It says, 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, the Word of God is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any
creature that is not manifest or exposed in His sight. That all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do or must deal
with. I hope we have seen how much
Scripture warns us exhorts us about hearing the Word, hearing. We've been looking at that, haven't
we, in this book of Hebrews. Today, he says, today, right
now, today, while it is said today, hear his voice, hear his
voice. This is his voice. God does not
speak out loud to any human being, ever. He speaks through this
Word. This is it, today. Harden not
your hearts, he said, as in the provocation. Let not the word
slip. Let not the word slip, it says
back in chapter 2. Anytime we should let it slip,
meaning, oh, it's just another sermon. You've never heard a hungry man
ever say that. It's just another meal. If you're hungry, it's life.
Lest at any time we let it slip, look at chapter 3 verse 12 again. He says, take heed, that means
give careful, watchful consideration, lest there be in any of you,
any of us, he's talking to me and you, an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God. And in verse 11, right before
these verses, said, Let us labor therefore to enter into that
rest. There's only rest and peace and
comfort, salvation to be found in God's Word, by hearing God's
Word, hearing the truth. There is no peace. There is no
rest. There is no comfort. There is
nothing but trouble. Is it not so that when we get
out in the world, out from under, The Word. That's when we start
having all the trouble and the turmoils and all that. And we
never feel quite so much peace and comfort and joy and rest. Freedom from fears and worries.
That's rest. Freedom from doubts. Freedom
from terror. than when we are under the Word,
right? When we're under this Word, if God speaks to us, if
we have ears to hear, if He blesses our heart to receive it, we have
perfect peace. Right then, we have perfect pinstone. And we see Christ reigning and
ruling over all things. Let not your heart be troubled,
He says through the Word. Be of good cheer, in the world
you'll have tribulation, but I've overcome the world. And
we just have perfect pinstone. For that little short time. Then
we get out from under it, and then it's like a child out from
under its parent, and there's nothing but worries and troubles.
So this Word of God is life. And we're going to see how not
talking about the Bible. Not talking about the Bible.
talking about Christ. Because this is not just, oh,
the book, the book. Everybody talks about the book.
I'm leaning on the book. I'm leaning on the Word made
flesh. The Christ whose Word this is. Okay? There's a difference. He
says, Let us labor today. It's a struggle. It's a struggle
to hear God's Word, isn't it? But we're not rationally with
flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers. Who knows that the
truth is what sets people free from hell, from the world which
he uses to hell to hold us captive. Today, if you'll hear his voice.
He said, My sheep, hear my voice. Let us labor. Watch. Watch. Our Lord came to the disciples. He said, watch, I'm going to
pray. He said, watch with me. He said,
watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Well, he
was gone thirty seconds. And he came back, three minutes,
and they were asleep. He said, couldn't you watch with
me? One hour, one hour. No, well, the Spirit is willing,
but the flesh is so weak. So let us labor, he said, watch,
pray, worship, exhort one another. We help one another. We help
one another because we know how we feel. So the way we help one
another is to exhort one another. Because when they want to quit,
when they're falling out, and the Lord has maybe given us grace,
we help them. I know how you feel. Come on
now. Because we're going to need that when we're falling out. So this is, you know, this, this
word is, hearing his word is everything. Four. Now this is
why, look at verse 12. It says four, begins with the
word four. Four, the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Why does
it begin with the word four? If you read this, it seems like
these verses are out of context or something. Let us labor to
enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief. He's been talking about the Israelites,
been talking about the Jews whom he said, hey, heard the gospel
just like we did, but it wasn't mixed with faith. Why? What do you mean? It means it
became a duty. It became a habit. It became
a ritual. They drew near, God says, with
the lips when their hearts were far from them. They weren't hearing
the Word. They were going through the motion.
And remember, God said, all these Sabbaths, all these solemn assemblies,
weigh with them. to this man will I look." Broken
hearted, the one who draws near with a heart. So he says, 4. Verse 12, the Word of God is
quick, powerful, alive, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Word of God. God's Word. As we
said, he's not merely talking about the Bible, a book, but
he's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ who God calls the Word. That's who he calls the Word.
