8. Jesus' Sharp Word, Hebrews 4:11-16

[Music] let's open up our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 4 we're gonna begin here at verse 16 Hebrews chapter 4 excuse me verse 11 and we'll take it through to verse 16 we're gonna read the whole text this morning that we're gonna go over since it's only a five or six verses let's stand and give reverence to the word of the Lord as I read this morning's text Hebrews chapter four beginning now at verse 11 let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience 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 and there's no creature hidden from his sight but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need further here we are people who want to hear something from you I trust Lord that people have gathered together in this room today not so much to hear from me but to hear from you and so we pray that the living and powerful Word of God would be active in our midst not by faith we would receive what your Holy Spirit would speak to us through your word do it now Lord we pray this in Jesus name Amen you may be seated today's message covering this last section of Hebrews chapter four is actually going to be sort of the end of one point that the right of the Hebrews is making and the beginning of another point that he's making the point that he has been developing in Hebrews chapter three and four has to do with the rest that God has for his people and I'm sort of tempted to talk about that in some length but really I don't want to divert too much rather that's just to say that God has this place of rest of peace of a satisfied soul of a conscience that is at ease with him God has this place of rest and peace for those who follow Jesus and for those who put their faith in Him their trust their reliance they cling to Jesus they have that for him this is this is God's gift to them and he's developed it very well through chapters three and four I mean I would just recommend - you could go online or whatever and take a look at the last couple of messages for more on that he's sort of drawing it all to a conclusion now in verse 11 of chapter 4 where he simply makes the point let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience when the example of disobedience that he's pointing out is Israel's disobedience in the wilderness God gave that first generation that came out of Egypt the opportunity to enter into this land of rest and promise but they had to enter into it by faith and if they wouldn't enter into it by faith they wouldn't enter into it at all and therefore that first generation that came out of Egypt perished in the wilderness nevertheless the generation that came after them a young generation a generation of faith they were able to enter in and that's his whole point there in verse 11 where he says let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest the rest is there God has it for you and God invites you to come in and enter it and you and I in each one of us we should regard it that there's something falling short there's something failing and our experience of God if we do not experience that rest that God offers us to enter in so again that's really the point of what we talked about the last couple weeks that's the really end part of the conclusion but this what I want you to notice and verses 12 and 13 he talks about something now that's different but related and verses 12 and 13 he's going to talk about the power and the effect of God's Word and we might ask ourselves why the strict shifting of gears why talking about this rest that God has for us and now you're talking about the Word of God and how powerful and active it is and let me tell you what I think the bridging link is in chapters 3 and 4 where the right of the Hebrews was so careful to tell us about this rest and what God has for us after the pattern of Israel in the wilderness and in the promised land he built this case entirely on the Scriptures he quoted to us from Psalm 90 he quoted to us from Genesis chapters 1 and 2 he quoted to us from other passages and conceptually he referred back to the book of Joshua in other words the argument that he made to us about entering into God's rest was soaked in Scripture and here's just sort of how I imagined it the writer of the Hebrews realizes that he's nailed his readers his listeners that he's really struck them in the heart that they're thinking now yes it's true I need this I need to hear this I need this rest of God and maybe they're wondering how could you speak to me so powerfully how could you speak to me with such direction listen he's going to explain to them he does it through and with the Word of God look at it right here verses 12 and 13 the right of the Hebrews says this 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 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 now again I just imagine this sort of going on in the minds and the hearts of his original readers of his original hearers he's telling them this is how been able to diagnose your condition so carefully this is how I've been able to speak to your heart it's because of the power and because of the work of the Word of God it's as if the right of the Hebrews doesn't take any credit to himself isn't saying it's because I'm such an eloquent preacher or anything no because I brought you an eminently scriptural argument and it's the power of the Word of God that does that and I'll speak metaphorically of course that's surgery upon our heart do you know what that's like do you know that's like sort of in that metaphor in that picture that we do to have the holy sword there you are sitting in church there you are in some atmosphere where in some way you're reading the Bible you're putting yourself under the authority of God's Word and you're listening to it hopefully with some faith in your heart and what is it like it's like God opens you up in the chest and peels back and starts working on stuff deep inside ladies and gentlemen I am here to tell you that that is not because somebody's a great preacher that is not because a preacher has some eloquence or power within himself no when it's working right it's because there is power and there is Authority in God's Word and simply what a good preacher does is he lets the power of God's Word in it's understanding and explanation simply stand for itself I mean I really think that a good goal for a preacher I don't know if it's a good goal now I'll just