I often tremble as we sing God's
praise in his house. I tremble for fear of pretending
what is not so. For fear of pretending before
God and pretending with you and pretending with myself. Just a little bit ago, this is
what we sang. Your word, oh God, I love to
read. Or hear the Bible read to me.
Earth's greatest privilege, indeed, to have this book declared to
me. I hope that's true of you and
of me. If it is not, it is my prayer
that God will make it true and that he will begin to make it
true this very hour. Open your Bibles with me to Hebrews
chapter 4. The title of my message is The
Word of God Is. the Word of God is. For the Word of God, Hebrews
chapter 4 verse 12, for the Word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but
all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom
we have to do." I want to show you four things given to us in
this message. First, I want you to understand
that this book is the word of God. Then, I will show you the
message of this book. Then, I want you to see the character
of this book as it's described in our text and the instrumentality
of this book. All right. First, understand
this. You got a copy? Pick it up a
minute. Hold it in your hand. This book, this book that you hold in your
hand is the word of God. How little we appreciate the
fact that we have, even our younger children. One of the first books
we buy, in our households anyway, before our children is the Bible.
Buy them a New Testament. Buy them a Bible. Start teaching
them things in this book. We have little appreciation for
what God has done in giving us this book in our language. Men
have suffered imprisonment. banishment and death to give
us this book. The papacy tried for hundreds
of years to suppress it and to keep it from being given out
in the language of the people because they didn't want people
to know what God says in his word. And men were persecuted,
imprisoned, banished from their homelands, and even put to death
for daring to translate the Bible into the language of the common
man. And here, you can pick one up almost free of charge anywhere.
You can pick them up cheaply. But we rarely value the book
as we ought. This book, written by 40 different
men over a period of 1,500 years, declaring to us one message,
Jesus Christ and him crucified. Look at a couple of passages
of scripture with me. First look at 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy
chapter 3. You have in your hand the whole
written revelation of God. You have in your hand all divine
revelation in the pages of this book. You have the entire complete
Word of God inspired, inscripturated, put on paper in words. Therefore,
we no longer have need of signs and wonders, the signs and wonders
and revelations given by God in special way to the apostles
of our Lord. When our Lord Jesus came, if
you read the second chapter of the book of Joel, it is obvious
that the appearing of the Messiah was to be accompanied by men
who had these miraculous gifts, gifts of tongues and wonders
and revelations from God, so that they were identified by
those gifts as the inspired messengers of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Today, if you read the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, you'll
read about other men who come in these last days with signs
and wonders, pretentious signs and wonders, fake healers, and
this generation's full of them, full of them. Now understand
my language clearly. All of them are antichrist. Read 2 Thessalonians 2. Read
2 Thessalonians 2. The sure sign of Antichrist is
men coming, pretending to have apostolic gifts. Well, Brother
Don, why would you say those gifts have perished? Because
God has given us his word. We don't have any more need of
them. We have the whole revelation of God. When a man stands up
and talks about having a word of revelation from God, this
is what he's saying. I have a new revelation from
God, that means my revelation supersedes this revelation. And
so they throw away the authority of the Word of God, and all authority
becomes the man who says he has a revelation from God. We no
longer need these things, for that which is perfect is come.
Now let me show you from the Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3, verse
16. And I realized that the whole canon of scripture had not yet
been completed when Paul wrote this. But this is what he says
of all scripture. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable. What's it profitable for? It
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. In this book, You learn what
you ought to believe, what you must believe. In this book, your
sin and unbelief is reproved. In this book, your life is corrected. In this book, you have instruction
in righteousness, not instruction in how you perform righteousness. You can't. but instruction in
how righteousness has been accomplished by the Redeemer and is given
by God's grace to chosen sinners who believe on the Son of God. Look in 2 Peter chapter 1. 2
Peter chapter 1. We'll begin reading at verse
19. But understand the context. Look just above verse 19 and
you'll see that Peter is talking about the vision he had of the
Lord Jesus along with James and John in the Mount of Transfiguration. Now if there is any point in
history, if there is any point in history that I can look back
at and say, man, I'd like to have been there. I'd sure like
to have been there, wouldn't you? I'd like to have been there.
They saw the Son of God transfigured before them. That is, they saw
before he was crucified a visible representation of his glorification
after his resurrection and ascension into heaven. They saw Jesus Christ
transfigured so that his very being glistened as the sun. They saw and heard Moses and
Elijah and God speaking concerning his son. They saw and heard Moses
and Elijah talking with him about the death he would accomplish
at Jerusalem. Actually, the word death is the
exodus he would accomplish at Jerusalem. About the redemption,
the deliverance portrayed back yonder in the exodus of Israel
out of Egypt. That's what he came to accomplish
at Jerusalem. And they heard God the Father
speak from heaven saying, this is my beloved son. in whom I
am well pleased. All right. Now watch what Peter
has to say about this book in light of what he just described.
