Sermon the word of god

• 

  The Power Of God’s Word

  Series
  

  Contributed by Dr. Phillip Paschal on Sep 25, 2002
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 114 ratings

   | 104,069 views

  What the Word of God is capable of doing

  THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD
  HEB. 4:12
  I. INTRODUCTION
  OUT OF ALL THE WORDS KNOWN TO MAN, THERE IS NOTHING MORE POWERFUL THAN THE WORD OF GOD. PHILOSOPHY, WITH IT UNENDING QUESTIONS, FAILS IN ITS COMPARISON TO THE WORD OF GOD. SCIENCE, WITH ITS CONCEPTS AND FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS, DOES NOT MEASURE UP TO

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Hebrews 4:12, Hebrews 4:16, Hebrews 4:12-16

  Denomination:
  Baptist

• 

  How Often Do You Use God’s Word In Prayer?

  Contributed by James Dina on Jun 19, 2020
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 4 ratings

   | 2,843 views

  God’s Word has an essential role in all aspects of our prayer life. Our
  communion with God will be based on and include much communion through the
  Word.

  How often do you use God’s word in Prayer?

  God’s Word has an essential role in all aspects of your prayer life. Your communion with God will be based on and include much communion through the Word. Your praise must of necessity make much use of Scripture as you praise the Lord. Whatever time you

  …read more

  Scripture:

  John 15:7-8

  Denomination:
  Pentecostal

• 

  The Power Of The Word Of The God

  Contributed by Rev. Duraimony Dickson on Sep 9, 2020
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 3 ratings

   | 5,735 views

  You want God’s presence? Allow the Word of God not only dwell richly, but be applied and demonstrated in your everyday decision making.

  The Secret Power of the Word of God
  Psalm 119:9-16
  The movement we take our eyes off Jesus, there are going to be all kinds of problems, all kinds of offenses. Today, this morning, I would like to teach you the importance of keeping your eyes on Jesus. But how do we keep our eyes on Jesus? By

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Psalm 119:9-16, 1 Timothy 4:12

  Denomination:
  Evangelical/Non-Denominational

• 

  How To Benefit From The Bible

  Series
  

  Contributed by Jim Mooney on Dec 29, 2000
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 228 ratings

   | 8,277 views

  God’s word is the source of our Chrisyian faith, this sermon will instruct Believers on how to get the most from it.

  HOW TO BENEFIT FROM THE BIBLE
  Growing Up Rather Than Giving Up — Part 5
  James 1:19-27
  Our lives are to be governed and controlled by the word of God, The Bible. Yet there are many in churches through out America the are governed and controlled by their fears, doubt, unbelief, wrong emotions and

  …read more

  Scripture:

  James 1:19-27

  Denomination:
  Pentecostal

• 

  The Role Of God’s Word In Our Lives

  Contributed by Richard Wilson on Dec 9, 2001
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 64 ratings

   | 14,362 views

  Are we ready for the role God’s Word should play in our lives?

  The Role Of God’s Word In Our Lives
  Isaiah 50:4-5

  4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens {me} morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
  5 The Lord GOD has opened My ear; and I was not

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Isaiah 50:4-5

  Denomination:
  Baptist

• 

  Words And Wonders

  Contributed by Joe Durai on Nov 12, 2001
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 19 ratings

   | 3,757 views

  Words produce wonders or horrors!

  WORDS AND WONDERS

  Words are powerful. They are spirit carriers. Out of the spiritual comes
  the natural; for out of the unseen comes the things that are seen. Men and
  matters are moved and molded by spirits.

  God could have brought forth the world with His thoughts.

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Matthew 12:36

  Denomination:
  Apostolic

• 

  Receiving And Treasuring

  Contributed by Ed Warfield on Apr 2, 2008
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 1 rating

   | 1,492 views

  If we don’t understand the purpose of the Word, we’ll miss out on the life of God. Through His Word, God transforms us more into his likeness.
  Every word in scripture is a doorway to the heart of God and a stairway into the realms of God.

  Receiving and Treasuring – Proverbs 2:1

  Intro.: The first focus that Solomon lays out has to do with the way we treat the Word of God. Proverbs 2:1 – “…if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you…” The “receiving” refers to how we posture ourselves before the Word of God and

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Proverbs 2:1

  Denomination:
  Charismatic

• 

  The Working Of The Word

  Contributed by Terry Vaughan on Apr 30, 2002
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 66 ratings

   | 7,618 views

  Is the word working in your life? In this sermon you will find two reasons why the word might not be working in your life. You’ll also find three ways that will help it to work. Then you will find five things that the word will do for you after it begi

  WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
  PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN
  SERMON TITLE: THE WORKING OF THE WORD

  ?For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but

  …read more

  Scripture:

  1 Thessalonians 2:13

  Denomination:
  Baptist

• 

  God’s Righteous Word

  Series
  

  Contributed by Dennis Davidson on Mar 19, 2014
  

  Though the pursue of God may bring affliction, a transformation toward righteousness is found by abiding in God’s Righteous Word

  PSALM 119: 137-144 [The Ministry of The Word Series]
  GOD’S RIGHTEOUS WORD
  [1 Peter 1:21-23]

  The Word of God reflects the character of God. This stanza [Tsadhe, the 18th letter in the Hebrew alphabet] declares that because the Lord is righteous, His Word is righteous (vv. 137-138).
  While

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Psalm 119:137-144

  Denomination:
  Baptist

• 

  The Greatness Of The Word Of God

  Contributed by Kranthi Kumar Medida on Dec 8, 2006
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 1 rating

   | 3,938 views

  In this message, I want to tell you of the greatness of the Word of God, so that you will begin to treat it in a way which it rightly deserves.

