Do You Believe God’s Word As He Does?
Scripture: John 1:1-5; Genesis 1:1-3; 18:9-14;
I want to say upfront that I am grieving my brother and you will hear some of that in this message. I started this message three weeks ago but it changed after my brother died. My brother Delrick had received a cancer diagnosis in July and his decline was very rapid. After he was diagnosed he made it clear to all of us that he did not want anyone moping around and being all depressed about him. He said if God healed him it meant he had more work to do. However, if God did not heal him then he would die and be forever in His presence. He made it clear he was good because, for him, both were a win/win situation. Delrick was very private in life and it made sense that he did not want a funeral, just a family and friend’s visitation and then a burial. But, surprisingly he had written something he wanted read at his burial and I want to read it to you before I go into this message because it will provide some clarity as to why this message changed upon his death. This is what he wrote:
“If you died today, do you know where you’ll spend eternity? I did. Prior to 2016, my eternity would have been in Hell. The Bible says that all liars, fornicators, adulterers, etc. will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. If I had died back in 2016, because I was doing those things and some, I would have died in my sins. True, like some of you here today, I was raised in church with the belief “once saved, always saved” however, that isn’t the case. Would you like to know where I am? I’m at home in my Father’s house. I’m in the mansion prepared for me. I’m where I want to be, safe in God’s quiet, peaceful house. I no longer suffer the pains of my earthly body. I’m in the presence of my creator. I see face to face – God. Would you like to know what I’m doing? I’m engaged in the sweet enjoyment of my redeemer. I’m singing hallelujahs to Him Who sits on the throne. Would you like to know the company I keep? It’s better than the best of earth. Here are the holy angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. I’m with my family and friends who came before me. Lastly would you like to know how long this will last? Forever and ever! You have a choice to make while you’re still breathing. Heaven or Hell.” Delrick J. Johnson
As I said, my brother was a very private person but since 2016 he would tell anyone who listened that he loved God and that they needed to be saved. Now the reason I wanted to open with what he wrote is because of what he said about once saved always saved. You see, my brother, like the rest of us, grew up in church and we were taught once saved always saved. We watched how other Christians lived with one foot in the world and one in church because they believed after they were baptized nothing they did mattered or affected their salvation. I know I am beating a dead horse with you all, but someone needs to hear this. My brother began to read the Bible for himself – separating out all the things we had been taught and just looking for God to reveal Himself through His word and God did. My brother reached his conclusion without my help. My brother told me that he chose to believe God’s word as God does – not as man does, but as God does. The title of my message this morning is, “Do You Believe God’s Word As He Does?”
When my brother decided to believe God’s word as spoken by Him without man’s interpretation and add-ons, he knew if he did not make some changes to his life he would die in his sin and go to hell – he confessed this to anyone who would listen, especially our family members who are not saved. Do you recall the message I delivered two weeks ago about our becoming watchmen after we are saved and how as a watchman we need to be sounding the alarm about the coming judgment to those who are living in sin and thinking they are saved? My brother became a watchman, especially for our family and his friends. He wanted them delivered from their sins and be saved because we do not know when we will take our last breath. I want to share a story this morning to illustrate why this is so important. I had a conversation two month ago with one of my first cousins. He is a little older than me and not in the best of health. He had recently been in the hospital extremely sick. On this occasion he actually died but they were able to revive him. My cousin, prior to this incident, professed that he was saved and that he love Jesus despite how he was living. You see, he too lived with the belief that once saved always saved. Prior to this incident he would have told you he was ready to go “whenever God called him home.” But that night in that hospital when his heart stopped and he died, he did not go where he professed that he would go upon his death – he actually went to hell. He told me he saw Satan face to face and he knew he was condemned. His brother confirmed to me that the doctors said that they had lost him. They were able to get him back and he knew that God had mercy on him one more time and he was trying to do better. We are living in the days when we must stop trying and start doing! He lived his life believing once saved always saved and yet when he died he went to hell. I know some of you might be thinking he wasn’t really saved and you would be correct. But that’s not the problem. The problem is that he sincerely believed that he was saved until God showed him that he was not. How many people do we know that are in the same situation?
