Greek Word Studies
Advanced Level
Lesson 3
Lesson Title: Rhema
Lesson Text: Luke
Introduction: Meaning of the Word ‘Rhema’
Vines defines
‘rhema’
as ‘the individual scripture which the Spirit brings to our remembrance for use
in a time of need’.
Comparison between the two Greek
words ‘Logos’ and ‘Rhema’.
In contrast to Logos ‘the expressed will or
mind of God’, ‘Rhema’ is a particular word that
the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance for a specific purpose.
This is illustrated by the Armour of God in Ephesians
6:10-18
The Belt of Truth is the ‘logos’ word of
God. See John
17:17 ‘Your word is truth’.
The Sword of the Spirit is the ‘rhema’
word of God. Ephesians
The ‘rhema’ word
of God is a word taken from the ‘logos’ belt of truth.
Example of using the Sword of the Spirit - The rhema word of God.
The
Temptation of Jesus: Jesus used the
Sword of the Spirit when He was tempted by the devil.
The devil attacked using scripture, Matthew 4:3,6. Jesus answered with Sword of the Spirit, Matthew 4:4,7, ‘it is written…’.
Jesus
used the word of the Lord as a sword to defend against temptation, and to
attack the deceitfulness of the devil.
Christians are to live by the rhema word of the Lord.
When Jesus was tempted to turn
stones into bread to satisfy His physical needs, Jesus overcame the devil with
by the scripture that says ‘man shall live by the ‘rhema’
word of God.’
Matthew
4:4, ‘But he answered and said, It is
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word (rhema) that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’
When the children of Israel were in the wilderness the Lord gave them
manna to eat.
They had to collect the manna every morning six days a week.
The manna was the supernatural provision of God in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 8:3,
‘And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna,
which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know
that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of the LORD does man live.’
He
humbled them; allowed them to be in need; fed them day by day supernaturally
with manna – to teach them to trust in the word ‘rhema’
word of the Lord.
On another occasion the people cried against Moses because
they did not have meat to eat only manna.
The Lord was angry with the Israelites and told Moses they
would eat meat for a month until it came out of their nostrils.
Moses could not understand how God could feed such a large
multitude in the wilderness with that amount of meat.
The Lord told Moses you shall see my word (dabar) come to pass.
Numbers
Introductory
illustration: Learning to trust.
Personal testimony of trusting in the ‘rhema’ word of the Lord:
When the Lord led me to go to India I booked the air
ticket. I paid a deposit but I did not
have the money to pay the ticket.
I knew the Lord had called me to India and nothing would
stop me going.
On the day I had to buy the ticket a cheque arrived for
£275 the exact amount I needed.
Main Points:
Preaching the ‘rhema’
word of God
1. It is the preaching of the ‘rhema’ word of God that has power.
The ‘logos’ word is
seed. It is the word of the kingdom (Matthew
The ‘rhema’
word is a sword. It is a word that
pierces right into the heart and mind. (Ephesians
6:17)
- The rhema word will
fulfil its purpose
In the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah wrote:
Isaiah 55:11,
‘So shall my word (Heb: dabar) be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.’
It is not any word that
will not return void, but it is the ‘dabar’ word or
in the Greek ‘rhema’ word.
It
a word that is brought for a specific purpose by the Holy Spirit.
- The ‘rhema’ word of
God brings salvation. Romans 10:8, ‘But what says it? The word ‘rhema’ is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in
your heart: that is, the word ‘rhema’ of
faith, which we preach; That if you
shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.’
The ‘rhema’ word of the Lord is the message
of the gospel proclaimed with power.
1 Peter 1:25, ‘But the word ‘rhema’ of the
Lord endures for ever. And this is the word ‘rhema’ which by the gospel is preached unto you.’
The preaching of the ‘rhema’ word will speak into the hearts and lives of the
unsaved.
