To glorify God's Word is simply to believe it; make it the absolute final authority for faith; what your confidence rests in.
Paul writes in II Thessalonians 3: "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you. [2] And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.""Look at the Thessalonians and see what they did with it," says Richard Jordan. "As Paul says in I Thessalonians 1:5: 'For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.'
"They received it and then they believed it, and when they believed it, it worked. How is the Word glorified? When it's received, acknowledged, honored and believed.
"I Thessalonians 2:13 says, [13] For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
"You see how important it is to have that attitude about the Book you're holding in your hand? By the way, that is a great verse about where they got God's Word. When you hear the Scripture, there's the idea of a received text.
"That term didn't just come out of the air. The Elzevir brothers didn't just invent that term in 1624 when they published their Greek text. That was a term that came out of the Scripture. That was a Bible term about people's attitudes about the Word they had.
"They didn't receive it as the Word of men; they knew it was God's Word. When you think about how God's Word was passed down to you, you're not thinking about it being preserved through history the way God preserved Shakespeare or Homer.
*****
"As a young preacher there's a verse that meant an awful lot to me and has all through the years. I worked in the Mobile Rescue Mission back in the mid- to late-'60s and that's where I started preaching.
"The first five years I preached was in the mission and I was privileged to preach anywhere from 10-15 times a week. When I was at Mobile College in the ministerial association with all the preacher boys (60-70 guys studying for the ministry) some of these guys were just dying to preach and I'd say, 'Well, come on down to the mission and I'll let you preach anytime,' but I couldn't get them to come. They wanted to go preach in a church.
"I was preaching so often that it was not a startling thing for me to preach. But one of the things you'd do in the mission is preach the gospel to lost people primarily and I noticed that Brother Reynolds, when he would preach, he'd preach maybe only 15-17 minutes.
"I Thessalonians 2:13 says, [13] For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
"You see how important it is to have that attitude about the Book you're holding in your hand? By the way, that is a great verse about where they got God's Word. When you hear the Scripture, there's the idea of a received text.
"That term didn't just come out of the air. The Elzevir brothers didn't just invent that term in 1624 when they published their Greek text. That was a term that came out of the Scripture. That was a Bible term about people's attitudes about the Word they had.
"They didn't receive it as the Word of men; they knew it was God's Word. When you think about how God's Word was passed down to you, you're not thinking about it being preserved through history the way God preserved Shakespeare or Homer.
*****
"As a young preacher there's a verse that meant an awful lot to me and has all through the years. I worked in the Mobile Rescue Mission back in the mid- to late-'60s and that's where I started preaching.
"The first five years I preached was in the mission and I was privileged to preach anywhere from 10-15 times a week. When I was at Mobile College in the ministerial association with all the preacher boys (60-70 guys studying for the ministry) some of these guys were just dying to preach and I'd say, 'Well, come on down to the mission and I'll let you preach anytime,' but I couldn't get them to come. They wanted to go preach in a church.
"I was preaching so often that it was not a startling thing for me to preach. But one of the things you'd do in the mission is preach the gospel to lost people primarily and I noticed that Brother Reynolds, when he would preach, he'd preach maybe only 15-17 minutes.
"He was ill and not in good health and he had to sit on a stool and hold onto the pulpit. But he would preach and this verse was the verse that described his preaching to me:
Acts 14:1: [1] And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
"When it says they 'so spake,' Paul says in I Corinthians 2, '[1] And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
"Paul's saying, 'I didn't come in with good words and fair speeches. I didn't use my education.' Paul was a advanced-degree rabbinical scholar. He knew all the 75-cent words.
Acts 14:1: [1] And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
"When it says they 'so spake,' Paul says in I Corinthians 2, '[1] And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
"Paul's saying, 'I didn't come in with good words and fair speeches. I didn't use my education.' Paul was a advanced-degree rabbinical scholar. He knew all the 75-cent words.
"He said, 'I didn't come with all the big talk. I didn't come blowing smoke down your pipe. I came doing one thing, determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I just wanted to preach the gospel of the grace of God to you and nothing else mattered.'
"I used to watch people come to the mission, and I'd watch Brother Reynolds get up in front of a group of 50-60 men, most of whom we'd never seen before, and in his physical infirmity, he'd preach to them and see 8, 10, 12 guys trust Christ.
