We're going to be looking in
the book of Hebrews chapter 4, if you'd like to turn there. Hebrews chapter 4. I've titled this message, The
Two-Edge Sword of God. The Two-Edge Sword of God. Hebrews
chapter 4, verse 12 says, For 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, of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. 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." two edge
sword of God. If you and I are to believe God,
if you and I are to believe his promises to take him at his word,
the only way we can is if he gives us faith to do so. He must enable us to. He does
this by one way through his word, through and by his word. God
made it this way. God ordained this way through
the preaching of his word, through the preaching of his gospel.
You will never read a hymnal and hear the gospel of the Lord
and be called from darkness into his marvelous light. Although
hymnals are wonderful, hymnals are something we enjoy singing
and doing or taking part of. But he didn't ordain hymnals
in order to save his people. He ordained preaching. He ordained
preaching. Romans 1 16 says, I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is thee power of God, the
singular. 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 is written, the just shall live by faith. What is revealed when the Lord's
gospel is preached? It's revealed, well, his word
is called the wisdom of God. His wisdom is revealed. His truth
is revealed. The truth of who he is, the truth
of what we are is revealed. The truth of how he saved sinners.
Now here in this particular text, the writer is declaring about
the word of the Lord. And it is perhaps a different
viewpoint of the word that was given in John chapter one where
it says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with
God and the word was God. And it goes on to say the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. So it may be a different
viewpoint of the word, but the Lord had only has one word. It's
his oath. It's his promise. So we have
the written word of God in front of us. We have the spoken word
of God, which most, which some of it is written also. And then
we have the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's all
the same, the spoken, the written and the living word of God. This
is what's declared by the Lord's preachers. And this is how he
calls his people from darkness into his glorious light, this
sword, this two edged sword of God. So what is it that we preach? Well, the scripture says, for
after in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
would believe. Well, why is preaching called
foolishness? Well, it's not to you and I that believe. It's
what saved us. That's the power of God unto
salvation. Lord Jesus Christ, the one that saved us, but it's
his power unto salvation. So why is it called foolishness?
Because it's foolishness to everybody else that can't hear it. The
only thing we declare is simply the who, what, when, where, why,
and how of the gospel. Who is the Lord? What did he
do? He died for his people. He saved his people. When did
he do that? Before time and in time. Where did he do it? Well, in eternity past and in
the present time. Why did he do it? For his glory,
for his honor, for his purpose. And how did he do it? By his
own blood begat he us. This is what we declare. It takes
you and I out of the equation. If any part of that is about
us, it's not the gospel. It's all about him. This is God's
gospel. Jesus Christ is seen in God's
gospel. What we preach is God's gospel.
He's seen in God's gospel as the power of God and as the wisdom
of God. We preach him. We preach the
word of God. We preach what he has done and
who he has done it for. We preach what he has spoken
and what he accomplished. We preach what he promised, what
he purposed, and then what he performed. Aren't you glad that
the Lord's not limited where he purpose something or promise
something and then he couldn't perform it. You and I may purpose
to do something. We may promise to do something,
but we may lack the ability to perform it. Think about that.
Not him. Everything he purposed, everything
he promised. He performed it as well. He completed
it as well. This is the declaration of the
glorious truth. Salvation's all of the Lord.
Salvation's all of grace. And it is finished. It is finished. This declaration reveals that
the truth of God, about the truth of God, who he is, what he's
done, and the truth about you and I, that we can't save ourself.
We have no hope in salvation and of ourself. Now either we will be able to
receive this truth, be enabled to receive it, or we will be
cut by the truth in wrath and in judgment. This morning as
we think about a sword, the two-edged sword of God, that word two-edged,
and we're gonna hear this again in a minute, that word two-edged
means two mouths like a river. like a river. So you have a mouth
of judgment that comes from the throne of God. And you have a,
the mouth that speaks mercy and grace that comes from the throne
of grace, the throne of mercy. We're going to hear about that
the second hour. It's in our, it's in our passage here. It's a little
later on. He talks about the throne of grace. What makes the
difference from what we hear from the Lord? What makes the
difference from whether we hear from the throne of grace and
the throne of mercy or from the throne of wrath and the throne
of judgment? Well, that's the gospel, isn't it? Christ Jesus
saved sinners. That's the gospel, isn't it?