2 Peter 1 verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. Wow. Something more sure than hearing
Moses and Elijah. something more sure than seeing
with our physical eyes the Son of God transfigured in front
of us, something more sure than hearing God audibly speak in
our ears out of heaven, a more sure word of prophecy. Now that
just kind of makes all the nonsense folks talk about, about signs
and wonders and speaking in tongues and healing and visions and stuff,
that just Well, that's a bunch of garbage. That's a bunch of
garbage. We have a more sure word of prophecy. Where unto ye do well that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, Take heed
to this book as light in a dark place until Christ arises in
your heart. Pay heed to this book. This is
the only place where you're going to find him. Search the scriptures
for these are they that testify of me. Knowing this first, that
no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. You
read a portion of scripture, so this is what that means. And
we live in a religious generation that's got a bad case of versitis.
They quote scripture and spit it off like a machine gun, spitting
bullets, and pay no attention to what it says. You cannot understand
the word of God that way. Scripture is understood by scripture. Scripture is understood comparing
scripture with scripture. And we understand the prophecy
not by, well, let me show you what this means to me. It don't
matter a bit what it means to you. And it doesn't matter a
bit what it means to me. What does it mean? That's all
that matters. And God tells you if you search
the scriptures, read on. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man. But holy men of God spake as
they were moved, inspired, carried along by the Holy Ghost. Now, we speak of inspiration
in a different way, and it's proper to use the word that way.
I have been inspired by a number of events to concentrate on this
fourth chapter of Hebrews the last few weeks. I've been inspired
to do so by things that have arisen. By inspiration in that
sense, I mean motivated, kind of moved in this direction. But
when we speak of the scripture being inspired, we're talking
about the scripture being God-breathed. So that men wrote the book. And as you read the book, it's
obvious that what Amos wrote wasn't written by Paul. And what
Paul wrote wasn't written by Peter. It's obvious. The character
of the man is demonstrated in the thing that he wrote. God
used the men. But those men did not write by
their will. They wrote as God the Holy Spirit
moved them to write, only what God moved them to write, and
exactly what God moved them to write. This book is in its entirety
down to the letter, verbally. Plenary fully inspired with no
errors no contradictions with one message Well, what is the
message of the book turn back to the book of Luke Luke chapter
24? The Word of God is the name given
both to this book that we're looking into this morning and
to our dear Savior the Lord Jesus Christ and It's difficult to
say whether our text speaks specifically of the written word, this Bible,
or of Christ, the incarnate word. The good commentators are about
equally divided. Hawker and Gill both say it's
talking about Christ, the incarnate word. Calvin and others say it's
talking about the written word. But really, the two can't be
divided. We read in John chapter 1, listen
to this, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him and without him was not
anything made that was made. The word was made flesh Christ
God the word that one in whom God Reveals himself was made
flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory The glory
as the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth now here
in Luke 24 our Lord Jesus is walking with the disciples on
the Emmaus road back after the resurrection and he's hidden
himself from them and But he's speaking to them about himself,
and he's reading to them, speaking to them about the scriptures.
And beginning, verse 27, at Moses and in all the prophets, he expanded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. The message of this book is Christ,
the incarnate word. The message of this book is Jesus
Christ crucified. I do not mean he is the prominent
message. I do not mean he's the most important
message. I do not mean that he is the
highest, noblest message. I mean that Jesus Christ crucified,
God incarnate, our savior and redeemer, resurrected from the
dead, seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, is the
singular message of this book. The book is not written to teach
us history. It is not written to teach us
morality. It is not written to teach us religious dogma. It
is not written to teach us whether we ought to wear shorts or long
breeches, wear hair down over our ears or have our hair shaved,
wear beards, not wear beards. It's written to teach Jesus Christ,
to teach us to know him and his righteousness and his redemption.
Understand that? That's the purpose of the book.
Look at Luke 24 again, verse 44. He's with his disciples now,
and he says unto them, These are the words which I spake unto
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets,
and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. If you'll ever get
this, or if God will show you this, If God will show you this,
the books talking about Christ, Mark, you'll pop to life before
you. It just pops open. It just pops open. How many of
you have had trouble reading the book of Leviticus? Man, I
had trouble reading the book of Leviticus. What's this mean?