His Word is life, quick. That's what the word quick means,
life. He has quickened us together
with Christ, made us alive. Christ's Word. If Jesus Christ,
the Spirit of Christ, will speak to us, it's life. Make us live. Our hearts will
leap. Our eyes will be open. Our ears will be open. Our hearts
will be pricked, quick, fly if he speaks, not until. If all we hear is the Bible,
it won't touch our heart. It might convince our head, but
it won't touch our heart. And what we need out of the heart
are the issues of the Bible. heart. The Word of Christ is
quick. It's life. It's powerful. If God Almighty is pleased, He
can raise the dead. And He does it one way. There
are some dead people under the sound of my voice right now. And our Lord said, the time has
come, and now is, when the dead shall hear, what, the Bible,
the voice of the Son of God, and live. There was a time when
I sat, and you've heard my story so many times, that this is what
the Lord said to do. Tell what He's done for you.
There was a time I sat for years under the sound of the Word,
and it made no impression whatsoever on me. As a teenager, as a child,
as a teenager, and as a young adult, until finally one day, I heard as never before. I heard
here. It began to pierce my heart. I was convinced in my head from
which I could argue Calvinism as a child. I knew the truth
in my head. I was convinced of it. I knew
the Scriptures that were able to make me wise unto salvation,
though I wasn't saved yet. is new life. It's for Jesus Christ
to come where you are and say, wake up. Lazarus, come forth. And he does that miraculously,
mysteriously through what I'm doing right now. What the world
calls foolishness. It's not the preacher. It's not my ability.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. But the excellency of
the power is of God, God the Holy Spirit, who takes this Word
in the fullness of time when it pleases God, takes this Word,
like Paul the Apostle said, and reveals His Son in man. Not just to man, but in man.
It pierces the heart. It's quick. It's powerful. raises the dead, opens blinds
eyes, opens deaf ears, and he upholds all things by the word
of his power. I am upheld by the word of God,
by Jesus Christ. I am kept from falling by Jesus
Christ, by the word of Jesus Christ. I was raised from being
fallen, Brother John, by Jesus Christ who gave the command,
pick him up, fetch him, bring him to me. And I'm kept from
falling. I'm allowed to fall by word,
by power of Jesus Christ. And I'm kept from falling by
the same power, by the same Jesus Christ. And the way he does this
is, sends his Word. This is how he does it. It's
a mystery. This is the best I can do with it. But he uses his words. It's not going to be a vision,
a sign, a miracle, so to speak. This is the vision. This is the
sign. This is the miracle. This is
the power of God when he speaks through. I have fallen many times and
will fall many times. What picks me up? Though a righteous
man falls seven times, Scripture says the Lord will raise him
up, will hold him up. How? Right here. Right here. One more time, Sherry,
he'll reach down through the Word and tell me, I'll never
leave you for sake. Adam, Paul, where art thou? Come
to me. This is how it is. But it's only
powerful when the Spirit of God, when the Spirit of Christ, when
He speaks. I know you understand that. At
least we understand it. And we've experienced it. God's Word, the written Word,
reading it, or especially hearing it preached, is how Christ speaks
and how He operates and what He uses. It is His voice. It
is His voice. This is why He tells us over
and over again today. If you'll hear His voice, hear
His voice. Especially on the Lord's Day. Do you remember the
Lord told the children of Israel on the sixth day to gather twice
the amount? Because they want to go out the
next day. They weren't to gather on that day, on the Sabbath.
Well, we get a double portion today. We'll get two hours worth
of, an hour and a half worth of manna. And we're going to
need it. We're going to need it tomorrow.
We're going to need it to go in the strength barrel. So, this
is his word. He says it's powerful. It's sharper
than any two-edged sword. Christ, so many scriptures prophesy
of Christ, and one says, out of his mouth goes a two-edged
sword. Out of the mouth of the one who's
coming is a two-edged sword. This is who that's talking about.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who with a word, two-edged sword, can
kill, and he's got to do this to us. The Word's got to do this. It's a two-edged sword. It will
slay us. It's got to kill us. It's got
to kill us. When the commandment came, Paul
said, I died. The heart failed me. Why? I've sinned against God.
I've rebelled against my Creator. I'm a dead man. It's to realize you are dead.
