In Protestantism the Lord’s word is unlocked, but it is not kept with absoluteness (Rev. 3:2). From Martin Luther’s time, the Bible became unlocked, but it was not open to people’s understanding. Today it is not kept with absoluteness. It is very rare to meet Christians who are fearful and trembling in dealing with the Word of God.
Many times Christians will say, “I know what the Bible says, but....” There is always a “but” in their attitude toward what God’s Word says. We should not say “but” to the Word of God. This is a big offense to the Lord. The Lord says, “Deny yourself” (Matt. 16:24). We say, “But I cannot afford to do it.” The Lord says, “Love one another” (John 13:34). We say, “Lord Jesus, I want to love all Your believers, but some of them are not lovable.” We need to be corrected by the Spirit not to say “but” to the Lord. Instead, we should say, “Yes, Lord.”
We have a hymn in our hymnal which says, “To the foe my word is always, ‘No,’/To the Father it is ‘Yes’” (Hymns, #880). We have to learn to say “yes” to the Father and “no” to the devil all the time. But often our experience is the opposite of this. We say “no” to the Father and “yes” to Satan. When the sisters see something on sale in the newspaper, there is a struggle within them. Something within is urging them to go buy it, and something within is telling them not to go. Thus, they have to decide what to say. Will they say “no” to Satan and “yes” to the Father? They may say to the Lord, “Lord, I ask You to give me the freedom to go this one time. I will never do it again.” All of us have this same “illness.” We read the Bible, but do we keep the word of the Bible? We should be those who keep the Lord’s word with absoluteness.
In the recovery the Lord’s word is kept absolutely, even by the “little power” that we can afford (Rev. 3:8b). The Lord commended the church in Philadelphia by saying that they kept His word even with the little power that they had. Today on this earth it is difficult to meet one who is faithful to the word of God every day and even every moment. We have to overcome today’s trend of not keeping the Lord’s word.
In the recovery the Lord’s word is kept absolutely. If there is not such an absolute keeping of the word of God with us, we are not in the recovery. We have to keep the Lord’s word even according to the “little power” that we can afford. We should keep the Lord’s word as much as we can. I have learned from the Bible and also from my experience that the Lord is fair. The Lord would never “over request” anything from us. He would never request anything that we cannot afford to do. We should be at peace, and say “yes” to Him all the time.
I learned the lesson of always saying “yes” to the Lord, but after I said “yes,” I said, “Lord, I like to keep Your word, but You know I am weak.” The Lord then rebuked me by saying, “Don’t tell me you are weak. I know you are weak, but I am your grace, and My grace is sufficient for you to keep My word.” We need to return in a full way to the Lord’s word, and keep the word absolutely by the Lord as our all-sufficient grace.
Today there is a trend of not keeping the Lord’s word, and there is also a tide of denying the Lord’s name. Today’s Protestant churches have taken many names other than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord’s word is the Lord’s expression, and the Lord’s name denotes the Lord’s person. The recovered church not only has returned in a full way to the Lord’s word but also has abandoned all names other than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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