Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword

Greetings,

I visit other churches and I listen or watch sermons.  I have been in bible studies, attended men’s breakfasts, attended conferences, read hundreds of books and articles, written extensively, and been a part of many ministries.  The point being is that many times I have heard many things from man regarding religion based on their interpretation with little reference to Scripture to back up each and every important subject.

 

This is what I see lacking in the church, ministry, and Body of Jesus Christ.  I see a lack of using the written and spoken Word of God.

 

On more than one occasion, I have turned on Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, and others.  What I see is a feel good message by story tellers.  I listened to Joel Osteen and it was 15 minutes later that he finally referenced Bible scripture.  I see a bunch of pastors trying to entertain the Body and not offend them.  Many times they hurriedly try to throw in a few Scripture verses at the end of the sermon when in reality they should have had Scripture throughout the message.  The Scriptures should have been the sermon with the pastor providing the commentary.  Not the other way around. Scripture should be the blue print for any message when we are preaching the Gospel (Mark 16:15) or ministering.

 

I put together the piece below to show you how important the word of God is for the Body.  Every ministry, article, teaching/message, prayer, etc. that I am involved in has the written or spoken Word of God backing up everything that I do.  Especially, in the Healing Room and Altar team ministry where it is God and the spoken Word of God that is going to bring healing to the individual.  The Word of God empowers us to bring the needy out of captivity (Isaiah 61:1).

 

Understand this:  What we do or say can disappear like a vapor (James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away). 

 

But the Word of God is the word that will not return void.  It is God’s word and not the word of humans. In other words, people cannot make their desires a reality merely by applying Isaiah 55:11 to whatever situation they desire. The only word that God guarantees is the word that proceeds from His mouth. Any other word from any other source does not carry this type of authority. 

 

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 what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

 

Lastly, I would like to thank Pastor George who over the years has issued outlines with Scriptural references to back up his points which makes for a more effective sermon.

 

Spoken Word of God

Hebrews 4:12 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.

Hebrews 4:12-13 is one of the great biblical texts on the power of God’s Word. The author has been warning the Hebrew church of the danger of cultural Christianity.  Because God’s Word is powerful to expose our sin and God Himself sees everything, we must be diligent to have our hearts right before Him.

In the context of John 1:1, “the word of God” refers to all of God’s spoken revelation, including that which came through His Son.  If we heed God’s Word, it will keep us from the cultural religion that brings sure judgment.

1. God’s Word is powerful to expose our sin (4:12).

The text declares four things about the power of the Word:

A. God’s Word is living.

Since God is the living God (Hebrews HH3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God), and His Word cannot be separated from Him, that Word is a living Word. It can never be exterminated. As Isaiah 40:8 proclaims, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” Since God is the author of life, His living Word imparts life in two ways.

1). God’s Word imparts new life to dead sinners.

Because of sin, we all enter this world dead in trespasses, inequities and the resulting sin, alienated from God (Eph. 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins ). God is pleased to use His Word to impart new life to dead sinners. James 1:18 states, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth…” 1 Peter 1:23 says, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

2). God’s Word imparts renewed life to His saints.

All of us that have known God’s salvation for a while have gone through dry times when God seemed distant. God uses His Word to renew and revive us. David wrote in Psalms 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”  Repeatedly the psalmist cries out, “My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.” (119:25). “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me” (119:50; see also, 93, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159).

It only makes sense that if the living God, has spoken to us in His written Word, then we should seek it like a treasure and devour it. Being the word of God, it is both a word from God and a word about God. It is our only source of knowing specific truth about God. Creation reveals His attributes in a general way, but the written Word is God’s disclosure of Himself in a way that we could never know through creation alone. And invariably, when we see God as He is, we also see ourselves as we are.

B. God’s Word is active.

We get our word “energy” from the Greek word translated “active.” It means that the Word is effectual. It accomplishes what God intends for it to do. As Isaiah 55:10-11 states, ““For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

C. God’s Word is sharp and piercing.

It is “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow..” Some use this verse to draw distinctions between soul and spirit, but that is not the author’s intent. (What then does the distinction between joints and marrow mean?) Rather, he is using figurative language to show that God’s Word is sharp and it cuts deeply, to the very core of our being. Unless your conscience is hardened beyond remedy, you cannot read God’s Word or hear it preached faithfully without getting cut in the conscience.

God’s purpose in cutting us is to bring healing, not to leave us wounded. Sin is like a cancer growing inside of us. Untreated, it will be fatal.

D. God’s Word is an authoritative judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The word “thoughts” refers to negative thoughts related to emotions, such as anger, which a man may wish to keep hidden from others, but which is not hidden from God.  We can also describe them as morally questionable thoughts. The heart refers to the totality of the inner person. We get our word “critic” from the word translated “judge.” So the idea is that God’s Word is able authoritatively to act as critic of our innermost feelings and thoughts, showing us where we are wrong.

So in verse 12, the author is showing how God’s Word is powerful to expose our sin, never for the purpose of embarrassing us, but always to bring healing. We cannot rid our lives of sin if we aren’t even aware of it. The Word cuts down to our inner thoughts and feelings, revealing to us the things that are not pleasing to God, so that we can repent of these things and receive God’s restoration.

It’s a good idea to include Hebrews 4:13 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. 

The author moves from God’s penetrating Word to God Himself, who sees everything. It is impossible to hide from God! Adam and Eve tried to hide from God after they sinned, but they could not do it, and neither can we. The word “open” means “naked.  We stand naked on the inside before God! There is no escape from His omniscient gaze. Sin is always stupid, because even if we fool everyone on earth, and think that we got away with it, we didn’t fool God!

3. Since we all will give account to God, we must be diligent to have our hearts right before Him.

The final phrase of 4:13 means either “Him with whom we have to do,” or, “Him to whom we must give an account.” We know that one day we all will stand before God to give an account of the deeds we have done in this body. Therefore, we should have as our ambition to be pleasing to Him (2 Cor. 5:9-10 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad), not just outwardly, but on the heart level.

Conclusion

One of the key things we are meant to realize is that there is no point in maintaining hypocrisy before God, His son, and the Holy Spirit. We are known inside out but because we are known, if we will be honest with ourselves before God, we can find true understanding and help from Him.

Blessings to you all,

Tony Sanchez 11-25-15