  INTRODUCTION

  If there is a great man and you do not know that he is great, then you cannot show the respect, which he deserves. Before deciding how you are going to act with someone, you will be asking yourselves, the following questions: “Who is that person? What is his position in the society?

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Matthew 24:35

  Denomination:
  Pentecostal

• 

  14) We Believe In The Spoken Word, Written Word, And Living Word Of God!

  Series
  

  Contributed by Brandon Max on Jan 9, 2022
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 1 rating

   | 2,176 views

  God’s Word is dynamic — It has been spoken by God for us to hear, written and recorded by God for us to read, and lived out through the life of Jesus Christ for us to follow.

  THINGS MOST SURELY BELIEVED AMONG US
  14) We Believe In The Spoken Word, Written Word, and Living Word of God!
  Text: Luke 1:1
  «Forasmuch as many have taken in hand — to set forth in order a declaration…
  of those things which are most surely believed among us.»

  Lesson Recap
  Alright, so

  …read more

  Scripture:

  John 1:1, John 1:14, 2 Timothy 3:16

  Denomination:
  Baptist

• 

  Winning With God’s Word

  Contributed by Zacch Olorunnipa on Sep 2, 2019
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 1 rating

   | 6,171 views

  The winning attributes of God’s words are discussed in this ministration. God’s word is replete with numerous attributes. Those highlighted and discussed in this ministration are Purity, Power, Panacea, Peace and Prosperity

  WINNING WITH GOD’S WORD

  By Zacch I Olorunnipa

  Text: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Hebrews 4:12

  Denomination:
  Pentecostal

• 

  Called By The Lord To Speak His Word

  Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Jul 25, 2003
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 79 ratings

   | 12,411 views

  Like Ezekiel let us speak God’s Word humbly, faithfully, and boldly.

  Called by the Lord to Speak His Word

  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of God through which the Holy Spirit strengthens us to speak God’s Word faithfully is Ezekiel 2:1-5
  He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Ezekiel 2:1-5

  Denomination:
  Lutheran

• 

  Guard God’s Flawless Word

  Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Sep 14, 2009
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 1 rating

   | 7,166 views

  How precious God’s Word is! The Holy Spirit moves us to cherish that word and hold it dear in our hearts. Parts: A. By seeking your God in it. B. By clinging to it for life. C. By drawing others to its wisdom.

  Text: Deuteronomy 4:1, 2, 6-8
  Theme: Guard God’s Flawless Word
  A. By seeking your God in it
  B. By clinging to it for life
  C. By drawing others to its wisdom
  Season: Pentecost 15b
  Date: September 13, 2009
  Web page:

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Deuteronomy 4:1-8

  Denomination:
  Lutheran

• 

  The Preacher’s Weapon Of Truth

  Contributed by W. Alderman on Jan 17, 2008
  

  
  
  
  
  
  based on 8 ratings

   | 3,606 views

  This is an article on how the Word of God is like a two edged sword.

  “THE PREACHER’S WEAPON OF TRUTH”
  W.Max Alderman

  Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the

  …read more

  Scripture:

  Hebrews 4:12

  Denomination:
  Baptist

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

1. What the Word Is

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16)

Notice that God’s communication with us, which is normally referred to as the Word of God, is described here as the Word of Christ. That phrase is only used here and one other place in the New Testament, but it reminds us of a very important truth that we often emphasize here at The Orchard.

The whole Bible is one story and it is all about Jesus Christ. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Scriptures…  bear witness about me” (John 5:39). On the road to Emmaus, Jesus took two confused disciples through the Old Testament Scriptures, showing them “in all the scriptures, the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27).

Jesus Christ is the central figure in the whole Bible, in both the Old and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament, he is hidden and anticipated. In the New Testament, he is revealed and enjoyed.

The whole point of the Bible is that we should come to know and enjoy and love and serve and believe in and live for Jesus Christ the Son of God, who is the Savior, the Lord of all.

This is the great theme of Colossians: In him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (1:19). In him, God has triumphed over all the dark powers (2:15). In him, believers are rooted and built up and established in the faith (2:7).

The word of Christ, the Bible, is God speaking to us about his Son, or God speaking to us through his Son.

New thinking about the Bible

The Christian church has been in agreement for nearly 2,000 years that the Bible is the Word of God, one that speaks primarily about his Son, Jesus Christ. I say nearly 2,000 years, because about a hundred years ago some people introduced a new and very different view of the Bible.

