Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews
chapter 4. I want to try to remember to
record these. I've had some tell me they've
been following it. And I said, well, some of them
I haven't recorded. I can't remember to turn the
recorder on. So I've got to try to remember to turn the recorder
on. The title of the message, The
Penetrating Power of the Gospel. The Penetrating Power of the
Gospel. When God sends the Gospel to
you, to a sinner, in power, we will see what it does. Now, after
warning the Hebrew brethren, to beware of having an evil heart
of unbelief in departing from the living God." And for them,
it was going back under Judaism, under the Old Testament, the
old sacrifices. The apostle now tells them and
us that the Word of God, which is
the gospel, when he speaks here of the Word of God being powerful,
he's talking about the gospel. is sharper than any two-edged
sword. It's dividing and it's revealing. It's revealing. Nothing lays
the heart bare like the gospel when it comes in power. Nothing
can lay the heart bare like that. It penetrates the deepest recesses
of the soul and spirit. It divides the real from the
false. It reveals everything in the
heart. Everything. All secret sins,
unbelief are exposed when the gospel comes in power. We naturally hide much about
ourselves, don't we? We do. We do. We even convince
ourselves that we are not that sinful, we're not that bad, But
when the gospel comes in power, we can hide no more. And we realize
for the first time, I am sin. I don't just do some sinful things. I am sin. That's what I am. Now
back in verse 11, we are told to labor, to enter into that
rest, not just to rest. This jumped out at me today.
He's not saying just rest, but to enter into a rest. Labor to
enter into that rest. A rest provided by Jesus Christ. A rest provided by His person,
His work of righteousness, His obedience, His perfect obedience. That means more and more to me,
the older I get, His perfect obedience to God on my behalf. His blood that was shed for the
atonement of our sins, whatever my sins are, His blood
answers for them. It's the atonement for them.
And when He cried, it is finished. When He cried on the cross, it
is finished. Labor to enter into that rest,
that rest that He finished. He says, and don't go back, because
I'm telling you, human nature, it's human nature to want to
do something to impress God. We will take anything free except
salvation. We are glad to have anything
free except when it comes to salvation. And then it's just
in us by nature to want to do something, to want to work and
to boast. It's in us to boast. You just
give us just a little room and we're going to boast. We're going
to brag. Let me tell you what I used to
be. Let me tell you what I've done. Let me tell you who I am. Just give us just a little crack
in the door and we'll brag like crazy. And we have to labor to
enter into that rest. that rest that we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ from doing absolutely anything to be accepted
of God. Now, this labor means this, and this to me is convicting.
Intensity of purpose followed by intensity of effort toward
the realization of that purpose. Let me read that again. intensity
of purpose, followed by intensity of effort toward the realization
of that purpose. Such intensity, striving to know
the Lord Jesus Christ, striving to lay down everything that would
oppose itself to God and rest in Him. I'll tell you this, that
striving will last until we go to the grave. We always have
to labor because self-righteousness will raise its ugly head at any
place, any time. It'll grow in any soil. Now he says here in verse 12,
For the word of God, you can write gospel over top of the
word, over the top of the word, word. For the word of God, the
gospel 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." The Gospel, which is the Word of God, which
is spoken of here, it says here... Let me read to
you out of... Look over in 1 Peter. I was going
to quote this, but let me read it. 1 Peter 1. In 1 Peter 1,
you will see that the Word of God
here is the gospel. And Christ is the gospel. and the gospel is Christ. You
can't separate the written word from the living word, the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're one and the same. It says in verse 25
of 1 Peter chapter 1, But the word of the Lord endureth forever,
and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So when we're talking about the
word being quick and powerful and sharp, we're talking about
the gospel. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice
what the gospel is. First it says it's quick. That means it's alive. It is
alive. The Word of God is alive. Something
else back there is alive too. I don't know what that is back
there, but it's alive. Look over in 1 Peter 1. Look at verse 23. Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God which liveth. It's alive, and it abides forever. It liveth. It's alive. Christ is the word of God. He's the living word. And when
God sends the gospel to you in power, it's not just a word like
you and I would speak. It's a living Word. It's alive. And it's powerful, it's active,
it's energizing. He said, My Word will not return
unto me void, it will accomplish the thing which I have sent it.
