Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. Let's pray together. Our Father, Your Word commands us to pray
without ceasing. to ask and to seek and to knock. Lord, we know that we have not
because we ask not. And we ask You this night, Lord,
would You bless the Word to our hearts. Would You cause us to
hear by Your Spirit, reveal unto us the blessedness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, how needful we are. Lord, we are frail creatures. The Lord Jesus is our all and
in all. Speak, we pray. Help us to worship
for Christ's sake. Amen. The Spirit of God revealed through
the Apostle Paul, but it was God speaking. That there are
two immutable truths concerning God's rest. Two things that just
don't change. Number one, that there remaineth a rest. to the people of God. And God's people, God's elect,
must enter therein. Because God Almighty has ordained
that His people shall enter into rest, a rest from striving after
acceptance with God based upon their own works. They rest from
that. They rest from trying to establish
peace with God by their own efforts or by their own will. They rest
from that. They stop it. Stop. Before Almighty God calls a man,
calls a woman out of darkness, It doesn't matter what kind of
shingle you hang on your outside of your building, what you call
yourself. Either you believe free grace,
all of grace, salvation by grace through faith, salvation by sovereign
grace. Either you believe by grace or
you believe salvation by works. And by the works of the law shall
no man be justified, not by works of righteousness that we've done,
but according to his mercy." You know, that's Scripture right
there. And I'm not saying that people believe it. I'm not saying
that until the Lord opens their eyes and gives them a heart to
believe. But that Scripture right there answers every false religion. not by works of righteousness
that we've done, but according to His mercy He saved us. So that's the first. That's an
immutable and unchangeable truth. God's people have a rest and
they must enter in because God ordained it. And here's the second
immutable truth. Those that do not enter into
God's rest Do not enter in because of unbelief. That's the reason. They don't believe God. They
don't believe His Christ. They don't believe His Word,
which is to say you don't believe God. Now, the rest, we looked at this
last week, it's a present rest. It starts in this life. And God's people, in regenerating
grace and power, you know something of that rest. You do have a rest. You rest. And while you are resting,
you are struggling, striving, laboring, verse 11, to enter
into that rest, striving by faith, seeking the
Lord, looking To Him only. Struggling with yourself. Trying to call on Him. Trying
to pray. Praying and struggling because
you see the inconsistency of yourself. How you're just hating yourself for it. That's
what Job said, I loathe myself. The world. Boy, I'm telling you,
that's outward and inward. And it wars against the believer.
And at that rest, we grow in grace. And this is
the way that God has ordained that we grow. And this is the
growth. John the Baptist summed it up. I believe this is a good scripture
on growing in grace. I must decrease. He must increase. A man or a woman that grows in grace, you listen
to them talk or they just They don't have hardly anything good
to say about themselves. What they have to say is that
for me to live is Christ. All of my hope, Him. The Scripture says, verse 6,
Hebrews 4, some must enter their end. Well, you know when some must enter
their end, you know they're going to enter. How are they going
to enter? How is a man or a woman? How? Here's a man dead and trespasses
and stands a woman dead. Can't hear. Can't see. No love. No desire. No will. Dead. Spiritually dead. And they must
enter in. They must enter in. How? How are they going to enter in? Remember when the Lord brought
Ezekiel up that valley of dry bones. Ask Him that question. Ezekiel, can these bones live? I love His answer. The Lord thou
knowest. You think about this. Think about this. Lord, can my
brother live? Lord, can my kids live? Lord, can You save my family? Can these bones live, Lord? You
know. You preach to them. You preach
to them. This is the confidence that I
have. God Almighty is going to call out His people. His people. must enter in. And I'll tell
you this, we don't have time for games. We don't have time
for foolishness, seminars, bazaars. What have you got for the kids?
The same thing we've got for the adults. God's Word. What do you do? You preach to
them. Trust God. Can these bones live? Lord, you know. How are they
going to enter in? All right, here is the answer
right here. Hebrews 4.12, 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 the joints and
marra, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart." Now, I know this. I know that God's people are
going to be called out of darkness. I know that. I know that. My sheep, hear my voice, may
follow. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me." Well, that just sums it up. They're coming. But He's ordained
the means by which they're going to come. And it's preaching through
the foolishness, what the world considers foolishness. You mean
to tell me that you honestly believe that the eternal Salvation
of a man's soul is going to be established through
the preaching of the gospel. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. This is all
the hope we've got. This is all the hope we've got
right here. This is all of it. And everything else, I'm telling
you, is dung. Everything else is rubbish. Everything
else is nothing that is going to be consumed. I've got God's Word on that.
