Hebrews chapter four. I titled
the message this morning, God's mighty sword. You know, that
sword is the word of God. I'm surprised there is any debate
about this sword. A lot of people want to say that
the sword is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the word of God. John chapter
one, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us referring
to the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. John also said in 1 John
that there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, the Word being the Lord Jesus
Christ. Others say this verse, verse
12 in our text, only refers to the written Word of God. Like
I said, I don't know why there's any debate about that. To me,
it's got to be both, both the Son of God and the incarnate
Word and the written Word. You can't separate Christ, the
incarnate word, from the written word. This written word only
has any meaning in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that gives
it meaning. There's no spiritual meaning in this book without
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because every line of it, every
word of it, every verse of it, every chapter of it is written
to reveal one subject, the Lord Jesus Christ. So this, what a
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful book this is. I mean, just if
you only looked at it from a literature standpoint, what a book this
is. But you know, it's a dead book
without Christ. You know, people like to take
certain verses, just pluck them out of there and build a whole
religion on it. You know, say, well, this is
what God is. This is what God must be like. Even though they've
taken that verse out of context, even though that verse doesn't
match the rest of the word of God. If you take any verse of
scripture and think, well, this is what this means, but then
you can find another verse that contradicts it. You don't have
the meaning. You do not have the meaning of
that verse because every verse is written to reveal one subject,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they all agree together,
declaring his glory. So when people try to say, well,
salvation is by works, and they think they've got verses, you
know, to back that up. And they say salvation is by
works. Now they've twisted the scripture. They've twisted and
rested that verse of scripture to match their theology. And
you know what they get from it? They get a dead religion. There's
no life in it. The Bible doesn't do them any
good because they're not seeking Christ in it. Here we have Bible
classes every Sunday. Every Sunday morning we have
Bible classes for every different age group for this purpose, to
teach Christ out of the Word. That's why we do that. Every
summer we have Bible school. And Bible school is not a time
to free child care for children or something, you know. Bible
school has a purpose, to teach our children Christ from the
Word of God. By God's grace, we can tell people
what God's Word says. We can tell people how this word
reveals salvation in Christ, righteousness, forgiveness of
sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. And God will give people faith
to believe it. They'll have eternal life through the preaching of
this word. Hold your place there. Look over
at Psalm 138. You can't make too much of either
Christ incarnate word. or the written word of God. You
cannot make too much of it. It's something that must be stressed
and lifted up and magnified. And I'll show you, you can't
make too much of it, because how high did God magnify it?
Psalm 138, verse two. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy
truth, for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. All the glory of God's name depends
upon his word, upon the loving kindness of it, upon the truth
of it. This speaks, I think, especially
of Christ, but speaks of both Christ, the incarnate word and
the written word. The father has set his son above all of
his other works. God's name, who God is, what
God is like, can only be seen in his son. The glory of God,
can only be seen in His Son, how He redeemed sinners through
His Son. The loving kindness and truth
of God can only be seen in Christ. He's magnified Him above all
His other works. And God has put so much importance
on this word that not one jot and not one tittle of it will
ever fall to the ground. It's true today. It was true
when it was written thousands of years ago, and it'll be true
forever. Not one word of it will ever
fall to the ground. He's put so much importance on
his written word. That all he said it above all
the other works of his hands. All the other works of his hands
are going to fade away. Throughout this book, God stresses
to us. He's the creator. What a creation,
this creation God spoken to existence. One day it's going to vanish
away. Our Lord said, heaven and earth is great creation shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away. He set this word
above even his creation. God can make another heaven and
another earth. He can't make another truth.
That's how high he's lifted this word up in the Bible. It's everything God has to say
to me. If you want to know what God
has to say to you, start reading this book because this is it.
There's nothing else, nothing else. There's never going to
be another revelation. And you know why? There's no
other revelation needed. This is all we need. That's why
the gifts that the apostles had, God gave the gifts to the apostles
to heal the sick, raise the dead, to speak in tongues. Those gifts
are no more. Because God gave those men those
gifts for this reason. The word wasn't written yet.
