“The Book that Reads Us”
(Hebrews 4:12-13)
Series: Captivated by Christ (Hebrews)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
I invite you to take your Bibles and open to the Book of Hebrews, chapter 4.
We’re in a series of messages through the Book of Hebrews, a series entitled “Captivated by Christ,” and this letter to the Hebrews is about keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.
We left off last week with a couple verses I wanted to come back to this morning. I really like these two verses in chapter 4, verses 12 and 13. And verse 12 is especially familiar to many of us, this verse we use to talk about the nature of God’s Word. And God’s Word as heard in the Bible is, verse 12, “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,” and so on.
We noted last week how this verse relates to the context of chapter 4. In Chapters 3 and 4 the writer is essentially saying, “Don’t be like the hard-hearted Israelites we read about in the first five books of the Old Testament. They hardened their hearts in unbelief and failed to obey God’s Word to enter into the land of Canaan, the promised land. They died in the wilderness as a people who failed to trust God, failed to heed the word of God. And the writer uses the failure of the Old Testament Hebrews as a warning to these New Testament Hebrews, these new believers in Christ. And the warning is that just as the believers in the Old Testament failed to go on believing God and trusting God, so may these believers in the New Testament fail to go on believing Christ, trusting Jesus Christ. And the writer is saying, “Don’t let that happen to you!”
And the writer warns them, saying to the Hebrews—and also saying to us— “Today, if you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts.”
As you hear God’s voice, God’s Word will show you what needs to change in you. God’s Word will get down deep into your hearts, revealing to you what you needs to change in your thinking, your motives, your intentions. God’s Word will pierce your heart, reveal what is wrong inside and point out for you what needs to change. Allow God’s Word to do that work and then respond rightly—respond rightly not by hardening your heart, but by allowing it to remain soft and by obeying what God’s Word says.
So let’s hear these two verses again and we’ll study them in greater detail this morning.
Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Let’s pray. And as we pray, may these words from an old hymn about the Bible be our prayer this morning: Make the book live to me O Lord. Show me Yourself within Your Word. Show me myself and show me my Savior, and make the book live to me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
When we read the Bible we read the very word of God. We noted this last Lord’s Day when we compared the verse 7s of chapters 3 and 4. In verse 7 of chapter 4 we read the writer of Hebrews introducing a reference to Psalm 95 by saying there in verse 7 of chapter 4, “again He designates a certain day, saying in David, ‘Today,’” and so on, quoting Psalm 95, a Psalm he references by mentioning David as David wrote Psalm 95. And we compared that reference to Psalm 95 with the writer’s previous reference to the same Psalm in verse 7 of chapter 3. Chapter 3, verse 7, same writer referring to the same Old Testament book, in verse 7 of chapter 3 says, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice,’” and so on. So in one place the writer says, in essence, David wrote Psalm 95 and in another place, the Holy Spirit—God—wrote Psalm 95. And we asked, “Well, who is it then? Is it God who writes Scripture or is it man who writes Scripture?” And again, the answer is that both God and man are involved in the writing of Scripture. 2 Peter 1:21, “for prophecy never came by the will of man (as though man alone decides), but holy men of God spoke as they were moved (or borne along) by the Holy Spirit.”
God, by way of the Holy Spirit, moved, “picked up and carried along” holy men as they wrote, superintending their writings such that He used their varying personalities, thoughts, backgrounds, experiences, working in and through them, while they freely did their writing, yet overseeing it such that ultimately what was written down was exactly what God wanted written down.
It is God’s word. We read it and we hear what God is saying to us. God wants us to obey His word. This is what connects verse 12 to what immediately precede it in verse 11. See verse 11? “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest (follow Jesus Christ into the eternal Promised Land of salvation), lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” Don’t disobey God’s word to enter the rest and salvation of Jesus Christ. If you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts, if you hear God’s voice, God’s word, then obey. Verse 12, “for the word of God is living and powerful…”
Any parent knows what it is like to speak a word of authority to his or her children. We command through our word. We say, “Do as I say,” and, “Pick up your room,” and in my case, “Quit teasing your younger sister.” These are commands I am to obey. And if I don’t obey the command of my parents’ word there will be consequences, punishment. And this is what God does in His word, the Bible. We read the Bible and God speaks to us. And the writer of Hebrews acknowledges that authority so he is saying, “Do what God says, obey His Word.”
