Benefits of the Son of God no. 30
The inherent power of the Word
Sunday -
Rev. Brian Kocourek
The twenty ninth benefit or promise of God to us
concerning our believing in His Son is that we are given power to overcome the
temptation of sin, but as an obedient son will only do the Father’s will. We
will take our text from
Matthew 4: 3 And when the tempter came to him,
he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these
stones be made bread.
Matthew 4: 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is
written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands
they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Luke 4: 9 And he brought him to Jerusalem,
and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If
thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
I JOHN 3:9 Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin; (the actual Greek tells us
here that Whosoever
is born of God doth not initiate sin or acts of unbelief) for (God’s) seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God. Now, notice here that we are told that one that is born
of God cannot initiate sin, because he is born of God and God’s Seed remaineth in him. Now, the Law of reproduction in Genesis
We have an expression that
says, “if it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, an
quacks like a duck, it’s got to be a duck.” Why? Because God set the law of
reproduction in order when He brought forth His creation and, “every seed must
bring forth after its kind.”
Hat is why we are told in II PETER 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God, and of Jesus our Lord, Notice then
that if you wish for grace and peace it will only come through the Knowledge of
God and Jesus Christ our Lord. Then if you shut out the knowledge of God from your
life, so too you shut out His Grace and Peace which surpasses all
understanding. Now, notice Peter continues in verse 3 According as his divine (now,
divine speaks of something that belongs to God, and it is speaking of God’s
power, or His Dunamis. The Greek definition says, “Inherent power, or power
residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, In
other words, it is the divine nature that exudes the ability or power and this
inherent) power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Now, we are told in Romans
And we know that since God
is the word then the spirit that Jesus was referring to is the Spirit of God,
and the life he referred to is the Life of God. For there is only one form of
Eternal Life and that is God’s own Life. And there is only one Spirit in which
we are all baptized into and that is the Spirit of God, which is His Holy
Spirit. And if you have received eternal Life it is
because you have received God’s very own Life and thus His very own nature into
your soul. And notice what it produces. 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness (which is God like ness),and notice how it all comes… through the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue:
Now, just think, the very
nature of God is imparted to us through His Word, and not just the word but the
Knowledge of Him. So we see the importance of knowing
Him. And then Peter continues in verse 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Now, notice here that we are by promise to receive the very nature of God
Himself. He said we are to be partakers of the divine nature. Now to be a
partaker means to share in this divine nature, and by this sharing in the
divine nature of God, we thus escape the corruption that is in the world
through lust which is the strong fleshly desires.
That means that the power of
the Seed and the nature of the life of the seed is more powerful than the one
in which the seed is placed. That is why Jesus using the same word describes
the nature of the seed in manifestation as a tree in Matthew chapter 7.
MATTHEW
And why is that? Because
every seed must bring forth after its nature and can not
bring forth other nature than what nature is in it by the life of the seed.
And he continued to say, 19 Every tree that
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Again we see the importance
of the nature within the seed in I JOHN
Martin Luther one time said,
“The devil will fly over you as a bird
does a tree, but just don’t let him nest.”
Now, the sad part is that
most people just simply do not believe God’s word, for if they truly believed
His word, they would come alive to his word for His word is Life. And if the Word
of God is not alive to you it is because you are not alive to It!
In JOHN 20:31 we read, But these are written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
through his name.
Notice we are told that we have life through
His name. and in fact that is because He is the author
of Life, and in Him was Life for He is the author of Life.
JOHN 17:3 And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent.
JOHN 20:30 And
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are
not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through
his name.
The Apostle Paul told us in EPHESIANS 2:1 ¶ And you hath he quickened, (Now this word
quicken means to make alive, and so we should read this as “and you hath He made to come alive”)
who were dead in
trespasses and sins; (now the word trespass means to go beyond the
limits or the boundaries and sin is unbelief, for the Scriptures tells us “of
sin for they believed not”) 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit (and
remember spirits have natures, so he is talking about the nature) that now worketh in
the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4
¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us(or made us to come
alive) together
with Christ, by grace ye are saved; 6 And hath raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come
he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should
boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (notice
here that Paul is telling us that there is a purpose to all this and that is
that we might walk and do the things that God has ordained for us to do.)11 ¶ Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by
hands; 12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh (near) by the blood of Christ. 14 ¶ For he is our
peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of
twain (two) one new man, so making peace; (and what were to
the twain or two that he is talking about? God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto Himself.)
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17And came and preached
peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For through
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
So you see it is by the
knowledge of Him that we are given Life to live out the very nature of the
Father and in fact are given access to the father as well.
And so
we can see how the word transforms the individual from a lifeless zombie like
creature with no hope of any future to one that is moved and motivated by the
very nature of God Himself in their own being.
ACTS 17:28 For in
him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own
poets have said, For we are also his
offspring. And that tells you that because you are His Seed or His Offspring you
therefore live and move. For he is he one that energizes
you.
ROMANS 7:5 For
when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work
(the Greek word
is energeo or energize) in our members to bring forth fruit unto
death. 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of
the letter. Now, this word work here was translated from the Greek
word energeo which is energy.
The fact is that unless God
place His Own Word into our souls, we will remain lifeless and without hope. Thus then the Word is an energy that feeds our soul with
strength and Life itself.
Let me read for you a few
Scriptures that speaks of this energy of God.
EPHESIANS
EPHESIANS 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to
us-ward who believe, according to the energizing of his mighty power, 20 Which
he energized in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his
own right hand in the heavenly [places],
EPHESIANS 3:7
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given
unto me by the energizing of his power.
