John 6:28-29 “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

It is God that makes us believe. You believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior because it is God that made you believe in Him. Without God, none of us can believe in Him. The word “believe” here came from the Greek word “pisteuō” which means “to have faith, by implication, to commit or entrust.” To have faith means receiving a revelation from God. Because faith is a revelation (Heb. 11:1). And there is no other source of revelation but God alone (Mat. 16:17). You cannot have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ if God had not given you that faith.

With this in mind, here are the golden nuggets that we can get from this truth:

1. NO MAN CAN GIVE REVELATIONS/FAITH TO ANYONE

No person can give to us the revelation that he/she has received from God. No matter how anointed or how gifted this person of God can be, and no matter how genuine the revelation that he received from God, he/she cannot give that revelation to others. He/she can only share the Word to us based on how it was revealed to him/her, but not the revelation of it. We can only share the Word of God with others but it is God’s business to give to them the revelation of that Word. This is clearly written in Matthew 16:17:

“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

If you are a member of the Body of Christ, then our Lord will use you to share His Word. He will use you to be a light of this world (Matt. 5:14-16). He will reveal to you the revelations of His Word so that He can use you to share that Word with others. This is how you become a light of this world – by sharing with others the light that you have received from God. However, you can only do until this. The rest is God’s works.

Our Lord may have given you gifts of preaching, teaching, or the sharing of His Word for you to be an effective preacher, teacher, or sharer of His Word. You may have effectively shared that Word to others and explained to them detail by detail the revelation that you have received from the Lord. But it is still up to God whether He will reveal it to that person or not. The important thing is, you have done your part. And know that you are doing a great job by doing all you can in explaining it as clearly as possible to others.

Our job as a light of this world is to show to others the light (revelation of the Word) that we have received from our Lord. It is God’s job if He will also impart that light to others. Take for example the Apostle Philip. In Acts 8:26-40, God told Philip to go to Gaza in order for Him to meet the Eunuch that was reading Isaiah 53. This Eunuch, although reading Isaiah 53, cannot understand what he is reading (Acts 8:31). He did not know Who is the suffering servant mentioned in that book. This is where Philip job’s comes in. Philip then according to Acts 8:35:

“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.”

Philip preached to the Eunuch that the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He might have elaborated to the Eunuch how the Lord Jesus is the suffering servant. He might have explained it to him by telling him the evidence of how it’s the Lord Jesus. BUT UNLESS GOD WILL GIVE THE REVELATION TO THE EUNUCH, HE CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT THE SUFFERING SERVANT OF ISAIAH 53 IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.

Our job here on Earth is just like Philip’s. All we can do is to be available to be used by God for the preaching, teaching, and sharing of His Word. This of course includes explaining it as clearly as possible, elaborating it, presenting the verses of the Bible that support it, and many more. In order to do this, you must be adept with the Bible. How can Philip know that the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is the exact description of the Lord Jesus Christ if he himself did not read it? This is also the reason why the Apostle Paul advises us in 2 Timothy 2:15 to:

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

The word “study” here came from the Greek word “spoudazō” which means “to use speed, to make effort, be prompt or earnest: – do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study.” The meanings: to make effort, to do diligence, endeavor, labor and study, are the ones that fit the context better. What the Apostle Paul is saying here is that we must labor, endeavor or make effort if we are a workman of God that is used by Him in sharing His Word. We must study the Word of God for us to rightly divide it in sharing to others, to avoid confusion and to have a clearer sharing of the Word.

But most believers today are allergic to the word “study.” This is because they think that the job of believers is to give the “Life” (revelation) of the Word to others instead of explaining the Word to them clearly. The truth is, no one can actually give that revelation or Life to others. All we can do is share it and explain it clearly as possible to others. And this is why we need to study. Those ministers who claim that they can impart revelations to others are actually lying, for that work is the work of God alone. All we can do is to share the Word with others as clearly as possible just like what Philip has done to the Eunuch.

The main reason why Paul advises us to study the Scriptures especially if we are ministers just like Timothy, is for us to RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF TRUTH. Many ministers fall into the error of wrongly dividing the Word of God. An example of wrongly dividing the Word is getting some verses in the scriptures that are only applicable to the past dispensation but are not applicable to the current one. An example of this is the teaching that sabbath and tithings are to be observed in today’s Grace dispensation when it was only applicable during the Law period. Another wrongly dividing is being a Hyperdenpensationalist. These are the people who think that the members of the Church of God today are only the Gentiles and that the Jews cannot be a member of the Church. This is because they believe that the gospel will only come back to them through the ministry of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11. But this is actually false! The Bible emphasized that there are no more division between the Jews and the Gentiles during this Grace period. Both became a member of the Church of God once baptized by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13, Eph. 2:14-16, Eph. 2:19, Rom. 10:12, Col. 3:11).