Now, if you want a simple two-point outline for these two verses so that you may refer to them again for future study, I’ve found it helpful to divide them in these two characteristics of God’s Word. Two verses, two characteristics of God’s Word. First:
I. God’s Word Examines us (12)
God’s word searches us, discovers our condition, reveals our inner thoughts and motives, our actions and attitudes. The writer of Hebrews says, “For the word of God is living and powerful…”
You may wish to underline the word “living” there. The word of God is alive! Grammatically, the word “living” is a present active participle, conveying present ongoing activity. Living. Continuously living. It’s the same word used adjectivally to describe God in verse 12 of the previous chapter. Hebrews 3:12, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God (same word in verse 12 of chapter 4);” God’s living word reflects the character of the living God. God’s word is alive! Living! The Bible, the inscripturated record of God’s word, is not a dead book, it is living.
Charles Spurgeon said, “the gospel is such a living gospel that, if it were cut into a thousand shreds, every particle of it would live and grow.”
It is alive! Because it is God’s Word and God is living, so is His Word lives.
Jesus said in John 6:63, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
And the writer adds in verse 12 the word “powerful.” See it there in verse 12? “For the word of God is living and powerful…” Powerful, or active. It has power to change us. It really works on us because it is alive. It continually speaks. It is continually relevant and applicable to our situation.
Then, says the writer in verse 12: God’s word is “sharper than any two-edged sword…” This sword metaphor is used elsewhere in the Bible to describe God’s Word. The Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 49:2, “And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword…” most likely on John’s mind in his revelation of Jesus Christ where he writes of Jesus in Revelation 1:16, “…out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword…”
And the Apostle Paul uses this same sword imagery to encourage Christians to use the Word of God to engage in the daily battle of Christian living, writing in Ephesians 6:17… “and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;”
The word of God is sharp, like a two-edged sword, sharper than any two-edges sword, verse 12 again:
12…piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow…”
God’s word pierces, penetrating the whole person, examining the reader deep down in the innermost parts of his being. You might say God’s word is like a surgeon’s scalpel and that the Good Doctor is performing exploratory surgery on our hearts, getting down into the depths of our thinking and motives. This is described in verse 12 as “the division of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow…”
These words are not meant to be picked apart as though the soul described one part of man and the spirit described another, nor that the joint describes one thing and the marrow another. The point is that God’s word cuts deeply down inside us to examine our condition and God does that examination with His Word, going all the way down inside the heart, the heart the place believers use to describe the seat of our emotions, will, and intellect.
When I was studying this passage I recalled a line from the movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou? If you’ve seen it, maybe you’ll remember the exchange between John Turturro’s character, Pete, and George Clooney’s talkative character, the ever voluble Ulysses Everett McGill. Pete discovers that Everett stole a pocket watch from his brother and he’s angry with Everett. Everett downplays his own thievery, defending himself with the offhanded comment: “Pete, it’s a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart.”
Clooney’s character actually thinks a bit like the early church fathers, many of whom likened the human heart to a labyrinth, an intricate maze of perplexity. But what man cannot search out, God’s Word can. God’s Word pierces the tightly-woven, sinuous ways of the human heart, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow.
And, “and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The word discerner in the original is the Greek word kritikòs from which we get our English “critic” or “critique.” A critic may critique the Bible, but because it is God’s Word, it is the Bible that actually critiques us.
God’s Word examines us. It is sharp; sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner (critiques; judges) of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God’s word examines us. There is no thought hidden from Him. His word searches us, examines us, exposes us. This takes us, then, to the second characteristic. God’s word examines us, secondly:
II. God’s Word Exposes us (13)
God’s word reveals our condition. Nothing is hidden from God’s searching gaze. Verse 13:
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Jacob sang something of this truth in the prelude this morning, a great text written years ago by John Newton: “O Lord from whom there’s naught concealed,” or, “O Lord from whom nothing is hidden,” the One who sees my inward frame, to Thee I always stand revealed exactly as I am. Since I at times can hardly bear what in myself I see, how vile and foul must I appear most Holy God to Thee.”