Charles Darwin grasped the minds and hearts of many people with his theory of evolution, suggesting that the world could be explained entirely by natural causes and processes.

It’s fascinating to follow the story of how in the years that followed, some leaders in the church began to recast their view of the Bible in the light of evolutionary theory.

The church had always held the conviction that the Bible was God’s word to us. The church believed that God exists, that God has made himself known, and that the Bible tells us what God has said and what he has done. The Bible is essentially a story about God: God’s world and God’s Word to mankind.

But the new thinking turned all of that on its head. You can imagine how some began to say, “We’ve been told that the story is all about God. What if the story is really about us?”

If this were true, then the Bible would be the evolving story of human thinking about what God might be like. And the Bible would not be God’s words to us, but the record of our words about God.

If you believe this, then it is reasonable to conclude that it began very crude, and over time, our view of God has become more sophisticated.

These are two very different views of the Bible. In the one, the Bible is God’s Word to us. In the other, the Bible is our word about God. What you believe about the Bible will shape how you use it, and how you respond to it.

If you believe that the Bible is a human word about God, you may want to read it for inspiration, but when it does not fit well with your view of life or of the world, you will feel free to disagree and choose your own path.

If the Bible is merely a collection of human words about God, it will be natural for you to say, “That was then, but this is now.”

I want to make it very clear that in this church, we do not view the Bible as a collection of human words or thoughts about God. It is not our word about God, it is God’s Word to us.

Here’s how we say this in our statement of faith (from the Evangelical Free Church of America), and it is affirmed by everyone who becomes a member of this church:

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises. 

2. Why the Word Matters

Why is this important? What difference does it make? Why should anyone care whether the Bible is our speaking about God or God speaking to us?

It makes all the difference in the world:  Here’s why…

a. If God has not spoken, his promises are replaced by our wishes

Think about some of the great promises of Scripture:

I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Heb. 13:5)

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  (Acts 16:31)

My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory.  (Phil. 4:19)

Who said these things? If these words came from the mouth of God, if God said them, if they are indeed the Word of God to us, then they are promises on which we can depend. You can take them to the bank. You can build on them in every circumstance of your life.

But if these are human words about God, then they are not promises on which we can depend, but merely wishes arising from the heart of Paul or from Isaiah that we might also cherish.

If you believe that the Bible is our word about God rather than God’s word to us, you undermine the foundation of hope and replace God’s promises to us with our wishes about God.

b. If God has not spoken, his truth is replaced by our opinion

The Bible says that God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love. These words are repeated no less than seven times in the Old Testament (Exodus 34:6, Nehemiah 9:7, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2).

But whose words are these? If God spoke these words to Moses and the prophets, we can be sure that he is indeed gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love, because he is the one who said it. He has disclosed this himself.

But if these words arose from the thoughts of Moses, David, Nehemiah or Jonah, then we do not have truth that we can count on for our lives today. All we have is opinion that arose from the experience of these particular men, and it may or may not prove true for us today.

When you buy into evolutionary theory, conversations in small groups around the Word of God go something like this… Moses believed that God is gracious and merciful, but others have a different experience.  What about you? What do you think God is like? How do you see him?

When the Word of God to us is viewed as our word about God, not only do his promises become wishes—which undermine the very foundations of hope, but his truth gets replaced by our opinion—and that undermines the foundations of our faith.

c. If God has not spoken, his welcome is replaced by our journey

The Bible is full of invitations:

Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live; I will make with you an everlasting covenant.  (Isa. 55:3)

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.  (Jas. 4:8)

Come let us reason together says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.  (Isa. 1:18)

Who said these things? If God said them (to and through the prophet Isaiah and the apostle James), then you can be certain that God is reaching out to us in love. That means we can come to him with confidence. We can enjoy a true and authentic relationship with God because he has invited us to come to him.

If these words were simply reflections of the thoughts or experience of James and Isaiah, they are only pointers on a journey. They tell us what others have found, but they offer no assurance that we will find the same.

If the Bible is viewed as our words about God rather than God’s word to us, you may have people reaching out and seeking after God, but very, very little finding. Why? Because what is lost is God reaching out in love through his Son, and what you have left is people seeking.

What’s at stake? If the Bible is our word about God rather than God’s word to us, then God’s promises are replaced by our wishes, and we lose the basis of hope. God’s truth is replaced by our opinion and we lose the foundation of faith. God’s welcome is replaced by our journey and we lose the assurance of his love.

Do you see how much is at stake here? The basis of faith, hope, and love all rest on God having spoken—giving us promises, telling us who he is, inviting us into a relationship with himself, and telling is how that is possible through his Son Jesus Christ.

When I think about all this, it makes me step back and breathe a big sigh of relief—thank God for the Word of Christ!

3. What the Word Produces

a. You will grow in strength against temptation

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14)

John identifies different groups within the congregation in his letter. He writes some things especially to those who are older. Here he speaks specifically to young men. Notice what he says.

i. The Word of God abides in you.

The Word of God is going into your soul. It is settling in your inner life and it remains there. The result of this is that…

ii. You are strong.