say it's my goal my goal is to be a completely unoriginal preacher I simply want to relate what's in the text and let the strength and the power of the word of God happened for itself within the lives of those who hear that there's a spiritual operation that happens when people receive the Word of God in faith that's what it says right here in verse 12 for the word of God is living and powerful Oh sometimes people get it so wrong in their conception sometimes people act and think and and sometimes even speak as if this were a dead book and some charismatic preacher brings it to life what a complete misunderstanding do you understand that it is truly a hundred and eighty degrees different the truth of that this poor preacher the one who's dead this book is living and powerful and this book brings me life god forbid that anybody would think that I bring life to it it brings life to me it is living and it's powerful and it operates on a level beyond and above intellectual understanding and apprehension now listen I value the Bible as a literary work I'm so blessed I'm so touched by the deep and profound literary quality of the Bible I'm impressed by the Bible as a philosophical in an intellectual work and there would be some value in just sort of giving a lecture on the Bible purely on a literary or academic or philosophical level that's true but you understand that the Bible is far far more than that that God's Word is living and powerful and it has a spiritual aspect to its ministry that goes above and beyond whatever intellectual understanding we may have it now please don't anybody misunderstand me I am all for an intellectual understanding of the Bible we need to understand it we need to break it down we need to understand it in its root in a set of context all of that yes that's true but this is what I know is that the power of God's Word is not limited by our intellectual apprehension of it that there's a work of the Holy Spirit that goes on above and beyond and around our understanding of it now I could give you countless examples matter of fact in my notes you could access them on the internet if you'd like to but on my notes III think I list 20 or 22 different ways that there's a spiritual operation of the Word of God that goes above and beyond intellectual apprehension but I'll give you just one the Bible says that it has a cleansing work in the life of the believer can you believe that you could take your Bible all day long and try to rub it off on your like a sponge it's not gonna clean you but there's a spiritual power an operation in God's Word that happens that actually cleanse as a person spiritually and morally as they give their attention to it as they receive it in faith I just think it's remarkable the thing that if you'll come in here and listen to God's Word in faith you'll leave this room cleaner spiritual spiritually than when you walked in isn't that remarkable you will now I again I just think this is wonderful and amazing I mean maybe it's II probably came in at different levels of dirtiness when you walked in here but the promise is you can all leave here cleaner from the work of God's Word spiritually speaking and it goes on and on there's so many things that happen as a spiritual operation of the Word of God so the Bible has this inherent power this inherent Authority and this is what we need to latch on to now the other aspect of it he says it's not just powerful and living verse 12 he also says that it's sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the divisions of soul and spirit of joints and marrow God's word it touches us it reaches us with surprising precision it's as if there's a target on us and God knows right where to fire the arrow of his word and to hit us precisely in that place and I don't know if you've ever experienced I trust you have I trust you know what it's like to be nailed by the Word of God by the Holy Spirit speaking to you just perhaps as you're studying as you're reading the Bible for yourself but perhaps as you're as you're listening to God's Word preached and you're giving your attention to it in faith but just to be nailed by God's Word I hope you know what that's like and and to realize that that's something that happens spiritually it's not necessarily because of the brilliance or the intelligence of the preacher no not at all but you know I've had people wonder it's come to me many times in my years of ministry where people have come up to me after service literally and sometimes they're angry and they want to know why have I been following them around or talking to people they know this week they really thought there's no way that I could know the circumstances of their life which apparently I spoke to so directly in the sermon I mean I was clueless but but they weren't clueless and I have to explain to them sometimes pointing to them through this exact passage of scripture look that's not me that's an operation of the Holy Spirit it wasn't me following out of the work but the Holy Spirit was certainly following around and apparently he wants to speak to you about some things I'll never forget the example of another man of a pastor it I had years ago in another city and this man was only at our congregation for a few months he moved into town for a few months and then he moved away but before he moved away he wanted to make an appointment with me and talk to me about the impact that our congregation had on his spiritual life I never forget the words to use I hope you'll excuse the mild vulgarity that I'm gonna use right now I'm just quoting to you what he said this wait he said he looked me in the eye and he said pastor your sermons scare the hell out of me I didn't know how to received I don't know if he's giving me a compliment or not so I kind of went a little bit deeper and asked him well you know kind of what do you mean by that as it turns out he meant something good by it he meant I'm so nailed when I hear this preaching God speaks to me so directly he said it's creepy to me he said it's like one of those paintings where the eyes follow you all around the room well again I was comforted to know that he meant it as a compliment and not as an insult but you see this is just the idea this is the power this is the ability of the Holy Spirit of God and why the Word of God can be so relevant relevant and directed to a person's life now the Word of God is so sharp and so precise that the writer of the Hebrews