God searches us, examines us, exposes us. Verse 13 follows verse 12 as an extension of the living power of God’s Word. God’s word gets down deep into our inner hearts, examining us and then exposing what is there. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
This is why we say of the Bible that we may read other books, but the Bible reads us. “We read other books, but the Bible is the book that reads us.”
The Greek word that is translated here as “open” is a picturesque word, used only here in the entire New Testament. It is an alarming word that means to seize and “bend back the neck” as in wrestling when a person seizes his opponent, turns him round and bends back his neck so all the other person can do is lay helpless and look up into the face of the one who has mastered him. The idea seems to be that the all-penetrating word of God spoken by the all-seeing God of the word seizes us, “flips us over” if you like, and exposes us such that no person can hide his face from the penetrating gaze of the all-searching powerful and living God. He grabs us, makes us look at Him and sees right into us.
This verse prepares us, helps us see our need for someone who can intercede for us, help us, rescue us, be there for us when we’re sprawled out on the mat and we need to “tap out,” a great high priest to represent us. That’s next week, Lord willing.
Until then, where is the application of these two verses in our lives? Well, I’d like to suggest three areas where we may use God’s Word this week. Three “Ws.” They all start with “W.”
**Three Areas to use God’s Word:
- My Walk
Remember that the New Testament word “Walk” is a reference to the Christian’s daily life. We need the word every day of our walk of our Christian life. Jesus said in:
Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Jesus quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3)
Just as we need physical food, so we need spiritual food. We don’t live by bread alone. We need bread, yes, physical nutrition alone is not life. Many think so. Many think that this world is all there is. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you will die. This world is not all there is. There is an eternity to live. And every one of us will spend eternity in one of two locations. Either heaven because we are saved, or hell because we remain lost.
Spiritual food, the daily bread of God’s Word, feeds our souls. The Gospel feeds us, saves us, gives us life. And we continue to feast upon God’s word in our daily walk. You must read the Bible daily if you hope to grow.
The writer of Hebrews is very much concerned with the ongoing growth of God’s people. We’ll see this especially when we get to Chapter 5 and verses 12 and following. Hear these verses:
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The most effective way for Christians to grow in spiritual maturity is by feasting upon God’s Word, reading it daily.
The more you get to know God the more you trust God. Just like with other relationships. The more you get to know someone the more likely you are to trust that person. You’re not going to leave your wallet with just anyone, right? You trust people you know. So with God. The more you get to know Him—by reading & studying His word—the more you will trust Him. The more you will truly believe that He will take care of you, provide for you, and know that He always does what is right.
If you are not presently in the habit of reading God’s word, begin today. Read a chapter today. Then read a chapter tomorrow, and so on. You may wish to start in the New Testament with the first book of the New Testament, the Book of Matthew. Read chapter 1 of Matthew. Next day chapter 2. Then chapter 3. Watch God grow you as you hear His living word. Read it daily. Use God’s word in your walk. Secondly, use God’s word in your witness.
2) My Witness
Use God’s word as you share Christ with others. Why? Because it is “living and powerful! Sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit!” It is these things because it is God’s Word.
This is why we preach it, teach it, share it.
Adrian Rogers used to say that when God’s word is preached, one of three things happens, one of three things necessarily follows the preaching of the word. People get mad, sad, or glad. Think about that! It’s true. God’s word cuts us one way or other. There are times we hear it and we get mad. We don’t like what that preacher said. Well, was it the preacher, or the word He preached? Or we hear God’s word and it makes us sad, we recognize our sin, that we have hurt God. Or we hear the preaching of God’s Word and it makes us glad. We hear the gospel as a believer and we say, “Thank you God for accepting me!” Mad, sad, or glad—because the word is sharp! It cuts like a double-edged sword.
Peter learned this. Remember when Peter was in the Garden with Jesus. They came to arrest Jesus and what did Peter do? Remember? He drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Remember that? The servant’s name was Malchus. Peter cut Malchus’ ear right off with his sword. Jesus healed him. Good thing, too! It would have ruined Peter’s testimony. “Hey Malchus what happened to your ear? Oh, some Christian cut it off!”