They were still writing it. So when they would go out and preach,
people would know. And they saw these men be able
to do these miracles. They'd know, this man sent from
God. And they listened to him. Not
so they'd want to see more miracles. You know, the Lord fed the 5,000
that day with those few loaves and fishes. And people followed
him. He said, I know why you're following me. You want to see
more miracles. You know what happened to all
those people in the end? Every single one of them left. This is a hard saying, isn't
it? Turn to the 12 and say, we also
go away. They all left. You know why the 12 stayed? Peter
said, we believe. We're sure. Thou art the Christ,
the Son of God. That's why we stayed. We believe
Him. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1. You know, today we don't need
all those gifts and signs and wonders so that people know that
they were sent from God and preaching His Word, because we have the
complete revelation of Christ in the Word. People who get so
taken up in miracles and signs and wonders, I wish I could get
them to understand this, we got something better. Word of God. That's what Peter said who saw
them all. Peter saw every one of those miracles. I want you
to listen to what he said. 2 Peter 1, verse 16. For we've not followed cunningly
devised fables when we've made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But were eyewitnesses of his
majesty, Peter said, I saw this with my own two eyes at the Mount
of Transfiguration. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory. When there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Now, I don't mind telling you,
this is just the honest truth. I'd like to sing that. Would
you? I mean, really? I would have
liked to sing that. And Peter did. He said, this
voice which came from heaven, we heard and we're with him in
the Holy Mount. But now listen to me, Peter says, we have also
a more sure word of prophecy. We've got something better, the
Word of God. Where unto you do well that you
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. What a
treasure God has given to us, His Word. This sword, the mighty
sword, the Word of God, what a treasure. And how we should
reverence it, how we should reverence this book. It's the Word of God
Almighty. Wayne, God Almighty condescended
to give you and me a word from Him. My goodness, what a miracle. How we ought to reference this
Word. How we ought to seek to hear
it and know it. How we ought to take advantage
of what a great gift that God has given us in His Word. I want
to give you this morning five characteristics of this word,
God's mighty sword. Number one, the word of God is
quick. Verse 12, for the word of God
is quick. That word quick means alive or
it's living. The Bible is a living book. People
try to do things to make the Bible relevant to our day. And what they always do when
they do that is they try to change it. Let's change God's Word to
make it relevant to our day. The Word of God is relevant.
Always, at all times, because of who said it. It's the Word
of the Eternal God. And it's always relevant. It's
relevant in every age because it contains everything we need
to know about eternal life. No matter when we live or where
we live. It contains everything we need
to know. The Bible, it's a living word, but it's not written to
tell us how to have a better life in this earth. If that were
true, the martyrs wouldn't have found any comfort or joy in everything. The Bible is written to show
us and to give us spiritual life in God's Son. That's why it's
written. And the only way you and I can have this spiritual
life is through the living Word of God, the living life-giving
Word. God the Holy Spirit takes what
we're doing right now, the preaching of the Word. It's the living
incorruptible seed of the Word of God while it's being preached
and he plants it in the hearts of God's people and blesses it
and causes it to grow to spiritual life that wasn't there before.
The only way we can have That eternal life is through this
living word. I can make good on that. Look
over at James chapter one. James one verse 18. Of his own will begat he us with
what? The word of truth. that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. That's how God
gives life. That's how he causes it to come
into being through the seed of the word of God. Look over a
few more pages. 1 Peter 1. Verse 23, being born again. Now, would
you like to be born again? Peter tells us how that happens.
Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. That can't come of our
corruptible seed, for all flesh is grass, and the glory of man
is a flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away, but the word of God endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you." That is the only way a sinner
can be born again, is through the preaching of the word of
God. So our job, As a church, as a
local congregation, we have one job. It's to preach the word. Just preach the word. Just declare
it. We don't have to try to make it effectual. Just preach it. Just declare it. I'm so glad
if I sit up here thinking about that, I am so glad that I don't
have to make this effectual to talk you all into doing something.
Because me and Janet starve if I had to be a door-to-door salesman.
I'm telling you, we'd starve to death because I can't do it.
I don't have it in me. I just am very untalented in
that way. I just, and that's a good thing.
That's a good thing. All we have to do is preach God's
word. God's promised. He's the one
who'll make it happen. It will not return unto Him alone. It'll accomplish the purpose
that God sent it to do. He'll use His word to give life
to His people. What else would cause old brother
Ezekiel to go out into a valley full of dry bones and stand up
in front of them and yell at them, y'all live. What would
cause him to do that? Just one thing, the promise of
God, he'll bless his word and use it to give life to his people.
