The grass withersand the flower thereof

falls away, but

God'sWord

EnduresForever

Dr. Victor Paul WierwilleFounder and PresidentThe Way In ternational

4 The Way Magazine-November/December 1975

Man's basic spiritual problem is notbelieving the integrity of the Word of

God. Very few people believe that theWord of God is accurate, that it meanswhat it says and says what it means.Thus man is in a constant dilemma in hisquest for truth. He has no touchstone fortruth because he will not go to God'sWord and study its integrity and accuracy.

In Matthew 4:4 the Word of Goddeclares,... It is written, Man shall not live bybread alone, but by every word that pro-ceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Notice the words "out of the mouthof God." God has been attribu ted ahuman characteristic, but God does nothave a mouth. Again the figure ofspeech is condescensio , the Holy Spirit'smarking for emphasis.

Man cannot sustain himself solely on adiet of physical food; he needs his foodsupplemented by every word that comesfrom God. Man cannot live by wordsthat come from men, from differentwriters, from different theologians orfrom different church groups, but byWords that come from God.

Man does need physical food for themaintenance of his physical body. But aman has more than just his physical bodyto care for. A man's soul needs nourish-ment also. Man's soul cannot be sustainedby mashed potatoes, gravy and steak.Matthew 4:4 declares that man shall livenot only by bread "but by every word .... "He needs not just a word here and a wordthere; "but by every word that proceedethout of the mouth of God." The Word ofGod is that food required by man so thathe may renew his mind and therebymanifest the more abundant life.

Spiritual weakness and spiritual in-ability can be due only to an improperdiet, that is, the neglect of the Word ofGod. For the most part, spiritual anemiacaused by the neglect of the Word of Godmay be attributed to the fact that theBible is not understood when read. TheBible is not understood because we havenever been taught how to understand it.Who has taught us figures of speech? Whohas taught us what revelation is? Who hasshown us the accuracy of the Word? Thatis why we have stories about dust-coveredBibles. One cannot really blame peoplefor this. The blame should lie withthose of us who have been preachers andteachers because we have not communi-cated God's Word to today's man.

But what about the people whoseBibles are not dust-covered and neglected,and yet they are still spiritually weak?Their spiritual malady must be caused bythe wrong usage of God's Word. The im-proper usage means that God's Word is

not being rightly divided. Some of ushave been instructed to read the Bible atleast once a day; but when we are throughreading our daily scripture, what do weknow? We have not learned anything be-cause we have not understood it- Whathappens when people fail to understandthe Word? They succumb to all the doc-trines and theories of man. These spirit-ually-hungry people are blown aroundfrom pillar to post with each new philoso-pher or new idea. The fleeting shadowsof a few great names rather than the Wordof God hold people spellbound. Far toomany people believe what they havereceived from man and then endeavor tohave their beliefs corroborated by goingto the Bible and selecting scriptures tosubstantiate their ideas.

A woman once wrote to me regardingone of our radio broadcasts. She had

appreciated my preaching because it a-greed with what she thought. Supposethe teaching had been God's truth andthat it had disagreed with what shethought. Would her beliefs have changedthe Word of God? Whether or not webelieve, it is still God's Word.

Several years ago I was teaching a classin a Southern state. After the secondsession a man came to me and said, "Ithink that this is the most logical biblicalteaching I have ever heard, but," he said,"it is upsetting me because I have alwaysheld other opinions and I do not want tochange my mind. You are confusing me."This gentleman did not finish the classbecause he already had his mind closed.That was his privilege, but God's Wordis still truth whether or not we believe it.

When two parts of hydrogen and onepart of oxygen are sparked together,water is going to result. I don't carewhether you pray or don't pray, whetheryou are Christian or non-Christian, wheth-er you believe or you don't believe; itdoesn't make any difference because thelaw is that two parts of hydrogen and onepart of oxygen is water. God's Word is asinfallible as that. This is why we shouldhonestly come to the point that we allowthe Word of God to take pre-eminence inour lives no matter what ideas, no matterwhat theories, no matter what opinionswe may have held. We must come to theWord, let the Word speak and then adjustour thinking according to the integrityand the accuracy of that Word. After wehave let the Word speak, we must accord-ingly harmonize our beliefs, our actionsand our living.

II Peter 1:3 says that God's Word" ... hath given unto us all things that per-tain unto life and godliness, through theknowledge of him that hath called us toglory and virtue." God by His divine pow-

er has given unto us all things that pertainunto life and godliness. If we want thethings that pertain to life and godliness,we have to go to God's Word. If one playsfootball, he must go by the rules of thegame of football. So logically, if we wantto know God's will, where do we go? To-a commentary, to the theologians, to anencyclopedia, or to last Sunday's sermon?~o. We go to the Word of God.I Thessalonians 2: 13:For this cause also thank we God withoutceasing, because, when ye received theword of God which ye heard of us, yereceived it not as the word of men, but asit is in truth, the word of God, whicheffectually worketh also in you thatbelieve.