Christ Jesus put away the sin of his people and the judgment
do us. There's no more judgment to his people. That's the good
news of the gospel. Now, either we'll be cut by it
in wrath or we'll be cut by it in mercy and in grace. What do
you mean be cut by it in grace and mercy? How is getting cut
grace and mercy? Well, if the Lord chops our flesh
down, it's always of grace, isn't it? The Lord abases our pride,
it's always in mercy. He doesn't do that. to those
that are not His. Whom the Lord loves, He chasteneth.
Everyone else, He leaves to themselves. If you ever feel that you've
been cut down, that your pride has been abased, you feel broken
down and made to cry out unto the Lord, He only does that to
His children. He only causes His children to
cry out, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Everyone else
are exalted in pride. They're exalted in their effort.
Yeah, they'll have bad days. They'll go through different
trials, but they never have a need to cry out, Lord, save me. This is what it means to be cut
by the word of God. It goes forth, it cuts the flesh,
and yet it heals the new man at the same time. It's two edged.
It goes forth and kills and makes alive at the exact same time.
It does exactly what it's supposed to do, what it's purposed to
do. Now, either we are cut in wrath
when we die or we be cut in mercy while we're living it, but everyone
will bow. We've heard that a lot, haven't we? Everyone will bow
unto the Lord. Everyone will confess Christ
is all. Now let's read this again, Hebrews
4, verse 12. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even through the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature that does not manifest
in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes
of him with whom we have to do. In this glorious passage, brethren,
the description of the written word of God. This is what we
declare. We declare what he's spoken.
How do we know he spoke it? We have it in written form. He
says, I am the Lord, I change not. I am thus saith the Lord.
This is his written word. This is what he's talking about
here. The sword that goes forth. Now, the first thing he describes
his word as is quick. What do you think that word quick
means? It means alive. It means breath. It means to live. You remember
the scripture that says, you hath he quickened who were dead
and trespasses and in sin? It's the same word. This is what
does it. His word goes forth. His spirit
says live. He quickens his people by breathing
the breath of life into them. Second thing we see is the word
powerful. That means active. Active. What does that mean, active?
It means it's accomplishing exactly what he's purposed it to do,
going forth actively as he sees fit. I like the next one. It says sharper, quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword. Sharper implies that it's
one singular blow to accomplish his purpose, not hacking, not
chopping and chopping like chopping a tree down. Not trying and trying
and eventually breaking through. No, literally the word sharper
there means that it's one singular stroke. It accomplishes exactly
what he's purposed it to accomplish. Doesn't matter about your will
or your resistance. It doesn't matter about my will
or my resistance. Aren't you glad it doesn't matter
how stubborn we are? Think about that. How stubborn
we are. You ever uprooted a weed and
it still comes back? You ever chopped down a bush
and it still comes back and you didn't want it? It's stubborn,
it wants to live. I mean, and of ourself, we're
stubborn. We don't like change. We don't
like to bow. By nature, we hate to bow. Aren't
you glad that it's not about how stubborn we are? He just takes one swoop, chops
us down to nothing, shuts us up to Christ completely. Two edged means having two mouths
as a river. I mentioned that earlier already.
And this is evidence of the Lord accomplishing his purpose. It
goes forth. And to some, they will hear in
mercy. To some, they will hear in grace, but to others, they
don't hear in mercy and grace. And so what does that sword do?
It cuts them. It cuts the flesh. Every time
this gospel is declared, every time the sword goes forth, it
cuts piercing into the dividing of sunder all the way down soul
and spirit joints and marrow. That means the very, very bottom,
the darkest part. to accomplish its purpose. It
reveals, and what does it do when it cuts? It reveals the
truth about what we are. Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation's
not up to you and I, and the flesh hates that. Flesh hates
that. Flesh says, no, that can't be
tried. There has to be something I can do. Or they'll say, well,
it's all of grace. Salvation, yeah, it's all of
grace. We believe that it's all of grace. But they change the
definition of grace, don't they? If we're saying that it's all
of grace and yet we have to do something, it's no longer all
of grace. That's literally the definition of works, isn't it?