So, do you believe God’s Word as He does? John 1:1-5 says “(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (4) In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” We know that John was referring to the Word as Christ. Christ was with God from the beginning. So there are two things we need to consider when thinking about our answer to my question: God’s word as spoken by Him and God’s Word in the form of and spoken by His Son, Jesus Christ. Remember that Christ said in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” As we read the Scriptures, we find God speaking, but do we assign to His words the same belief that God does? Let me use this example:
You are a parent and your kids are in their room playing. You yell to them to stop playing and go to bed. When you spoke those words, you meant exactly what you said. You believed what you said and thus you expected that your children who heard what you said would immediately follow your instruction. (If life was that simple, they would have, but it is not. Can I get a witness?) In reality, your kids thought something differently. They heard what you said and gave the correct reply “Yes daddy/mother.” However, they did not assign the same belief in your words that you did. You see, when you spoke you believed exactly what you said and you understood exactly what you meant – they were to stop playing and go to bed. But, in their minds, they understood that you would probably repeat yourself several times before they actually had to act. They knew that they only had to act when the tone of your voice changed and they heard you coming towards the room. In other words, they did not believe as you did that they needed to act immediately. Although they heard you the first time, they waited until they “believed” you were serious before they acted. There are many people out there playing the same game with God. They hear or have heard what He says (or have said) but they do not assign to His words the same belief that God assigns to them.
Turn with me to the first chapter of Genesis. The chapter opens by saying “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Now there are those out there that believe that this all happened by accident, that there was a big bang and then the earth was. Well if there was a big bang, guess who caused it to be – God. Regardless of how it happened, God’s hand was in on it. In the beginning, God made everything and as we examine how He did it, you will be able to see my point. Look down at verse three: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” How did God create everything – He spoke. When God spoke – those things that He said came into being. Now consider this, do you think that at any point during creation or any other time that God spoke that He ever considered that what He spoke would not happen? Imagine God saying let there be light and then wondering if it was going to happen. Can you imagine God repeating Himself, “Let there be light; I SAID let there be light; I SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!” and only after He got to the third request that it actually happened? I cannot imagine this happening and I know that it did not happen. When God spoke it the first time, it happened. God did not have to repeat Himself and He never wondered if what He spoke would happen. When He spoke it, it happened because God is God and He always was and always will be! But, God also KNEW that what He spoke would happen. Throughout all of the creation process when God spoke things happened.
Now jump down to Genesis 1:26. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….” Have you ever thought about whom the “Us” is that God is referring to? It could not have been the angels because they did not have the power to create – that power only rested with the Godhead. God was speaking of Himself, Christ and the Holy Spirit, what we refer to as the Trinity. This confirmed what was spoken in John 1:1-5 concerning Christ being present and totally involved in the creation of everything. When the decision was made to make us in God’s image, God knew what that meant. He knew that once we were given a choice, we would have the ability to decide if we believed His word as He does, yet He gave us a free will anyway. He gave us a choice. He decided to let us decide if we believed His word as He does. I want to impress upon you that when God speaks, there is no doubting on His part. He does not speak it three or four times waiting for it to happen. When He speaks, things are set into motion immediately. That is why part of the Lord’s prayer contain the statement “….Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10b) What this line speaks of is the day when God’s will shall be done on earth as His will is carried out in heaven. When God speaks His will in heaven, it is carried out immediately. There is no prayer session to see if they heard God right. There is no counsel being sought from other leaders to get their opinion on what God said. There is no fasting being done to get one’s flesh ready to submit. There is no vote being taken to decide if what God is saying should be carried out. There is no offering of alternatives being presented to God because someone thinks there is better way. There is no consensus building or time taken to try and convince everyone in heaven that it is the right thing to do. No, when God speaks in heaven, there is no negotiation, there is just action. Only here on earth do we go down the road to “qualify” what God has said to see if it makes sense to us and our own beliefs. We qualify it down to the point that what God actually said is so watered down that the meaning of what He has said is completely lost and we feel good about continuing to live our lives with minimal disruption. Now again, do you believe God’s word as He does?