If you can get it wrapped around a person. There it is. It's talking
about Christ, our great high priest, and his sacrifice, and
his satisfaction of divine justice, as it is explained in the book
of Hebrews. I may have trouble reading the
book of Revelation understanding that. Well, it's the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Everything in the Scriptures,
Old Testament and New, is talking about our Redeemer. All the historic
events recorded in the Old Testament are precisely accurate events. They are recorded with absolute
precision. Men have attempted for years,
for generations, to try to discount the record of Scripture. And
I suggest that if you're smart and you see these programs on
television, Discovery and History and all that stuff about the
Sodom and Gomorrah and the Red Sea and all that stuff, I suggest
that you ignore them. Don't even listen to them. You
want to find out what happened? Read this book. Read this book.
Well, this would explain what happened. It was a sudden change
in climate, a sudden, maybe there was a UFO that came down from Mars
and and caused all this No, it happened just as God wrote it
just as God wrote it all the scientific things spoken in the
book are exactly true exactly true and are All the science
that tries to disprove it now you young people listen to this
all the science that tries to disprove it Has been changing
since first Darwin came out with his evolutionary theory it changes
every day The book doesn't change. All that's written in the book
is true. But it wasn't written to be a book about science or
history. All the events. and all the science, and all
the wars, and all the famine, and all the pestilence, and all
the judgment, and all the evil rulers who caused all the difficulty
for God's Israel in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel, and all
her enemies, all of them were raised up and brought to pass
by the design of God to be a picture of redemption and grace in Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer. The book tells us not just about
history, but about God's story of redemption in Christ Jesus.
Let's see again. Look in John chapter one, you're
right there at it. John chapter one, verse 45. Philip findeth Nathanael and
saith unto him, we have hammed him. whom Moses in the law and
the prophets did right Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph We Brother Larry, do you know
the scriptures talked about I talked about a lot of fellows we finally
found one of them That's not what he said we have found the
one person of whom Moses and the prophets did wrote his name
is Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph Jesus Jehovah our Savior
the son of Joseph turn to the book of Acts one more text book
of Acts chapter 10 verse 43 to him to this one man Jesus
Christ of Nazareth God man to him give all the prophets witness
that through his name Whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins All right now pick this book up again. Oh God
help you to hear me now Pick it up again. Look at it. You
got one in your hand Everything written here is God's
witness to you that if you believe on his side, you have the remission
of your sins. Everything written in this book
is written for that purpose. John Gill, referring to the history of that woman who came,
who had been a sinner, who was a sinner, And the Lord Jesus
is at Simon the Pharisee's house and she comes in quietly with
an alabaster box of ointment, spiked and very precious. And
as he's talking, sitting at the table, she breaks open the alabaster
box and anoints him with it. and the fragrance of that rich
ointment filled the room where they were sitting. So everybody
there now, their attention is focused on her and what she's
doing. And she washed the Savior's feet and kissed them and wiped
them with her hands. Gil said that's a good picture
of what faithful preachers do when they come to the house of
God. They bring in the alabaster box of Holy Scripture and they
break it open. And as they open the scriptures,
the fragrance of Jesus Christ crucified fills the room. That's what preaching this book
is. It is breaking open the word of God, giving the sense of the
word Jesus Christ crucified. And when the scriptures are preached,
folks are impressed Not so much with the preacher's learning,
and the preacher's abilities, and the preacher's scholasticism,
and his ability to give the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the words,
and his ability to set things out in an orderly fashion so
that you understand the prophecies. No. No. When Christ is preached, you
go home smelling him. When Christ is preached, you
go home with Christ crucified set in your mind and in your
heart. All right? Now, look at the character
of this book as it's described in our text. The apostle tells us that this
book, the Bible, the word of God is quick, quick. That's an old English
word which means living, alive. Our words pass away. God's word
is living. I realize it's not to everybody. It's not to everybody. I know
that. It's just paper and ink. Fixed up kind of fancy. That's
all it is. Unless it's made alive to you. Made alive to you by God the
Holy Spirit. So that it's living to you and
living in you. The Word of God is quick. Quick. It's alive. The Word of the Lord
endures forever. God spoke it and it lives on.
This word is life in itself. It is the living incorruptible
seed. Matter of fact, I want you to
turn there. First Peter chapter one. First Peter chapter one.
Wherever this book, this word comes, wherever this word comes,
it brings life. I've been praying, I've been
praying all week, God, will you send your word? life to dead sinners. Will you send your word to Denise
Renere living, giving life in your soul. Send your word and
make it living as only you can. Look at first Peter 1 verse 23.
Peter says we're born again not of corruptible seed but but of
incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth
forever. A friend of mine, a very dear
friend, has talked to me about this very thing. Some fellows
have been challenging him and challenging him about your pastor.
