This morning, as I said, Hebrews,
the book of Hebrews. Until we know for certain what
book we're going to go through, this impressed me greatly. We call this a Bible study, and
that's what we do. We're studying God's Word. I
hope and pray and always hope and pray that it's more than
just studying a book. It's more than just learning
some truths. But rather, I hope the Lord will
speak to us through His Word. This is exactly what this passage
says. The Word of God is quick. It's
powerful. The quick and powerful Word of God. If the Lord doesn't
speak to us, We won't profit from them. He doesn't truly speak
to us, and this is His voice. Faith, Scripture says, faith
cometh how? By hearing. Hearing the Word
of God. Hearing. We place a lot of emphasis
on hearing the word preached. Why? Because God does. How shall they hear? Without
a preacher, Scripture said, and how shall they preach except
they be sent? Look at Hebrews 4 verses 1 and
2. Let us therefore fear lest a
promise be left us of entering into His rest. being found in
Christ. Any of you, now that's, every
person in this room needs to hear this, including me. Lest
any of you should seem to come short of it, for unto us was
the gospel preached. as well as unto them. He's talking
about Old Testament saints, Israel. The Word was preached, but he
says it wasn't mixed with faith. And then that heard it, the Word
was preached. And they heard it with their
ears, but they didn't hear it with their heart, did they? And
they said eventually, they all, well, most of them began to say,
It's just Moses. That's just Moses. We've known
him a long time. He's no different than us. He's
just a shepherd. Some of them even said, who does
he think he is? Moses didn't think he was anything. But the Lord did. And the Lord
said, if you don't hear Him, you won't hear Me. They said
it of Joshua. After all, we've known him since
he was a boy. Yeah. But the Lord sent him, didn't
He? Chapter 1, God calls His preachers
ministering angels, ministering spirits. In chapter 1, look at
verse 7. It says, Of the angels he saith,
who make of his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire. The Lord took James and John
and He called them Boerneges, that is, sons of thunder. They
were just fishermen, but He turned them into sons of thunder. Verse
14, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation? That's all angel means
anyway, is a minister, a messenger. A messenger. Chapter 2, look
at it, verse 1. Therefore, in other words, since
the Lord sent his messengers, should we not give the more earnest
heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should
let them slip? Let slip means let it slide.
Let it pass away. Don't retain it. It just passes
away. And this happens all the time. It happens every service. The
Word of God. Listen to me. Are you with me? This happens every time. We're
in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. The Word is
preached and it doesn't return void. God's Word doesn't return
void. He said that. It will accomplish what I send
it to. And where two or three are gathered, the Lord is going
to bless them. They're going to hear Him. They're
going to hear him. Bless God, he's so faithful.
He said, you just preach the Word. Timothy, preach the Word.
And somebody's going to hear it. And I was reading a large
book by Brother William Romaine, a very deep book, a very difficult
book to read, but it was a preacher's book. And I was blessed by it.
And he said one thing in there that just cheered my heart. And he wrote this long, laborious
book and he said, if only one person profits from what I'm
writing, then I will have achieved what I hope to achieve. He said,
I hope many, but if only one person. And so I need to keep
that in mind at all times. I stay greatly discouraged. At any rate, he says we ought
to give the more earnest heed to the things we've heard, have
heard. That means past heard, what we heard, lest at any time
we let them slip. And it happens all the time,
every service, as soon as the Word is preached and service
is over, someone starts talking about
anything. Everything. Talking about themselves. And our Lord talked about this.
He said the Word of God is sown like seed and hopefully on good
ground, but some falls to the wayside. And the fowls of the
air, that's the thoughts and cares and things on our minds
come and just pick it away and you didn't get one thing. And the Scriptures talk about
quenching the Spirit. The Spirit of God takes the things
of Christ and shows them unto us. This is the one thing needful.