I want to share a story with you that you are very familiar with that gives us an example of how we will respond to God’s word when we believe it as He does and how we respond when we don’t thus demonstrating that our belief in His word is not always the same as God’s. Turn with me to the 18th chapter of Genesis. Here we find where God tells Abraham that he was going to have a son. Let’s begin reading at verse nine. “(9) Then they said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ So he said, ‘Here, in the tent.’ (10) And He said, ‘I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) (11) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. (12) Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’ (13) And the LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' (14) Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’” (Genesis 18:9-14)
In these verses we find the Lord having a conversation with Abraham about having a son in his old age and Abraham immediately believes the word of God. However, Sarah did not believe God’s word as He did. Sarah had come up and stood at the entrance of the tent, behind the men where she could not be seen. As she stood there, she listened to the conversation that was taking place between her husband and the three strangers. When she heard that she would have a son, she “laughed within herself” at the thought that she would have pleasure in her old age. She laughed because she doubted that it would happen. Sarah did not take God at His word – she laughed when she heard that she would have a son. Furthermore we know that she did not take God at His word when she gave Hagar, her maidservant, to Abraham so that Hagar could bear a son in her stead. Her laughing and her later action of giving Hagar to Abraham proved that within her heart she did not believe God’s word as God did. When we examine this story a little more, we also find that Sarah did not laugh out loud, she laughed within herself. Even though she laughed within herself, the Lord knew it. He asked Abraham why did she laugh and Sarah said that she did not laugh. On the surface it would seem that she outright lied, but when you look at the story closely, you find that she laughed within herself. Sarah laughed within herself because she did not believe God’s word! Jesus recognized what was in Sarah’s heart and asked about it. How would you feel if you stood in the presence of Jesus and He told you something that God was going to do in your life and you said within yourself “whatever” and Jesus called you on it? Would you lie and deny it? If you were talking to Jesus and you knew it was Jesus, would you accept His words at face value or would you have to wait and see if what He said came to pass? Scripture tell us that Abraham believed immediately and because of his unwavering belief in what God spoke to him, it was credited to him as righteousness. Romans 4:3 says, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
Do you believe God’s word as He does? I will tell you that my brother did. When he read, Romans 6:1-7 which says, “(1) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (2) Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (3) Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? (4) Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, (6) knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (7) For he who has died has been freed from sin.” My brother believed this and stopped believing he was still a sinner who just happened to be saved by grace. He believed God’s word when he read, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (First John 1:9)
New Light and friends, I am grieving my brother this morning, but not as some who grieves. You see I believe God’s word as He does and His word tells me “(13) But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. (15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. (16) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (First Thessalonians 4:13-17) While I am grieving the absence of my brother’s physical presence in my life, I know that I will see him again because he too believed God’s word as God does.
New Light and to everyone watching this live stream or who my read this message in an email, what about you? Do you believe God’s word as He does? Do you take it seriously? Our time is running out. If you think you have plenty of time to get it together I want you to know that maybe you do and maybe you don’t. My brother had a CT scan that was clear in April and three months later the area where his cancer was found had so many tumors they could not count them and it had already spread to his lungs. Less than a month after his diagnosis he was gone. When I saw him in May he was the picture of health and out ate me at the breakfast we shared. Three months later he was gone. I praise God he was ready because He believed God and took Him at His word. He had lived to the age of 57 believing once saved always saved while living in sin. I praise God, as he did, for his grace and mercy and the time he was given to learn the truth. He came to understand God’s word for himself. And don’t forget about my cousin who also believed once saved always saved and ultimately found out that was not the case when he died and went to hell. God gave him a second chance when the doctors revived him so if he does not change now it’s totally on him. But please consider the people who have died and were not given a second chance. What about the people we know today who could die thinking they are saved and are not.
We are watchmen and if the last two weeks have reminded me of anything it’s that we don’t know. We plan for tomorrow but it might not come for us so we need to always be prepared. All of us have read at least some portions of God’s Word and might find ourselves thinking that it does not apply to today’s culture. We have all made allowances for God’s Word so that it fits our lifestyle versus our lifestyle being fit around God’s Word. We can’t do this anymore. Do you truly believe God’s Word the way that He does. Do you place the same value and attention to them as God did when He spoke them? When you stand before God on the Day of Judgment, will you be able to say “Lord, I heard and I obeyed” or will you say, “Lord, I heard and I wanted to obey and I tried to but I was not sure exactly what Your word meant.” If you took your last breath today, how confident are you that heaven will be your final resting place? My cousin thought he knew until God showed him the truth and gave him another chance to get it right. My brother did know and he is very happy right now!
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(We are once again conducting live services on Sunday morning beginning at 9:15 a.m. We will continue to broadcast live on Facebook Live at 10:00 a.m.. Please tune in to "New Light Christian Fellowship Church" and like our page if you wish to watch our broadcast and be notified when we go live. If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. We also have Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. via Zoom that you are also welcome to attend – please email me for the link. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. If you would like to donate to our ministry you may do so through our website: newlightchristianfellowship.org by clicking on the PayPal or Cash App buttons. May God bless and keep you.)
