Now, last week in our study,
we were looking at what Paul was talking to us about laboring
to enter into the rest of our Lord Jesus Christ. And today,
beginning in verse 12, he shows us Christ, the word of God. He
begins talking about Christ, the high priest of God, to encourage
us to rest fully in him. He says in verse 12, for the
word of God is quick and powerful, 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 the intents of the heart." Now there's a lot of different
opinions among commentators about what it is that Paul is referring
to when he talks about the Word of God. A lot of them think that
he's only talking about the Scriptures, the written Word of God. Many
of them think he's only talking about Christ, the Incarnate Word,
I agree with Brother Henry in his outline. He says, why can't
he be talking about both? You know, I've heard all my life,
I've said many times, you cannot separate the incarnate word and
the written word. They must go together. Christ
and his word must, the scriptures must go together. The Bible would
just be another book if Christ weren't the living incarnate
word. And around here, we've always place a lot of emphasis
on the Word. We, in our classes, go verse
by verse through the Word, line upon line. When we begin our
worship service, we begin by reading a passage of Scripture.
We sing a song and we read some more Scripture. John generally
goes verse by verse through the Scriptures. Our children, when
they're three years old, start memorizing passages of Scripture.
So at least it's up here. God's Word is at least in their
head. The seed, we hope, is being planted. And when you look at
Paul's description of the Word of God, it's no wonder that we
place a lot of emphasis on the Word. He says, first of all,
it's quick. And that word means alive. This
Word is alive. Both the Scriptures and Christ,
they're alive. These, what we're reading, what
you're holding in your lap is living Word. This is where life
is found. As opposed to the dead letter
of the law, this is living. Christ, not only does he have
the words of life, he is the word of life. Christ is life
itself. All life comes from him, both
physical and spiritual. He's the fountain of life. And
he speaks to us, life, through his word. God uses his living
word. as the seed to give spiritual
life. Look over in 1 Peter chapter
1. I want us to look at some scriptures this morning to back
up what I'm saying. I want you to take my word for
it. This is what God's Word says.
God uses this living Word as the seed to give spiritual life. In 1 Peter 1 verse 23, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the Word of God. which liveth and abideth forever.
Raw flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower
of grass. Grass withereth, and the flower
thereof falls away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you." This word, both Christ and the scriptures, is the word
that's preached unto you. That's the seed that God uses
to give spiritual life to His people. Look over Matthew chapter
8. In Matthew 8, verse 5, And when
Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion
beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick
of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will
come and heal him. The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,
but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. And
you know the story. The Lord spoke the word. And
that servant was healed. Look down at verse 16. And when
the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed
with devil. And he cast out the spirits with
his word and healed all that were sick. The way we have spiritual
life and spiritual healing is in his word. It's the word only. It's not our commentary on the
word. It's the word. God's word. That's where life
is found because it's quick. Paul says next is powerful. Now
I love to teach the Scriptures verse by verse because there's
power in this. I can't have any power. I'm in
an oratory or speaking, but there's power in this world. You see,
I've seen it happen. Life starts to form. You see
it in a person's eyes and heart What used to just be there, just
sitting there waiting for the half hour to be up. Now they
get it. What happened? It's powerful. This Word is powerful. Christ
speaks to us through His Word. That's the only way He speaks
to us is through His Word. And when Christ speaks, there's
power. Things happen when Christ speaks.
Look over Ecclesiastes chapter 8. Over the course of the last year,
year and a half, this is a verse pastors quoted to me many times.
Ecclesiastes 8, verse 4. Where the word of a king is,
there's power. This is the word of the king,
and I'm telling you it's powerful. It goes forth in power. When
Christ speaks, It means something. In the council halls of the Paternity,
when they were just the Father and the Son, Christ spoke. He spoke as our surety, as our
representative. And that Word was powerful. When
He spoke, we were put in Him. Eternally secure in Him because
He spoke for His people. Christ spoke and created the
entire world out of nothing. Just with the power of His Word.
When the Lord Jesus came to this earth, He spoke. He spoke to
men. And He revealed the Father to
them. He spoke and dead people walked out of tombs. He spoke
and sick people were healed. And now, in glory, in the presence
of the Father, He speaks in intercession for His people when He intercedes
for us. And He's always heard. And when Christ speaks, not only
does the Father hear Him, You hear when Christ speaks through
His Word. Our Lord said, My sheep shall
hear My voice. Look over 2 Corinthians chapter
10. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but they are mighty, or powerful, 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." Now what brought you into subjection to Christ? Was it the oratory skills of
the speaker? Was he able to convince you somehow?
