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The word of God is full of individual words which should be a part of our spiritual vocabulary and of which we could do series of sermons simply aiming to get a full understanding of the scriptural sense of their meanings. Such key scriptural words as "faith," "trust," "baptism," "love," "redemption," "salvation," "truth," "right hand," "holiness," "repentance," and "atonement" are some of the most important words of scripture. A lack of scriptural understanding of what some of these words mean have caused wars and deception and all sorts of bad things to happen. It is important to understand the key words of the Word of God!

I have furthermore preached often about the "big little words" of scripture -- a phrase that I coined -- to denote the small but very important to catch words such as "if" or "but" or "and." The Bible is full of such "big little words" that are very important. God says that I will do such and such IF you do such and such. Or "he that believeth AND is baptized shall be saved." Big little words of scripture.

If such scrutiny and detail about the Word of God seems a bit foolish to you, you should remember that Jesus, Himself, told His followers:

The "jot" was the smallest Hebrew letter of the alphabet. The "tittle" here refers to the smallest little stroke of the pen used on some letters. In modern slang, Jesus was saying "every i will be dotted and every t crossed by the time this thing winds up." God's word is true down to the very letter and so it can bear such seemingly close scrutiny. Indeed, the Apostle Paul once answered a question by pointing out that the Hebrew scriptures referred to the plural and not the singular. One "s" can make a difference in the Word of God, and it is important to get it right!

Jesus later told Satan when the tempter came to the wilderness:

"Every word!" It's important to grasp every "word" of the Word of God.

I've come today to preach to you about a slightly longer word but one that has been standing out to me for the last few months as I have read the scriptures. It seems like no matter where you turn in the Bible, this word eventually finds you and jumps up at you. The word is "nevertheless." It means "in spite of" or "despite that fact." As in "I know that eating too much ice cream will make me fat, nevertheless I will eat just one more pint of Rocky Road!" Or, "I know that Oreos taste better if you eat them whole soaked in milk, nevertheless I will pull them apart and eat the filling first." When a "nevertheless" is in a sentence it indicates a shift from the first point or a contrast between two views. It emphasizes action that is undertaken regardless to what was just stated. "Nevertheless" is a grand and useful word.

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I'm here to preach to you about the "neverthelesses" of scripture. There are a bunch -- somewhere between 70 to 118 depending upon which literal translation that you use -- and by far the most use of "nevertheless" is by God speaking, whether it be through the mouth of Jesus or Jehovah in the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul comes in second in the use of the word. Practically, all "neverthelesses" of scripture fall into probably seven or eight categories of usage, of which I would like to point out four, today. I hope after this sermon, the word "nevertheless" will become an important and correctly used word in your spiritual walk with God.

The Bible says about the children of Israel, God's appointed people of the Old Testament:

Many times they turned from God and rebelled against His Word. Many times they turned from trusting in Him and reaped the ill gains of their sinful actions. Many times they messed up and leaned on their own understanding, but then the scripture says "nevertheless He regarded their affliction when He heard their cry!" Despite their unfaithfulness; despite their repeated failures; despite their human inadequacies causing them to get into jams that were their own creation, NEVERTHELESS, God answered their cry from the affliction. He didn't have to, but as the scripture said, He "relented according to the multitude of His mercies!" They were unfaithful, nevertheless God was still faithful to them when they called. That's a great nevertheless, especially when you realize that we -- the born again, Spirit filled believers -- are God's special people today. And God never changes, therefore every one of us can say that "I was unfaithful and at times I turned from Him, NEVERTHELESS, He still answered my prayer!" "NEVERTHELESS He still had compassion on me and came when I called in great trouble." That is the "nevertheless" of mercy! Thank God for it!

Nehemiah helps us understand just how great this mercy truly is in the ninth chapter of his book. He told God in prayer about the Jewish people:

That's a sad nevertheless, the "nevertheless of sin." The "nevertheless" of taking for granted the blessings and anointings of God and using the peace that come with such things to turn back to sinfulness. Understand that this was not a people who did not know better. These were not people who had never heard the Word of God, or who had never seen proof of God's miraculous power. These were people who had drank from waters flowing from rocks in the wilderness and eaten manna from heaven. Who had seen the walls of Jericho fall and the power of God fight for them to be blessed. These were people whom in the midst of them in the tabernacle, the very presence of God dwelt and manifested itself! They had every possible reason to serve God and be faithful, NEVERTHELESS, they turned back on God's Word and killed the prophets and did all manner of evil things. If Nehemiah and the story had stopped right there, such would have been sad tidings indeed, but Nehemiah goes on to say to God:

All these strikes were against them and NEVERTHELESS God was still merciful to them and did not forsake them! What a great mercy that even though we did not sin in ignorance and knew full well the power of God, yet God still had mercy upon us! What a great nevertheless of mercy!