If we have to do something, it's no longer of grace, it's of works. Now his two-edged sword accomplishes
God's purpose according to his will. And who hath resisted the
will of the Lord, the scripture says. Who hath resisted his will?
Nebuchadnezzar's the one that said that. We've heard about
him recently. He was struck down. He thought,
look at great Babylon that I've created. It wasn't in what he
saw with his natural eyes. It wasn't until the Lord abased
him, showed him that he's nothing without God. That's when he cried
out, who has resisted his will? His word will not return void,
the scripture says, it divides. It divides, you think about his
word while he lived on the earth. Here we have the, the manifestation,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the manifestation of the word of God in flesh.
And yet every time he spoke, it was the word of God as well.
And he said, peace, be still. And what happened? Everything
stopped. He said, be thou made whole.
And what happened? They were made whole. He said,
what about the Red Sea? He parted the Red Sea with just
the blast of his nostril, the scripture says. He let there
be light and there was light. This is the word of God. This
is the power by which the Lord uses to heal and make alive. This is the power he uses to
expose the deepest, darkest part of our heart. It reveals it deep
down. There's nothing, what does he
say? Look at verse 13. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
opened under the eye of him with whom we have to do. Open and
naked. What does that mean to you? Completely exposed, completely
vulnerable, nothing hidden. When Adam and Eve sinned, they
thought they could hide from the Lord, didn't they? They thought,
I can sew fig leaves together to hide myself. And it did them
no good. Lord wouldn't accept that covering,
would he? And how many times do we see in scripture so many,
how many, the woman with the issue of the blood trying, the
woman with the issue of blood trying to fix her state before
reaching out to the Lord or So many instances of men trying
to take matters into their own hands. And yet Jonah is a good
example of that, isn't he? He's in the belly of the well.
What's he going to do in the belly of the well? I think I'm
going to get a rowboat and paddle myself out of here. No, Lord,
salvations of the Lord out of the belly of hell. I cried, save
me. I can't fix this. I can't cover myself. No, you've
exposed. I see now, Lord. I see much better
since you struck me blind, since you've made me blind to self,
blind to self-righteousness. I have no righteousness. You've
exposed it. Lord, I need your word, your
truth to come. And Lord, you've cut this flesh.
I need you to heal me. Give me Christ. Give me the word
of God. Give me his promises. That's
our cry. Now, this dividing asunder means
that nothing is hidden from him. It cuts the flesh, revealing
sin unto death. Everyone will be cut. Everyone
will be cut by this word. Either in time, they will be
cut in mercy. I wrote an article about that
called Fetch Me, O Lord, Fetch Me. It's in the bulletin this
morning, I believe. Lord will fetch his Mephibosheth. So Lord will fetch his people.
Lord will say, go get him. Go get her. When the appointed
time comes, he fetches us to the throne of grace. And we hear
the glorious words, fear not for I have put away your sin.
Fear not, I have redeemed you, I have bought you, you are mine.
There's the word that we long to hear. There's the hope of
the sword of the Lord. As our flesh is being cut, our
new man is renewed day by day with the same sword. That's the
sword of mercy, isn't it? Sword of grace. And yet on the
other side of that, there is those who will not bow, will
not hear, will not come to Christ, and they will be cut on judgment
day when he says, depart from me. You that work iniquity, I
never knew you. Either will be cut in judgment or mercy. And do you know who makes that
decision? Not me and you. Aren't you glad you don't make
that decision? How are you gonna decide to let God show mercy? How am I gonna decide to let
God show grace? Oh, we think too highly of ourself,
don't we? Either we'll be shown mercy or we'll be shown judgment.
Either we will be shown grace or we'll be shown wrath. Who
maketh us to differ? He does. He does because he successfully
redeemed his people on the cross of Calvary. Good news is, is if your flesh
is cut right now, that means he's fetched you in mercy. He
doesn't cut anybody in mercy. He doesn't show you your sin.