They received the Word of God whichthey heard of Paul. People could havesaid, "That is just Paul talking," but theydidn't. Paul says that the Thessalonians"received the Word of God which ye haveheard of us ... not as the word of men,but as it is in truth, the word of God,which effectually worketh also in youthat believe." The Word declares of itselfin Psalms 12:6,The words of the Lord are pure words: assilver tried in a furnace of earth, purifiedseven times.

If the Bible has the words of the Lord,then these words must be undefiled andabsolutely pure. They are " ... as silvertried in a furnace of earth, purified seventimes."Psalms 119: 162:I rejoice at thy word, as one that findethgreat spoil.

Do you rejoice at the Word as one whofinds great spoil? Would you rejoice atthe Word as much as you would if youfound a thousand dollars?

I Corinthians contains another testi-mony from the Word of God regardingme integrity of God's Word.I Corinthians 2: 13:''hich things also we speak, not in thewords which man's wisdom teacheth, but[words] which the Holy Ghost teacheth;omparing spiritual things with spiritual.

If these are words which the HolySpirit teaches, then we ought to wash outour ears, get the cobwebs out of ourminds, and begin to study God's Word forits inherent accuracy.Jeremiah 15: 16:Thy words were found, and I did eatthem; and thy word [God's Word, notwhat people said about it, not what sometheologian wrote about it] was unto methe joy and rejoicing of mine heart ....

This does not mean that they found theBible or the Word and chewed it or

physically ate it. When the Word wasContinued on page 13

The Way Magazine-November/December 1975 5

mUSICIans (Ecclesiastes 2: 8). Music wasalso the legitimate expression of gladness.Bridal processions as they passed throughthe streets were accompanied by musicand song (Jeremiah 7:34). Banquets wereaccompanied by songs and dancing (Luke15: 25). Triumphal processions whichcelebrated it victory were enlivened byminstrels and singers (Exodus' 15: 1,20;Judges 5: 1; 11: 34). There were also othertypes of songs (Isaiah 30:29; James 5: 13).Love songs are alluded to (Psalm 45,Isaiah 5: 1); also, the doleful songs of thefuneral procession and the wailing chantof the mourners. Grape gatherers sang attheir work, women sang as they toiled atthe mill, and every occasion in the landof the Hebrews during their national pros-perity was a time of music and melody.

God's people sang unto Him (I Chroni-cles 16:9), they sang psalms unto Himand talked of all His wondrous works.Psalm 33: 3 and 4 tell Israel to "sing untohim a new song; play skilfully with a loudnoise. For the word of the Lord is right;"Psalm 40: 3 says that God "hath put a newsong in my [David's] mouth." "Everygood gift and every perfect gift is from

above ,... " James 1: 17 says.In this Grace Administration God's

people are instructed to sing spiritualsongs to the Lord. He gets the glory forevery perfect new song on the lips and inthe hearts of His children. ~

God's WordEnduresContinued from page5

found, they digested it, they lived on it, itwas their soul's life, their spiritual heart-beat.

God's Word is overwhelming becauseit is so true. Too many ministers like totalk around the Word by taking one verseof scripture, reading that verse as the textfor the day, giving illustrations fromShakespeare and Newsweek, coming backand quoting the beginning verse of scrip-ture, pronouncing the benediction andgoing home. How much of the Word thenhas the congregation learned? None!When the people ate the Word as recordedin Jeremiah, they ate the pure Word. Wemust preach the pure Word.

All God's creation is marvelous; but of

all God's works, the greatest of His worksis His Word.Psalms 138:2:I will worship toward thy holy temple,and praise thy name for thy lovingkind-ness and for thy truth: for thou hastmagnified thy word above all thy name.

God has magnified His Word above HisName. It does not say that about thestars or the planets. He set His Wordabove His Name for He underwrote it, Heput His Name underneath it, He guaran-teed it. It is just like a check. When Iwrite a check for a thousand dollars andI sign my name, the check is only as goodas the signature. How good is God'sWord? The Word of God declares that itis as good as God for God signed HisName to it. The Word is as much God asGod is God. What God said was, was,what God has said is, is, what God sayswill be, will be. Do you see why we mustcome back to the integrity and accuracyof God's wonderful Word? We cannottrust man's word because man blowsabout, being here today and gone to-morrow; but the Word of God "liveth andabideth for ever." That Word endures. ~

The Way Magazine·November/December1975 13