Paul calls the Gospel of Christ, the power of God
unto salvation. ‘For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.’ (Romans
1:16)
Illustration: When I preach (with a team from Denmark) in
the prisons in Romania I am very conscious that every meeting is different.
We have many meetings but
I am aware that it is necessary to preach the ‘rhema’
word of the Lord in every meeting.
It is necessary to be
more than a sower of the word; we need to come with the piercing sword of the
Spirit that will speak right into the hearts and lives of the prisoners.
- Bringing the ‘rhema’ word of the Lord requires skill
It requires skill…
1) …in handling the scriptures (2 Timothy
2) …in being led of the Holy Spirit
3) …in speaking to the prisoners in a way that
gains their attention
4) …and it also requires the skill of a good
translator.
When translation is
needed, the rhema word will only have effect if the
message is reproduced effectively by the translator.
A good translator will
flow in perfect union with the preacher.
2. It is the preaching of the ‘rhema’ word of God that is effective because faith comes from hearing the ‘rhema’
word of God. Romans 10:17, ‘So then faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the word ‘rhema’ of God.’
Illustration: A local
church where the ‘rhema’ word of God is preached will
be an active church.
Music will attract people,
but it is the ‘rhema’ word of God that builds faith.
This is why preaching is
essential in building up a live church.
Music and singing alone is
not enough.
The ‘rhema’
word must come as a sword into the hearts and lives of the congregation.
- When
the ‘rhema’ word is preached it is exciting.
God is always exciting.
True Christianity is
exciting.
Preaching that seeks to
bring the ‘rhema’ word of God is exciting.
People associate preaching
with boring messages.
This is because preaching
has been degraded to sermon writing.
Illustration: I remember
when my brother went on a camp and received the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. He came home different. He would be in his bedroom listening to
sermons on his reel to reel tape recorder.
I thought he had gone crazy.
My thoughts were:
‘Why would anybody want to
listen to a sermon in his bedroom?
It was bad enough having to
listen to it in church but to listen to the message on tape at home was not
normal.’
My brother had discovered
the preaching of the ‘rhema’ word of God that
produces faith.
All I knew was boring
messages that produced a headache and a sore backside from sitting on wooden
chairs.
- The
‘rhema’ word of the Lord ministers
life.
Jesus sent His disciples out
to minister life.
He sent them out to teach
and to preach, but He did not send his disciples out to preach their best
messages.
He sent them out to minister
in the power of the Holy Spirit.
1) This required training –Jesus taught His
disciples to minister with Him.
2) They needed the resurrected life of Christ in
them.
3) They needed to have the authority of Christ –
seated in heavenly places.
4) They needed the power of the Holy Spirit that
came on the Day of Pentecost.
5) They needed to be led into the full
understanding of the scriptures as it has been revealed in the New Testament.
- The
‘rhema’ word of the Lord is a word that pierces
right into the heart and mind.
Paul told Timothy to ‘preach
the logos’ (2 Timothy 4:2) meaning
the whole revealed word.
Not just a theme that people
like to hear but the whole gospel.
Preaching the ‘rhema’ word of God does not mean preaching a particular or
enjoyable theme.
It is the sword of the
Spirit that brings a word that pierces right into the heart and minds of the
people.
Illustration: Many years I
read some messages by Charles Spurgeon from the gospels. I had not read his messages before and what
impressed me was the way Charles Spurgeon spoke right into the lives of the
people. I realised his ministry was not
built on nice messages but he sought to bring the word of the Lord that would
pierce into the hearts of the people.
Isaiah wrote: The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned,
that I should know how to speak a word (Hebrew: dabar)
in season to him that is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens
mine ear to hear as the learned. (Isaiah
50:4)
Speaking a word in season requires skill and relationship
1) Skill - Isaiah calls it the
‘tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season…’
2) Relationship – ‘He wakens my
ear to hear’
This is more than just preaching messages.
3. The rhema
‘word of the Lord’ is necessary to have an effective Christian life.