He may, the gospel going forth may offend your flesh. That doesn't
mean it's been cut. Could offend you, but I'm talking
about when it cuts down to expose the deep depravity that we are,
the darkness that's not in, not that it's in you and it's in
you and it's in you and it's not in me, no, the depravity
that's in me. I am the man of unclean lips. I am the man that
needs mercy. That's what it reveals. Each
of us has the same depraved heart. Lord, you've exposed it by your
word. Now heal me. And the Lord always says these
words when we cry out with that heart that he gives of faith.
I will be thou made whole. with that same two-edged sword.
It heals and it destroys. It cuts and it makes alive, doesn't
it? If he doesn't cause us to bow
now, we will deceive ourselves, just like Paul was talking to
the people in Romans. Turn with me to Romans chapter
three. This is exactly what he's referring to. This is we've been to Romans
three, I think multiple times in the past few weeks and Lord
keeps bringing me back here. But I want us to hear this again
this morning. If we're left to ourself, we'll
deceive ourself, and here's the reason why. Preacher, why is
it that we would deceive ourself? Verse 10 tells us, Romans 3,
it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There
is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. That's simple, isn't it? There's
none. There's none. Here's what he says about us
without Christ in verse 13. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
Now, do we understand what he means by sepulcher? A sepulcher
is a tomb. And what he's saying is, is the
Lord sees all the way down in that tomb. Do you remember the
children, or the Pharisees came to the Lord and he told them,
he said, that's all you are is whitewashed tombs. That's what
he told them. What does that mean? That means
they used bleach and they made the tomb look really pretty.
They got the tomb looking great on the outside. They pressure
washed it, if you will, and it looked nice and wide and clean. But he tell on the inside, though,
you're full of dead men's bones. He says, I see all the way down
through your sepulcher, through your vessel. He says, I see that
there's no faith in you. You don't believe. That's what
he's telling them. And our throat is just like that, As if we were
looking up to heaven and our mouth was open and the Lord sees
all the way down our throat down to the very joints and marrow
down to the very our soul into the depths of our heart. He sees
all of that everything is open to him. Everything, nothing can
be hid from him he knows all. Their throat is an open sepulcher
with their tongues they have used deceit. That's the deceit
that we would seek after if it had not been for the Lord. Poison
of asps is under their lips. What is that poison that he's
talking about? That's works gospel, isn't it?
That's the works gospel. The poison that goes forth that
says you can do something to be saved. That's the poison of
the asps. That's the poison that was mentioned
in the Garden of Eden. You can be God. He knows in the
day you eat of the fruit, you will be God. That's the poison. But for those of you who have
been bitten, and I would remind us, every one of us has been
bitten with self-righteousness. We're all recovering Pharisees,
every one of us. For those of you who've been
bitten, there is a serpent that has been placed upon a pole.
Look and live. If you've been bitten, if the
sword has came and cut you and showed you, you've been bitten
by the serpent, you're going to die. If you feel that burning
venom within you, the sin that you are, the sin that I am, the
Lord says, look, and live, look and live. Verse 14, whose mouth is full
of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of
peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. God sees all the way down. He
knows there's no fear in us if there's not. And if there is,
he's the one that put it there, isn't he? That's good news. How
do I know if I fear God enough? Well, if you're looking at the
fear yourself, you're not looking to Christ. We're not looking
to Christ. But if he's put it there, we
fear enough. Look to Christ. That's always
the answer, isn't it? Now, all things. All things are
naked. Exposed, open. Honest. unto the Lord. God is not mocked. God is not
deceived. God is not duped. God is not
dictated to. He is the righteous judge of
all. You and I would. In all. Honesty, you and I, if
we were able to judge one another in love, scripture says love
covers a multitude of sin, we would If you were to judge your
children, for example, let's just use that or you're someone
that you love dearly. And you said, well, yeah, they
may have done that, but I didn't fill in the blank because you
love them. You want to overlook what they've done. You can't
help it. And that's the forgiving spirit the Lord gives his people.