Nothing matters. Vanity of vanity. Everything
and everyone in this world except God's people are vanity and perishing. And this right here is life. Words of life. It's a bad sign if we can't retain
anything. If we're just immediately, when
it's over, let it slip. And look at chapter
3. Chapter 3, we're building up
to Hebrews 4. Chapter 3 verse 7 says, And look with me how many times
it says this, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear
His voice. Today. Today. The gospel is preached today. Today. Right now. This is today. We don't know for sure if there
will be a tomorrow, but this is today. And so he says, if
you will hear his voice. Not the preacher preaching, but
his voice. If you will hear his voice. If
you will. You know, the Lord hears. You
know, we're not going to hear unless we call on the Lord and
ask Him to give us ears to hear. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear, the Lord hath made them both. The Lord has to give us
ears to hear. And he says, whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord, to give you ear to hear, Lord.
I need to hear it. I need to hear. If you will hear
His voice. Verse 8, Harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation, or that is, in the day of temptation
and wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, saw my
work, Forty years I was grieved with that generation. They always
err in their hearts, he said. They have not known my way, so
I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. Take
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you, any of you, any
of you, an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living
God. But exhort one another daily why it is called today. That's
what he said in Hebrews 10, didn't it? Hebrews 10, let us not forsake
the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but
exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the
day approaching, Christ's return. And He may come tonight. If we really thought Christ was
coming tonight, how would we listen to this? We wouldn't be
thinking about anything else. We would know nothing matters. Going to do this? Going to do
that? Maybe, maybe not. The Lord may
come for us tonight, right now, in an hour or so, in death. So this is life. Lord, speak
to me. Speak to me. Verse 13 says, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin,
all that that means is deceitful. It deceives us into thinking,
oh my, into thinking there's a tomorrow. Verse 15 says, while it is called
today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. as in
the provocation, while it's called today. His voice is preached
by man, yes, always has been, except when Christ was here.
God, who at sundry times in divers manners spake unto the fathers,
how? God didn't speak out loud. He spoke to all the Jews, all
the fathers through men. And after a while, they start
hearing Him, and they thought, That's just Moses. That's just
Ezekiel. That's just Isaiah. That's just
Jeremiah. He's just writing and writing. No, it's just a man, all right,
but he's repeating what God said. That's all he's doing. If God sent him, that's exactly
what he's doing. And it's his voice. It's God's voice nonetheless. So, verse... Chapter 4, now let's
go over here. So this is why He says to us we need to fear. Verse
1 and 2, let us fear lest a promise be left us of entering into His
rest. Any of you, any of you should
seem to come short of it, for unto us was the gospel preached.
Oh my. The Gospel is preached to us
every time. Blessed, blessed Gospel. What
a gift. And not many people have it.
The Gospel is preached unto us. So verse 7 says, he limits a
certain day in David, today. Here it is again. Today, after
so long a time, as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your heart. After so long a time. After hearing it so long, could
someone, after hearing the gospel so long, fall away? That's exactly what happened
to the Israelites. Only two over twenty entered
the Promised Land, and they heard Moses. After so long a time. You know,
it's a good sign if after so long a time you're still hearing
it. Not as the words of men, but
as it is in truth, the Word of God. After so long a time, if
you're still hearing it, that's a good sign. But after a long
time not hearing it, that's a bad sign. If we grow dull of hearing,
or hard of hearing, that's a bad sign. That's a bad sign. Our Lord gave these two a promise
and a warning. He said, He that is of God, heareth
God's Word. That's the promise. He that is
of God, heareth. Continual. Ongoing. Never stops. Heareth the Word of God. But
he said, you therefore hear them not, because you're not of God. That's frightening. That's frightening. So after so long a time. Four. This is what leads up to verse
12. And this is our text here, verses
12 and 13. Four. The Word of God is quick
and powerful. The Word of God is quick and
powerful, quick and powerful. If it's not quick to you and
powerful, then you're dead. 1 Thessalonians 1 says, For knowing,
brethren and beloved of the Lord, your election, because our gospel,
our gospel, not false gospel, but the true gospel, our gospel
came unto you, not in word only, but in power. and the Holy Ghost, and much
assurance. You became followers of us and received the Word with
much affliction, and from you sounded out the Word, and so
on and so forth." Quick. The Word of God is quick. What
does that mean? Quick. It means alive. It means
alive. Why is the Word of God alive?