But it's a two-edged sword. I kill. I make a lot. I make a lot. I wound. Oh, man, heart's broken. I heal
with the same Word. The same Christ. The same One
who came. Back in the olden days, men carried
swords. A mighty man's weapon. was a
two-edged sword. And so it is with the Captain
of our salvation. He said, I wound. Piercing. Look
at verse 12. Piercing to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit. Joints and marrow. Piercing.
Thrust deep. Thrust deep. God's got to use
His Word and go deep on us, doesn't He? Pierce us. Pierce through
this hard, hard heart, this armor of flesh and unbelief. Pierce to the vitals. You've
got to get down to the vitals where the heart is. Pierce in.
It says divides asunder. Cuts asunder. Separates. Read
that. The soul and the spirit. What's
the difference between the soul and the spirit? Well, it's hard
to discern. It's hard to discern. The soul
and the spirit. Dividing, it says, the joints
and the marrow. See if I can make good on this. that the Word of God will sever
things that seem inseparably connected. Things that are joined so close
that they seem to be one. Only the Word of God can separate
that. The soul and the spirit. That which animates every human
being is the soul. The soul. Every human, even an animal,
has something of a soul. It's what animates them. Dogs,
you know, and other animals have something that animates them,
that makes them alive to think, to have emotions, to feel, and
so forth. And people that are dead in sin,
that's all they are. There's a soul. Okay? But when
God Almighty comes and breathes Spirit, the Spirit of God, that's
a new creature. That's a new creature. There's
something that he didn't have. And there's a separation between
a mere animal and a Son of God. Are you with me? A mere animal
and a Son of God. Now me, I am me. And yet there's
an old man in me and a new man in me. And it's hard sometimes
to know where the line separates. It's hard to know who's doing
what. Is that me? Paul said, it's no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. There's one thing that separates.
that makes a division. This Word of God. The Word of
God separates the old from the new. It says it separates joints
and marrow. You hunters, you men who've killed
some deer and butchered them. You know how tough it is to,
some of that cartilage and all that, get it off of the bone?
Huh? I know you have. I had some ribs
that I was going to cook. And there's a thin layer of a membrane, kind of
a, what do you call it? A cartilage, but whatever it
is, on top of that layer of ribs. It's the hardest thing you've
ever tried to get off without butchering the meat whole in
pieces. In fact, you have to boil it or something for that
to get that off. Well, the Word of God, The Word
of God is able to remove things that are so vitally, so long
time connected to us that it seems impossible to get rid of.
There's only one thing that will do that. There's only one thing
that will separate a man from this world in which he was born
in and he is so connected to. There's only one thing that will
separate a human being from this world that he lives for. One
thing. This is the Word of God. He'll come to that man and say,
you are not of this world. This old man that we just love,
that we live for and we serve, this old man, only one thing
will cut him asunder. Separate. You're not your own. The Word of God comes in power
and says, you're mine. You're bought with it. You're
not living for yourself. Here's what the Word of God says.
You're going to hate yourself. If you want to love yourself,
you're going to hate yourself. That's not natural. That's supernatural. That's a miracle. Only one thing
will do that. The Word of God. A discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. A discerner. Oh my, I love this verse. How
often do we quote this verse? A discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. This is how you know when the
Lord is dealing with a man, with a woman. This is how you know. Dad gave that illustration of
that fellow who was not going to go to church. Remember? The
fellow who kept saying, I'm not going to go. And he went and
he stormed out and told his wife, he said, he was aiming at me
the whole time. Yeah, the arrows of the Lord
are sharp in the hearts of his enemies. You're an enemy until he takes
his sword It makes you bow. It makes you give up. Or as Scott
would say, stack your arms. Come with a rope around your
neck. You realize this sword is a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of mind. God knows me. Now, Lord, seeest
me. The eyes of the Lord run to and
fro throughout the earth. Look at the next verse, verse
13. There is no creature not manifest
in His sight. Well, I thought we were talking
about the Bible. Well, see, we're not just talking about a book
here. We're talking about Christ, whose Word this is. That there's
no creature, no human being not totally exposed before God Almighty,
before Christ. which the Word of God right here
does not totally expose for everything they are, everything they've
ever thought and everything they've ever done. The Word of God exposes
it. Exposure. No creature is not
made clear in God's sight. All things are naked and open
under the eyes of Him with whom we have to do the eyes, the Word
of God. Listen to some verses here. I
was going to have you turn them. You might want to jot them down
for your own reference. But 1 Corinthians 4, 5 says this. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians
4, 5 says, The Lord will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts. Someday the Lord was going to
bring everything totally to light. Listen to this. The words of
Jesus Christ. He says, He that rejecteth me
and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him. the word
that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in that
day." This is why the Lord said, you remember, the brothers of the rich man
said, send Lazarus back to warn my brothers. He said, they had
Moses in their pocket. Let them hear them. Because that's
God's Word. That's what God uses. They won't
believe that one rose from the dead. They don't believe now
Jesus Christ rose from the dead. They don't believe anything. But if God, who is rich in mercy,
brings this Word, Slays them. Kills them. Speaks
to them. Sharpens them. Makes them naked.