In fact, in the Bible, there is no such thing as Jewish Church or Gentile Church. You cannot read these in the Bible. What you can read is only the “Church of Christ” (Eph. 3:6). This is because there is no more distinction between the Jews and Gentiles during this Grace period. This is the reason why it is very important to study the Bible so that you can rightly divide the Word of Truth and you will not fall into this kind of error. 

2. REVELATIONS ARE NOT JUST KNOWLEDGE

All revelations given by God are knowledge (Eph. 3:3-5). If you have received a revelation, I am 100% sure that you have the knowledge of that revelation. You know and understand that revelation. If you claim that you have received a revelation but you know nothing about it, then that is not revelation at all. This is why every revelation is knowledge.

But every revelation is NOT JUST KNOWLEDGE. It is the Spirit of God Himself given to you. It is a part of God Himself that became you (Mat. 16:17). This is what is written in 1 Corinthians 2:10-12:

“But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”

Those revelations given to us by God are actually the Spirit of God being received by our spirit and these revelations became us. They became a part of our spirit. In short, every revelation is actually a piece of God becoming a part of us. You are a very blessed person if you received a revelation from God, because you are actually given a part of God.

This is why although all revelations are knowledge, they are not just knowledge that remains in our minds. They are also the Spirit of God that became part of our spirit. This is the reason why even if you will have amnesia or an Alzheimer’s disease one day where you forgot all the things you have known from God, you don’t need to worry because those revelations are already part of your spirit, not just of your mind.

Some say that revelations are experiential knowledge. Yes, indeed they are experiential knowledge. But they are MORE THAN just experiential knowledge. You can lose experiential knowledge once you will have amnesia. But revelations cannot be taken away from you for they are Life itself. They are Spirit itself. They are Grace itself (Titus 2:11-12). This is why we are advised to grow both in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord as written in 2 Peter 3:18:

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”

Those who despised knowledge coming from our Lord actually despised revelations.

3. HOW MUCH YOU KNOW ABOUT GOD, DOES NOT DEPEND ON YOU

Since revelations are given only by God (Mat. 16:17), how much we know about God does not depend on us. It depends on God alone on how much He will reveal Himself to us. This is why no one can become “obese” by everyday listening and reading the Word of God. This is because even if you read and listen to many preachings every day, it is still God who gives the revelation. It is still Him who decides when to give them. Therefore, revelations can never be too much for us.

Love is actually directly proportional to the knowledge you have about the person. The more you know the person, the more you love him/her. The less you know the person the less you love him/her. Our Lord Jesus wanted to reveal Himself to us fully (Eph. 4:13, 1 Cor. 13:12). This is because He loved us and He wanted us to love Him. People who received many revelations from the Lord are also the people who have the greatest capacity to love the Lord compared to those who received few revelations. The best example of this are the Wise Virgins and the Foolish Virgins. The Wise Virgins are the ones who can love the Lord more since they receive many revelations compared to the Foolish ones. They have more oil. They are the ones who knew the Lord more.

Whatever revelation God has given you, you need to use it! This is actually the meaning of Luke 8:16 -18. Whatever light you receive from God, you need to use it to help others. You must let your light shine. If we use the revelation that is given to us by God to help others, then God will provide more.

“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have (Luke 8:18).”

4. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT IF OTHERS DO NOT BELIEVE YOU

If you share with others the revelation that you have received from God and the people believe them, then congratulations! This is because you have done your part. If the people do not believe them, still congratulations! This is because you still have done your part. I congratulate you not because people believe or do not believe you, but because you have done your part. Again, our role is only to share the Word. For people to believe them or not, is up to God already.

The reason why we need to preach the Word to all nations as commanded by the Lord in Matthew 28:19 is that, to those who believe, it will be a blessing to them. To those who won’t believe however, it will be a judgment to them. In all of these, we need to preach the Word. There should be someone whom God can use to preach His Word.  

CONCLUSION

Knowing all of these, we must not force anyone to believe us. It should be the work of God to make them believe. You must not worry if there are only few people who are listening to you or believe what you are sharing. If the church you are ministering to has only few believers, then it is not your problem. Continue serving the Lord. Do not be frustrated.

Also, we must not claim that the maturity of the believers is because of our doings. Those are certainly not our doings. It is the work of God alone. Do not claim that the believers are your sheep. No. They are the sheep of God. It is Him that made them to be believers. They belong to God alone, not to you. 

Lastly, keep the simplicity of the message. It should be as simple as how you have received it. Don’t fall into the temptation of putting “flowering words” to it to make it grandiose and for it to be more attractive to the hearers. Those that can only be attracted by doing these are the ones who are after flowering words and not after the pure Word. Again, it is God that makes us believe. Don’t “dilute” the message just to make it more appealing to many. Just share the message as simple and as clear as it can be.

May the Lord continue to guide us in sharing His Word is my prayer.

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