The Power of the Word of God

Suppose you have a sceptic to deal with, and you wish that man to come to true faith. What will you do with him? Give him a book on Christian evidence? I have nothing to say against books on Christian evidence. But there is an inspired Book on Christian evidence, and it is worth all the libraries ever written on this subject. Turn to John 20:31: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” Clearly, then, this Book of John was given that, through what is “written” therein, men “might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing they might have life through His name.” The Gospel of John is an inspired book on Christian evidence.

What, then, shall we do with ourselves if we are sceptics? What shall we do with others? First, find out whether their own will is surrendered or not. “If anyone desires to do His will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from Myself.” John 7:17. After the will is surrendered, just say, “Take this book and read it thoughtfully and honestly, and come back and tell me the result.” The result is absolutely certain. There is no man, agnostic, freethinker, or whatever you please, whose will is surrendered to the truth, who will take this Book to God and ask Him to give him light, who will not come out believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. I have tried this with I know not how many men and women, and there has never been one exception to the rule laid down by Christ. It has always come out the same way.

The faith that gets the victory over the world, the flesh, and the Devil; the faith that wins mighty victories for God, is also through the Word: 1 John 5:4. Ephesians 6:16. Hebrews 11:33-34. Very early in my ministry, I read a sermon by Mr. Moody. In it, there was something to the effect that a man would not amount to anything if he did not have faith. I said, “That sermon is true. I must have faith.” I went to work and tried to work up faith. I did not succeed a bit. The more I tried to work up faith, the less I had. But one day I ran across this text: “So, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” (Romans 10:17), and I had learned the great secret of faith, one of the greatest secrets I have ever learned. I commenced to feed my faith on the Word of God; and as I have thus fed it, it has kept on growing from that day to this. So, in every aspect, we see that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If we are to have faith—and if we are to have power for God, we must have faith—we must feed steadily, largely, daily upon the Word of God.