You started out like little children. At one time you were spiritual infants, but now, even though you are still young, you are spiritually mature. And because of this…

iii. You have overcome the evil one.

There are victories over temptation in your life. Progress is being made.  You are growing up in Christ, and the reason is that the Word of God abides in you.

This is why it is so important for young families to find a church where they are rooted deeply in the Word of God. You don’t get this by going to a church that entertains your kids. You get this strength from a church and a youth group that is serious about getting the Word in their lives.

b. You will grow in effectiveness in prayer

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)

Notice how effectiveness in prayer arises from the Word abiding in your soul: “If… my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”

The strength of our praying shows how much or how little the word of God dwells, abides, remains in us. Your ability to pray well for your wife and your kids hangs on this. Where the word abides, the fruit will be seen in effective praying.

c. You will grow in wisdom and discernment

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. (Colossians 3:16)

We live in a ‘how to’ culture in which many people are becoming more and more dependent on someone else telling them how to do even the most basic things in life.

Once the ‘how to’ thing takes root in your mind, it can be quite paralyzing.  You lose confidence. You feel that you will mess things up unless you can get someone else to walk you through what to do. The Bible has a great answer to this, and it’s called wisdom.

A rich and regular diet of the word of God will increase your wisdom. The Bible is the Word of God. It comes from the mind of God. Thinking God’s thoughts after him is the best way to grow in wisdom for every area of your life.

d. You will grow in usefulness to others

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. (Colossians 3:16)

Here’s a healthy church in action: God’s people are feeding on his Word.  It dwells in them richly. As they speak about their lives, they are able to help each other see how the Word relates to the various circumstances of their lives.

Someone says, “I am really struggling with my 13-year-old daughter,” and explains some of the circumstances.

Someone else says, “Here’s what I learned from the Scriptures that helped me. Here’s the principle I applied.”

Not only are God’s people able to teach one another, but they are able to admonish one another, that is, they can spot where someone is straying down a wrong path and help get then back on the straight and narrow.

This kind of mutual ministry in the body of Christ is wonderful. It depends on God’s Word dwelling in his people richly.

How much more useful could you be to others if the Word of Christ dwelled more richly in you?

e. You will grow in joy and thanksgiving

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

A rich diet of the Word of Christ always produces more joy and thanksgiving in the lives of God’s people than if you drift through life with your Bible closed.

Spiritual life is found and it is nourished by the Word of God. But if you ask people the question, Where is spiritual life found? you are likely to find one of three different answers:

The religious or communal answer

Spiritual life is found and fed in the people around you. This is the teaching of the cults: Join us and all will be well with you. That’s what the Pharisees believed. Don’t buy that one. Sure, fellowship is important to the spiritual life, but it is not a source of the spiritual life.

The secular or psychological answer

Spiritual life is found and fed from the instincts within you. This is the overwhelming consensus of our culture, The answers lie within you.  This is why so many Christians rarely read the Bible. They have bought into secular psychology and they feel that the source of life lies within them.

The biblical or theological answer

Spiritual life is found and fed from the Bible before you:

You have been born again… through the living and abiding word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)

So, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly!

4. Our Responsibility to the Word

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16)

Let the Word of God be the honored welcome guest of your life. Let the Word live with you let it remain in you. Don’t have a passing brush with the Word of Christ.

The Word of God can dwell in the life of a Christian believer in different degrees. Let there be plenty of the Word in your life. Give the Word an honored and prominent place in your life.

Is the Word of Christ dwelling richly in you?

How are you going to do this?

1. Make the best possible use of Sunday
2. Join a life group and keep the group centered in the word of Christ
3. Establish a pattern of daily Bible reading and meditation

The book of Hebrews describes people in whom the word does not dwell richly….

Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.  Hebrews 5:11-13

The word of God is like seed scattered by a sower. The same seed yields very different results. In some lives the seed is snatched away, like seed sitting on the surface of the path.

In other lives the seed gets choked by the desire for others things. You want to be a Christian, but other things are bigger in your life. They have your heart and your attention. The word grows in your life, but it gets choked, and very little comes of it.

Still, in others, the seed produced a bumper harvest. It can be 30, 60, or even 100-fold, depending on how richly the Word dwells in you.

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. It will bring spiritual life. It will sustain spiritual strength. It will produce spiritual growth.

The Secrets of Swordmaking

I am so excited to preach this message. I said that last week didn’t I? I just am. I just feel blessed to the core of my being, for the privilege of unfolding the Word of God before you week after week. And I celebrate today that the topic is the Word of God itself, for I love the Bible, and I love everything that it says.

Throughout history, no technology was so carefully developed and guarded, protected as that of swordmaking. The sword itself, the most powerful weapon in the world before the advent of gunpowder. And thus, it became a symbol both of military conquest and of the governmental power that followed it. To live by the sword, or to die by the sword, meant to live or die by that military conquest. David said, «The sword devours one, as well as another,» referring to the power of the sword to take life. Swords are mentioned over 400 times in the Bible.

