Transcript
Well, if God’s people would take
their Bibles and turn back to Hebrews four, this is actually
part two of a message that we began several weeks ago. Uh,
the writer here, the unknown writer is addressing, uh, professing
believers in the city of Jerusalem and they are quite rattled. They are facing the unknowns. The Roman soldiers are literally
gathering outside the city gates. There’s already the word of Christ
prophesying that their city was going to be destroyed. And it
now looks to be falling right into place with Christ’s words. And so they are tremendously
disturbed and this careful and shepherdly writer knows that
some among them are even inclined to abandon the faith. And so
he writes to them to shore up their faith and really in some
cases to call them to faith. He knows that many have deferred
their commitment to Christ and he knows well that many could
in time fall away. And so he’s writing this epistle
to the Hebrews in what we have entitled enduring admonitions
because while he is writing. to first century Jewish converts
to Christianity. He includes these admonitions
as well to us in our day. And so we began several weeks
ago in looking at these encouraging admonitions, what I refer to
as divine encouragements for imperiled saints, saints that
are in trouble. And that would certainly include
us. We began by considering that if we are to glorify Christ in
trial, we must listen to the one who is greater than the angels. That is essentially the message
of chapters one and two. Our writer begins there in dealing
with God’s revelation of Christ in verses one and two, that he’s
better, but he’s also better than the angels and not just
those beautiful creatures that God had created for his purpose
to serve and love him. It wasn’t just that they were,
Christ had a greater position, but he is in a greater role than the angels would ever be. They have a duty to fulfill,
but their duty doesn’t even approach that of the Savior. And for that
reason, the writer of Hebrews urges in chapter two, verse one,
for this reason, because Christ is greater than the angels, we
must pay closer attention to what we have heard. Two weeks ago, We began into
the second thrust of the writer’s argument here, that we come to
one whose salvation is greater than that of Moses. Entering
chapter three, the writer enters really the third phase of his
argument. Christ is not only better It
offers a better revelation. He’s better than the angels.
But thirdly, he’s better than Moses. He’s better than Moses’
ministry. Christ’s ministry is better than
Moses. Christ’s liberation was better
than Moses. And Christ’s salvation is better
than Moses. And so we began our consideration
of this section two weeks ago, Christ’s preeminence over Moses. over his ministry, over his salvation.
But as we consider these chapters, chapters three and four, we have
begun to see four distinct portions, four aspects of the consideration
of Christ’s glorious ministry of salvation. We saw several
of them two weeks ago. The preeminence of Jesus Christ’s
ministry, first of all, is seen in the assessment of salvation
generally. And the writer there in verses
one through six of chapter three takes us to a general consideration
of a comparison, if you will, between Moses ministry and that
which Christ offered. Moses was temporal. It was earthly. Christ is eternal. It is permanent. And so it was. infinitely better
than Moses’ ministry. But secondly, we looked at an
examination of salvation in Christ personally. And that’s where
we saw in verses 7 through 19 a very direct examination of
us, where the writer urges us, look down if you would at verse
12, to take care, pay maximum attention, that there be not
any one of you in an evil, unbelieving heart. And essentially, he tells
us there by way of Psalm 95, he calls
us to a self-examination. He gives us deep theological
truths but he also gives us very direct warnings because he cannot
bear the thought that any one of these professing believers
should fall away fully and finally. And so he pleads with them. If
you would only hear his voice, a phrase from Psalm 95, if you
would only listen to him, you would be saved. He wants these
professing believers to listen first and foremost to God’s voice
above the noise of the world above the noise of their friends
above the noise of the devil even above their own voice. And
he fixes this time frame today. Look at verse 7 if you would. Today if you hear his voice. Do not harden your hearts. He fixes a day today because
his point is there, as was the psalmist, there may not be a
tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation.
In other words, he tells them, do not put this off. And the
writer, after the psalmist’s own heart, pleads for active,
real-time attentiveness by these professing believers in Jerusalem. And he says, essentially, if
you have any kind of spiritual work to be done, today is the
day to do it. And so in chapter four, he begins
to move into the third point that we are considering. If we
are considering the superlative nature of Christ’s salvation,
and we have assessed it generally, and we have examined our salvation
personally, then the warning that he provides in chapter four
is that of squandering salvation in Christ carelessly, squandering
salvation in Christ carelessly. Look at the verse if you would.