Listen to 1 Thessalonians 2.13, I'll read it to you. For this
cause also thank we God without ceasing. Because when you received
the Word of God, which you heard of us, and he's talking about
the gospel, you received it not as the Word of men. Now, if I
was up here reading Shakespeare, that would just be the Word of
men. I might entertain you with it. But it's it. It's just entertainment. But
this is not entertainment. This is not entertainment. You
received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth the
Word of God, which effectually, effectually worketh also in you
that believe." You know why you are here tonight, you who believe
the gospel? Because the Word of God is effectually
working in you. You desire to be here, you want
to be here, you want to hear the Word. You believe the gospel. When you hear it, you believe
it. And that's because the Word of God, the living Word of God
is at work in you. How many times has the Scripture
come to your mind and just blessed you, a promise, a promise of
God just blessed you and lifted your day? That's the Word of God effectually
working in you. And then it's sharp. It means
to cut, to cut. This is where conviction comes
in. And I've had this experience
in preaching, be preaching the gospel, and then someone at the
end of the service tell me that, you read my book. You know, you stepped on my toes
or something." I didn't. I didn't step on anybody's toes. The gospel cuts. The gospel lays
open. The gospel convicts. When the
gospel comes, it convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It lays bare self-delusion. It's the ax that's laid to the
root of the tree. And for the first time, we quit
deluding ourselves. For the first time, we realize
what we are. And we realize and understand,
God sees me. God sees me. I can't hide no
more. God sees me. It's piercing. It goes through. It's like the
gospel goes through the soul and spirit of a person. And it
reveals who they are. And it goes through the joints
and the marrow. Boy, it's not leaving anything
here, is it? It's not. Nothing escapes it.
Nothing escapes it. The gospel penetrates the innermost
recess of the soul and spirit. Nothing else can do this. Nothing
else can do this but the gospel. It penetrates the innermost recesses
of the soul and spirit as a sword would cut through the bone and
marrow." Someone said it's the sword piercing
through and coming out the other side, all the way through the
man. It goes all the way through you,
from top to bottom. Listen, it's sharp. It's sharper
than a two-edged sword. It's piercing. It pierces all
the way through the soul and spirit, the joint and the marrow,
and it's a discerner, a judge. A judge. It means this, a discerner, to
sift out and analyze the evidence and intent of the heart. That's
what it does. It analyzes. It sifts out and analyzes the
evidence and intent of the heart and it reaches, it reaches, listen,
it reaches all the way to the thoughts. That's why we are told
to bring our thoughts into subjection to Christ. It reaches even to
our thoughts. You realize, you realize for
the first time that your thoughts are not hid from God. My thoughts
are hid from you. If I keep my mouth shut, He won't
know what I'm thinking at all. I might be thinking good of you,
and I might not. But you won't know, would you? But God does.
God knows exactly what you and I think of each other, and He
knows exactly what we think of His Son, Jesus Christ. He knows
exactly our thoughts. He knows the intents of our thoughts,
the purpose of them. He knows it. That's why it says
the intent, the conception, that's what that means. Now, let me
read it to you like this. Let me read this verse to you
like this. For actively alive is the gospel of God, and energetic,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, going through even to
the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and
is a sifter and analyzer of the reflections and conception of
the heart. Now that's all searching, isn't
it? That's all searching. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Jesus Christ
is the Lord God omniscient. He sees all things. It says here that nothing is
hid from him. Everything, every heart in this
room, every heart in this room is completely open to Him right
now. He knows everyone that's worshiping Him
and everyone that's not. He knows that. There's nothing created that
He does not know altogether. Look over in Psalm 139. Psalm 139. O Lord, Thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought.
You know my thought, the very intent of my thought afar off. thou compassed my path, and my
lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is
not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all
together. Thou hast beset me behind and
before, and laid Thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me, it's high. I cannot attain to it. Whither
shall I go from Thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from Thy
presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou
art there. Where can I go that God is not there? Where can I
go from the Almighty, and the Almighty does not see me? If I make my bed in hell in the
grave, behold, thou art there, you see me there too. If I take
the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right
hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness
shall cover me, God won't see me, it's too dark. Even the night shall be light
about thee. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee. There is no night so dark that
God cannot see you. But the night shineth as the
day, the darkness and the light are both alike to God. They're
both alike. For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. And you can go on down
through there and read that, but you get the point. There is no hiding from God. There's nothing in creation,
nothing that He created that is not completely open to Him. He knows. Now listen. He knows
whether I am a false professor or whether I truly believe Him. He knows that. He knows me altogether. And he says here, they are naked
and open before Him. You know what that is. You know
what? To be naked is to be totally exposed. It's to be exposed. There's nothing you can hide.