But understand something when it comes to judgment, God's judgment
is true and just. Every attribute about him is
the same. He doesn't look at you and I and say, well, they
tried their best, so I'm gonna excuse this sin. Or, well, a
good example would be my children. If I tell my daughter I expect
her to do the dishes and sweep the floor, she got the dishes
done, but didn't get the floor done. She didn't accomplish the
job. If I tell her there's a consequence
for that, there should be a consequence. I'm trying to speak just as plain
as I can to us this morning. The Lord said, the soul that
sins shall surely die. That's simple. That's not complicated. The soul, have you ever sinned
before? One time. This is God's standard. If you
sinned one time, you shall surely die. Now either the Lord in mercy
cuts us with the sword and exposes that and says, it's not just
one sin that I've done. I have done all the sin. I am
the sin. I am the evil, wicked, depraved
creature. Lord, make me whole. And that's
where the glorious news of the gospel comes in. When the Lord
Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, he died as the sinner's
substitute. You really died in him. It wasn't
that you kind of were Everything was just transferred to him and
then he died. He took your place literally
before the throne of God. He became the sinner substitute
so that you could literally be made the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. That's the good news of the gospel.
That's what this sword reveals to his people is that here's
your depravity. I've taken all of it. I put it
away. Here's your heart that's wicked. I've taken all of it.
I've given you a new heart, one that praises God, one that believes.
Here's all your unbelief. I paid for that. I've given you
faith to believe God. That's what the sword does. That's
what the gospel does. It reveals this all by grace. Now, when men and women hear that their poison of ass is under
their lips, they're an open sepulcher all the way down, their tongue
is deceitful, what do we do by nature when we hear that? We
run to the law. I can fix that. I can stop talking
that way. I can stop living that way. I
can stop doing this. I can be more kind to my fellow
man. I can do this. unto God more. I can make sacrifice
better. I can fix this. That's what men
do by nature. That's what we would do by nature.
And some of us have in the past. What does the Lord say? Look
in verse 19. You run to the law. Here's what
he says. We know that whatsoever things the law saith It saith
to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world may become guilty before God. That's the
purpose of the law, not to justify someone, but to condemn them,
to expose, to show forth, just like the sword of the Lord going
forth saying, you're depraved, you're a sinner. That's what
the law shows. You're guilty. I'm guilty before
God's law. Verse 20, therefore by the deeds
of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. If we could just park right
there and let that sink in, just for a second. No flesh shall
be justified by the deeds of the law. What law? It doesn't
matter which law you pick. If it's the law of morality,
if it's the ceremonial law, if it's the law of customs, it doesn't
matter which law. All the law. No flesh shall be
justified in his sight by the deeds of the law. It's not up
to you to live the perfect life, the good life. It's not up to
you to walk this way and talk this way. It's not up to you
to speak this way and not speak this way. That's not justification. What does the scripture say?
Being justified freely by his grace. There's our justification. Look in verse 21, but now the
righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even
the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ and
all and upon all who all them that believe for there is no
difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. And here it is being justified freely by his grace. through
the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. When we are cut by the sword,
We don't flee to the law. We don't flee to try to find
refuge in what we can do or what we don't do. We must have the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We flee to him. We flee
to him. That's what the sword reveals.
Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. You know, our Our biggest problem in the flesh
is we can't stop. We can't cease. We can't rest. Do you know that? Think about
what I'm talking. I'm not talking about when you
get tired, you rest, don't you? Did you know your flesh will
never get tired of trying to please God? It'll always just
try to do something. It wants to latch on to unbelief. That's what it is. That's what
it does. We just desire, the flesh just
cannot believe God. No, it can't be that simple.
And it tries to do something else. I'm looking for evidence.
I'm looking underneath this mat. I'm looking behind this door.
Now surely there's gotta be some evidence here that I'm one of
the Lords. It's all unbelief. That's all that we are by nature. By nature, the flesh must be
made to cease. The flesh must be made to cease
any attempt any attempt to please God, any attempt to earn salvation,
any attempt to merit salvation, any attempt to add to the finished
work of Christ, God takes all the glory. And when we hear that,
you know what that does? That cuts the flesh down to nothing,
less than nothing. And the Lord only cuts our flesh
down to nothing by showing us Christ is everything. Christ
is everything. Once you see yourself as nothing,
that's the only way we can see him as everything. It's the only
way. Paul said, in me that is in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. God clearly declares he is the
justifier of his people all by grace. That's why he says, look
at verse 27. Where is boasting then? It's excluded. It's excluded. By what law of
works? Nay, by the law of faith. What does that law of faith declare?
Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Let's go back
to our text. Aren't you glad that it's not anything we do? We would boast
about it, wouldn't we? I did this. or I did this more
than you, or I didn't do that. It would be boasting, wouldn't
it? But it's all of grace, isn't it? Salvation's all of grace,
all of the Lord. Now let's read our text one last
time. Hebrews 4, verse 12. For 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 of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. 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." God knows
whether or not we are fleeing to the law or not. You don't
have to tell me, and I don't have to tell you, and we don't
confess one another those things. But the Lord knows the truth.
The Lord knows the truth. If I'm fleeing to the law as
my righteousness, he knows that. He knows that. He also knows
that if we are fleeing to Christ, it's all by grace. And if we're
fleeing to Christ, we've died to the law. We've died when Christ
died. He died fulfilling all of the
law's demands and his people were in him. They died in him
fulfilling all of the law's demands. It's called substitution. Here
we have the twofold word of God, all the power to kill and to
make alive at the same time. Paul said this, I die daily. This death that is given by the
sword of the Lord is not a one-time thing, is it? It's not, well,
I've experienced that and now I'm getting better. No, Paul
said, I die daily. What does that mean? Well, that
means every morning our flesh wakes up and thinks it wants
to do something, pertaining to salvation, it wants to do something
pertaining to godliness, pertaining to righteousness, and it has
to be cut down again with this two-edged sword. And yet at the
same time, what does the scripture say about the new man? It is
renewed day after day after day. The Lord sends manna, the Lord
sends water, the Lord sends his spirit, breathes upon his people,
and we're alive again and again. We can't, we can't, the new man
never will die. It's forever alive. And yet the
flesh dies daily, doesn't it? Every, you know it to be true.
We're just, I read something recently and it was a good way
to put it. Just a dying man preaching to dying men and women. Every
second that passes by, we're dying. And yet by the Lord's
grace, he crucifies this flesh every day. We die with Christ
daily. Die in Christ daily. Here's the reason why. Here's
our hope. The word of God is quick. It
makes alive. The word of God is powerful.
It's actively seeking out his sheep. Actively awakening God's
elect purchased by his blood. The word of God is sharper than
any two edged sword. He doesn't try and try and try. He doesn't hack and whack and
whack. No, it's one singular blow. It accomplishes his purpose. This two-edged sword is the two
mouths of the river. One mouth speaks judgment, damnation,
the cries out for justice. And the other one declares the
mercy of God's grace freely given to his elect in Christ Jesus. That's the one that was purchased
by his own blood. They both proceed out of the
throne of God. Our hope is that the Lord would cut us now, cause
us to see the Lord Jesus Christ now, Never think that you can
bargain with God. What chips would you have to
bargain with? They call them bargaining chips, and I don't even know
exactly what that means. Maybe a card game reference or
something. We have no chips to bargain with.
What would we offer him? What would we offer if we could
bargain? Scripture says if a man gains the whole world and loses
his own soul, what shall he give in exchange for his soul? We
have nothing to bargain with. We can't bargain with God. We can't bypass this sort of
justice. This is the sword that will pierce
every heart of everyone. Every heart of everyone. Now
our hope is this, when it pierced the heart of the sinless Lamb
of God, we were in Him. It pierced us. We were in Him. Thereby we died to self, we died
to the flesh, we died to sin, we died to the law's demands,
we died to death, we died to hell, we died to the grave. Nothing
has a claim on the child of God anymore. This is all revealed
by his two-edged sword. And because of what he accomplished,
we've been resurrected unto eternal life in him, being freely justified
by his grace. This is what the two-edged sword
reveals. This is what the two-edged sword
represents. Either our substitute endured the sword of justice
on our behalf, and he reveals that in time, or we'll have to
face it alone. That's the only two. It's the
only two. Either our substitute, the Lord
Jesus Christ, endured the sword of justice on the cross of Calvary
in our stead, or we'll have to face it alone. Let's pray. Father
calls us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Leave us not to
ourself to face your sword alone in Christ's name. Amen. Let's
take a break.