Therefore, let us fear if while a promise remains of entering
his rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
Well, perhaps these are not the words that these people would
have liked to have heard in this moment. Perhaps they wanted some
platitude, some empty encouragement. But when the writer here says,
let us fear, he puts them on their heels. We’ve just assessed
salvation generally and examined it personally. But the author
has a sincere concern for his hearers, and he wants them to be mindful. that just as he had only recently
walked his readers through Israel’s sad history there in chapter
three, which ended in the wilderness with God’s rejection of them,
the majority of them for their unbelieving disobedience, they
were not allowed to enter what he calls God’s rest. They were
not allowed to enter the promised land. They were not allowed to
enter the land of Canaan. The only reasonable response
is that of fear, a healthy fear that we don’t repeat Israel’s
mistakes. As one characterized it, this
fear is an attentiveness against careless indifference. Well,
that would characterize much of our society, wouldn’t it?
an attentiveness against careless indifference, a wholesome fear
taught by wisdom. One of the thoughts of Proverbs
says that a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. And so it’s reasonable and right
to fear. This is yet another one of the
writer’s use of the subjunctive mood, and it has this sense of
encouragement, but there’s an urgency to it. There’s an element
of, come on, let’s do this, to his words. Let us fear, take
heed. We should be very cautious, he
says. Fear doesn’t refer to a cowering
dread. but a healthy and wholesome care
and a consideration of our spiritual condition. Remember, he isn’t
telling Christians to be fearful about whether or not they may
be saved. If a person has placed their
faith in Christ and in his cross, their salvation is secure. There’s
nothing to fear. But what the writer is addressing
here is what he’s already referred to as the evil heart of unbelief. He mentioned it back in verse
12 and to be found in a state of unbelief bars one from God’s
rest. Such a person, said one writer,
whatever then has a tendency to shake our faith in the testimony
of God, whatever has a tendency to draw away our minds from that
saving truth, which is the source immediately of our comfort and
our holiness, ought to be an object of cautious fear to every
Christian. What he says is, if there’s anything
that is drawing our heart away from Christ, We should be fearful
of that. Look at the verse again. Therefore, let us fear if while
a promise remains of entering rest, this is going to be the
great theme of Chapter 4, that of rest, God’s rest. But before we consider this rest
exactly what it means, I want you to pause and observe this
simple thought that a promise remains. of entering this rest. This word promise refers especially
to announcements or promises from God himself. The promise
has not been fulfilled. It has not been exhausted. The promise remains. And whatever
this promise means, the door is not closed. It says clearly
here in this passage, the promise remains. In fact, the writer
reiterates this point three times in this section. Glance down
at the passage. It says it in verse one here.
It says it again in verse six, and it says it again in verse
nine. The promise remains. This promise isn’t exhausted.
It isn’t exhausted for you and I. It isn’t exhausted for the
people of our day. And so we see this point begin
to emerge. The writer’s purpose here isn’t
just to remind the nation of Israel generally, or rather that
the nation of Israel had generally forfeited their promise through
unbelief. That was true. But his point
is that the promise is still very much valid. And so it is
here that we must consider or begin to consider the question,
what does this quote unquote rest mean? To what does it refer? And so it’s here that we must
consider the question, what is the significance of this rest? It’s certainly not a cessation
from activity. That’s what we usually think
of when we speak of rest. We’re on a hike and we come to
a boulder and we take a break. We take rest. That’s how we use
the word. But it’s important to remember
that this writer did not coin this phrase. Rather, he imported it. He borrowed
it from Psalm 95. They shall not enter my rest. It’s an important concept to
the writer of Hebrews. Not only did he cite the psalm
in which the word is found back in chapter three, he echoes it
here in this citation or this particular citation twice more
here. And again in verse three and
again in verse five. Observe. that by citing Psalm
95 as proof that the promise of this rest remains, he extends
it into the new covenant. The psalmist in Psalm 95 was
extending the promise of God’s rest to the people of God in
his day. But now the writer of Hebrews
grabs hold of it and brings it into the present and essentially
tells the people of Jerusalem, God’s rest is still valid. God’s promise of rest is still
legitimate. And so he extends it into the
new covenant, this rest referring to none other than salvation
by faith in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It can be
conceived of any, not just any, but spiritual happiness, a happiness
that can well be enjoyed both here and in eternity. We can
enjoy God’s rest now. We can place our faith in Christ
and know that our sin has been forgiven and enjoy rest in that
sense. But we will also enjoy a peaceable
fellowship with God throughout eternity. God’s rest. Now, As I said, initially this
promise of rest was given to the children of Israel in the
wilderness, and there it was commensurate with the promised
land, rest in that sense. Chapter 3, verse 11, God had
promised his people rest from their enemies, a safe haven of
their own, their seemingly perpetual wanderings. They would come to
an end at last, and they would have rest in the land of Canaan.