Nothing you can hide. But here's what this has the
meaning. Let me give you the meaning of this, which is in the Greek. It's to seize and twist the neck
or the throat. Back in that day, they would
wrestle. And the opponent who was winning would take and pin
his man down and expose his throat. But here's what the real meaning
of it is. Here it is. It's the drawing back and exposing
the neck of the sacrificial victim at the altar. Naked and open. They took that lamb and they
took and they drew its head back and they slid its throat. He
said, everything is naked and open. And then they'd take that
lamb, they'd hang it, and then they'd start skinning it, quartering
it, taking it apart, dissecting it, taking all the sections of
it. That's how they'd do it. And
there was nothing, there was nothing about that sacrifice
when they was done that was not exposed. It was opened up, and
all the parts started to be cut up. That's what the gospel does
to us. It opens us up, it exposes us,
it slays us. When it comes in power, it slays
us. God sees us as we are. If we
believe, He sees that. If we believe not, He sees that.
Nothing is hid from the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing. The Scripture
says, He knoweth them that trust in Him. He knoweth them that
are His. He knows them. He knows them that hate Him.
He knows them. The Gospel exposes us... Listen,
here's the point, as much as anything. It says it makes we
are naked and open before Him, but what it does, the gospel
exposes us to us. God already knows who I am. I
don't know. I'm the one fooled. The heart
is deceitful, desperately wicked above all things. Who can know
it? Not one person in this room really knows how wicked they
really are. I don't know. You don't know. I don't want
to know. You don't want to know. You don't want God to turn you
loose on you. You don't want that. But he knows. But when he sends the gospel
in power, God exposes us to ourselves. I begin to see that. I begin
to see, oh wretched man that I am. Paul didn't cry that until
God saved him. until God saved him and sent
the gospel to him and saved him. He never cried, oh wretched man
that I am. He was always going around popping
his suspenders like he was somebody until God cut him down on that
road to Damascus. And it says here, everything
is open and naked with the one with whom we have to do. And
the meaning of that is with whom we must give account. No one is their own person. No
one. Everyone will give an account.
Now if the gospel has come to you in power, you realize, you
realize, you need one to stand between you and God. I need one
to stand between me and God. I need a mediator. I need a high
priest." And the apostle in writing here to the Hebrews, they understood
the importance of the high priest. Now you and I were not brought
up under this. We understand it through the gospel, through
God giving us an understanding, they were brought up under this,
the priesthood and the sacrifices and the blood. They were brought
up under that. And without a doubt, these two
or three verses here I've been going through, if you just leave
it there, if you just leave it there, it's gloom and doom. I'm
telling you, it's just gloom and doom if you just leave it
there. But boy, God makes you to understand
that you need someone to stand between you and Him. And this is where the gospel
becomes good news to you. The gospel is not good news to
everybody. There's a lot of people just flip it off, you know, they're
going their merry way. But the gospel is good news to
you when this happens to you, when the gospel comes in power
to you and lays you bare, opens you up, and lets you see who
and what you are before God. And then it's just like this
ray of light just breaks forth. It's the light of grace. It just breaks forth in verse
14. "...Seeing then that we have
a great high priest..." We have one. He's ours. God gave him
to us. "...that is passed into the heavens..."
That's where he is. He's not over in Rome. There
ain't nothing but a mess over in Rome. The high priest we need is passed
into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession. As I said, the Hebrews knew the
importance of the high priest. They knew God could not be approached
without the high priest, without the sacrifice, without the blood.
They knew that. And this great high priest, see,
we have a great high priest. This great high priest is none
other than God. None other than the Word of God
made flesh. That's who this high priest is.