Heaven and earth are going to pass away. But my Word is never
going to pass away. This is all we've got. This is
all we need. This is all God's people desire. They must enter in. Who knows? Maybe the Lord may save one of
your own. Ask Him. What we're doing here tonight,
this is what Almighty God has affirmed in His Word that He's
going to bless. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
it. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of God. It's the power of God. It's the means of God unto salvation. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. The Word of God, Isaiah 55, 11,
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please. It shall prosper in the thing
whereto I send it. Oh, I pray God to be pleased
to save some of His own tonight. for the Word of God, the uncreated Word Himself. John 1, 1, In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
uncreated Word and the written Word. This is God's Word, the
Holy Scriptures. John 12, 48, He that rejecteth
me and receiveth not my Words hath one that judgeth him." The Word of God. The Word of God, God's Word says,
is quick. It's alive. Now, I'll tell you,
this is something that we're not... Humanly speaking, we're
not familiar with this. We say things and we just talk
and it's just nothing more to us than communication, kind of
a transfer of thoughts. You know, God's Word said, My
Word is alive. And we believe this. The Word of God is alive. As the Lord Jesus Christ ever
liveth, His Word ever liveth. The Scriptures, they're alive because He's alive.
They're quick because He's quick. He ever liveth to make intercession. Peter said in 1 Peter 1, 23-25,
being born again, Not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth. And abideth
forever. For all flesh is as grass, all
the glory of man as the flower of grass, the grass withereth
and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. See, we we come this evening. This is this. We're not just
taking up time. This is. These words will never
fade away. Not His words. Alive. The Word of God. Some must enter
in. How? How? The Word of God. It's quick. And it's powerful. That's what
it says. It's alive in itself. What God has said is suitable
to detect hypocrisy. It's able to show a man exactly
what that man is by nature. Here's God's Word. You hear it
in the Spirit of God before a man is called out of darkness. He
hears the Word of God with a corporal ear, but doesn't hear it. And God Almighty imparts life
to him, and he hears that Word, just that Word that he's heard
and heard and heard. I've said before, how many times
do you hear me preaching really anything different? Do you know
I'm saying what I said last week? Isn't that wonderful? I don't want to hear anything
else. Tell me again. I've said before,
tell me one more time how God put away my guilt. Tell me one
more time how He ever liveth to make intercession. Tell me
one more time how He has compassion on the ignorant. I have no way right now in my
mind of knowing I cannot come to grasp hold the fullness of
what God demands. I talk about the holiness of
God and I'm just lost. I mean, I can say it. Paul said, these things are too
high for me. Too high. The Word of God is
powerful. That a word that spoken, blessed
by the Spirit of God in the dead live. Lazarus, come forth. He got up. Jairus' daughter. Jairus came to talk to the Lord. I said, my daughter's sick. The
Lord was coming. Along the way, the woman that
had the issue of blood touched Him. He stopped. Who touched
Him? Who touched my clothes? The disciples
told Him, everybody touched Your clothes. You're in the press.
No, He said, virtue went out of my body. He stopped and there
she was. She was scared to death. He said,
Woman, our faith has made thee whole. The object of her faith made
her whole. His words spoken, she was healed. See, Iris' daughter died. They
came and told him, said, Don't trouble the Master anymore. Your daughter's dead. The Lord
said, she's not dead. They laughed. He walked and spoke. She lived. His Word is powerful. You think about this. He calls
a man or woman out of darkness. Speaks life to them. That takes
God to do that. In Him was life. His Word is powerful to the saving,
the keeping, sustaining everlastingly of a man or a woman's soul. God's
Word. And it's sharper than any two-edged
sword. That's what Revelation 1, 16
described Him as, out of His mouth went a sharp Two-edged
sword. There's nothing blunt about it. It accomplishes the purpose. That's what we just read. To which it was sent. It does
just exactly what God Almighty said it's going to do. This is man's religion. God wants to save you. He died for you. Shed His blood
for you. Suffered the humiliation. Men
spit on Him and plucked out His beard and carried the cross.
He hung on that cross. And He died to make salvation
possible. Won't you let Him? Won't you
let Him? Let Him come in your heart. He's
standing at the door knocking. Do you hear Him? I defy that little G God. He's no God. Our God is in the heavens, and
He does as He will. And no man can stay His hand. No man stops Him. His Word is
powerful, quick, and sharper than any two-edged sword. This sharp, two-edged sword. By that word, men know He was
made. This is what He said. He was
made sin. Made what I am. And God Almighty
dealt with Him. What men and women will be judged
for in the day of judgment. What they will be judged for.
for what they are. Almighty God, the Lord Jesus
Christ was made that. What do you think makes the difference
between what they're judged for and what we were judged for in
Him? We were dug out of the same pit. We were the same lump. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? I'll tell you, God's grace. Men will stand in their own rebellion,
and he who knew no sin, the holy, harmless Lamb of God, was made
sin, not a sinner. Don't you ever let anybody tell
you he was made a sinner. Remember, a sinner is one that
is disobedient, and he was obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Somebody will say, well, how
can you say he was made sin, but he wasn't a sinner? The Word of God says it was.