where they would set up God’s tabernacle and enjoy his fellowship. He would be their God, their
protector. Remember, not all Israel forfeited the promise
through a lack of faith. Even those who entered the land
did not conclude the promise though. In other words, some
people did, some Jews did take God by faith, they did enter
the land of Canaan, and in that sense, they did enjoy God’s rest,
but they didn’t exhaust the supply. Ultimately, this rest must refer
to something that we can enjoy in eternity, the eternity of
peace with God in heaven, true and lasting rest, Those who squandered
their opportunity through lack of faith lost a whole lot more
than just land of their own. They squandered their stake in
eternity. And that did not nullify the
promise of God. God would have a people with
whom to fellowship in eternity. And so the psalmist renews this
promise. So does the writer of Hebrews.
Remember, a promise remains of entering that rest. The promise
of peaceable rest with God is still valid. It’s alive in the
good news of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look,
if you would, once again at verse one of chapter four. Therefore,
let us fear while a promise remains of entering his rest, lest any
one of you may seem to come short of it. And it’s here that the
writer completes his enduring admonition, let us fear, let
us fear of any one of you may seem to come short of this rest. By using such infinitely broad
language like this, any one of you, the writer already begins
his plea for every person to do a heart search, every person
to really fully consider this matter. This actually is a reiteration
of a point made back in chapter three. Look at verse 12 of chapter
three. Chapter three, verse 12. Take
care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil,
unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God, but
encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called
today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness
of sin. There. He referred to the condition
as an evil unbelieving heart. Here he cites the consequence
of an evil unbelieving heart that such would come short of
entering God’s rest just as the Israelites did. This coming short
refers to nothing less than complete failure. It’s an utter and complete
failure to achieve the goal. to recognize, to enjoy the promise
that God had provided. And the word seem here, rather
than softening this phrase, it actually strengthens the point
that the writer is making. If it even seems like you’re
lagging behind, if there’s any indication of that, take heed. It’s an example of what we call
litotes, it’s an understatement. for a purpose. It’s an understatement
for effect. And so, we just face this same
conundrum in the epistle of James, that of observing a brother who
is straying from the truth. By appearance, regardless of
what his words say, by appearance, he seems to be straying from
the truth. People give off indications of
unbelief all the time, don’t they? Sinning is an indication
of unbelief. The point is not that the Israelites
came close to the land of Canaan. The point is that they missed
it entirely. They came short. And that truth urges our writer
to remind them that this is a cause for fearful self-examination. Some of those in the nation of
Israel, they may have even been able to see the beautiful green
meadows of the promised land. They may have even been able
to smell the smells of the trees and the flowers of that land.
The sun shining gloriously on the long sought promised land. They could almost feel God’s
rest. And how incredibly tragic our writer says that they never
made it in. They never set foot in the promised
land. They came short because of their unbelief. One writer seizing hold of this
I’d never heard of this, but one of the things of reading
good commentaries is they introduce you to other good writers, other
good… I’d never heard of this particular
Puritan, but he said this regarding the application to ourselves
in this matter. He said, many have adopted a
scheme of doctrine which tends to set believers free from every
kind of fear as being inconsistent with faith. which they think
is a person’s believing that he will be saved at all events.
Well, you can hear this on the TV this morning, can’t you? And especially if he has once
been enlightened, you made a profession of faith, right? We hear this
all the time. And it has been received by the
word with joy. It is supposed to be that he
can never fall away so that whatever symptoms of apostasy may appear,
He is to consider them as only the infirmities and failings
of God’s children, but has no cause to fear, lest he finally
come short, which in their estimation is the great sin of unbelief.”
In other words, if you even begin to question your salvation, but he goes on. And he says,
but the author of this epistle had no idea that a cautious fear
of coming short of unbelief was unbelief. On the contrary, it
was to guard them against unbelief and its dreadful consequences.