The very one, listen, the very one who searches us is also the
very one who represents us. It just gets good news. I mean,
it's just good news all the way. Once you turn to Christ, it's
good news. Now He's called a great high
priest for these reasons. He says here, Jesus, the Son
of God. Jesus, that's Christ being our Savior. That's what He is, Savior. He's
our Savior. And Son of God, that's His deity. God is our Savior. That's what David said. David
said, God has become my salvation. He's become my salvation. He's
become my high priest. God came into this world, took
upon Him flesh, and offered up Himself on my behalf to God. God offered Himself to God. Can't
comprehend that. And he's great because he made
atonement for our sins. No other high priest did this.
None of the other offerings that were ever made took away one
sin. But Christ, by one offering,
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. He's perfected
you. You're perfect in Christ. You can't be any more... Well,
if you're perfect, you can't be any more perfect. That's kind
of a... I better shut up now. But that's
just, you can't be more perfect than perfect. That's all you
can be. And then he's great because he's
pastor to the heavens. He's not over in Jerusalem. He's
not over, and that's not holy land. That's the land where they
despised and hated him. That's not Holy Land. I'll tell
you where Holy Land is. It's in glory. It's where Jesus
Christ is. Holy Land is where He is. That's
where Holy Land is. He has passed into the heavens.
He has entered the true Holy of Holies. That's where there's
a man in glory representing us. He has passed into the heavens.
He left this earth and went into the presence of God representing
us. He took possession of heaven
for us. He has taken possession of the
Holy of Holies for us, which will mean a lot more to you in
verse 16 when he tells us to come boldly to the throne of
grace. And it's great because his priesthood
is in heaven before the throne of God. That's where it is. And
it's great because this one can be touched, this high priest
that we have, seeing we have a high priest and we have one,
can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. It says, He was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin. His temptations never resulted
in sins, though He was tried. I'm going to leave it right there,
because I can't go into this and comprehend. I can't comprehend
Christ being tempted in all points, all points, as we are, yet never
sinning, yet never giving in to sin, committing not even a
sinful thought. Not even a sinful thought. But our high priest can be touched
with the feeling of our infirmity. Let me read it to you like this.
We do not have a high priest who is not able to enter experientially
into a fellow feeling with our infirmity, but one who has been
tempted in all points, like as we are, without sin. Experientially,
he has been tried and tempted in every way that you and I are. And he can sit down beside of
us. You and I can come to this one. And he knows exactly what
you're going through. You know, there's some things
I've gone through you won't go through. There's some things
you've gone through I won't go through. But there's nothing
that we will go through that he hasn't gone through. Nothing. Now he gives us here, and I'll
close, a call to prayer, a prayer for help. Let us therefore come
boldly into the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. They were under heavy trials. They were being persecuted, separated
from family. You know, someone said, when
over in that area, and especially back in that day, and I think
even so today, if they confess Christ that the family actually
has a funeral for them, they actually conduct a funeral for
them, and consider them dead, dead to the family. This is what
they go through there, over there, to confess. So it really meant
something when they confessed Christ, when these Hebrews confessed
Christ. But He says here, now when you're
going through this, these trials and these troubles, and you're
having your doubts and you're tempted to go back, He said,
don't do it. You come with boldness as confidence. You come with absolute confidence
before God in Christ, knowing He's going to hear you, knowing
He's going to help you, And knowing this, that the throne
upon which He sits, in which you and I are commanded to approach,
is a throne of grace. It's a throne of grace. Not thunder
and lightning, but a throne of grace. Let's never forget that. It's
easy to forget when you get under... I'm talking about when God puts
you through heavy, heartbreaking trials. Let's never forget that
our Father sits upon a throne of grace ready to hear us. and bring us through it. That's
why He's telling them, make use of it. Make use of it. Here's the purpose for coming
to this throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy. Mercy is
something I need minute by minute. I need mercy minute by minute.
That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. You ever have a time of need? I'm telling you, here's a promise.
Here's a promise. Come, and you'll find mercy and
grace to help in time of need. Mercy is to be had at the throne
of grace. Help for every trial is to be
had at the throne of grace. Needs are met at the throne of
grace. Make much use of it, especially in time of trouble. Oh, I tell
you, I would to God that we could... And this is for me first. that I could really realize what
I have in Jesus Christ, that he would become more and more
real to me than ever before, that I have a high priest, I
have a sacrifice, that I have the blood from my tongue, I have
a right, I have a right to come into God's presence and cast
all my care upon him. He has opened a way through the
veil, through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Don't you ever
move from that. Don't ever move from it. All
right, Craig.