It's just written on paper. Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. This is the voice of God. God
doesn't speak out loud anymore. But he wrote it in a book, and
he has men speaking it out loud. This is why the hearing of the
Word is even more important than reading it. How shall they hear
without a preacher? Because there is something that
happens. There is a live voice and a live Holy Spirit, and the
Word of God, and the eye looking at it, and the ear hearing it,
and the heart is engaged, and eye to eye when the preacher
of the Word... A tape won't do that. It's quick. It's alive. It's
His voice. Let me give you this illustration. The Word of God
is alive. It's His voice. How do you know you're alive?
Because it's a savor of life to life. I'm alive. It's obvious I was born of my
Father. It's obvious, isn't it? Alright? I grew up under the Father. He begat me. His seed. And I was given life, ears to
hear, eyes to see, feet to walk, okay? My Father spoke to me. And I heard Him. I heard His
voice. I was alive. He spoke to me. And our Heavenly Father, Christ
said, My sheep hear My voice. They hear Me. If I did not hear
My Father, He would quicken me. He would get my attention. If
I'm alive, I'm going to hear from Him. The Word of God is quick. It's
alive. It's His voice. It gives life. We're born of
it, begotten by the Word of God. Like the child in the field of
Ezekiel was dead and polluted and lying in the field. And when
the Lord came by, He said it was a time of love. And He said,
and this is what happened to that child in the field. The
Lord passed by and spoke and said, Live! And he lived. Not until then. Life-giving. It's life-preserving. The Word of God is life-preserving.
We're kept alive by the Word of God. We're kept alive. Kept alive. It's a saver of life
to life. If you're alive, you need to
be warned, you need to be reproved, rebuked, you need to be comforted,
you need to be consoled. You need this thing. The Word of God is the voice
of God, and He says things like this, Look! Look unto Me and
be ye saved. If you're alive, you look. Watch. Watch out. Your parents
say things like this, Son, watch out now. Stop that. Run. Come. Now listen to me. This is the Word of God. It's
His voice. It's His voice, life-preserving, the promises of God. Oh, keep us from despair, the
warnings of God. Keep us from presumption. Keep
us from sleeping, the sleep of death. The Word of God is quick. It's life-giving. It's life-preserving. It's a savor of life to life.
It's His voice. And if God speaks, you will respond. You will respond. When He says,
come, if you're His sheep, you will come. You will come. When He says, call, when He calls
you, you will call. You will. When He says, confess
Me, you will confess Him. When He says, fear, You will
fear when He says, fear not. When He says, repent, you will
repent. It's His voice. If you don't,
you're dead. Dead. It's quick. When you think of quick, what
do you think of? Quick. Something quick. Fast. That applies
too. You know that? It's lively. Lively. Something that is lively, full
of life, responsive. Responsive. If you're alive,
you will respond to the Word. And the Word must come in power,
though. And the Holy Spirit must send
it forth, or else all you hear is a man. And Paul said this
one time. He said, seeing we have such
hope, we use great plainness of speech. Our Lord spoke with great plainness
of speech. He says He spoke as one having
authority, meaning this is the way it is. There is no other
way. You'll listen to somebody say
that one. Not yay or nay or maybe, but this is the way it is. You
listen to somebody like that. He spoke with great plainness
of speech, not like the scribes. They said not like the scribes,
just giving information, a dissertation on a subject or expounding a
subject. No, no, no, no. With great plainness
of speech. He stood on that great day of
the feast and, If any man thirsts, let him come
unto me." Great plaintiffs. And when you hear the word with
power, you will move. You will move. If I stood up
here this morning, one word, if I hollered one word, it would be enough to get everyone
in here running for the exit. Fire. Repent. That's what God's Word says.