To the skeptics, let me point out that such mercy applies not only to groups of people, but to individuals as well. We don't know much about the man named Asaph, except that he was a Levite priest, a very skilled and chief musician, and that he wrote at least 12 songs which are found in the book of Psalms. He must have been a normal imperfect human being, though, because in our text of the 73rd Psalm, Asaph confessed to God:

They say that confession is good for the soul but bad for the reputation, but I'll admit some faults along with him: I've felt like that before. I've treated God beastly like Asaph did. I've found myself so caught up in my situation and ignorance and foolishiness that I've charged and blamed God foolishly and errantly and treated Him as if He were a fellow human being and imperfect. I've questioned His ways and wondered in my stupidity why God didn't see things the way that I saw them. And like Asaph and the children of Israel of old, I've done so despite having seen God do great things and despite knowing better and being convinced of the Word of God, I at times made mistakes and found myself at odds with God. But after such an admission, we find Asaph saying this:

Asaph said "I treated you like a dog, God," nevertheless, you still take me back and help me and guide me and will one day receive me to glory! There are two nevertheless of mercies here: Asaph had done God wrong, nevertheless God extended forgiveness and mercy to him. Asaph had the guilt of his treatment of God weighing heavily on his mind, nevertheless he came back to God and decided to walk with Him, trusting Him and received the mercy!

I'm preaching to people today, that need to remember that you have wronged God nevertheless mercy was extended, but you need another nevertheless in your life and that is when the past tries to rise up and beat you down with everything you've done saying "you don't deserve it and you shouldn't accept it and it sounds too good to be true" then say "that's true, nevertheless, I receive His offer of mercy and forgiveness!" I have done Him wrong, nevertheless I am with Him! Such is the cry of the nevertheless of mercy given and mercy received, and such will be the cry of those who make it to heaven! He blessed me nevertheless I still at times wronged Him, nevertheless He extended me mercy that I did not feel that I deserved, nevertheless I received it and stayed with Him! The song of salvation in heaven will be the testimony of an attitude of "nevertheless!" _______________________________________________________________________

Thank God for His mercy, but we must move along to another -- just as important -- nevertheless of scripture.

An Old Testament example of this is found in the lifetime of David:

In the time of Joshua, the Judges, and King Saul, the Israelites had not taken the city that you know as Jerusalem because of the strong defenses of the enemy there. Jerusalem was destined to be special in the purpose and plan of God and yet the enemy told David "you shall not come in here!" But I like the next part: "nevertheless David took it." That is the nevertheless of faith!

Too many people believe the boasts of the enemy and when we try -- like David -- to get complete victory in that one area that seems the hardest to conquer, the enemy laughs in our face and says "you won't come in here and rid this out of your life!" I really could have preached a whole message on this: there are many of you who are living in the promised places of God and yet have that one place where the voice of the enemy mocks you and says, "you'll never get complete victory over this!" And too many of you listen and believe that voice of hell and sin!

But somebody get the "nevertheless of faith!" If you were trusting in your own self, then you have ever reason to believe the enemy of your soul, but you are trusting in a higher power. So when the devil says "you cannot conquer this" say to him, "nevertheless I shall conquer it!" When your past says "you will always be this way and cannot change because it is your family destiny," somebody say, "nevertheless through the power of God's Word and Spirit I will conquer this!" We need such a revelation of the nevertheless of faith! Faith does not mean that everything looks rosy, but rather that we know that despite what it looks like, God is bigger than the situation! Somebody needs to speak back to your situation with faith and say "nevertheless, I will conquer you!"

Reminds me of Peter and the boys fishing all night long on the Sea of Galilee early in their days of following Jesus and they fished all night and didn't even catch an old shoe, nevertheless fish! They are washing their nets the next morning, about to give up and go home when Jesus shows up.

Sounded crazy and sounded foolish and Simon voiced what he was thinking, but he didn't stop there:

Peter said "it doesn't make sense to me and I don't see how your command can help anything, but nevertheless at your word I will do it!" And his miracle came from his NEVERTHELESS of faith!

Does the Word of God command something that doesn't make sense to you? Why don't you admit that, but then give it a "nevertheless at your word I will." It could be that you and your doubt are only a nevertheless of faith away from receiving the miraculous! Trust in God's plan and His command more than what you feel! Jesus, Himself, taught us this by example when He prayed:

The battle of the cross and of your and my redemption was won with this nevertheless of faith! Jesus' flesh didn't want to die anymore than yours would have, but even when the plan of God didn't mean immediate comfort, He prayed "nevertheless not My will but Yours!"

The Apostle Paul echoed Jesus' example when, summing up the hardships of his life, he said:

That is the nevertheless of faith speaking! I've suffered through some things but nevertheless, I trust Him and know that He knows best and I surrender to His will! It would be good that we would too leave here today having added the "nevertheless of faith" to our spiritual vocabulary:

Talking about the nevertheless of faith! Somebody needs to speak such things today!

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There is yet another scriptural nevertheless that we must add to our life:

Jesus often told His disciples not what they wanted to hear, but what they needed to hear! "Bro. Garth" once sang a song about unanswered prayers and you should be thankful that God does not act only according to your understanding! Jesus told His disciples in one place:

The disciples didn't like Jesus telling them that He had to die and be buried and rise again and then go away from them in bodily form. They didn't like what the Word from God had to say about their future and what they were about to have to do, but it was in their best interests because by going away in physical form, they would be able to receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus in spirit form! He said in John chapter 14 about the Spirit of God: "He has been with you, but shall be in you!" They didn't like what God's Word had to say, nevertheless, it was the best thing that they could have possibly heard! They didn't want to at the time to receive such instruction, but nevertheless God kept to His original plan!