And we have the exact same commission today. Our commission is to tell
dead sinners live by believing this word. by preaching the living
Word of God. Now this Word is what God uses
to give life to His people. And it's through the exact same
preached Word that our spiritual life is fed and sustained. Life's
got to be sustained. Life's got to be fed, doesn't
it? God sustains and feeds the life He gives His people by the
same seed He used to give it. Through the preaching of the
Word. It's the green grass of God's Word and it's all sheet
and ED. This book reveals Christ, the
bread of life, and that's the only bread the children need.
This is a life-giving, life-sustaining Word. All right, number two,
the Word of God is powerful. The writer here says the Word
of God is quick and powerful. And that word powerful means
effectual. God's word will always get the
job done. It'll always accomplish the purpose
where unto God sent it. Now you think of the power of
the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
word. One day he spake and the world was created just by his
word. He didn't put something two and
two together and make four. There was nothing. And he spoke
and suddenly it was there. He spoke. and the earth appeared.
He spoke and the dry land appeared. He spoke and the trees grew,
the grass grew. He spoke and the animals appeared.
The power of His Word. Then He came incarnate and He
spoke in power and revealed the Father. He spoke and revealed. This is how God saves sinners.
Men heard Him speak and said, never may I speak like this man.
He spake with power, not as the scribes and Pharisees. in power. Christ speaks through the preaching
of his word in power, and the dead come forth. Now that's true
physically, naturally. Lazarus, come forth, and he that
was dead came forth. That's true spiritually. Through
the preaching of the word, God calls his people and says, live,
come forth, and the dead live. This word has the power to give
life to dead sinners. Look at Romans chapter one. This
word is so powerful. It saves sinners and makes them
righteous, makes them what they're not, makes them righteous. Romans one verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it's
written, the just shall live by faith. This word has the power
to save sinners, has the power to make them righteous, and has
the power to give faith to God's elect. Faith cometh how? By hearing. hearing by the word
of God. This word has a power to give
faith to dead sinners, faith in Christ. This word is so powerful. It'll make a rebel surrender. How I've thought about that this
week. There's nothing that I want,
I'm thinking about this, make sure it's a true statement, it
is. There's nothing I want more than for you to surrender to
Christ. One way it will happen, the power
of this word, will make a rebel surrender. It'll make a slave
a son. It'll make a sinner a saint.
It'll make a stiff-necked rebel bow at the feet of Christ. This
word is powerful enough to make us rest in Christ. You remember the first 11 verses
of this chapter, the writer here to the Hebrews is telling us,
quit your works, quit your, all your ceremonies, quit doing everything
you're doing, trying to make God happy. Quit them and rest
in Christ. There's rest in Christ. Now you
labor, you work to enter into that rest. You work to quit working
and rest in Christ. Well, how on earth am I going
to do that? Four. Here's how four, the word
of God is quick. It's powerful enough to make
these self-righteous rebels that we are. Rest in Christ. The Word of God is so powerful
that it comforts the sorrowing heart. It is very, very, very difficult
for me when you all sorrow. Janet says I'm kind of a Vulcan. It's easier for me to deal with
my own emotions of sorrow and things. But oh, when I see you
in it and tearing up, it's tough. It's tough. And I want to comfort
you. But what will do it? Just read
the Word of God. Just read it. The Word of God
will affect your heart. If you found that to be true,
it'll affect your heart where nothing else will. How many times have
you just been in the midst of it? And you feel like you're
being crushed by it. You can't hear anything. You
can't feel anything but pain and sorrow and anguish. And you
just hear a verse. Just a verse. Just one verse
of God's Word. Your heart's comforted. You think,
I am so in this. I can't get out of it. I can't
escape it. It's Wednesday and there's just
no point in me going to service tonight. I'm going to go anyway
just because I ought to. God bless you. You hear the preaching
of the word and your heart's just lifted up. This word is
powerful enough you're so downtrodden and just hearing it lifts you
up to Christ one more time. Oh, it's powerful. It's powerful
enough to answer all your questions. How many times have you been
wondering about something through the week? You just wonder, you
got a question, you've been wondering about it, and you come to service
and that question is answered by the preaching of the word.