And boy, if you hear it, that's what you'll do. Oh, my. And usually the Word of God is
quick. Usually the Word of God is swift, like an arrow. And I think back over the years
of people whom the Lord has saved through the preaching of the
gospel, and it's generally pretty quick. And I worry and am deeply
concerned about those who have heard the gospel for years and have never come to Christ. Or, and those who hear it for
years and become very dull and sleepy, deeply concerned. The Word of God is quick. It's
powerful. Powerful. Life-giving power. When our Lord said, He created
this world by His Word, He said, Let there be light. And there
was light. And buddy, when the Lord gives
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, you know what the gospel is. You know where
salvation is. You know who it's in. And there's
no doubt in your mind. There's no gray area. There's
light or there's dark. And somebody says, well, this
fellow is preaching the gospel and it's not the gospel. It's
this false gospel. I think, Lord, they don't have
light. They don't have light. When I was saved under Billy
Graham, you hadn't received light. lights of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face, the person, the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Man is dead. When the gospel
comes, the only power of God unto salvation, the gospel comes,
God sends it, God does the choosing, God does the loving, God does
the sending, God does the drawing, the Holy Spirit does the applying,
gives a new heart and ears and all that. Man is dead. It's all of the Lord. Any other
gospel is not the gospel. It's not hard. It's just so.
Light. There's no gray area. Well, I
think, no. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. Paul says, I know what happened to me. It's something
that happened to me. I didn't cooperate. I didn't
let God. Well, it's just a matter of terms,
preacher. No, it's not. It's a matter of
being raised from the dead. Life-giving power. And that's
the power of this gospel, the power of His Word. And there's no trouble in understanding
these words. The problem is man's a rebel
against them. But elect, elect. What's that mean? Everybody knows
what that means. You don't have to explain that. Elect. If I elect somebody, does
that mean they let me? No. I did it. Elect. I did the choosing. I did that. This is the power of the gospel
and the power of God's Word. How do you know somebody is elect?
A man stands up and preaches God's sovereign election, they
believe it. They believe. Life-giving power. Let there
be light. Let there be understanding. Light. Let there be a new creature. Life-changing power. A new man.
Old things passed away. A new heart. Affections change. If there is no change of affection,
No life. The mind is changed. Paul thought
he knew God. Thought he knew this Jesus fellow. Thought he was righteous. Thought, well, the Lord changed
all that in a minute, didn't He? Just changed his mind. The mouth goes from cursing to
praising. Feet, swift, mischief, start
walking with God. Hands, oh, this is the life-changing
power of God, life-giving power of God, preserving power, kept
by the power of God. The Word of God is quick, it's
powerful. We're kept by the power of God. by hearing the Word. We're kept by feeding upon the
Word. The Word of God keeps the soul
that is alive, keeps us alive. You'd sooner quit eating and
breathing than hearing the Word of God. It's life. It's life. I don't get up in the morning.
If you're alive, you don't get up in the morning and think,
am I going to eat today? You're hungry. This is life. Am I going to go worship the
Lord? Am I going to thank the Lord? We ought to give thanks. The life of a believer is one
continual heartfelt thanks unto the Lord. It's a life that goes
out. It's a heart that goes out in thanks. This is what it means
to pray without ceasing. Lord, thank You. Thank You. Wake
up in the morning. Thank You. Your mercies are new
every morning. Your compassions are failing.
Thank you. Another day. More mercy. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you. Somebody going to preach Christ? I'll be there. The Lord is going
to be there. I'll be there. Lord, to all the
disciples, to go before Him into Galilee, He said, I'll be there.
Any of them missing? No. Why? There's sheep. You've
got to have a shepherd. The Word of God keeps us alive.
It's His voice. It leads us. Lord, you know,
like sheep, tell me something, please. Tell me which way to
go. And He does. The Word of God is His voice.