"When I say that, I don't just mean walk an aisle and shake a preacher's hand; I'm talking about men that I would deal with and sit down and talk to them about what they understood and what they were doing and see them really, genuinely get saved.
"Then I'd watch in the evening meetings after Brother Reynolds had gone home and we'd have churches come, and they'd use all the techniques and all the psychology and all the other stuff, and maybe one or two would respond out of a group of 100.
"I used to ask myself, 'How can Brother Reynolds preach to the smaller group of 50-60 guys just there for lunch and see a harvest, and these other guys preach and have all the bells and whistles and entertainment but just see a little handful?'
"That's that verse right there in Acts 14. I'd say, 'You know, I got to figure that one out,' and I studied Brother Reynolds for all those years and got to know him, and what I wanted to learn from him was, 'They so spake that a great multitude believed . . . '
"You know what I discovered? When Brother Reynolds would preach, he'd have something of a little outline. One of my favorite messages that he would preach, one that I used to preach on the street, had three points. No. 1 was 'heaven's greatest testimony': 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.' No. 2 was 'the first greatest tragedy': They rejected Him and took Him out and crucified Him. No. 3 was 'man's greatest trust': 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'
"Now, that's pretty much the gospel, isn't it? And in between there, Brother Reynolds would quote about 15-20 verses from memory; he'd just look at you and give you the verses one right after another.
"A lot of times you'll hear me preach and I'll string verses together. I learned to do that watching Clyde Reynolds do that.
"I learned that when he preached, all he was using was the power of God's Word and it would penetrate dark, hardened hearts in a way that all the other stuff never did.
"I used to watch people come to the mission, and I'd watch Brother Reynolds get up in front of a group of 50-60 men, most of whom we'd never seen before, and in his physical infirmity, he'd preach to them and see 8, 10, 12 guys trust Christ.
"When I say that, I don't just mean walk an aisle and shake a preacher's hand; I'm talking about men that I would deal with and sit down and talk to them about what they understood and what they were doing and see them really, genuinely get saved.
"Then I'd watch in the evening meetings after Brother Reynolds had gone home and we'd have churches come, and they'd use all the techniques and all the psychology and all the other stuff, and maybe one or two would respond out of a group of 100.
"I used to ask myself, 'How can Brother Reynolds preach to the smaller group of 50-60 guys just there for lunch and see a harvest, and these other guys preach and have all the bells and whistles and entertainment but just see a little handful?'
"That's that verse right there in Acts 14. I'd say, 'You know, I got to figure that one out,' and I studied Brother Reynolds for all those years and got to know him, and what I wanted to learn from him was, 'They so spake that a great multitude believed . . . '
"You know what I discovered? When Brother Reynolds would preach, he'd have something of a little outline. One of my favorite messages that he would preach, one that I used to preach on the street, had three points. No. 1 was 'heaven's greatest testimony': 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.' No. 2 was 'the first greatest tragedy': They rejected Him and took Him out and crucified Him. No. 3 was 'man's greatest trust': 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'
"Now, that's pretty much the gospel, isn't it? And in between there, Brother Reynolds would quote about 15-20 verses from memory; he'd just look at you and give you the verses one right after another.
"A lot of times you'll hear me preach and I'll string verses together. I learned to do that watching Clyde Reynolds do that.
"I learned that when he preached, all he was using was the power of God's Word and it would penetrate dark, hardened hearts in a way that all the other stuff never did.
*****
"Paul 'so spake.' He took that Word and made it the issue. And when he praised the Thessalonians, he said, 'Pray that my ministry of preaching the Word wouldn't be the object of all this interference and that the Word of God may be glorified; that we could so speak that a great multitude would believe.'
"The hindrance to the free course of the Word was going to come from unreasonable and wicked men. He was in Acts 18 when he wrote that from Corinth; he'd already had some experiences the Thessalonians knew about.
"When Paul goes into Thessalonica and some people get saved, Acts 17:5 says, [5] But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
"You see that? It says they 'moved with envy.' There's a spiritual, sinful, wicked motivation. It says they 'took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort.' They reached out to a bunch of characters of ill-repute; they literally reached into the criminal underworld and gathered a company and 'set all the city on an uproar . . .'
"When he says they were unreasonable, that means they weren't people you could sit down and reason with. They were not people who were going to think the thing through with you. They were wicked. Their unreasonableness came from their wickedness.