says if you'll notice here in verse 12 where he says this he says that it can make this division even piercing to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow in other words it can slice it so thin that it can make the division between joints and marrow between soul and spirit that's how sharp and precise the operation of God's Word can be it's kind of interesting that writer hebrew brings up this idea of slicing or making a distinction between soul and spirit because it kind of leads into a brief digression let me say brief digression then I'm gonna make on this difference between soul and spirit if this doesn't interest you you can you cannot pay attention for the next couple minutes I'll let you know when it's time to come back alright because some of you just don't care about this but there might be a couple people you don't care about this there is a debate in the theological world in this world of those who study and understand the Bible whether man is fundamentally made of three parts or two parts very cleverly they call this the dichotomous or trichotomous controversy whether man's made up of two parts mainly being you know body and soul or body and spirit inner and outer man or whether there's three aspects to man's being body soul and spirit whether there's a distinction between the soul in the spirit and without getting into it if you want to debate it with me fine I'm not that invested in this debate to tell you the truth but I will tell you this pretty clearly here in Hebrews chapter 4 he seems to make a distinction between the soul and the spirit now I understand why it's confusing to some people because in some places in the Bible soul and spirit are used synonymously they're used in a general reference to the inner man but in other passages of Scripture it seems to very clear to me at least that there's some distinction between the soul and spirit and there's some valuable distinction between the soul and spirit let me tell you what I think is a valuable distinction between the soul and the spirit I believe that the soul refers to the inner life that can be lived quite apart from God do you know somebody who reviled God who's an atheist altogether they can still have an inner life they can still go to a symphony and be really uplifted and stirred in the inner person they can go to a rock concert and just be really just amped up I mean they could they can have these things through literature through poetry through you you get the idea there's an aspect of the inner person that can be uplifted it can be degraded but it exists quite apart for whether or not somebody has any life in God that is what I would define as the soul some people call it the mind the the emotions I don't know how good it is or how carefully we can define it but there's an inner life that can't exist apart from God nevertheless the spirit of a man or a woman that cannot exist in a living way apart from the work of God in their life and so a person to be spiritually alive they need to be connected to God through Jesus Christ in his media his mediating work and so this is a distinction I would make between these two things of soul in spirit now why would I bring this up at all well to me there is some importance in this distinction between soul and spirit and I'll just describe it as briefly as I can there is a lot of activity there is a lot of I don't mean this in a negative way production that happens in the church it can happen from a pulpit it can happen with a guitar and a microphone or whatever there's a lot that goes on in church today that pretends to be spiritual but really it's just soulish it it does something that's good and edifying to the inner man but it doesn't really do people benefit spiritually speaking and I would say ministering to serving them spiritually I could just use the analogy of a sermon I could preach I mean theoretically I don't know if I could actually pull it off but theoretically I could preach an interesting message with a lot of humor with great anecdotes and illustrations but really no biblical truth in it whatsoever but hopefully I could put together just an interesting talk for 20 minutes and maybe people would leave going wow that was great wasn't it funny didn't you love that story wasn't it great but it had no real spiritual edification certainly none of the Word of God it was just an interesting talk now it's not that an interesting talk is bad it can be very good it could be entertaining can be uplifting but it's not necessarily spiritual is it and we need to give attention in what we do as a church and I want you to know that this is just one of the basic building blocks of doing Church the way I think it should be done that we want our ministry to be spiritual I'm not trying to say that the soul is is bad but when the soleus replaces the spiritual then there's trouble so that is I think is part of this distinction between soul and spirit well the word of god is so sharp is so accurate that it can divide between those two okay now everybody who left me for the last couple minutes now it's time to come back let's take a look at verse 13 where he says this all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account you see this is one thing that's beautiful about the word of God there's no one that it can't reach there's no one that can't be impacted and touched and transformed by the Word of God if you listen and believe you can be open to it and it will lay you open to use the picture he uses there in verse 13 it'll lay you up and naked I think about that I think about how we try to hide our nakedness before God and of course I'm speaking metaphorically but it's an eminently biblical metaphor he's using it right here in Hebrews chapter 4 and just think how it went with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden they recognized that they were naked before God and it's not talking primarily about nudity it's talking more they realized that they were morally naked before God they were spiritually naked before God and it made them uncomfortable so an awkward attempt to cover over their nakedness they sewed aprons of fig leaves but so to speak especially morally and spirit got saw right through it did anybody think that God looked down on Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and said well there's a problem there oh it's okay they've covered themselves with fig leaves no worry God saw right through it he said