He that inculcates this fear upon them. Faith in general is
the belief of God’s word and respects his threatenings as
well as his promises. And so gives credit to the motives
of fear as well as hope, both of which are necessary to believers
while in this world. And he says, examine, take heed,
be afraid, examine your heart and make sure that you are in
the faith. Look, if you would, at verse
two, because he begins to explain here. For indeed, why we have
had the good news preached to us. just as they also, but the
word they heard did not profit them because it was not united
by faith and those who heard. And so he begins to explain here. And it’s always an almost impossible
equation. We’ve had the good news priest
to us just like they did. We came to faith and they didn’t. We heard God’s promises and they
heard God’s promises. In the case of ancient Israel,
the good news to them was recorded in Deuteronomy chapter one. You
have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord
our God is about to give us. See the Lord your God has placed
the land before you. Go up, take possession as the
Lord, the God of your fathers has spoken to you. Do not fear
or be dismayed. In other words, here is the promised
land. Please note that the good news
here in Hebrews 4, we would normally and naturally be able to substitute
the two words, the gospel, for this word, but it cannot accommodate
those words here. He isn’t talking about the gospel
in that sense here. In the Septuagint, the word was
introduced to us by Isaiah. Listen to this, Isaiah 49, get
yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news. Isaiah 52, 7, how lovely on the
mountains are the feet of him who brings good news. Isaiah
61, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has
appointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. It isn’t the
gospel that the children of Israel heard. It was good news. It was
a good announcement. It was a promise of God. But
it wasn’t the gospel as we know it, the good news of salvation
by faith in Jesus Christ. There was a kind of rest that
was promised to them, a type, if you will. But they did not
believe The report that came to their ears, not most of them
anyway, Caleb and Joshua and scores of others heard, believed
and obeyed and entered. This is recorded in Numbers 14,
a more lengthy passage, Numbers 14, 28 through 35, Deuteronomy
214, one verse says it this way. Now
the time that it took us to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed
over the brook of Zerud was 38 years until all the generation
of men of war perished from within the camp and the Lord as the
Lord had sworn to them. As soon as God’s threatenings
were fulfilled, the rest of Israel entered in. But the greater portion
of Israel did not. What they heard was not received
and appropriated by faith. And as a result, it did not profit
them. It did them no good to look on
the promised land, to smell the smells of the promised land.
They did not benefit in the slightest from the promise. They heard
the promise, but in the end, it was of no advantage to them.
And that’s the focus of this particular passage. It’s not
the nature of the good news that they heard, but the horrors of
the fact that for so many of the Israelites in the wilderness,
their lack of faith prevented the reception and the enjoyment
of that which was promised. That is the writer’s warning
to the people who were reading his letter and to us. Just as
the most healthful and delectable, delightful looking and smelling
meal is worthless, Unless it’s eaten, the greatest promise from
the most reliable source, God himself, is utterly worthless
unless it’s believed and appropriated. A truth or a principle is effective
if it’s received in faith. We can hear the greatest presentation
of the gospel ever uttered. But if it isn’t embraced by faith,
it remains empty. Look, if you would, at verse
three. He’s offering support here for that statement, lest
any one of you seem to come short of it. For we who have believed
enter that rest. Just as he said, I swore in my
wrath, they will not enter that rest. What seems on the face
of it to be contradictory is really just a summary of the
argument thus far. We believed and entered the rest. Others were confronted by God
himself in their unbelief and they could not enter. The gracious
promise of God’s rest is absolutely still valid, the author insists,
because we, those who have placed our faith in Christ, have already
entered the promised rest. Now here at the end of verse
three, I want you to notice something because I agree with a great
expositor and commentator John Brown here, in taking this last
phrase that is appended on verse three in somewhat clumsy fashion,
remember the verse numbers are not inspired. And so we’re left
here to interpret. And I agree with him in placing
that last sentence really together with verses four and five. And
it forms kind of a parenthetical explanation of verse three. It would go like this, although
his works were finished from the foundation of the world,
for he has said somewhere concerning the seventh day, and God rested
on the seventh day from all his works. And again, in this passage,
they shall not enter my rest. What the writer basically does
here at the end of verse three is say that this idea about God’s
rest orients with God himself. The subject is all occasioned
in the week of creation. We may not have thought to link
these two seemingly unrelated subjects. the rest spoken of
regarding Israel entering the land of Canaan, and the rest
mentioned in Psalm 95, and the rest that he speaks of here in
Hebrews, and the rest spoken of in Genesis 2 too. We may not
have glued those concepts together, but our author here does. Our
author here, by the Holy Spirit, does link them. And he basically
says that this is where the rest of God began. And the writer
of Hebrews isn’t toying with his readers here, nor is it that
he does not really know where this verse could possibly be
found. He knows exactly where it’s found,
and he knows that they know. We do this all the time, don’t
we? We kind of stammer and stunder.