"Through the years that verse has proved itself over and over, because you'll discover that people are out to resist the ministry and it will make no sense to you. When you find people being unreasonable, you'll find there's something sticking them and it's going to be some sin. The wickedness, the envy, causes the unreasonableness.
"When God tells Israel, 'Come now let us reason together,' Paul says '[1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
"There is a reasonableness to God's grace, to the gospel, and when people are unreasonable, what you have to learn is that reasoning with their unreasonableness isn't going to get you anywhere. That's why arguing the science, or the philosophy, to people--arguing on their terms of unreasonableness never gets you anywhere. There's a wickedness in the heart that has concluded . . .
"Proverbs 18:1-2: [1] Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
[2] A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.
"It's through desire, so that you might discover what you want. A man 'having separated himself,' means, 'I'm going to get a higher quality of life. I'm going to be one of the elite.'
"He 'seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.' Is that a good thing to do? All wisdom? A fool does that. You remember that verse in Romans 1: 'Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.'
" 'The fool hath said in his heart there's no God.' A fool, someone who professes himself to be wise, hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover itself. He studies and tries to get wisdom and understanding for one thing; he wants an alibi to do what he wants to do.
"Can I tell you that people don't reject God's Word out of intellectual honesty. They reject God's Word out of moral corruption. They become fools because they think they should be God.
"Paul says, 'I want you to pray for me because the people I'm dealing with out here are unreasonable and wicked.' And then he says, 'For all men have not faith.' Duh! That's sort of like a sarcastic backhand.
"You read the commentaries and they do all kind of stuff about that phrase. You know, when you just read that, that's just plain sarcasm. Paul says, 'They're unreasonable and wicked because they don't have any faith!' "
"Paul 'so spake.' He took that Word and made it the issue. And when he praised the Thessalonians, he said, 'Pray that my ministry of preaching the Word wouldn't be the object of all this interference and that the Word of God may be glorified; that we could so speak that a great multitude would believe.'
"The hindrance to the free course of the Word was going to come from unreasonable and wicked men. He was in Acts 18 when he wrote that from Corinth; he'd already had some experiences the Thessalonians knew about.
"When Paul goes into Thessalonica and some people get saved, Acts 17:5 says, [5] But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
"You see that? It says they 'moved with envy.' There's a spiritual, sinful, wicked motivation. It says they 'took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort.' They reached out to a bunch of characters of ill-repute; they literally reached into the criminal underworld and gathered a company and 'set all the city on an uproar . . .'
"When he says they were unreasonable, that means they weren't people you could sit down and reason with. They were not people who were going to think the thing through with you. They were wicked. Their unreasonableness came from their wickedness.
"Through the years that verse has proved itself over and over, because you'll discover that people are out to resist the ministry and it will make no sense to you. When you find people being unreasonable, you'll find there's something sticking them and it's going to be some sin. The wickedness, the envy, causes the unreasonableness.
"When God tells Israel, 'Come now let us reason together,' Paul says '[1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
"There is a reasonableness to God's grace, to the gospel, and when people are unreasonable, what you have to learn is that reasoning with their unreasonableness isn't going to get you anywhere. That's why arguing the science, or the philosophy, to people--arguing on their terms of unreasonableness never gets you anywhere. There's a wickedness in the heart that has concluded . . .
"Proverbs 18:1-2: [1] Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
[2] A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.
"It's through desire, so that you might discover what you want. A man 'having separated himself,' means, 'I'm going to get a higher quality of life. I'm going to be one of the elite.'
"He 'seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.' Is that a good thing to do? All wisdom? A fool does that. You remember that verse in Romans 1: 'Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.'
" 'The fool hath said in his heart there's no God.' A fool, someone who professes himself to be wise, hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover itself. He studies and tries to get wisdom and understanding for one thing; he wants an alibi to do what he wants to do.
"Can I tell you that people don't reject God's Word out of intellectual honesty. They reject God's Word out of moral corruption. They become fools because they think they should be God.
"Paul says, 'I want you to pray for me because the people I'm dealing with out here are unreasonable and wicked.' And then he says, 'For all men have not faith.' Duh! That's sort of like a sarcastic backhand.
"You read the commentaries and they do all kind of stuff about that phrase. You know, when you just read that, that's just plain sarcasm. Paul says, 'They're unreasonable and wicked because they don't have any faith!' "
(new post later )
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