The merest mention of the word sword conjures up in our hearts, our memories, the thoughts of heroic courageous figures or terrifying figures from history, the Roman gladiators, the Roman legions who carried that short stabbing sword. English Knights. King Arthur who pulled Excalibur out of the rock, as you remember. Or the terrifying power of the Viking warriors. Or the stealth of Japanese ninjas, the sword.

When I was a missionary in Japan, I was fascinated by the katana. The legendary Samurai sword that was forged with astonishing precision by ancient technologies. If you looked at the edge of one of these exquisite swords, you could see them on display in museums. They had an interesting kind of ripple quality to them. You know, smooth as silk, smooth as glass, but still, you can see these ripples within the crystal structure of the actual steel. And that’s because they use two different kinds of steel and they sandwich them one after the other, and pounded them down under the heat of the forge. They use high carbon steel which is exceptionally hard and could be honed to a razor-sharp edge, but was very brittle and it just won’t do in the middle of a battle to have your sword snap in half. And so, they would put in then a layer of low carbon steel, which was softer, more malleable, which absorbed the blow and could give the sword a kind of a toughness and through secret technologies were able to make these remarkable swords, a katana.It took centuries for the Japanese blacksmiths to develop this art and they guarded the secrets of it very closely and then stories, a kind of mythology, grew up around the katana, around this special Samurai sword, specifically of two individuals, one named Masamune and the other Muramasa, two men who actually lived at different times from each other, but no matter for the myth or the legend. The legendary contest that occurred between them had the elder Samurai blacksmith, Masamune, as the mentor and trainer to the younger Muramasa. Masamune’s swords are regarded as the most beautifully crafted, most skillfully katana ever made. Surviving swords are priceless national treasures. By contrast, Muramasa’s swords were regarded as violent, brutish and evil. The swords of Masamune considered to be deeply spiritual, pure, and benevolent. In the legend, Muramasa was Masamune’s student. The student became arrogant and at some point challenged his master to see who can make the finer sword.

To test the swords, each sword was held into the current of a mountain stream. And the student Muramasa’s sword was so perfectly sharp, honed to a razor sharp edge, it was said to have cut a leaf in half that floated down the stream and just met the edge of its blade. But the Master Masamune’s sword did not cut a thing. When the leaves would get near to its edge, it would miraculously avoid the sword and float around it, showing that the sword somehow possessed a benevolent power that it would harm nothing that was innocent or undeserving a punishment.

The Cutting of the God’s Word

Friends, that’s just a legend, it never happened. But I say to you in the passage that we read of today, you just heard read, we hear of a more perfect sword, sharper, more penetrating and more pure, more spiritual than any of these legends can describe. As a matter of fact, this sword is actually said to be alive even better than the Samurai legend, the sword only ever cuts in order to heal, it only ever cuts in order to bring life, it cuts in order to engraft faith, it cuts in order to surgically remove the tumors of sin. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything’s uncovered and laid bare, before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account. Every time you pick up a Bible, you’re holding in your hands a miracle, a living miracle spiritually alive. Only the power of Almighty God can explain the existence and the potency of this book. Over the centuries, God forged this sword in the furnace of human history, on the anvil of human experience and hearts. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have this Scripture.

Now why does the author celebrate the Word of God here in Hebrews 4? What is the context of this celebration of the living and active Word of God? Why here? Well, remember the overall context of the Book of Hebrews, the author to the Hebrews is deeply concerned about a congregation of Jewish people who had made an outward profession of faith in Christ, but who under the pressure of persecution were waffling in their commitment to Christ. Their commitment to Christ outwardly seemed to be decaying. Some of them weren’t attending church anymore, they were afraid to do so. And so they were in a decaying orbit with Christ, and so he writes this letter of warning, this letter of exhortation to stimulate and strengthen them in their faith so that they will not fall away.

And for the last two chapters in Hebrews, Hebrews 3 and 4, he has been marvelously meditating on just five verses in the Old Testament, Psalm 95. He’s just ruminating very deeply on phase after phrase of Psalm 95. And he’s taking the spiritual lessons of that Psalm from the Old Covenant, and moving them over to New Testament, New Covenant believers like you and me, and applying those lessons to our spiritual situation to our condition. He’s taking Psalm 95 and bringing it over. «Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts» as that generation did when they refused to enter the promised land. And so it says, «I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest.» So, the author has meditated powerfully on some key words like the concept of today as long as it is called today, today is the day we have to believe Christ. Today’s the day we have to take in the Word of God to live for Jesus. We have today. It’s all we’ll ever have.

So, he’s meditated on this idea of today or he’s talked about God’s rest. «I swore an oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest.» What is God’s rest? We found last week very clearly that it’s the Sabbath rest, of eternity in God’s presence, in heaven. And the danger then, of a hardening of a heart. «Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.» And so he’s warned them about the danger of a hardening heart and the only remedy there can be to the deceitfulness of sin that comes and hardens our heart is this, the living and active Word of God. It’s the only remedy.