Here's the word of both warning and comfort. Listen to this.
And I quit with this. All sin and unbelief will be
exposed by God someday. Be sure your sin will find you
out. All sin, all unbelief is made
clear in the Word of God. You can see everything man has
ever said or done is written right here. Their own mouths
condemned. God's Word says what they'll
say before they say it. What they'll do before they do
it. And all things will be exposed someday. There's the books. Everything is written in it.
Scripture says, in the last day, all will stand before the judgment
seat of Christ to be judged for the things that they've done.
The books will be opened. I didn't do that. Yes, you did. Right here it is. It's written
down right here. Well, I didn't know. Yes, you did. You heard
me say it right here. You read it. It's sitting on
your coffee table. See what I mean? Nobody, naked, all naked, there's
going to be myriads of people standing before the judgment
seat of Christ, judged by His Word, exposed naked, naked before
Him. No covering, no excuse, no alibi,
no nothing, and no mercy. When all they've had to done,
just listen, Just ask for mercy. That's it. Now here's the good news. That
man or that woman or that young person whom God Almighty purposed
to save, they won't be saved unless He does it. They won't
come unless He brings them. They won't hear unless He gives
them ear to hear. They won't bow unless He bends
the knee. They will not believe unless
He says, Believe. They won't repent unless He says,
You're guilty. They won't know they're guilty
unless He slays them. They won't know there is a God
unless He reveals Himself to them. who chose a people in time, brings
His Word, and does all those things, convicts, convinces of
sin, shows them, you're naked, uncovered, exposes their sin. Not to the world. Your sin will
find you out. Be sure, your sin will find you
out. To who? Bless God in His mercy, He doesn't
expose us to everybody, but He exposes us to us! To us! He said, you will loathe yourself
for your sin. You'll say, and you'll come,
you'll be like Adam. You'll say, I was naked. And bless God, Kelly, he'll say,
I've got a covering. Right here. Bring the best robes. Skin that lamb. for this naked
sinner, this guilty sinner. Kill this innocent lamb for this
guilty sinner. Pour out the blood so he doesn't
have to be covering. And he can now stand before me,
everything blotted out. All his sin is forgotten. All
his guilt is gone. He's not naked, he's covered. hung on the cross, naked before
the eyes of God, guilty as charged, the Word of God. You see this?
I'm trying to make a difference between the Bible study and the
morning. What's the difference? This is the same Word, no different. When I stand down here, he's
a teacher. When he stands up here, he's a preacher. No! This is the gospel. Right now
is the time of salvation. For every guilty, naked sinner
who is exposed to himself, God says, you've got to cover him. You've got to pardon him. Have
mercy. And this is why verse 14 says,
seeing then that we have a great high priest. He's going to show us throughout
this book of Hebrews, Christ is the priest, Christ is the
tabernacle, Christ is the Lamb, the Sacrifice. He's all in all. He's the Word. He's the Word. Which speak? Who alone? can put away our sin and cover
us and represent us to God. We have a high praise. We need
one. We need a covering. God's people
have one. We need someone to go before
the all-seeing eye of God who knows us and pleads an advocate
with the Father. We have one. He's the Judge's
son. Okay, that's the best I can do. Yeah, dude. Right here.