The preacher didn't know you were wondering that. How did
that happen? It's the power of the word of
God. So again, all we've got to do, our only commission is
to preach the word. You don't have to make it effectual.
It's already by its very nature, it's powerful. It's effectual.
Just let it loose in preaching and watch it go. It's got the
power to accomplish God's purpose. All right, thirdly, the Word
of God is cutting. It's cutting. It's both wounding
and healing, isn't it? A sharp instrument can cut and
kill, but a sharp instrument can also heal. It just depends
whose hand's it in, isn't it? If it's in my hand, you're going
to get hurt. If it's in the hand of a skilled
surgeon, you'll be healed. The word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of
God is all edge. There's an edge to it. Everywhere
you look, there's no dull places in it. There's no wasted words.
There's no words that are not powerful. It's cutting. It's sharp. Boy, does it cut. You know, Christ didn't come
to this earth to bring peace to all men. He didn't come to
be this manby, pamby, hippy, just wants everybody to like
him. That's not why he came. What did he say? He came to bring
a sword. He came to bring a sword. There
cannot be peace among people who love God and people who hate
God. It can't be done. He did not come to bring peace.
People who believe God don't believe God. He came to bring
a cutting sword. And I'll tell you where this
wounding and this cutting starts. It starts in our own souls. We
don't need to be thinking I'm going to take this sword and
whack at everybody else. This wounding and this cutting starts
in our own souls. It's this word. An honest reading
of this word will kill our pride every time. Because all throughout
this book, you see, we've got nothing to be proud of. It's
obvious, isn't it? This word, any honest reading
of it, will kill our self-worth by showing us the best things
that we have. Our best things are nothing but
filthy rags. This word, an honest reading
of it, will just kill our pride, showing us that we're nothing
and we must have Christ. Nothing else will make proud
people like us Americans who've got everything beg. The Word
of God has got to kill our pride first. Nothing else will do it.
See, one side of this sword cuts and kills and wounds, but the
other side of it cuts and heals. See, this sword only kills what
needs to be killed. It kills pride. It kills hatred
and sin and self, because all those things need to be killed.
But the other side of it gives life. It gives the righteousness
of Christ. It gives humility. It gives love
for God. It gives a new nature. Now look
over 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I see images of our soldiers
who are overseas and those fellas are armed to the teeth. I mean,
I see some of these Marines, I don't hardly see any skinny
Marines. And I finally think I figured
it out because they're carrying every, I don't know how they
carry all those weapons. Looks to me like they're carrying 200
pounds of weapons. I mean, there's an arm to the
teeth. Well, we're in a warfare, a spiritual warfare, and we don't
have a lot of different weapons. We just have one weapon, the
word of God. We don't use psychology, try
to trick people into doing something. We don't use emotion to try to
talk them into doing something. We just got one weapon that will
both kill and heal. It's the Word of God. Boy, it's
a powerful weapon. Look here, 2 Corinthians 10 verse
3. For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3. For we walk in the flesh, we
do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. This word preached
is so powerful, it pulls down every stronghold that men have
built up. Men build up strongholds of their
own works and their own thoughts They build up these strongholds
and trust their souls to them. Nothing will tear them down but
the word of God. Tear down every one of them. This word is so
powerful, it casts all of our vain imaginations down into the
ground and brings us in subjection to the obedience of Christ. And
what does that mean? It brings us into subjection
to the obedience of Christ. Well, it means this, the word
of God is powerful enough to make us know. Only obedience
that we can have is the obedience of Christ. His obedience is the
only obedience we need. That's being in subjection to
his obedience. And that happens by this wounding,
killing, cutting sword. It kills self-righteousness and
then it gives righteousness through the righteousness of Christ.
And fourthly, the word of God, this mighty sword is dividing. He says back here in our text,
piercing, even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
of the joints and marrow. Now the word of God is powerful.
It's sharp. It's piercing. It gets anywhere
that God sends it. There is no defense against the
word of God. You know, all the time, all the
time, throughout the ages, I remember this back when I was a boy. And
then it happens today. You hear people talk about it.