It guides us. It guards us. Stop. It teaches us. warns us, comforts us by His
Spirit through the Word of God. The Word of God is quick, powerful,
sharper. Look at the next thing. Sharper
than any two-edged sword. I've got to hurry. Sharper than any two-edged sword. You know, three times in the
Revelation it speaks of our Lord. that the Word of God was like
a sword out of his mouth. Sword out of his mouth. Sword
out of his mouth. A sword is a weapon. First thing,
it's a weapon. That's what it was created for.
A weapon. The Word of God. And the first
thing the Lord does with this two-edged sword is slay us. Break that hard heart. Here's
the impenetrable. It's the only thing that will
get through to us sharper, able to pierce. We can't get through. I know that. We cannot get through
to our children. We can't get through to whoever. Nothing can get through to me
except the Word of God. This is why we pray, Lord. And
this is why Paul said, Brethren, pray for us. I'm standing up
preaching the Word that's able. Any one message is able if God
is willing. It's God's sword. If He's willing,
take that word and pierce that heart that hasn't been pierced
yet. Pray. It's sharper than a two-edged
sword. It's a weapon to kill. It's a
weapon to slay. It's the offense of the gospel
first. It's the offense of the gospel
first. This is why we don't go telling rebels, God loves you.
He's wanting so badly. No! We tell them, God's angry. God used to say, stack your guns. Hit your knees. He will have
mercy on whom He will. It might be you. I can't promise
you that. That's what He used to say. Who do you ever hear
a preacher say that today? Maybe. Stack your guns. It's an offense. It's the offense of the cross.
There's got to be guilt before there's mercy. There's got to
be justice served before there's grace, before there's pardon.
It's got to be. It's a weapon. It's a sword. Barney used to
say, I'm trying to kill sinners. This story has it that this fellow
said, Brother Barney, you catch more flies with honey And he
willed with vinegar and he said, I ain't trying to catch flies.
I'm trying to kill sinners, slay them. And we do that with the
Word of God. But then it's a two-edged sword.
It's a two-edged sword. It kills and it makes a life. It's a sharp instrument in the
hand of God, the Holy Spirit, iffy, iffy, His pleas is a sharp
instrument in which he opens the heart, breaks the proud heart,
the hard heart, and opens it up and exposes and reveals cancer. And what's he got to do then?
Cut it out. Now, that's painful. You've got to remove it. It doesn't
send pills to just take care of the pain. You've got to remove
it. The only one thing it did that Christ crucified. And He opens that heart and reveals
the disease. And with the same sword of the
Word and the Spirit of God, He heals that heart. Makes us guilty and with the
same word, shows us mercy. It's all in one place. Christ.
Shows us God's justice and God's anger against sin. And shows
us full and free pardon. It's all in one place. Christ. Christ is a sword. Sharper than
any two-edged sword. The Word of God is sharp. Piercing. Look at verse 12. Piercing. to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, piercing." Oh, let's
pray that the Lord will use His Word to pierce the hard heart,
pierce ours. And dividing, it says, divides
the soul and the spirit, joints and marrow. Soul and spirit. There's a difference
between soul and spirit. All people have souls. Everybody
doesn't have spirit. Soul is that which animates animals. They don't have a spirit. The
Spirit of God comes and the Spirit of Christ indwells His people. Now they're a living spirit.