They say, well, Fortner believes in gospel regeneration. He wrote me up about it. As if
that were a bad thing. Yes, I do. I said, there is no
regeneration apart from the word of God. Pastor Fred asked me,
he said, how do you take those words? We're born again, not
of corruptible seed. You men and women who have children,
those children come into existence by a man's seed being planted
in a woman's womb. You all understand that, don't
you? Everybody understands that. That's exactly what God's saying
here about this Word. This is not corruptible seed,
though. This is not a man's seed, but
of incorruptible, of incorruptible seed. And the Word is talking
about living sperm of incorruptible seed by the Word of God, which
liveth and abideth forever. There are two words translated
word in the New Testament. One of them is the word that
John alone uses, which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. That
word speaks of Christ as the word. This word always refers
to the written word or to the words of a man. The word of God,
this written word. This is that incorruptible seed
by which we're born again, which lives and abides forever. Look
at verse 24. For all flesh is grass and all
the glory of man is the flower of the grass. The grass wither,
the flower thereof falleth away. That's quotation from Isaiah
chapter 40. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. Again,
Isaiah chapter 40. Now watch this. And this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This is the word. This book, these 66 books written
on paper that you have in your hand, this is the word which
by the gospel is preached unto you. so that the Word of God
is preached only as Jesus Christ crucified is preached. Man gets
up and preaches. He opens the Word and he preaches
Genesis chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, and he preaches about
it, about creation. And man, it's a stem-winder,
and he's good, and you come to him and say, I believe in absolute
creation by God. He alone is the creator. And
that's exactly true. But if that's all you got, Skip,
you didn't get anything. If that's all you got, you didn't
get anything. You read about Moses leading the children of
Israel across the Red Sea and you say, wow, what a miracle. God took that man's rod and he
split open the Red Sea and they walked across the Red Sea as
men walking on dry ground. Pharaoh's armies came in chasing
after them and as soon as Israel reached the other shore God sent
the sea back over Pharaoh's army and drowns it Wow God is mighty
if that's all you got you didn't get anything if that's all you
got you didn't get anything you see God's creation and Israel
crossing the Red Sea and Pharaoh and his armies drowned in the
Red Sea as all other things in the book and came to pass and
were written to teach us about Christ and redemption and grace.
This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. How is it that
men and women are born again by the word? God takes The word
preached by the gospel. And as only God can, plants the
seed in your soul. And it brings forth life. As
only God can. As only God can. I can put it
in your ears. Only God can put it in your heart.
I can cause you to hear with understanding the things I say.
Only God can make his word live in you. We're born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Here's another thing. The word
of God is effectual, quick and powerful. It brings conviction
and conversion. It causes sinners to hope in
God. Three times in Psalm 119, David
says, you've caused me to hope by your word. I hope in your
word. I read your word. Now I have
hope. God, you spoke by your word.
Now I have hope. The word of God is quick and
powerful. It gives life by effectual power
of God, the Holy Spirit and Christ and his word. Give life to the
dead. God sending his spirit by his
power. He gives life to the dead and
it's cutting. Sharper than a two-edged sword. You can't come near this book
without getting cut. Not going to happen. Not if God
speaks by it. This is both the most blessed
place to be and the most dangerous place to be if God speaks to
you. by his word through these dips
of clay. Because here the word of God
is made a saver of life to some and a saver of death to others.
It either brings you to the Savior or hardens your heart against
the Savior. Both take place by the will and
purpose of God. The word of God, we're told in
our text, is piercing. It forces its way in. It doesn't need any accompaniment.
It's sharp. And it, like the arrow, pierces
between the joints and the harness. So the Word of God finds its
way in by the power of God, piercing the very heart of a man. And
it discriminates, dividing asunder soul and spirit. It separates
the precious from the vile, the wheat from the chaff, the sheep
from the goats. The Word of God does that. Shelby
and I, the last couple of days, have been discussing this a good
bit. We all, and I say we, I'm talking about this thing talking
to you. We have a horrible tendency,
a horrible, proud, self-righteous inclination to set as judges
over others and try to determine who really knows God and who
doesn't. How many times have you said, I won't ask how many
times have you thought, how many times have you said, well, I
don't see how on earth a man could do that and be a believer.
