devil. In John 9 we have an account of Jesus opening the eyes of a blind man. How did he do it? Here is what the divine, inspired record says: "He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing." What opened his eyes? Was the virtue in the spittle? Was it in the clay? Was it in the waters of Siloam? We all know it inhered in the word of God. The virtue was in obedience to this word. Again, we must say, "The word of God is quick and powerful." In the latter part of the fourth chapter of Mark we have a description of an awful storm on old Galilee. Jesus was with the disciples in a ship. He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, when the storm broke. The disciples awakened Him and said unto Him, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" The record further says, "And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." What stilled the wind and the sea? Where was the power? Of course, it was in the word of the Lord. It is no wonder the disciples, "feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" Again, we say, "The word of God is quick and powerful." In John 11, we have the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus was not there when he died, but He came after Lazarus had been dead four days. He and the sisters of Lazarus, and others, went out to the grave. The grave was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus had this stone rolled away. After this, He had his little prayer to the Father. Then He cried with a loud voice, saying, "Lazarus, come forth." Lazarus came forth. Wherein was the power? We all agree it was in the word of God. You have stood by the side of your dead and talked to them, but there was no response in any way. But when God talks to the dead, there is a response. The same power that called Lazarus from the grave will raise the teeming millions at the last day. We hear Jesus saying this in John 5:28-29: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Before leaving this world, Jesus gave a plan for making Christians. It is simple and plain. Of necessity it must be this way to suit all classes of the human family. It is too plain to be misunderstood. Let us read it: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:16). The gospel preachers of those early days had no trouble in understanding this. They went out and preached that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. People heard and believed the gospel. On the birthday of the church (Acts 2) the gospel was preached, folks heard it and believed it, and in answer to the question, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" They were told to "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins..." (Acts 2:37-38). The record goes on to say, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized." It made them Christians. Nothing else under God's sun will do it. "The word of God is quick and powerful." |