They're a quickening. Christ says the first Adam was
a living soul. The second Adam was a quickening
spirit. And the Word of God is a discerner
of whether or not he's just an animal. He's a child of God. It's a discernment. It divides. It separates the old from the
new. The old man from the new man. Joints in the marrow. Some of you men have hunted and
butchered your game, haven't you? It's tough, isn't it, Mac,
to sometimes get that sinew and all off the bone, or get that
membrane off the meat and so forth. You know what I'm talking
about. These sinews, they are strong. They're attached. They're
an attachment. An attachment. And only the Word
of God is able to detach us from these lifelong attachments. Only the Word of God, because
they're so strong. Discerner, separator, divider. Our Lord said this in Matthew
10. He said, listen to this. You've
heard it so many times. But he said, suppose ye that
I am come to bring peace on earth. He said, think not I am come
to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace but
a sword. He said, I am come to send a
man at variance, separated from his father and a daughter against
her mother. There's nothing more close, there's
no closer attachment in this world than family. And this is how you know it's
of God. This is how you know. It's a discernment. And when
the Gospel comes, He'll take a daughter who's in a home of
unbelieving parents, maybe religious. He'll take that daughter and
open her eyes and open her heart, receive the truth and love it. And she'll go to her mother and
her father, and she'll say, that's a false gospel. I've heard the
truth. And I can't go with you anymore,
Mom, to a place you go. I can't do it. Oh, honey, we
all believe. No, we don't, Mom. No, we don't. Take a man, son, go to his father,
or wife to her husband, or a husband to a wife, and say, and now they're
close. They love each other. That'll
never stop loving. But it'll make that husband,
that wife, say to that unsaved spouse, we believe two different
gods. And it's a separation. It has
to be. This is how you know. They separate the goat from the
sheep. Over here, my people are meeting and hearing the truth.
Where do I go? I've got to be there. Separation. A discerner. A discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart, it says. A revealer
of our thoughts, our motives, our sins. And read on, and I quit with
this thirteenth verse. Neither is there any creature
that does not manifest open in his sight right now. And there's
not one person in this room that is not being exposed by the Word
of God right now as I speak. There's not one person in this
room who's not under the all-seeing eye of God right now, or in His
sight. And this Word of God right now
is applied to every single person in this room, dead or alive. that are alive, a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart. And all things, it says,
there's no creature not manifest, clearly revealed in His sight.
But all things are naked and opened under the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do it. The eyes of the Lord in every
place. Paul said, have they not all
heard? Yeah, everybody's heard it. Most homes have a Bible in
their house. The Word of Truth is a great
exposure and revealer of all mankind, and what it does is
first makes us naked. Naked. Naked. No covering. We have no covering
for our sin. Nobody. No excuse. No covering. It's the first thing He does.
Makes us naked. All vulnerable before Him with
whom we have to do. We must face. We all must face. Pointed unto man, once denied,
after that the judgment. All to face God. Oh, may we be
like Habakkuk of old. Habakkuk said, Lord, I have heard
your voice. And I was afraid. To this man will I look, the
Lord said, to he that hears my word and trembleth. I heard your
voice, Habakkuk said, and I was afraid. Let us fear lest there
be a promise made us of rest that any of you should fall short
of. I was afraid. Habakkuk, that's how you say
it. Habakkuk. Habakkuk said, Lord,
revive your work in the midst of the year. I'm a 45-year-old
man, Lord. I'm a 50-year-old man. I've heard
this all my life. It's like I heard it. Would you
revive me? Quicken me according to your
Word. David said that. Lord, I'd like that. David, quicken
me. Quicken me according to your
Word. Send it quick. I'm going down. Or like Adam and Eve. Let's be
like Adam and Eve. Adam said, and this is the way
you know he wasn't dead. He wasn't dead. He said, I heard thy voice and I
was afraid because I was naked. And I hid. And you know what
the Lord did. As soon as he said that, the
voice of the Lord came walking in the garden that day. Adam,
where art thou? He responded. I heard your voice. I was afraid because I was naked. And I ran. Blessed God, he ran
after him, didn't he? The Word of God sought him out
and found him. And you know what he did? He
told him about the woman seen. In the next part of that chapter,
seeing we have a high priest over the house of God, let's
come boldly and find grace to help in times of need. Naked,
centered. He said, Adam, here's the remedy. Adam, here's the
covering. And right before his eyes he
slit a lamb's throat. Adam, I love you. You don't have
to die. You're naked? Yes, I am. Afraid? Yes. Fear not. They covered him. They said, but you've got to
go out in that world, and you've got to live a life. But I'm with
you. I was afraid. I heard your voice.
Oh, Lord, send Your Word. Make it quick. Make it powerful. Make it sharp. Pierce, divide,
separate. Make naked and enclose.