Studies in the Deeper Life

Chapter 1

THE INTEGRITY OF THE WORD

THE WORD is God speaking to you.   “Thus says the Lord” is repeated over two thousand times
from Exodus to Deuteronomy.

  God and His Word are one. The Word is always now.

  Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Living Word.

                Hebrews 4:12,  The Word of God is a living thing, active and more cutting than any sword               with double edge penetrating to the very division of soul and spirit, joint and marrow-              scrutinising the very thoughts and conceptions of the heart” (Moffat translation).

  And now, notice carefully the next verse: “And no created thing is hidden from Him; all things lie open, exposed before the eyes of Him with Whom we have to reckon.”

  The Word is called the Logos. Jesus is the Logos, and the Logos is a living thing-not in the book, not on the written page, but in the lips of the believer.

  There is no created thing hidden from Him, this living Word.  The Word searches us out, finds us.

A.        The Word Is Our Contact with God

                The Word is our contact with God the Father.  It is His contact with us.

                John 16:7-10.  He convicts us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

  B.        We Are Convicted by the Word

This conviction can come from no other source than the Word. It is a threefold conviction.

1.  He convicts of our union with Satan: “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is
judged,” that is the natural man is judged in Satan, is a child of Satan.

Note the following Scriptures carefully

John 8:44, 45  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

1 John 3:10. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

2.  He convicts of Righteousness, showing that although we are children of the Devil, (before Salvation) Righteousness is available and belongs to us.

3.  He convicts of sin because we believe not on Him.

There is only one sin for which the sinner will be judged; that is the rejection of Jesus Christ.

C.        We Are Recreated by the Word

James 1:18  Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Read John 3:3-8.

John 3:3-8  Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

                  1 Peter 1:23  Having been born again, [begotten again] not of corruptible seed but            incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.

The Word imparts to us Eternal Life. Were it not for the Word, we would not know that there was a Redemption or a Substitution or a New Creation.

                  2 Corinthians 5:17, 18.  Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things are                 passed away; behold, they are become new, but all things are of God, Who reconciled us to          Himself.

  D.        Our Minds Are Renewed by the Word

                Romans 12:2.   And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing         of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

                  Colossians 3:10. Having put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the          image of Him who created him.

  The mind is renewed by studying the Word and by acting upon it. One may study the Word for years, but if he does not act it, live it, is not a doer, the mind is not renewed.

James gives us the secret in James 1:22,  Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

  Many Bible students are deceiving themselves because they are not acting, living, doing the Word.

E.         We Are Indwelt by the Word

                Col 3:16  Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing          one another.

  What does he mean by letting the Word dwell in us richly? This is one of the most striking sentences in this epistle.

                  John 15:7  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, [will]        and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.

  The Word here is dwelling in us, producing prayer fruit.   It is prayer fruit.   It is the Word bringing forth its own kind in the believer’s life.

It is not only committing the Word to memory, which is valuable, but it is letting that Word become an integral part of our beings. Letting it live in us.

                  Ephesians 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted              and grounded in love.

  Christ and the Word are one. It is the Word dwelling in you which is equivalent to Christ personally being in you.

  Letting the Word have right-of-way in your life is letting Christ have right-of-way. The Word dominating you is the Lordship of Christ in you.

  F.         We Are Built Up with the Word

                Acts 20:32  And now I commend you to God, and to the Word of His grace, which is able to            build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified.

  He commends us to the Word of His grace. This Word builds the Christ nature and the love nature of the Father into the individual. In other words, God is building Himself into us, making Himself a part of us as the Word dominates, rules and satisfies our spirit nature.

  You cannot build one up spiritually on philosophies or theories about the Word, or on the history of the Word.  We are only made spiritual by living in the Word and by the Word living in us.

  G.        We Are Healed by the Word.

                Psalm 107:20,  He sent His Word and healed them.  How few of us have realised that it is               the Word that heals us.  Many are more inclined to somehow think that God from Heaven                 will send down healing.  He has already done that, in the Word becoming flesh.

  We talk about faith in the Word—nothing wrong in that, but it is only when Isaiah 53:4 becomes a reality in our spirit,  Surely He has borne [to carry away] our sicknesses and carried [away] our diseases; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. that it [the healing Word] operates in our physical bodies.