EPHESIANS 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that
energizes in us, 21 Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
PHILIPPIANS 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the energy whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself.
PHILIPPIANS
COLOSSIANS 1:29 Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his
energy, which energizes in me mightily.
COLOSSIANS
I THESSALONIANS
JAMES 5:16 Confess
[your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
The energized fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much.
Now as we close
down our sermon, I want to show you how this energizing went to work on
one particular woman that met Jesus at the well. Now, as we read this let us
not think of just one woman here for when we see the Scripture pertain to a
woman it is always referring to the church whether a Bride or a whore, both examples refer to either the true church of the false
church. And also here we see this story told of how this particular woman meets
Jesus at the well, and I want you to notice how she is energized by His words
and thus transformed from a natural believer into a spiritual believer united
to the ministry of Christ by the Energy of God..
JOHN 4:5 Then
cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of
ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with [his] journey, sat thus
on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. (Now, I think it is
important here to note that this takes place at the sixth hour which six is the
number of man. ) 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: (Now,
notice that this woman represents the church and she is coming for water which
represents the Word. For we are washed in the washing of water by the Word. )Jesus saith unto her,
Give me to drink. 8 For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it
that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am
a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus
answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water. (Now, notice that
Jesus is letting her know that he is not just talking about water to drink but
of the Word of God. But she does not catch what he is telling her yet, for her
focus is not on the Word but on the physical water.) 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast
nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that
living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the
well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus
answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (Notice
how Jesus is offering this woman, this church the Word itself which is Life
Eternal and all she has to do is open her spiritual eyes to what he is telling
her. ) 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I
thirst not, neither come hither to draw. (Notice now that she has
caught what He is offering her and notice her response. She is not leery of
what this man is telling her, but she really wants this that is being offered
to her. Now, Jesus has caught her spirit, and so he begins to discern where her
problem lays. )16
Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman
answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou
hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he
whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst
thou truly. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a
prophet.
Now, Jesus has just got done
discerning her heart and she catches this discernment and says, Aha! I know
that you must be a prophet. And now she begins to ask this prophet a question
about worship. Notice she does not stand around and try to deny what he has
just discerned, but she readily admits that what he said is true and thus he is
a prophet and so she jumps right into the conversation and says, you know, I
have always been troubled by the difference between how we worship
and the Jews worshipped, so what is the right way to worship?
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye
say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith
unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not
what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour
cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in
spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to
worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth. Now, Jesus has just told this woman or church what the true worshipper
will do and he tells her that the true worshipper will
not only worship God in Spirit but in Truth. In other words, he is letting her
know that outside of Spirit and Truth you can not
worship God correctly no matter how much you profess you are worshipping Him. 25 The woman saith
unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he
is come, he will tell us all things.
Now, notice that she not
only recognizes that this man is a prophet but since he is a prophet he will
know about the presence of God and how that God will anoint a man with a gift
to discern the very secrets and intents of the hearts and in this God will
identify His Presence among man through this anointed Christ.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am
he. 27 ¶ And upon this came his disciples, and marveled that he talked with the
woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? (Now, notice that these
Apostle come at an inopportune time and they have not
a clue as to what is happening here, and they know this woman did not come to
the well when the respectable women usually came, but since she came in an hour
that the respectable women did not come, she must be a woman of disrespectable
nature. And so they begin to wonder within themselves
what is going on here between this man they know to be the Christ and this
woman of ill fame.) 28 The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into
the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things
that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
Notice how that word began
to energize within that woman and when it did her cup began to overflow as
David in the Psalms spoke of his cup overflowing. And this energized Word went
out and caught a hold of the local people and they too became energized by it,
and 30 Then they
went out of the city, and came unto him. 31 In the mean while his disciples
prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat
that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any
man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and
then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the
fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth
fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 And herein is that saying
true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you
to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are
entered into their labors. 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city
believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me
all that ever I did.
Look at her testimony. This
woman did not try to deny what was very apparent to all. But instead, she
openly admitted to what she had been but notice that she was now in full
repentant mode for her testimony was not look at what He has told me I am, but
what I did which is passed tense. Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is
not this the Christ? In One fell swoop, the Word of God energized this
woman and her confession and also convicted her to the
place of repentance for what she had been, and in the same breath she was
admitting Him to be her Messiah, which is Savior, and Redeemer, and redeem
means to bring back to its rightful position.
40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they
besought him that he would tarry with them: and he
abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own word;
42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not
because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is
indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Notice how that word
energized this people to drop everything they were doing and come to hear the
words of this Messiah.
COLOSSIANS 3:1 ¶ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. 4 When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with him in glory.5 ¶ Mortify therefore your members which are upon
the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake the wrath of God
cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some
time, when ye lived in them. 8 ¶ But now ye also put off all these;
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie
not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10
And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
him that created him:
COLOSSIANS 1:9 ¶ For this cause we also, since the day we heard
[it], do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 That ye
might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Acts
50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable
women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and
Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. 51But they shook off the dust
of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. 52
And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
ROMANS 5:17 For if
by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one,
Jesus Christ.) Now, this makes sense only when we understand what the word reign means.
And it comes from a Greek word which means to exercise the highest influence. So let’s read this with this bit of understanding. For if by one man's
offence death exercised the highest influence over man; much more they which
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of right-wise-ness shall the highest
influence be exercised in their life by one, Jesus Christ.