That's the way it was. He was the obedient servant,
the obedient substitute, made sin, and God Almighty forsook
him. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?" I'll tell you why. Because He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Oh, this is a great, great mystery. But this is all your hope. Word
of God. quick, powerful, sharper than
any two-edged sword. No one ever comes in contact
with the Word of God unaffected. No one ever comes into contact
with God's Word unaffected. Let me show you this. Turn to
2 Corinthians 2. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. No one
ever comes into contact with God's Word unaffected. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14, Now thanks
be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every
place. For we are unto God a sweet savour
of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
one we are the savour of death unto death, And to the other,
the saver of life and under life. And who is sufficient for these
things? The gospel of Christ is precious,
whether you believe it or whether you don't. It is His Word. The Word of God is quick, powerful. sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder soul and spirit." His Word, according to His Word, penetrates and discerns between
the animal life of man and the eternal soul of that man. piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." You say,
how do you... I have a spirit about me, the
spirit of a man. And when I die, my spirit... I just don't walk anymore, but
my soul lives. I have an eternal soul. that
will live. Now, the Word of God, the Scripture
sets forth, divides asunder of soul and spirit. How can it be
that sharp? Well, these two things are invisible
to us. How do you divide between? God's
Word separates between the two. You see, we just think we know
who we're talking about. We just think we understand.
We just think that we can perceive the depth of His Word. It divides between the joints
and the marrow. The joints and the marrow, those
things that are hidden from your eyes, my eyes. The Word of God
pierces. and reaches into that area that
you and I are just ignorant of. The Word of God. Is a man going to hide from God?
Do you think you'll hide your thoughts, your intents from Almighty
God? Do you think you're doing something
that God's not aware of? Every idle word, every idle thought,
If it be not covered by the blood of Christ, can you imagine having
to answer? The Word of God is sharp, quick,
powerful, cut, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of the heart. I mean, I may think something and pass it off. I may mull it over for a while
and muse on it for a while and think about it for a while and
decide on it for a while. When did it go from being just
a thought and an intent I don't know. He does. He does. This is the one of whom
we must deal. This is God Almighty. The thoughts and the understanding
of the heart are brought out in perfect clarity before Almighty
God. Have we ever uttered a word? Before you ask, He said in prayer,
I'll answer." Can you imagine the little puny
God this world is trying to serve? That Scripture that says a man
will take a chunk of wood and He'll cut him up and He'll make
him a pile of firewood and then You know, he might make him an
axe handle or something like that out of that piece of wood,
and then he'll carve him an idol out of that same piece of wood. He'll bow down and worship. He
said they don't see. They don't hear. The heart of man, whether he's regenerated by grace
or left in his own rebellion of unbelief, The Word of God knows. He knows. He knows. In closing, I want
you to turn to Luke 24. Luke 24, verse 36. Luke 24, 36. As they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst
of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were
terrified and frightened, and supposed that they had seen a
spirit. And He said unto them, Why are
ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet,
that it is I myself, handle me and see, for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones, as you see me have." Why do you think what
you think? You know, since this service
began, there hasn't been a thought that has gone through our minds
that he's not aware. Aren't you glad that Almighty
God has put away your guilt, you that believe? Aren't you
glad that He forgives you for Christ's sake? Aren't you glad that the One that discerns between our thoughts
and our intents, the One that discerns between
the soul and the spirit, He who has loved His people with an
everlasting love is compassionate and long-suffering and gentle
for His namesake. Salvation is all of grace. Lord,
have mercy on me. I stand before You empty in myself. must enter in. I know this. Those that must
enter in are going to enter in. Those that don't enter in will
not enter in because they don't believe Him. But those that enter
in to God's rest, enter in in this life, and that rest that
they entered into in this life, perfected in glory. I know this. Revelation 5 says that the four
and twenty elders will cast their crowns before Him and say, Lord,
You're worthy to receive all honor, glory, and praise because
You redeemed us. You redeemed us. Any man, any
woman that enters in is going to enter in by God's Word. quick, powerful, sharper than
any two-edged sword. May the Lord have mercy upon
us, comfort us, cause us to muse upon these things for His namesake. Amen.