Later after Christ’s resurrection, Peter learns how to use a different sword with greater effect. Remember on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2? Peter preached the Word! He preached the Word. And what happened? What happened when Peter used the Word in his witness?
You can read it later in Acts 2, but the Bible says that 3,000 souls were saved. How did that happen. Well, when Peter took up the sword of the Word and wielded that sword, preaching with that sword, witnessing with that sword, it powerfully brought change to the hearers. Acts 2:37, “Now when they heard (Peter’s preaching), they were cut to the heart…”
You can find a similar response where Stephen uses the word in Acts 7:54, “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart…”
When you are witnessing this week in school, or at work, or in your neighborhood or Wal-Mart, or wherever you are, use the Word. The word is living and powerful. You can’t argue someone into the Kingdom, but you can use the word of God. Trust God to do His work through His word. Watch what happens when you open your Bible and say, “The Bible says in John 3:16 whoever believes in Him, in Christ, will not die, but have everlasting life.” Use the word.
That doesn’t mean everyone will always respond the way we hope—remember, some will get only mad or sad. But the word will accomplish whatever God intends it to accomplish. God says in Isaiah 55:11: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that I please, and it shall prosers in the thing for which I sent it.” Stand on the Word. Use the Word. Use it in your witness. Our walk, our witness, and thirdly: our warfare.
3) My Warfare
When we battle the enemy, Satan, who desires that we sin and stumble and lose the joy of God’s salvation, we must battle him and fight off temptation with what Paul described in Ephesians 6:17 as the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.
Follow the example of Jesus. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, three different temptations, Jesus responded to each one, three times, Jesus responded by quoting the Word of God. Check it out later in Matthew 4:
Matthew 4:4; Matthew 4:7; Matthew 4:10
Each time Jesus says, “It is written…”
God’s word demands a response. And if the writer of Hebrews has taught us anything in chapters 3 and 4 it is that God’s word demands the right response—namely that we obey His word. We must not respond in the wrong way with disobedience. That’s the point the writer is making in contrasting our hearing the word with the way the hard-hearted Israelites of the wilderness generation.
Chapter 4, verse 2: “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them (those who died in the wilderness); but the word which they heard did not profit them (why not?), not being mixed with faith…”
They didn’t believe the word they heard. They didn’t believe the good news of the gospel. They died in the wilderness as God’s judgment upon their unbelief. Do you want to die in a worse wilderness? A wilderness of eternal separation? If not, believe the word of God. Believe the word of the One to whom we must give account.
If you are not a Christian—and if you are a Christian—hear again those final words there in verse 13. God is the the One “to whom we must give account.” Whether you believe in Him or not, He is the one to whom you must give account. You will. There will be a day of reckoning. You will stand before Him and give an accounting of your behavior on that day, the Day of Judgment.
Jesus says in John 12:48, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”
You may feel self-satisfied, smug, or safe at the present. Death seems a long way away. Maybe. Maybe not. But make no mistake: you will give an account to Him. And at that Judgment your words frankly won’t matter much. You may think that you will open your mouth and begin a defense and talk about how you weren’t as bad as your neighbor and try to justify your behavior—but He will speak.
And as Luther wrote in “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” God is the One from whom “one little word” causes the devil to fall down. Better to do your business with God now while there is time. Better to surrender to Him this morning while me way live, than be forced to surrender when it is too late. Today if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart.
Turn away from your sin. Let go of it. Drop your sin and look to Christ. See Jesus. Love Jesus. Be captivated by Christ.
Let’s pray.
Lord, when Your Word strips away all the exterior coverings of our own fabrications, we feel as open and exposed as our Father Adam when he sinned in the Garden. We know our own coverings won’t make us right in Your sight, O God. Only the covering that Christ has provided for us properly clothes us. We are justified in Your sight, made right in Your sight, only by being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. All to you, Jesus, we surrender. All to you we freely give.
And as we surrender this morning to God’s word, some of you will want to repent right where you are while you sing. Others of you may wish to respond by coming forward for help with following Christ, or baptism, or church membership. You may come forward and someone will pray with you in the Response Room.
Lord, help us respond rightly now to Your very word, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Now let’s stand and sing, and you respond however you need to respond.
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