There will be times that the Word of God will command you and correct you in ways that you don't like, but the book of Hebrews says:

Even when the Word of God corrects something that you don't like, it is still the Word of God and it is really for your best interest! That is the nevertheless of God's Word: you may not like it, nevertheless it is true and if you will surrender to it, it will eventually bring about good things in your life well worth the pain of correction!

What that means is that we must never decide whether something is right or wrong by our opinion or by "what we feel." Because we will usually decide on what seems easiest to us at the time and yet what usually brings the worst possible result in the long run. I've heard people respond to truth by saying "well, I don't think all of that is necessary" or "I don't see the need for that." I have a scripture for such people, actually just the first part of our other text:

That is the proper attitude toward decision making and doctrines and personal beliefs! "I feel such and such but nevertheless what does the Scripture say?" You may say that you don't think this and such is wrong. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? You don't like this area of your life being corrected and pointed out that it needs to change. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say!? The Bible says:

You are entitled to your opinion, nevertheless what does the Word of God say!? Because it is His Word that will last for forever and be true in the end!

And let me throw this in here: when people are looking for an excuse to disobey or ignore scriptural teachings, they always try to find somebody that messed up or twisted scripture or some televangelist that fell or whatever. You should know that before Swaggart and Baker and Roberts, there was Hymeaneus and Phlietus, preachers that crashed and burned in Paul's day and we find:

Paul said "some fell by the way and fell into errant doctrine and were hypocrites and such, nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands!" Truth is not predicated on whether or not anyone believes it -- it is still truth! God's Word is still right, no matter how many people fall by the way side! They fell, nevertheless God's Word is still inerrant! And so I say to you after all your excuses as to this and that, "nevertheless what does the scripture say?" We need the nevertheless of God's Word to be in our hearts and mind!

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There is a "nevertheless" found in scripture that is many people's spiritual vocabulary and needs to be removed. You don't want to have this attitude, I'm talking about:

The best Old Testament example of this is found in the story of the runaway prophet Jonah. In running from God's will, Jonah boarded a ship going the opposite direction from what God had commanded and God sent a great storm to rock the ship. The pagan sailors called out to every idol and false god that they knew and finally the wayward man of God told them the truth:

They had a word of truth instructing them in what to do to end the storm of judgment in their life and yet the next verse says:

They knew what the Word of truth had commanded them to do, nevertheless they kept on trying their futile methods and efforts! Such is the nevertheless of sin: Despite hearing the clear instructions of the Word of God on how to change and what to do, men still keep relying on their own weak efforts and their own understanding! And in trying to escape the judgment of their sins by their own methods, they drown themselves!

We find a similar nevertheless of sin in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus instructed His disciples on what to do when a town did not receive the preaching of His Gospel:

God was saying, "you may choose to reject the Word of truth, but nevertheless to your response, you are still responsible for it!" The choice to obey or reject the Word of God is yours to make, but nevertheless one day, you will be responsible for what was delivered to you! Talking about the nevertheless of sin!

Twice in giving a word to the churches of Asia in the second chapter of the book of Revelation, Jesus complimented the good things that the particular churches were doing and then yet had to say "nevertheless I have somewhat against you" because they had left something undone! Such is the nevertheless of sin, when people still lean to their own understanding despite the clear instruction of the Word of God and justify the areas that they do not want to change. God forbid, that such a "nevertheless" would be in our spiritual life!

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I've preached to you about the Neverthelesses of Scripture: Nevertheless of Mercy, Nevertheless of Faith, Nevertheless of God's Word, and the Nevertheless of Sin. And I close with this story:

At the end of the 17th chapter of Matthew, we find the curious story of Simon Peter popping off to the tax collectors and bragging that Jesus paid the temple tax. This was foolish because Jesus was not required to pay taxes because He did not have a job and the same applied to the men who followed Him full time. Furthermore, as the "Master and Lord of the temple" He didn't have to spiritually pay anything to enter there and so we find Simon Peter in a mess of his own making, created by his own flesh and mouth, and now he is having to pay a "stupid tax" of which he doesn't have the ability to pay.

After gently correcting Simon Peter, we find Jesus giving him these instructions:

And so God miraculously provided for Peter's situation! Here we see the neverthelesses of scripture at work: Peter had gotten himself into a jam of his own fault, nevertheless Jesus extended mercy and a way of saving him from the situation. What Jesus commanded seemed strange, but nevertheless, Peter obeyed it and even though the Word of God seemed strange, nevertheless, it happened just as Jesus said it would happen! Such is the nature of the call of God this morning: you do not deserve mercy, and most of your issues of life are of your own creation, just as mine and Simon Peter's are. Nevertheless, mercy has been extended to you and God's Word has instructed you in a way out. It may sound strange to you, nevertheless act in faith and you will find that His Word is just as sure and stable today, as it has always been! Respond to your doubts and fears that try to question His call and command with the nevertheless of faith!