Our words are important. We can use them to build people up or to tear them down. We can say something that’s really important and profound or we can babble on about useless things that nobody needs to hear. Are your words powerful? Do people listen when you speak? Do they really hear you? Do they understand what you really mean? Do they get it and are you saying things that are beneficial to them?
I’m asking these questions because of some Bible verses that I read the other day. I was reading in 1 Samuel about how Samuel’s mother prayed desperately for a son. She was barren and she prayed to the Lord that if He would grant her a son that she would dedicate him to the Lord. She prayed in her heart. No sound came out of her mouth, but she moved her lips as she prayed. The priest thought that she was drunk, but she hadn’t drank any alcohol. Samuel’s mother – Hannah was “in bitterness of soul” and she wept uncontrollably.
But the Lord heard and answered her prayer and Samuel was born. A few years later Hannah turned her son over to the priest and she only got to see him once a year. While Samuel was still a child, God spoke to him one night. The Bible tells us that Samuel didn’t know the Lord at that time. God told him what was going to happen to Eli the high priest.
I just wanted to give you a little background to the beginning of 1 Samuel. Then in 1 Samuel 3:19, it states: And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. Did you catch the magnitude of this verse? God was with him and didn’t let any of Samuel’s words fall to the ground! How many of our words fall to the ground? How many times do we say something mean, rude or snarky? How many times do we utter vain or foolish words? How many times do our words fall on deaf ears? I ask you: do people listen when you speak? Are your words powerful?
People listened when Samuel spoke. I believe they did so for two reasons. First, he was a man of God. He truly was a godly person. He was obedient to the Lord God Almighty. When Samuel spoke, he spoke truth. He wasn’t running around gossiping about people behind their backs. He wasn’t running around lying to everyone to further his career. He didn’t withhold speaking truth to people because he was worried about being politically incorrect. He wasn’t worried about being accused of being called intolerant. He spoke truth and he truly was a man of God.
Secondly and even more importantly, he spoke what God directed him to say. He was a prophet and he said and did what God called him to say and do. He didn’t say that God told him that he needed 65 million dollars to buy a jet so he could travel the world sharing a false prosperity gospel. He didn’t just come up with things to say in order to make himself rich. No, he was a prophet and he spoke as God commanded him to speak.
People hear you when you speak God’s truth because God’s word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11). In other words, it accomplishes what God wants it to accomplish. God’s word is sharper than a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). He convicts and converts some people and it condemns those who reject the truth to eternal damnation in Hell. But make no mistake, it accomplishes what God sets out to accomplish. The words of God bring Him glory; either by your repenting and believing the glorious Gospel or by your rejection and eventual eternal suffering if you die in your sins.
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple (Psalm 19:7). You can look at God’s Law, the 10 Commandments and know that you are a sinner. You know that you have broken the commandments. Even one little white lie is enough to condemn you to Hell for eternity. Not because God is mean or petty, but because He is that Holy!
We have all fallen short of the glory of God. None of us have kept the commandments, perfectly, our whole lives. In fact, we sin daily. There’s nothing that we can do to get right with God. We can’t make ourselves spotless or perfect. We can’t do it. No amount of good can wipe out the bad that we’ve done. Doing more good than bad can’t save you. We are all sinners and our sin separates us from God.
The law is perfect, converting the soul because we all have a God given conscience. You know right from wrong because God convicts you when you sin. We can look at the 10 Commandments and see that we have violated them. By seeing our sinfulness and God’s Holiness, then we recognize that we need help. God offers us help through Jesus Christ alone.
Only Jesus can take away your guilty conscience. Only Jesus Christ can cleanse you and make you whole again. Only Jesus saves and He saves those who believe in Him. Not just intellectual belief, no it’s more than that. It’s belief to the point where you submit to His Lordship completely. You surrender your life to Him. You surrender your will to His will. You repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. You turn from your sins and turn to Jesus.
Galatians 3:19-24 says: 19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
The 10 Commandments show us that we need a Savior, but we are saved by faith in Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are saved by the grace of God by the measure of faith that He gives us. It is His gracious gift.
Almighty God is offering you everlasting life tonight, if you will confess your sins and turn from your sins and put your faith in Jesus. Cry out desperately to Jesus to save you. Cry out like Hannah cried out for a son. Repent and believe the Gospel. Do this tonight and be saved. Receive eternal life.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Words do matter and words are very important and no words are more important than the words of life. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by him (John 14:6). Come to Jesus tonight. Receive life tonight, spiritual life. Be made alive in Christ tonight. Come to Jesus and you’ll never die. Oh your physical body will one day give out, but your spirit will live on forever, if you believe in the Lord Jesus.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:10-13).
Choose life tonight. Repent and believe the Gospel. Believe in Jesus. Believe in His finished work on the cross. Trust Jesus to forgive you for your sins. Believe in His resurrection from the grave. Believe that He defeated sin, death and Hell. Believe in the saving power of Jesus and not your own feeble power. Believe in Jesus with saving faith and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Your words matter. If you die in your sins, if you die rejecting Jesus, you will be judged by your thoughts, words and actions on Judgment Day. (Jesus said) But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned (Matthew 12:36-37).
If Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Savior tonight, you are already under God’s condemnation and His wrath. John 3:36 states: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. God is angry with you tonight over your sins. His wrath abides on you because of your rebellion against Him. But you can be justified or right with God, but only through His Just Son – Jesus. Christ is the only Just One. Believe in Jesus. Believe on Him with saving faith.
My own words have no power. But my hope and prayer tonight is that God put His words in my mouth and that they were spoken through the power of the Holy Spirit. I ask this of the Lord because unrepentant sinners need to hear the powerful words of God. Unrepentant sinners need to encounter the powerful Word of God.
I asked you earlier: do people listen when you speak? More importantly: do you listen when God speaks? Do you listen to the Word of God? Words do matter and no words are more important than the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Jesus is the Word. Believe in Jesus tonight and be saved. Then go out and tell others about the great salvation that you have received. Share the wonderful words of life with others.
(A rough draft of this message was lifted up on March 20, 2015 in downtown Springfield, MO)