If it was, you're in trouble. I'll tell you what brings people
in reality into subjection to Christ. What pulls down those
strongholds of self-righteousness and unbelief. It's the power
of the Word. God's Word is powerful. Paul
says next, it's sharp. Sharper than any two-edged sword.
God's Word is all-edge. There's not a blunt side to it.
It's sharp on both sides. And it's impossible to come in
contact with God's Word and leave unaffected. You just can't do
it. To those who believe, this Word is sweet. You come in contact
with it and it's sweet to you. It encourages your faith. It's
where life is found. It's where your strength is found.
You come in contact with the Word and you're taught, comforted,
you're fed. by the Word. You leave full when
you come in contact with the Word if you believe. To those
who do not believe, it's an offensive smell. It's an offensive odor.
It's like death. And it'll just add to their condemnation.
It's impossible either way to come in contact with the Word
and be unaffected because it's got no blunt side. This is a
two-edged sword, the way Paul describes it. One side is sharp. It kills. But it only kills what
needs to be killed. It kills self-righteousness.
It kills pride, envy, slaves, sin. But the other side is just
as sharp. That side heals. It binds up
all of our wounds. See, sin has wounded us. It's killed us. But the Word
comes and heals our wounds. It gives life. And Christ is this Word. He's
the great physician. He knows what to kill. He's the wise physician. Now
if I was in surgery and opened you up, I wouldn't know what
to take out and what to leave in. He does. He's the wise physician. He knows what to kill and he
knows where to give life. And he does it through the Word.
The Word is the scalpel in the hand of the great physician that
he uses to heal and give life to his people. Paul says next,
the Word of God is piercing. It will pierce through to His
sheep here. I can't make you hear. I mean,
I just can't. You'd sit there and tune me out
and I wouldn't blame you. But when God sends forth His
Word in power, His sheep will hear. It will pierce through
every barrier till it reaches the heart of His people. It will
pierce through and it will reach the hidden thoughts. hidden motives,
the hidden sins that you thought nobody knew about but you. It'll
pierce through right to the heart of the problem and find them.
It'll pierce through right to your point of rebellion. And
it'll kill it. Just like our Lord spoke to that
woman at the well. His Word got right to the heart
of the issue, didn't it? Both wounded and healed. Gave
life. Paul says it's piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. You know, we can't
see the difference between body and spirit. It's a mystical thing
to us. But it pierces right through
to those things that we can't see. And this is interesting. Many of the old writers think
that Paul is referring here to the flesh and the spirit. To
the old man and the new man. You can't look at me. I can't
look at me and tell what part of me is the old man and the
new man. God's Word. And it pierces just with precision,
dissection right between that old man and the new man with
that double-edged sword. On the one side, it kills and
wounds, puts down that old man. On the other side, it strengthens,
heals, edifies, teaches and points to Christ, the new man. And it
does it all with the same word, the same message. There's not
two messages. There's one message. One message, the message of the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, at the exact same moment, kills
and gives life. That's this Word. It's powerful. It's piercing. Verse 13, Paul
goes on, he says, 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. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ is God's Son. He has all the attributes of
the Father. One of those attributes Paul mentions here is he is omniscient. He knows everything. He sees
everything. He can't hide anything from him.
And he knows the hearts and the thoughts of men. He knows who's
a believer and who's a non-believer. We don't know that. He does.
He knows who's a false professor and who has true faith, who has
true repentance and a true profession of faith in him. Look over at
John chapter 2. John 2 verse 23. Now when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name
when they saw the miracles which he did. Well, that's wonderful,
isn't it? We'd be all excited. Many believed.
But look what the Lord did. Verse 24, But Jesus did not commit
Himself unto them, because He knew all. He knew all men. He knew. And He needed not that
any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. See,
He knew who the goats were and who the sheep were. And that
comforts the sheep. Every one of God's sheep. Every
one of His children can say of Peter, Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. It may be just a faint flicker. It may be something that at times
seems so small nobody else could see it. But Lord, you know all
things. You know that I love you. You
know this sheep. And there's no hiding anything
from Him. All things are naked and uncovered. They're open to
Him with whom we have to do. And that word means publicly
exposed. It's like you've dissected an
animal. You know, in high school biology,
you dissect a frog and you lay everything out there on the table.