I know there’s a verse and I think it’s found in Romans. That’s
not what he’s doing. The Holy Spirit doesn’t do this.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t wonder where it might have been said
something about the seventh day. When he refers here to somewhere,
he knew exactly where it was and he knew that his readers
knew exactly where it was. He’s talking as a Hebrew, two
Hebrews who knew their Bible well. They knew exactly where
this statement was made. It’s just like our John 3 16,
merely an allusion to that verse tells us exactly what was said.
God is the one who initiated the concept of rest. That’s his
point. Peaceful fellowship of what one called it, holy happiness. And he did so at the end of six
days of creation. God created rest and he desired
his creation to enjoy that rest with him. Adam and Eve might
have enjoyed that rest with God. God created the rest and he desired
his creation to enjoy it. And that began on the seventh
day, a settled peacefulness. But the nation of Israel Again,
the majority of them squandered again, just like Adam and Eve
did. They squandered the ability to enjoy that peaceable fellowship
with God. But the promise was not undone. And so now with this really intricate
doctrinal foundation laid, that there is a blessed state called
rest. Israel squandered it we may by
faith enjoy it and now our writer begins to draw a Conclusion,
but don’t get happy feet He begins to draw a conclusion, but he
doesn’t really make his point until all the way down in verse
11 He begins to make his point here
in verse 6, but it’s short-lived he doesn’t even complete his
sentence and He begins to formulate the conclusion here in verse
six, but in verses seven through 10, he inserts kind of a parenthetical
thought, explanation. And then he completes his conclusion
all the way down in verse 11. Here we go. Verse six. Therefore, since it remains for
some to enter it, and those who formerly had the good news preached
to them failed to enter because of disobedience, Our author says very little that
is new in verse six. It’s a recap of all that he’s
said up to this point. The only new element is the word
pointing to a conclusion, therefore. In the end, verse six is an incomplete
sentence, so we can imagine his readers sitting on the edge of
their seat at the end of verse six, verbalizing, and? Yes, go
on. But he doesn’t even complete
his thought. Not until verse 11, we’ll get there. Look at
verse seven. He again fixes a certain day,
today, saying through David, after so long a time, just as
it had been said before, today, if you hear his voice, do not
harden your hearts, for if Joshua had given them rest, he would
not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains
a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered
his rest, he himself has rested from his works as God did from
his. Now when he says that this promise
today was through David, he’s speaking of the Psalms. After
so long a time, that is between the time in question, just prior
to their entrance into Canaan, where they knew that they were
pursuing a rest, and now the reintroduction of this idea of
rest in Psalm 95, the writer is still referring to Psalm 95
when he cites today. as being the day of beginning
to enjoy God’s rest. Today is the day. And he’s just
reiterating here that God’s rest is still valid. Neither those
who entered Canaan nor who those who failed to enter affected
the promise one bit. It wasn’t fulfilled by the one
or nullified by the other. This too is a reiteration from
the argument of chapter three verse seven. He introduces it
as a quote from psalm 95 Look at 13 7 He applies it and that
by way of a command hebrews, uh, pardon me 3 13 Encourage
one another day after day as long as it is still called today
So that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
He’s just expanding on that command that he provided there in three.
But note the urgency of the psalmist’s appeal today, today and not tomorrow. There might not be a tomorrow
is his point. Today is the day of salvation. Today is always
the day. There is no promise of another.
The promise of rest is still available, but today is the day.