And so he’s wielding this sharp double-edged sword. He’s been wielding it now for these two chapters, he’s been wielding it really from the very beginning, The Book of Hebrews is saturated in Old Testament quotations, saturated in the Word of God, but I think he’s really specifically saying, «Look at all that Psalm 95 can do in your life.» And it’s just five verses of the Old Testament. Oh, the beauty of the Scripture, the power of it, how it can be unleashed in your life. So he’s talking about it, that’s the context. And so what does he say? What does he say about the searching qualities of the Word of God?

I. The Searching Qualities of the Word of God

Well, look again at verse 12, «The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow.»

The Word of God is Living – It Imparts Life

First he says that it’s living. The Scripture is living. The Word of God as a living thing. It’s alive in some mysterious way, it is a mystery, this life of the Scripture, it’s a mysterious thing, but it is alive. These are living words. JI Packer, the Puritan scholar, speaking of Richard Baxter’s ‘Reformed Pastor’ said this, «Its words have hands and feet. They climb all over you, they work their way into your heart and conscience and will not be dislodged.» Well, dear friends, if that is true of Richard Baxter’s uninspired book, ‘Reformed Pastor,’ how much infinitely more is that true of the Word of God?

It has hands and feet and it climbs into your heart. These words are living things, they run into your brain through your eyes as you read and your ears as you hear. They find their way quickly through your spiritual bloodstream, into the vital organs of your spiritual experience, and they settle in there, they are alive, they begin to multiply their effects on you, they send off related thoughts and implications, they challenge an ever widening circle of issues in your heart and mind. They’re multiplying, replicating, they’re moving and churning, they’re running roughshod over every objection you may have. They take your whole way of viewing everything in the world captive and transform it and make it like God’s.

The Bible is living and it’s also life-giving, Basic principle and biology is life comes from life. If any biologist anywhere in the world is studying looking through a microscope at a living cell, plant or animal, that biologist knows one thing, that living cell came from something living. If something is alive, something living gave it birth. So also dear friends, if you are alive spiritually, it is the living Word of God that gave you life. That’s where you got it from. Life comes from life, so the Word of God is living. We were spiritually dead, and now we are alive forever more.

It says in Ephesians 2:1 1, «But as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live.» You were the living dead. You were biologically alive, but you were spiritually dead. But in Ephesians 2:5, it says God «made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved…» and God used as an instrument of that spiritual life-giving, that spiritual resurrection of you, the Word of God, the Word of the Gospel. Jesus said in John 5:24, «I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life and will not be condemned, he’s crossed over from death to life.» So the Word has power to give life to the dead.

You remember that story in 2 Kings 13, where some dead person was being buried and it was a time of turbulence, military turbulence, as frequently happened in Israel’s history, some raiders rode into that town and so the people in the middle of the funeral hurriedly took that dead body and threw it into Elisha’s tomb where his bones were and suddenly that dead person sprang to life. That really happened. But it’s also a kind of a living parable. If Elisha’s bones can give life to a dead corpse, how much more can the living and enduring Word of God give life to a spiritual soul. Just spring to life when you hear the Gospel. We live on a living planet, don’t we? This green, glowing, pulsating, alive, Emerald-like thing, just in the middle of blackness of space. Where does all that green come from, all those plants? Well, they come from seeds. Where do the seeds come from? They come from plants, and on and on. Read about it in Genesis 1.

But the most remotest piece of land on earth is an island in the South Atlantic called Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. It’s 1509 miles from the nearest landmass, which is also another tiny little island in the South Atlantic, St. Helena, where Napoleon was exiled because it was so distant itself from every other landmass. It is just like half the continent of North America away from any land, and yet it’s just covered with lush green vegetation. How in the world did that happen? So, biologists study this, and they wonder how the seeds got there to begin with. Well, I have no idea. Maybe they were carried there on wind currents. Maybe they were lodged in logs that floated from South America or from Africa, I don’t really know. Maybe they were in the intestines of birds that ate some plant and then died, flew there and died and then the plant sprang to life. People have different theories, but it doesn’t matter how distant or how far life can get there, how much more than to the distant shores does the gospel go with life in Jesus’ name?

And it doesn’t matter how old it is either. I was reading recently about an archaeologist that found some old wheat seeds in the burial shrouds of a mummy from Egypt, he decided to plant them and he got wheat out of them. They were 3000 years old. But apparently no water had ever touched them and so they were vital, they were ready to go. In the 16th century, there was a copy of the Scriptures in some old Augustinian cloister, Martin Luther blows the dust off the pages, reads and comes to life spiritually, and the Reformation just jumps up out of that.

It doesn’t matter how old the Bible is, it is still vital, still alive. Bible also has power to revive you spiritually, to renew you, to give you new life in your walk with Jesus. As it says in Psalm 23, «He restores my soul.» Or in Isaiah 40, «Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings as eagles, they’ll run and not be weary, they’ll walk and not be faint.» All of that gets ministered to you through the Bible. That’s how it comes, the Scripture comes and gives you life.