there's a moral problem there's a spiritual problem I see it and that's exactly how it is for us today God sees it you can't hide from God's Word it sees your connection can condition it sees where you're at it sees right through it and you may choose not to listen to it but it sees it's like an x-ray or MRI that sees the patient's condition perfectly and it hands you the results and you may choose to ignore the results but don't pretend like you didn't see right where you were at now look this is something that important for us to consider we think about it in the community of Christians a church family such of ours that the community of Christians even more broadly in a community in a city such of ours and it's easy for us sometimes to think you know the church it's filled with a lot of phonies it's filled with a lot of hypocrites and listen sometimes I think that's very overstated but we can't deny there's some element of phone enos in the church isn't there some some element of hypocrisy in the church and this one gotta realize whatever phone enos or hypocrisy that I bring into this congregation you may not see it but God and His Word they see right through it he sees it it's all open before him and you know what he still loves me still loves you too it's all open before God in his word nevertheless he loves he redeems he saves well it's a very dramatic thing now we're going on here and really transitioning now between points but because in the whole context he was pointing out how God's Word had so effectively if I could use the word nailed then were convicted them regarding this a conviction they felt about not entering into his rest he's explaining the power and the effectiveness of God's Word now starting at verse 15 excuse me verse 14 he's going to head off into another subject that will actually continue for the next several weeks and here's the great subject it's seeing Jesus as our great high priest I mean look at it right there in verse 14 seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession and look we remind ourselves of the great problem of these Hebrew Christians of the first century they were wavering they were thinking maybe I won't go on fall out and out for Jesus Christ maybe I'll back off or I'll give up on Jesus and this is this common temptation that many of us face I'd be surprised if there's not single-person this room if you haven't faced that particular temptation where you're attempting to either give up on Jesus or just maybe back off in the fervency of your Christian life the right of the Hebrews he won't allow them to do it and one aspect of it was to remember this rest that you have to enter into now he's gonna provoke him again telling them how they can have confidence why because Jesus is your great high priest matter of fact look at how he phrases it that he is a great high priest that he's passed through the heavens and that he's the son of God those three things right there should give us greater confidence should make the person who has felt like giving up say I don't feel like giving up you know I play all this out in a very real-world way I think of myself sitting across a table over a cup of coffee with somebody and we're sort of discussing this and that person says to me you know I just feel like giving up you know I heard this thing and it makes me doubt this about Christianity or I'm just so discouraged and maybe they you know people are rarely this honest but let's just pretend somebody was dishonest I find the moral requirements of Christianity be so strenuous I don't know if I can live up to it I'd say I would feel like if I died died and went to heaven if somebody was that honest with me in a in a counseling situation but let's just say it happens coz oftentimes that's what you're getting at but for whatever reason that person they just feel like giving up and I imagine myself saying back to them and say listen you cannot give up you must hold fast your confidence to the end and they say well why I say because you have a great high priest who has passed into the heavens and who is the son of God I could just imagine that person looking back at me give me a blank stare and saying yeah so listen here's the problem if that doesn't encourage them to stay on and to stay steadfast then they don't understand what it means they don't understand the greatness of having Jesus as their high priest they don't understand how significant is that he performs as high priestly function having ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of God the Father they don't appreciate how significant it is that the son of God Himself is my high priest because I believe this if you did understand it it would encourage you I mean just look at what he says in the very next verse verse 15 he says this for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin isn't that marvelous this is the encouragement he says listen do you want some encouragement you want a reason to hang on I'll give you a reason to hang on because your high priest in heaven can sympathize with your weakness can sympathize with your spiritual condition and he is a compassionate high priest towards you of course he states it in the negative you saw that in verse 15 we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize that's in the negative if you put it in the positive it would say this we do have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses and if you understand what that means and if you cling to that that will give you strength that will make you say no I will not give up that's what you got understand how powerfully this would impact the original ancient readers of this in the Greek thinking not the Hebrew thinking but in the Greek thinking of the ancient world one of the chief characteristics of the gods were that they were apathetic that they didn't care they thought that was one of the great things about being a God was that you didn't have to care you weren't caught up and all the misery and all the suffering and all the drama that goes on in the human world but you were apathetic they thought that that was one of the great things about being one of the gods on Olympus or wherever they conceived the Greek gods to be this why don't you understand Christianity and the Hebrew Scriptures as well turn that completely around and say no one of the great and chief qualities of God is that he has a sympathy for his people so much so that God the Son the