Look at verse nine. Suddenly the author refers to
this rest by a new term. Now he calls it a Sabbath rest. Not only is this the only place
in the New Testament where this word is used, many scholars believe
that our author here coined the term in writing to the people
of Jerusalem. Nothing so far. in the entire
history of the nation of Israel had really given those people
rest, true and lasting happiness. Not like that which God enjoyed
at creation. God finished and it was finished. God rested. The law didn’t provide
rest, the promised land really didn’t provide it, but now by
faith in Christ, the true rest, the rest of God, a Sabbath rest,
peace with God, eternal happiness is available and it’s widely
available as verse 10 tells us. The one who has entered his rest,
that’s very general. It’s a wide open offer to come,
come all who are weary and heavy laden. And now we come to verse
11. I told you we’d get there. And we come in verse 11 to essentially
the fourth portion of our consideration of Christ’s salvation. We have
assessed salvation generally. We’ve examined salvation personally. We’ve looked at the whole problem
of squandering salvation in Christ carelessly, as did the Israelites. But the fourth point here is
urged upon us to enter salvation conscientiously. enter salvation
conscientiously, this is where he finishes his conclusion, which
he began back in verse 6. Verse 11, therefore, let us be
diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall through
the same example of disobedience. We don’t want to be like the
nation of Israel in the wilderness. And so now the conclusion, the
point which the author began to make back in verse six is
finally concluded here, and what a conclusion. It’s the fourth
point of our outline, entering salvation in Christ conscientiously,
and it is again one of our many subjunctive verbs that we find
so prevalent in this epistle. This time the author says, let
us be diligent. to strong encouragement. Let
us be diligent to enter that rest. Leave no stone unturned,
no questions unanswered, no doubts unaddressed, no sin unconfessed,
no spiritual grace left unsought. Let us be diligent. It’s a straightforward
admonition to all out efforts striving. to enter the blessed
rest of God by salvation in Jesus Christ. This author, this faithful
friend, is so concerned for the welfare of believers in Jerusalem,
facing this horrible destruction of their city, their temple,
their livelihood, he urges them not to be slothful about the
same awful fate that their forefathers met There is a spiritual rest,
he urges them. He passionately wants them to
avoid the same fate of unbelief. The spiritual rest remains available
to them, but it must be received and embraced by faith. There is no uncommon means of
salvation here. It is the way of every believer
though modeled and articulated so clearly by Paul. Paul said
it this way in Philippians 3, whatever things were gained to
me, those things I’ve counted as loss. For the sake of Christ,
more than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing
value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I’ve suffered
the loss of all things and count them but rubbish that I may gain
Christ. One faithful shepherd said it
this way, the fearful consequence of unbelief in the case of the
Israelites ought to be felt as a motive to steadfastness of
faith and to a diligent use of the means of obtaining steadfastness
of faith. All and believers, whatever privileges
they may enjoy, whatever professions they may make, must come short
of the rest of God into which men can only enter by believing.
In other words, despite all of your efforts, if you don’t have
faith, you will not enjoy God’s rest. Then he supports that statement,
let us be diligent. Let us be diligent to enter that
rest. Look at verse 12. For the word
of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword
and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints
and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of
the heart. Why should this be so? Why the
diligence? Well, aside from the immediately
obvious reason that it is the means of enjoying God’s rest,
there is this closing admonition provided in verses 12 and 13.
Why diligence? Because the word of God communicates
these things. The word of God demands it. The
word of God enforces it. This is an intensely graphic
picture painted here with words regarding the Word of God. The
writer here so carefully presents the Word of God with divine qualities. Look at it. It’s the attributes
of God, living and active, omniscient. As one commentator described
it, the Word of God is the means of conversion and conversation. It is speaking with the living
God. Now, some commentators stubbed
their interpretive toes here by the phrase Word of God. The
author here isn’t referring to our Lord Jesus Christ like John
did in John chapter one. Not this writer, not here. This
is not a reference to Jesus necessarily, but it’s the spoken word of God,
which is given and blessed by the Holy Spirit. It’s the spoken
word of God, divine revelation as living as God himself is living. God’s word is eternal. You know this truth. Psalm 3311,
the counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of his heart
from generation to generation, someone 1989 forever. Oh, Lord,
your word is settled in heaven. Isaiah 48, the grass withers,
the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Jesus said it this way in Matthew
24, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass
away. God’s word is living. Living
just happens to be one of this writer’s favorite descriptions
of God. Listen to this. Hebrews 3, which
verse we’ve already read, take care, brethren, that there be
not in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls
away from the living God. this particular passage we’re
in, and then again in Hebrews 9, 14, how much more will the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without blemish to God, cleanse your consciences from dead works
to serve the living God. Hebrews 10 31. It is a terrifying
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10
12 22. You have come to Zion, the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, Jerusalem, myriads
of angels. But God’s word is also active.