You know, you pin it all down. There's everything about that
frog all laid out in front of you. Dissected and open. Easy to see. Well, everything's
open to Him with whom we have to do. Now, every son of Adam
is going to have to deal with Christ the incarnate Word and
Christ the written Word. Now, believers, God's children
have to do with Christ right now in mercy and grace. We have to do with Him as our
prophet, priest and king. He's our prophet to teach us.
He's our priest to offer sacrifice for us. He's our priest who right
now is interceding for His people. He's our king to rule over us
and protect us. We deal with Him in His blood.
that He washes us in and cleanses us from our sin. We deal with
Him in His righteousness and He clothes us in. I'm telling
you, it's an unspeakable blessing to think that God Almighty would
condescend to deal with us. That He would allow us to have
a relationship with Him and deal with Him because He deals with
us in mercy. Unbelievers will have to do with
Christ That's an awful thing to think about, but it's just
so. And the issue in that judgment will be the Word. Look over in
John chapter 12. See, they're going to have to
deal with the Word, both incarnate and written. In John 12 verse
47. And if any man hear my word,
And believe not, I judge him not, not right now. For I came
not to judge the world, but to save the world. The first time
he came, he didn't come to judge the world, he came to bring salvation
to his people. But, verse 48, he that rejecteth
me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judges him. The
word that I have spoken, the same will judge him in the last
day. See, the issue is going to be
the word, going to be belief in God's word. So back in our
text, Hebrews 4, verse 14. Now seeing then that we have
a great high priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son
of God, let us hold fast our profession. And here Paul's encouraging
us, remember what he's talking about at the beginning of the
chapter, to rest, to rest in Christ. And he calls the Lord
Jesus Christ our great high priest. He's our great high priest as
opposed to those sons of Aaron. They were high priests. They
weren't high priests like He is. He's the great high priest.
He's greater in His person. Christ is the Son of God. Those
other high priests were the sons of Aaron. He's greater in His
person. He's greater in His sacrifice.
Christ offered His own sinless blood as sacrifice for our sins. Those other priests, they just
offered animal blood. Christ is greater because His sacrifice
was affectionate. His one sacrifice put away all
the sin of His people eternally. Those other high priests, they
offered many sacrifices. I mean, just one right after
another, after another, after another. And over in Hebrews
10, verse 4, Paul tells us it's not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sin. It's not possible that
those high priest sacrifices, the sons of Aaron, would ever
take away sin. Christ did. He's a great high
priest. He's great because his priesthood
continues. He's a high priest forever, ordained
to the Father. Those other high priests all
died. They had to be replaced by one
of their sons. Christ is the great high priest. There's no
replacing him as a high priest. None whatsoever. He's the great
high priest. He's the great high priest because
where it is, he performs his high priestly duties. Christ
officiates as our high priest in heaven itself, in the presence
of the Father. Those other high priests, they
officiated in a temple that was destroyed. They went behind a
veil that one day was torn in two. Just a temporary place. Christ officiates in the presence
of the Father himself. Look over a few pages in Hebrews
9, talking about that tabernacle
in the wilderness which was a figure for the time then present, in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse
washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time
of Reformation. But Christ, being come in a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us." He's a great high priest. Look over verse
24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which were figures of the truth, but into heaven itself,
right now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he
should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into
the holy places every year with the blood of others. For then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now, once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to
put away sin. by the sacrifice of Himself.
This is our great High Priest. And Paul says He's passed into
the heavens. Now why did He pass into the
heavens? Because His sacrifice was accepted. The Father accepted
His sacrifice and brought Him back. Passed into the heavens
to sit at the seat of the right hand of glory on high. So what
Paul's telling us is, rest in Him. His sacrifice is enough. The sacrifice of the great high
priest is enough. So let's never let our faith
waver. Let's hold fast to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's hold
fast to our outward profession. Let's make sure that we take
advantage of and use the Word that God's given us. And you
take advantage of what you're holding in your lap by reading
it. Open it up. Read it. Study it. Become familiar with it. Take
advantage of this. What a blessing. That's holding
fast our outward profession. Hold fast. Take advantage of
the opportunities that the Lord's given us to worship together,
to hear His gospel preached. This isn't a blessing you can
find in any city you go anywhere. This is a blessing. Take advantage
of it. Take advantage of opportunities
to fellowship together around God's Word. That's holding fast
our outward profession. And let's hold fast our inner
profession, our inner confidence and faith in Christ, in our great
High Priest. So he says in verse 15, and this
is our High Priest. For we have not in High Priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
God. He's God in every way. He's completely holy, completely
sinless. He is everything that we're not
by nature. He's so far above us that our
pea brains cannot understand, can't comprehend how far above
us that He is. Yet, He doesn't look down on
us in derision. He condescends to be with His
people. He's able, not only is He able,
He does sympathize with His people. He sympathizes with our weaknesses,
with our infirmities, with our troubles and trials. He understands. And He understands because God
became a man. Took on Him the same flesh we
have. Lived in the same world we live
in. yet without sin. He condescended to take on our
flesh so he understands what it's like to be tempted, tried
by Satan. He was tried by Satan hard. Before
he went to the cross, he told Peter, he said, Peter, Satan
has desired thee to sift thee like wheat. And he sympathized
with that poor, poor Peter. He said, I've prayed for you.