second member of the Trinity added humanity to his deity so that he could come down and walk among us and suffer as we saw four and be rejected as we are rejected and be called crazy and a fool as sometimes we are called crazy fools and more than anything as the point is here and to be tempted as we are tempted did you see how powerful that is he says but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted he knows what it's like to battle against sin I want that to be such a strong encouragement to maybe just one person here this morning you are battling against sin with all you have and you need a little extra encouragement to be able to hang in there in that battle you've got what it seems like powerful voices whispering in your ear telling you to wave the white flag of surrender in the battle against sin and to just yield yourself to it but Jesus comes along too says no I know what this is like I am here to love you I am here to strengthen you I am here to be present with you in your weakness would you please look to me and draw strength from me and there's a whole theological debate about this about the nature of Jesus's temptations and what it actually meant but I will tell you this Jesus was genuinely tempted perhaps you could say that he was not enticed to evil on the inside the way that I experienced I trust you as well but Jesus was enticed to sin externally the far greater measure than either then either you or I will ever know he felt that pressure and therefore he can sympathize with our weakness because he was tempted in all points such as I know about you but I think sometimes somebody just needs to know that they need to know that there's a sympathetic please understand he sympathizes with our weakness I don't anybody think that necessarily Jesus sympathizes with their sin sometimes think that's kind of what God does you know he gives us you know freebies I'll go ahead I don't really care you know just destroy yourself a little bit follow after that sinful course do this do that doesn't really here's a freebie go ahead no that's not the thinking at all it's not that Jesus sympathizes with our sin but he does sympathize with the weakness that makes you liable to that sin and he's there to give you his strength in the midst of your weakness now in light of that in light of this great sympathetic high priest you see what he says to do there in verse 16 he says let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of me that's what you to do you've got a savior in heaven who has all sympathy for who can look in the eye and say with genuine I know what you're going through come to me and his arms are open wide he's not pushing you away he's not erecting a barrier but rather he says come to me I think that's no accident that the symbolism there of Jesus dying on the cross there he is with his arms wide open and his arms were nailed open to you and I and if you could think in that same posture that's how he is in heaven with his arms open open to you and I saying you come my throne is a throne of grace you come to find help in your time of need I think about how desperately people struggle with these things I think a person who struggles very deeply with right now man I don't know I'm there are so many voices that tell me I'm a fool that I'm stupid for believing what I believe Jesus says my arms are wide open to you I know what that's lying there's the person who deals with tremendous shame I think I think about how ashamed people are I think about the person who's ashamed because of their addiction Oh what deep deep shame comes in their life because they feel they're mastered by this thing I think about the person who feels so deeply ashamed because their life when it comes to sexual morality is just out of whack and even though there may be a dozen voices telling them all around no it's fine don't worry about it everybody does it you know in your heart and you're ashamed I think about the person who either as a woman or a man they've been a party to an abortion and it fills their life with such shame do you realize what Jesus says Jesus stands in heaven with arms open wide he says do not let your shame hinder you you come to me come to my throne of grace to find help and mercy in your time of need I realize you shame can put up a barrier between you and God your shame can drive you away from it now Jesus says Here I am you'll find mercy you'll find grace you'll find help in the ancient Jewish Way of thinking some rabbis taught this that God had two Thrones in heaven he had one a throne of judgment and he had the other a throne of mercy and whenever he's gonna do something merciful he sat on his merciful throne whenever he's gonna do act of judgment he sat on his judgment throne can I tell you something wonderful there's one throne in heaven and it's a throne of grace and God invites you to come to it - now today - put away your shame - put away your fear to realize that there's a sympathetic God in heaven and I don't say this to demean anybody but I gotta say it just very frankly you don't need to come through the Virgin Mary you don't need to come through a saint you don't need to come through a priest you don't need to come through a pastor that the prayer team up here it's not to replace the throne of grace it's to lead you to the throne of grace and to connect you with Jesus himself that's where you find the help that's where you find what God has to give to you isn't that reason enough for us to say Lord at least for this week longer I will not give up I will hang in there Lord you've given me more than enough reason for encouragement father in heaven that's our prayer we think of you Jesus with arms stretched out wide with love and welcome to all who will come to you by faith we thank you that you've made this way not only that we could come to your throne of grace Lord we can come boldly how crazy is that God we'd have to come in shame we don't have to come in in in cringing before you but because of what Jesus has done a pretty here now this morning to come boldly to your throne of grace because we need your help we need your sympathy we need your love meet us now Lord we pray in Jesus name [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 6,375

Rating: 4.8400002 out of 5

Keywords: david guzik, guzik, word of god, hebrews, book of hebrews, hebrews 4

Id: xfSyTRh6fj0

Length: 36min 21sec (2181 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2019