  The sense of "we esteemed [delighted to see] Him stricken", means, we thought He was getting His just deserts [what He deserved or merited] from God for seeming to make Himself equal with God.

  He was stricken and smitten with our diseases and sins.

Add then the Word declares in the fifth verse, “By His stripes we are healed.”

We read it and meditate upon It, and we know that it is true.

                Jeremiah 1:12  I watch over My Word to perform it.         We know that the Father watches            over His Word and that He will make that Word good in us.

  He said, “Surely He hath borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases.”

  Then we do not need to carry them. They cannot be a part of us because He put our diseases and sins on Jesus—“made Him to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the Righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

  The righteousness of God cannot be sick then and cannot be ruled by sin. Satan has no dominion over the Righteousness of God unless we give it to Him.

It is the Word that has made us know this. It is the Word that has saved us, recreated us, and it is the Word that heals us now. It is the Word that makes us masters of Satan.

                  Mark 16:17, “In my name ye shall cast out demons.”

It is the Word that has taught us the value of the Name, the authority of the Name, and our legal right to the use of the Name. So it is the Word in reality that has healed us.

  H.        We Know the Father Through the Word

                John 16:27, 28,  For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed.. that I came forth from the Father.”

                  And John 17:23 says,  That the world may know that You did send Me, and love them, even          as You loved Me."

                  John 14:23  If a man love Me, he will keep My Word and My Father will love him, and We               will come unto him. And make our home [place of living]  with him.

  These three scriptures prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Father loves His children, these New Creations, as much as He loved Jesus, and that it is a joy to Him to make His home with them.

  What would it mean to have the Father and Jesus both living in your home?   It would insure the rent, the taxes, and all the bills because the Father would pay His way and enable you to meet every obligation How intimate He wishes to become with us. (Matthew 6:31-33.)

  I.          Faith Comes Through the Word

                Romans 10:8, “The Word of Faith which we preach.”

                  Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfector of our Faith.”

  Do you ever wonder how we could look unto Jesus?  When you find that the Word and Jesus are one, you will know that by looking into the Word and acting on it will bring Jesus on the scene instantly. And when you know how Faith is perfected by our acting on the Word, letting the Word loose in us, to live in us, dominate us, rule us, you have found the secret.

                  Mark 16:18, “They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” This means nothing              until we act on it.

                “In My Name they shall cast out demons.” The scripture means nothing until we act on it.

                  John 15:16, “That whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name He will do it.”

This scripture is useless, dead, until we act on it. It is acting on the Word that builds faith in the believer. You may have all the promises; you may have the mighty Spirit dwelling in you; but if you do not act on the Word, God is impotent in you.

  Acting on the Word makes Jesus vitally real to the believer.  2 Cor 5:7  For we walk by faith, not by sight.

  J.         The Word in Our Lips

                Romans 10:9-10,  Because if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,” and “with the        mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

  It is the Word in my lips that counts. The Word becomes a living thing in the lips of the believer; it brings the unsaved person under conviction; it gives him faith to act on the Word; it causes the believer to “trust in the Lord with all his heart” (Prov. 3:5).

  Your word becomes God’s Word, and your lips become God’s Ambassador. God’s Word in your mouth, mixed with love in your heart, burns in the heart of the hearer.

  K.        Feeding on the Word

                Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the       mouth of God.”

                  Jeremiah 15:16, Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your words were unto me a       joy and the rejoicing in my heart, for I am called by Your Name, Oh Lord God of Hosts.

                  Psalm 78:24, 25, “And He rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them food from           heaven. Man did eat the bread of the mighty.”

                  Job 23:12  I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured up the          words of His mouth more than my necessary food.”

  QUESTIONS:

1.            What is the Word of God doing?

2.            Give the three convictions by the Word.

3.            Why is it necessary to hear the Word in order to be saved?

4.            What is a renewed mind?

5.            Discuss the difference between memorising the Word & having the Word living within you.

6.            Quote the scripture that shows we receive our inheritance through the Word.

7.            Discuss how the Word brings healing.

8.            Tell just what it means to you to act on the Scriptures that tell you that God is your Father.

9.            How does the Word become effective in your lips?

10.          Give scriptures that show the need to be feeding on the Word.