Why don't you compare that with Abraham making his golden calves? Why don't you compare that with
Solomon going down to the idol's temple. Won't you try that? Now, what
exactly was it you thought a man couldn't do and be a believer? We don't have the ability. We don't have the ability to
discern light from darkness and truth from error in the hearts
of men. Only God does that, and He does
it by His Word. The Word separates the wheat
and the tares. I've told you many times, I recall
sitting on Brother Harry Graham's hearth, listening to him. He
said to me one time, he said, Brother Don, you know how you
tell the difference between wheat and tares? And I said, no, Harry,
I've never seen them. He said, you can't until harvest
time. He said, at harvest time, the
wheat stands tall, or the tares stand tall, and the wheat bows
its head. We'll find out who's God's in
plenty of time and until then we don't need to know He said
leave them both grow together in the end of the age I'll send
my angels and my angels will come and bind Gather my wheat
into my garter and bind up the tares for the burning. That's
what gospel preaching is today I'm sent of God with his word to gather wheat into his garner. And I'm sent of God with his
word to bind up tares for the burning. And both will be accomplished. Both will be accomplished. Wheat
will be gathered into his garner. and tares will be bound up as
sure for hell as if they were already there for the burning.
This book, this blessed book, is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. They don't have butchers in butcher
shops anymore, except in rare occasion. My first job in a grocery
store was in a butcher shop, and I learned a few things. I
was 15 years old, and the butcher would take a cleaver and just split an animal's carcass. Just split it. Helped throw the
slaughter cattle. You split them open. And when you do, everything inside
just falls out. That's what God by His Word does.
That's what God by His Word does. He opens you up and exposes everything
inside. You think, now I'm exposed to
everybody. No, just to you. Just to you. You feel naked, embarrassed. Now everybody knows what I am. No, no, no, no, no, no. We always
knew. Now you know. Now you know. You know just what you are if
God opens you up by his word. Oh God, take your word like a
mighty cleaver and split open my heart. Why would you pray
for that? Why would you pray for that?
This is the only cutting that cures. The only sword that heals. When he opens you up, he wounds
that he may heal. If you had a surgeon come at
you and tell you he's going to have to rip you open I've been
there. Rip me from right here down to
my crotch. Rip me open and take everything
out so that they can remove tumors and disease and poison from which
you will soon die if it's not taken out of your body. And then
it sews you up and you're hurt. You can't move. And the first
time you see the surgeon, he said, well, I think I got everything.
You're going to be alright. Thank you. I'll send you a check. Gladly pay it and thank Him for
it. If God wounds you by His Word,
bow down and thank Him. If God speaks to you by His Word,
bow down and thank Him. If God pisses you by His Word,
bow down and thank Him. If God splits you open by his
word and makes you know yourself, bow down and thank him. Now understand
the instrumentality of the word. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. If God gives you life and faith
in Jesus Christ, it will be by the preaching of the gospel. Isn't that a severe limitation
on God to say that's how God saves sinners? Well, let's see
if that language makes any sense. You fellows who farm, you go
out and you go to the store and you spend a lot of money on good
seed, spend a lot of money on good seed. And you take, you
plow and you go to the field and you plow the ground, spend
a lot of money on equipment and a lot of money on gas and a lot
of labor. And you work up the ground and you plant your seed.
Then you come back with fertilizing. You fertilize the crop. Because you know that if God
wants bread on your table, he can put it there without you
doing anything. Why? Why, for a farmer to do that,
that's limiting God's sovereignty, isn't it? Well, Brother Dodd, have you
popped a quart? Have you lost your mind? The
farmer does that because though he believes God, he understands
that he can't cause the seed to germinate and he can't cause
the crops to grow and he can't bring a harvest. Only God can
do it. But God won't do it as long as
the seed is down in the feed store. You got to put it in the
ground because God ordained it that way. So couldn't God cause
the seed to grow otherwise? He did one time. He didn't have
any trouble doing it. No, it's not a limitation on
God's sovereignty, but rather an act believing God. I plant the ground and I wait
for God to give the increase. So it is with the preaching of
the word. It is not a limitation of God's sovereignty to declare
that God saves sinners only by the preaching of the gospel.
Rather, It is a declaration of what God himself has declared. He stoops to use such things
as we are to plant the seed in the hearts of chosen sinners
and give them life. You see, God ordains the end. And he ordains everything to
accomplish the end. Listen to these words from Paul.
We're bound to give thanks unto God always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. He chose you to
salvation, salvation by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and belief
of the truth. He chose you to salvation. Salvation accomplished by you
being born again. You being born again as evidenced
by you believing the truth. Now watch this. Where unto he
called you by our gospel. Where unto he called you by our
gospel. God saves sinners by the word
of his power. And He is that one who sends
the Word, and it lays open what we are, so that now all things
are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And we rejoice that it's so.
We rejoice that it's so, for He has sweetly compelled us to
confess our sin. And confessing our sin, he forgives
us all our iniquities. And we have life eternal by his
word. Amen.