Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

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We need to be careful to not only believe God’s Word, but to live it out. The Bible is not merely to be believed, but to be lived. We need to practice our faith. Faith not lived is not genuine faith. That’s the message of James (James 2:17). We’re not justified by faith plus works, we’re justified by grace through faith alone. But genuine faith always leads to good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). So not only are we to rest in the grace of God, because we can’t work our way to Heaven, but we are to pursue good works, because they testify that our faith is real.

And sometimes this can be a painful process. It can be painful to discipline ourselves to be more godly. Joy in Christ makes this easier, but not always easy. It’s much easier for an Olympic athlete who is dedicated and passionate about their sport to run their race or balance on the beam or swim laps than for us, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for them. We need to be disciplined in our faith. We need to be willing to cut out those things that don’t honor God and absorb into our lives those things that God has told us to do in His Word.

And this can be hard work, yet we have the power of God to help us. The Holy Spirit in us is like a plastic surgeon, and the Bible is like a scalpel, and in His wisdom He’s forming us into something beautiful. You know, I’d say that most plastic surgery is completely unnecessary. In terms of your appearance, God made you beautiful, and there’s no reason to change that. But inwardly, we are a sinful people, sin has scarred us and marred us, and we need God’s steady hand to form us into what He would have us be. And throughout that process, we need to realize that Christ sees all our faults, all our sins, and that the only way we can be pleasing to God is when we trust in Christ.

Read Hebrews 4:12-13

What is the Word of God? Usually we think of the Word of God as the Bible. And it is! And this passage certainly has the Bible in mind, and we’ll get to that in a minute. But when these words were written, the Bible obviously had not yet been completed. And back in verse 2, the Israelites didn’t even have the complete Pentateuch when they disobeyed the word of God by not going into the Promised Land. So what is the Word of God that the writer of Hebrews is referring to?

Even though this is the first time we find the phrase “Word of God” in the book of Hebrews, the writer has been talking about it since the beginning of the book. God spoke to us through prophets (1:1). God spoke to us through Jesus (1:2). God speaks to us through the Old Testament (1:5-13). The Word of God, in this passage, is whatever God speaks to us. God has spoken through prophets. He has spoken through the Law. He has spoken through Jesus Christ. He speaks through the Holy Spirit. He speaks through creation. He speaks through sermons. He speaks through one another. And whenever God speaks, we need to listen.

Yet the writer of Hebrews has been giving us instructions from the Old Testament. Even though the writer has shown how God has spoken in various ways, he clearly has the written word most in view when he wrote here about the Word of God. He quoted God as speaking through Scripture time and time again up to this point (1:5-13; 2:6-8, 12-13; 3:7-11, 15; 4:3-5, 7). In fact, nearly half of the verses in the book so far contain a quotation from the Old Testament. And most of the remaining verses either explain those verses quoted, or else give a command that clearly arises from those quotations. God speaks primarily, and most clearly, and most authoritatively today through the written words of Scripture.

The Word of God is living and active. It’s not a book written a long time ago that has nothing to do with modern life. It’s not merely useful in understanding the culture of the time in which it was written. The Bible is God’s Word for us today. And God still uses it to speaks to us, and convict us, and encourage us to follow Christ. The Bible is sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, showing how precise the Word of God ought to be in our lives. It discerns the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. We often think of sin as something we do, but it is much deeper than that. It begins in the things that we think. The Bible even, and I would say especially, speaks to that level.

The result, then, is that we are left totally exposed to God (v. 13). We have broken the Word of God, and we can’t hide from God. And having broken God’s Word, we are all guilty before God.

But as we think about the Word of God this morning, we should not overlook the most pressing aspect. Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1). Remember, the Word of God in this passage is largely how God speaks. The opening verses of the book of Hebrews reminds us that God, in these last days, has spoken to us by His Son. Jesus is living and active. Death was not the end of His life! He rose! And Jesus has such power.

When Jesus was a baby, Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her heart (Luke 2:34-35). In the same breath, Simeon noted that the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed. Compare this with our text this morning. Clearly, Jesus is the Word of God. So not only does the Word of God, as in the Law of God, sentence us to Hell, the Word of God, as in Jesus, saves us from Hell. Jesus met the requirements of the Law for us so that we could be made righteous in Him.