This word is so piercing. You hear it even when you're
trying not to. You kids notice it. Sometimes you hear it even
though you're trying not to. You're trying to think about
something else, trying to think about your boyfriend, your girlfriend, or what you're
going to do at school, or all your summer plans, all these
things. And somehow in spite of yourself, you hear something
and it sticks. That's the piercing Word of God. My words couldn't do that. But
God's Word can. This Word reaches right to the
secret, hidden places of the heart. It reaches down to the
joints, the marrow. We can't even see those things,
can we? They're hidden inside our body. But the Word of God
pierces right between, right between the bone and the sinew,
the marrow, the joints. It reaches right to the soul
and the spirit. Now, I guess if we cut our bodies
open, you could see the sinews and the joints and things, couldn't
you? We can't see the soul and spirit? But the word of God reaches
right there, right to the heart of the matter, the soul and the
spirit. This word pierces the heart. The heart we're born with,
the nature, the heart's talking about our nature, the nature
we're born with, it's old, cold, dead, stony heart. It's so hard,
nothing can pierce it. Nothing can break it. The Word
of God. The Word of God pierces that
heart. And when it does, it gives birth
to a new heart, a new nature that was not there before. And
the difference between the old man and the new man, the old
man and the new man are divided by one thing. The Word of God. I'll make good on that. Look
at Genesis chapter 32. I think you're so blessed. Genesis
chapter 32, the one difference that divides the old man and
the new man, the difference that makes the difference between
the two of them is the word of God. Genesis chapter 32 verse 24. Here's poor old Jacob coming
back home to meet Esau. Got all this family and wives
and afraid Esau's going to kill him. Verse 24, Jacob was left
alone. And there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he
prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh,
the joint. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh
was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me
go for the day breaketh. And he said, Jacob said, I will
not let thee go except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what
is thy name? See, he's getting right to the
heart of the matter. her, what's your name? And he had to say,
Jacob. She supplanted her. I ruined
my reputation, Jacob. And he said, thy name shall be
called no more Jacob, but Israel. As a prince, for as a prince,
hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
And Jacob asked him and said, tell me, I pray thee, thy name.
And he said, wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?
And he blessed him And Jacob called the name of the place
Peniel, for I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Peniel,
the sun rose upon him and he halted, he limped upon his thigh.
Therefore, the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank,
which is upon the hollow of the thigh into this day, because
he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. Now this one who wrestled with
Jacob all night long is God. pre-incarnate appearance of God.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrestled with Jacob. And it's
the Word of God. The Word of God incarnate who
gave life. He gave Jacob new life. And he
gave him a new name to go with it. Your name's not going to
be Jacob anymore. You're not going to be cheat
and supplanter anymore. Now your name is Israel. You're
a prince with God. You're a son of God. You've got
power with God because you're a son of God. But now you know
the rest of Jacob's life. Jacob was still Jacob, wasn't
he? God throughout scripture says I'm the God of Jacob. He
was still Jacob. But he was also still Israel
too. He was both Jacob and he was also Israel. And that is
a picture of the two natures of a believer. I'm really me. I really am that old man of sin. Unbelief and hatred and rebellion.
That's really me. Thank God there's a new man.
A man of righteousness. A man of faith, a man who loves
God. And that's really me, too. That's really me. And it's the
Word of God that divides the two. Christ, the Word of God,
got right down to the heart. He touched Jacob's thigh, right
down there in the joint. And that's sinew, in the marrow.
And he put it out of the joint. And Jacob limped the rest of
his life. Eric Gisrael didn't live one
day. It's the Word of God that makes the difference. See that?
It's the Word of God that wounds and heals. It's the Word of God
that pierces and divides. It wounds that old man and gives
life to the new man. And it's the Word of God alone
that divides the believer's message from the unbeliever's message.