Have you ever heard it said of a great teacher, a preacher, «That individual makes the Bible come alive»? I hate that expression. The Bible is already alive. We are the ones with the problem. No, a skillful teacher is using the Bible to make you come alive. The Bible’s forever young, it’s forever ancient. It will never lose its youthful vitality or its ancient wisdom and experience. It’s never gonna get old and feeble, or decrepit. It cannot become out of date and uncool or is the word «vintage.» The Bible is never gonna be vintage, dear friends. The Bible is alive and active today. It’s younger than you are, and it’s older than you are. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are. It’s vital, it’s strong.

And also beautifully, the Bible cannot be killed, though many have tried to do it. You just can’t kill it. The Roman Empire sought to do it, they couldn’t do it. The barbarian Dark Ages that spread over Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire couldn’t do it. Vikings and all their depredations on the monasteries, they didn’t care about the Word of God at all, so they sacked the monasteries, because there is no one there that could fight them, or would fight them. And they burned all these worthless scrolls, and took the gold and silver they found, and off they went. About 150 years later, they’re converted to Christianity. That’s what happens with the Vikings.

You can’t destroy the Word of God. You can burn some copies of it. You can burn some scrolls. Many have done that. The Medieval Roman Catholic church burned Luther’s German translation of the Bible, they burned the Bible, because it was in the vernacular, but still it lives. The enlightenment’s mockery under Voltaire couldn’t stop it. The enlightenment philosophy under Immanuel Kant couldn’t destroy it. It’s still here. And the murderous and totalitarian regimes of the 20th century Nazism and Communism, they tried to destroy it. Nazism is dead and gone, communism is going to join it soon, but the Bible still stands and it will stand forever.

Persecution can’t kill the Bible, neither can worldliness. Our worldliness will not kill the Bible. It may kill us but it’s not gonna kill the Bible. Doctrinal error can’t kill the Bible, lazy neglect of its teachings cannot kill the Bible, nor slanderous misrepresentations of its teachings, that cannot kill it, nor unbelief by whole regions and generations of people, that cannot kill it either, it still lives. Charles Spurgeon put it this way, «The gospel is such a living gospel that were it cut into a thousand shreds, every particle of it would spring to life and grow. If it were buried beneath a thousand avalanches of error, it would shake off the rubble and rise from its grave. If it were cast into the midst of a fire, it would simply walk through the flame, as it has done many a time as if it were in its native element.» So, the Bible is living.

The Word of God is Active

Secondly, the Bible is active. And now, you’re wondering how long this sermon is going to be. Now you’re wondering, Okay, we’re only on the second descriptor. Well, don’t worry, Eric already said you’re going to get out before the Super Bowl, right? When is that? 6 O’clock, 7 O’clock. Worry not, dear friends.

The Bible is active, the Word of God is living and active. What does it mean active? Another translation, would be powerful or perhaps energetic. I take it to mean effective. The Bible is effective, it’s able to produce the effect it desires. When drug manufacturers want to test the effectiveness of a drug, they have to remove any questions about what’s called a psychosomatic effect. In other words, people who take pills and medication think they’re going to get better and that helps them to get better. So in order to test that they come up with things called placebos; they have the same shape and size and color of the other pill and they do tests. The placebo however is studied because it has absolutely no chemical effect on the body at all, at least in the areas that they’re trying to study. So, it just removes that at all, and then they can compare.

Let me tell you something, the Bible is no placebo. It is effective, it’s an effective agent, it steps in and does what God sends it to do, every time. And the clear testimony of this, Isaiah 55:10-11, «As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth, it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.» God sends forth His word and it comes back to Him having done the job.

By the way, in that passage, Isaiah 55, I discovered this morning. I hadn’t thought it through. The Word of God is compared to rain there, precipitation. In other places, it’s compared to the seed, so the Word of God is everything, it’s the rain that comes down, it’s the seed that it receives. God’s all over the whole process. The Word of God produces an unmistakable effect and God said, «Let there be light and there was light.» Genesis 1:3, or in Genesis 1:9, «And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear, and it was so.» The Word of God produces the effects specifically on human hearts spiritually, for the elect, those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. The word brings them to life, and sustains them in life until they are glorified in the presence of God.

For the non-elect, they are hardened and offended by the Word. They are confirmed in sin and in patterns. They are given over to their sin, as it says in Romans chapter 1, by the same Word. And so it says in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16, «For we are to God, the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and to those who are perishing, to the one the smell of death and to the other we are the fragrance of life.»

Now, preachers need to trust wholly in the Bible to transform the church. Put your trust here. Anyone who wants to see a church transform, they must put their trust in the Word and not in some technique or gimmick coming from a Christian book store that you can buy for $39.99 and you get out of a box. Reformation of a church doesn’t come out of a box, it comes out of the Scripture. Spurgeon says this to his fellow pastors, «You may study your sermon, my brother, and you may be a great rhetorician, you may be able to deliver it with wonderful fluency and force, but the only power that is effectual for the highest design of preaching is the power which does not lie in your word nor in my word, but in the Word of God.» Have you never noticed when persons are converted that they almost always attribute it to some text that was quoted in the sermon? It is God’s word and not our comment on God’s Word, which saves souls.