- The ‘rhema’ word of the Lord will see prayers answered.
John 15:7, ‘If ye abide in me,
and my words (rhema) abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’
Prayer that is effective is
the prayer that comes from the ‘rhema’ word of God
abiding in us.
‘You shall ask what you
will…’ is linked to ‘…my words (rhema) abide in you’.
Prayer is exciting when we pray
with the ‘rhema word of God’.
The ‘rhema’
word of the Lord can come at any time.
It is the moving of the
Holy Spirit upon the heart and the mind.
The Holy Spirit is in
control but we must be receptive.
It can happen during the
day or night - the ‘rhema’ comes to us so that we can
pray in accordance with the will of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes the ‘rhema’ can come to us with a ‘word of knowledge’ to pray
for a particular need.
In Acts 4 after Peter and
Paul were persecuted before the Sanhedrin they came to the disciples and gave
an account of what happened.
The disciples did not have
a discussion, they prayed.
The recorded prayer is the
‘rhema’ word of the Lord.
The result of the prayer
was that the disciples were filled with boldness to preach the ‘rhema’ word of the Lord in the face of great persecution.
- It is the ‘rhema’ word of God that cleanses the believer in day to day life.
Ephesians 5:25-26, ‘Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word (rhema),’
Example: Jesus washed His disciples
feet
Jesus
taught the disciples the need to ‘wash our feet’. His teaching does not relate to the literal
washing of the feet but to the need to keep clean day by day.
John
This
is not legalism but it is the ‘rhema’ working in the
life of the believer.
Keeping clean requires
fellowship.
When
Jesus washed His disciples feet he taught the
disciples the need to wash each others feet day by day
John 13:14, ‘If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye
also ought to wash one another’s feet.’
Jesus was illustrating
spiritual truth.
The disciples never mention
feet washing in the book of Acts because Jesus was demonstrating the need for
fellowship in the word, the ‘logos’.
1 John 1:7 ‘But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.’
Fellowship
and cleansing.
This is not something we do
to be saved; it is the evidence that we are saved. A person who is washed in the blood of Jesus
will seek Christian fellowship.
The believer needs
fellowship with the body of Christ to keep clean in the Word.
Hebrews
4. It is the preaching of the ‘rhema’ word of God that brings persecution. Acts
The disciples were witnesses
to the Lord Jesus Christ by preaching the ‘rhema’. Word of the Lord.
- It is the ‘rhema’ word
of God that brings persecution.
The sword of the Spirit (rhema)
will pierce right to the heart.
In the Acts of the Apostles we see three responses
1) A great
multitude believed
2) Many did not
dare associate themselves with the disciples but held them in high regard.
3) Others
sought to persecute and destroy the church.
Saul sought to destroy the church because he was being
cut by the sword of the ’rhema’ word of the Lord.
- Preaching
in Revival
In a revival the ‘rhema word of the Lord’ will come with power right into the
hearts of the people.
It is said that preaching
was not so prominent in the 1904 Welsh Revival.
But even if sermons were not preached; the ‘rhema’
word of the Lord was there, and it was the ‘rhema
word of the Lord’ that pierced into the hearts of the people.
So much so that society was
affected.
It is said that the mules
used in the coal mines could not respond because the miner no longer cursed but
spoke with a new tongue.
Preaching that does not have
the ’rhema word of the Lord’ will either be distant,
or be a direct attack upon a person.
A pastor who attacks his
congregation every Sunday because they do not do what he expects is not
bringing a ‘rhema word*.
His preaching will usually
produce strife. This is not persecution;
this is carnality.
Summary:
1. It is the
preaching of the ‘rhema’ word of God that has power.
2. It is the preaching of the ‘rhema’ word of God that is effective because faith comes from hearing the ‘rhema’ word of God.
3. The rhema ‘word of
the Lord’ is necessary to have an effective Christian life.
4. It is the preaching of the ‘rhema’ word of God that brings persecution