He knew what Peter was going to do. He didn't cast him off.
He said, I'll pray for you that your faith fail not. He can sympathize
with them. He can sympathize with us in
our sadness and grief. He can sympathize with us in
pain and trial. He can sympathize with those
who are hungry, those who are tired. He felt all that. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmity. He understands. So I tell you
this. There's not a place we can go,
not a place a child of God can go, that our Lord hasn't gone
first. He understands every step we
take. But there's places He wins that
we'll never have to go because He wins our substitutes, our
sacrifices. He knows what it's like to be
punished by the Father for sinning. His people will never know anything
about that because He suffered it for them. And our high priest
is merciful. Oh, he's merciful. And he will
send help in our time of need. I can sympathize with you. If
somebody goes through something, a particular trial that I've
been through, I can sympathize with them. And I'll tell you,
I understand. I'll cry with you. I'll grieve
with you. I understand. But that's the
extent of what I can do. I can just sympathize with you
and cry with you. Christ, our High Priest, He'll
sympathize with you. He'll send help. He'll send deliverance
because He's able. So, verse 16, let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Now let us, let us who
believe in Christ, let us who love Him, who love His blood,
who love His righteousness, who love His gospel, who love His
people, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Now, come
boldly without fear of being turned away because of our sin.
Never think, well, I can't come to Christ. I'm too great of a
sinner. That's doubting His Word. He
came to save the chief of sinners. That's doubting His blood to
put away our sin. Don't think, well, now I've really
messed up this time. And Lord, He's going to condemn
me this time. I can't come back to Him this
time. That's doubting His mercy. Doubting His forgiveness. Come
bold without fear of being turned away. Don't come bashful like
a servant that doesn't really belong. You come like a child
who belongs. Children do not fear to come
into their parents' house. at any time of day. My daughters
were away on an academic team trip this weekend. In the middle
of the night, 3 o'clock in the morning, everything's dark, everybody's
in bed, they come home. They didn't fear to use their
key to come in. They didn't fear a bit. And they
came right in the bedroom, woke us up, gave us a hug, told us
a little bit about their trip. They didn't fear one bit. That's
where they belong. And if you're a child of God,
this is where you belong. You don't have to wonder, well,
am I going to come to God's throne and find love? Is there love
for me there? Is there protection and shelter
for me there? Is there food for me there? You're
God's children. There is. Because this is your
home. Children don't wonder, is there
a place with a dinner table for me to hide? They just know there
is. Because this is where their Father
provides for them. They come with freedom of speech. Don't be bashful. Just lay your
heart out open to your God. He knows it anyway. Lay it out
to Him in prayer. But remember, now remember, you're
still coming to a throne. This is a throne of grace. Christ
our High Priest is still, He always has been, always will
be, the Sovereign, King of Kings. Now there's a throne of judgment
for unbelievers. We don't want anything to do
with that throne. Thank God there is a throne of grace for His
people. So you come to it. Come boldly, but come reverently. Come as His children. Don't come
as a sullen teenager. Come as one of His obedient children
with submission to His will. And come, He says, so we may
obtain mercy. This is the fountain of all mercy.
Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him. He has all the sure
mercies of David. The sure mercies of the Son of
David. And come when you're in need.
I thought this week, I said, we're always in need, aren't
we? We are poor and needy people. We need grace daily. Come to Him daily. But there
are times when that need is sharper. When it's more immediate. When
we say like Peter, Lord save me or I perish. Right now, I'm
going to perish if you don't save me. He will. That's the promise of God. He
will send, give grace to help in time of need. One more verse,
Hebrews 10, verse 19. Having therefore brethren boldness,
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having the high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And let us hold
fast to the profession of our faith without wavering. For he's
faithful, I promise. All right, Lord bless you.