It's the Word that divides light and darkness. We live our lives
in spiritual darkness and one day there's light. What happened? The Word of God came in power,
divided the light from the darkness. It divides life and death. It
divides the spirit from the flesh. It's the Word of God that divides
the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the chaff. It's the
Word of God that reaches, pierces right down to the heart. It's
the Word of God that separates outward religion from religion
in the heart. The work of God in the heart. It pierces, it pierces. and separates
us under one hope, under one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then fifthly, the word of
God is revealed. Back in our text, Hebrews 4,
the end of verse 12 says, and as a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart, neither is there any creature that's
not made manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
opened under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Now
the Word of God is revealing. It reveals to us what we really
are. It's the Word of God that strips
away all of our excuses. It's the Word of God that strips
away everything that we think is good about us and lays us
bare and open before God and before ourselves so we see ourselves
as we really are. Only the Word of God will let
you know you're completely sinful, you're completely lost in sin,
You're ruined in sin. You're completely dependent upon
God to save you because you can't do one thing to save yourself
because you're dead. Only the Word of God will tell you that.
I can tell you that till the day you die. Unless God uses
His powerful, piercing, cutting Word, you'll never see it. But
if God ever gives you eyes to see the Word, you don't need
Him to tell you that. You know, I'm lost. I need a
Savior. The Word of God shows us ourselves
as God sees us. See, this is God's Word. He's
telling us how He sees us. And that's all that matters.
It's all that matters. This Word reveals all our thoughts,
our sinful thoughts. This Word reveals everything
we intend to do is evil and sinful. And you know that's so, don't
you? It's the Word that reveals it. It's the Word that reveals
all of our secret desires. Those secret desires we've never
told anybody. It's the Word that reveals to
us those things are evil. We're sinful, we're ruined in
sin, and we can't be fixed up. We can't be repaired. God's got
to make us new. Only the Word will reveal that
to you. I can't tell you how many times people have told me
after a message, you were talking just to me this morning. God
gave you that message just for me this morning. I wasn't just
talking to you this morning. God was. God was. His Word revealed
your problem and it revealed the solution to your problem.
It's Christ. Only God's Word can do that.
The Word of God reveals who we are. And the Word of God reveals
who God is. God told us in His Word who He
is and what He's like. God is holy and just. This Word
reveals that. God is not this fuddy-duddy old
grandpa that just loves everybody now. No, God's holy and God's
just. God must punish sinners. He must punish sinners. Yet God
saves sinners. So when He's going to save sinners,
He's going to do it in a holy way. He's going to do it in a
way that satisfies His justice by punishing His Son as our substitute
and giving His elect the righteousness and the life that Christ earned
for it. See, if it wasn't for the Word of God, we'd think salvation
is by works, wouldn't we? That's what we'd think. Somebody's
got to keep the law. I mean, is that obvious to everybody? Somebody's got to keep the law.
Left to our own devices, we'd think it's us, wouldn't we? We'd
never know that salvation is by grace, by grace alone, through
faith alone, in Christ alone, if it wasn't that the Word revealed
Christ The Word is revealing. Christ our Savior, Christ the
Word, reveals His people as they really are. He sees His people
as they really are. All things are naked and open. Nothing's hidden from Him. He
sees His people as they really are. He sees their seed. That's why He came to save us.
And listen to this now. All things are naked and open
to him. He sees all their sin. You know, that sounds kind of
scary, doesn't it? He sees all their sin. No, that's
not scary. That's comforting. He didn't
miss put one away because he sees them all. You get this. He sees all. He sees life and faith in the
hearts of his people when they can't sense it. He sees it. He sees His people. Even when
they feel like they're in such darkness, they can't see Him. He sees it and He won't let them
go. He'll keep them and He will preserve
them. He'll feed them, He'll comfort
them, He'll shepherd them all the days of their life just like
He did old Jacob by the power of His Word. Oh, what a blessing
God's given us His Word. For He gives faith to believe
it. Let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank You for Your
Word. How we thank You that You condescended to give Your Word
to sinful men and women such as we are. Father, give us faith
to believe it. Give us eyes to see. See Christ
in Him. Believe Him. Find our rest, our
hope, and our confidence in Him. Father, bless your words that's
been preached. Bless it to your glory. Cause it to take root
in the heart of your people. We might be enabled to feed upon
the glory of Christ our Savior. Think upon Him. Bless your word
to the hearts of your people to give life. Call out your people
to repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Use your word
to feed and comfort and strengthen the hearts of your people. Father,
thank you for your word. And I pray that you'd bless us
these next three days as we look again into your word with our
young adults. And Father, bless us as we meet
to open, read, and study your word. Bless us with some instruction
in strengthening in Christ our Savior. In his blessed name,
we pray and give thanks.