It’s not only living, it’s active, powerful, efficient. It is the
word of the living God. Men’s words. Our words are often
ineffective, aren’t they? They’re basically dead words
because they vacillate so wildly. We say things that we don’t really
mean. We make promises we don’t even intend to keep. Or perhaps we don’t even have
the resources to back up either our threats or our promises,
but not so with God. When God makes a promise, he
means it. When God issues a warning, he means it. God says what he
means, and just as he is all powerful, he has every means
at his disposal to bring to pass both his promises and his warnings. Look at verse 12 and 13 this
time. The Word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the
division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, able
to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no
creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid
bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. In other
words, he tells his readers, these troubled people of Jerusalem
that had made professions of faith, in many cases, others
were still shuffling their feet. He presents them with a picture
of the Word of God that says, this is a very dangerous thing. to play fast and loose with.
It’s a striking image, this sharp two-edged sword. It’s a weapon
of weapons, able not merely to pierce the flesh, but down, he
says, even into the very joint. It’s able to pierce the spiritual
heart of a man. Paul calls it the sword of the
Spirit, the Word of God. Three times in the ultimate book
of worship, the book of Revelation 1.16, 2.12, 19.15, this double
edged sword is placed in the very mouth of Jesus Christ. When the spirit is separated
from the soul, we know that is death, which means that Christ
has the weapon of death. To divide the soul and the spirit
is just a metaphor. for loss of life. When he says
that the word is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of
the heart, people have this tendency, don’t we, to judge only by outward
appearance. Not so with God. By God’s word,
he’s able to go to the very thoughts of a person, even to his very
motives. The entire person is completely visible to God. He
alone is fully able, as one pastor put it, to unfold the sinner
in the light of truth, the falsehood and wickedness of his innermost
thoughts and desires, to lodge in his mind a conviction that
these are the objects of divine knowledge and displeasure. In
other words, what the writer of Hebrews was telling them when
he gave them this illustration is that if you’re under conviction
right now, fall on your face in repentance before the living
God, because it’s the sword of the spirit that is piercing your
heart. Look at verse 13. There is no
creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid
bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Based on
the entire rest of these two verses, this final statement
comes really as no surprise. Consider it. He’s already told
us that the word is living and active, sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing, able to judge. And then he says, no creature
is hidden from his sight. Of course, all things are open
and laid bare. It’s the word from which we get
our word trachea. In other words, he says, where
we tend to clothe ourselves from the neck down, he says, everything
is going to be open. Cannot hide from God. No one
can. Second Chronicles tells us that
the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth,
that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely
his. Psalm 44, 21, would God not find
this out? He knows the secrets of the heart. Proverbs 15, 3, the eyes of the
Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good. Twice
in Jeremiah, my eyes are on all their ways. All things are open
and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do,
and now he is speaking. of none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. The one with whom we have to
do is none other than Jesus himself. Christ may be our savior, but
he will be our judge. Christ is the one to whom all
will give an account. Christ is the one before whom
every knee shall bow. Would you examine your own hearts
before Christ in this regard? Our merciful King, we do humble
ourself. And Lord, we thank you for the
privilege of not just academically assessing the concept of whose
salvation was greater, Moses or Christ’s. We learned in the
end, without a doubt, it was Christ’s. Lord, we thank you
for the call to examine our own. salvation in Christ personally,
to examine our hearts, to really measure where we stand with our
Savior. Lord, we too are thankful for
this reminder to be fearful and to examine our hearts with the
utmost care, lest we squander our salvation like so many of
Israel did. Father, we thank You for the
reminder as well, that by Your grace we do enter
salvation in Christ conscientiously. We hear the Word, we know that
it is offered to us, and we know today is the day of salvation.
So Lord, we pray, we pray that You would not only cultivate
in us that heart and a heart of gratitude for the work that
you’ve already done in our hearts, but also cultivate in us a passion
for those who continue to shuffle their own feet, continue to wonder,
continue to doubt. Lord, we thank you for the privilege
we have to hear from your word, and we ask your blessing on it.
It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.