So, what effect does the Word of God produce? Well, it releases those that are held captive to sin, it unlocks the doors of hearts and the prison cell of unbelief, and lets the captive go free into a free life of Jesus. It unlocks the doors of depression and discouragement and sets the captive free into lives of joyful selfless service to the Savior. It convicts sinful twisted hearts of deep patterns of selfishness, it reveals hidden lusts and the cliff edges of materialism and other things in the heart to keep that soul walking in Jesus, that’s what the Scripture can do. And all servants of Christ, pastors or not, it doesn’t matter, should put their full trust in the Word of God because the Word of God alone is effective.

The Word of God is Sharp

Thirdly, the Word of God is sharp, sharp. It says sharper than any double-edged sword, the sharpness of the Word of God. Its ability to divide and render asunder things that ordinarily would be together, that’s what’s discussed here. What is a double-edged sword? Literally, the Greek is two-mouthed sword, one that cuts both ways, two sharp edges, two honed edges. No dull side. Friends, there are no dull passages in the Bible. There are only dull minds as we come to those passages.

Spurgeon was relating a story of a man who was just reading a Sunday school lesson, just reading the Sunday School lesson. And he came to that genealogy in Genesis 5, which goes from Adam to Noah. And it’s just this kind of rhythmic so-and-so lived so many years after the birth of so and so, and they had other sons and daughters, and then he died, and then he died, and then he died and then he died, and then he died, and the man was converted because he was considering his own death. He was cut to the heart by that passage because it has piercing, it has cutting abilities. The Word is sharp. It is sharp and it cuts both ways. A preacher unleashing the powerful convicting word of the Bible ought to see, does see, if he’s a godly man, that it’s cutting both ways. It’s not just the people that are being cut, but it’s the preacher as well. He stands under the convicting, converting, the transforming power of the Word, because he is having those same things happening in his life.

And I was meditating on this cutting because there’s a Greek word that relates to the cutting. It made me think of another passage of Scripture, 2 Timothy 2:15, which says, Paul’s talking to Timothy, a young pastor. He says «Study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.» Orthotomeo is a Greek word, rightly cutting it, cutting it right. So I thought, Now this is strange. In Hebrews, it talks about how the word is sharp, but then in 2 Timothy, it’s that he’s to cut the word straight.

So I was meditating on this and I came up with my onion illustration. About two or three months ago, I was making spaghetti with fresh onions, big white onions from the produce section. And I got a sharp knife and I sliced right through the center of that onion, and opened it up, and I was weeping within 30 seconds. I was just weeping as the pungent chemicals just oozed and flowed up into my face. And so I think that’s how these two relate. A skillful pastor cuts open the Scripture so it can cut you open, just unfolds the Word of God so that you are cut open before it and brought to tears over sin, brought to conviction and brought to joy over what Jesus has done at the cross. And so the Word of God does have power to hurt you and it also has power to heal you from that hurt. He wounds, and then he binds up the wounds, and he does it by the Word.

Take someone with a malignant tumor growing up inside their body, strangely, the body is supporting and nourishing that malignant tumor with blood vessels, feeding that tumor with blood vessels. The surgeon comes in with a scalpel and cut those blood vessels and there is bleeding. But the intention is healing because that tumor will kill you. And so the Word of God is sharp to heal you from sin.

The Word of God is Penetrating

And it’s also penetrating. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. So it’s not just a slashing kind of thing, but a piercing kind of thing. There’s a sense of piercing. Well, what’s being pierced? Our hardened hearts. That’s what’s being pierced.

It says in Hebrews 3:12-13, «See to it brothers that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.» Sin is deceitful. And the effect is a hardening of the heart. The Word of God has a remedy, it pierces the hardness that sin has produced. As in the days of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:37. When the people heard his sermon, it says, «They were cut to the heart,» they were pierced in their hearts, «and they said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?'» «Repent and believe in Jesus» is the answer. But because they were pierced. The Word of God can pierce like a rapier point.

One of my favorite stories from church history concerns George Whitefield, he was a powerful preacher of the Word of God, very dramatic but very biblical, very God-centered. He was an expository preacher but very passionate and dramatic in his presentation. He’s just going verse by verse and going through this and unleashing the power of the Word of God. And the Great Awakening, just by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Great Awakening was just pouring down as this man and others preached this Word. However, everywhere Whitefield went, he stimulated tremendous opposition, people hated him, and opposed him. Some would blow trumpets in his ear while he’s up on the stand preaching, others would throw dead cats at him or worse. He had enemies, and as he was doing it in one particular ministry in Bristol, England, he had stimulated some specific opposition.

Now, George Whitefield had a defect with his body. His eyes were constantly crossed. He had crossed-eye like that, and so those that sought to mock him called him Dr. Squintum. And so he had these squinty kind of crossed eyes, and there was this one particular group of young men who made it their business to mock Whitefield everywhere he went. They organized themselves in something called the Hell-Fire Club and there was a particular man named Thorpe, who was kind of the ring leader of the Hell-Fire Club, and they just kind of mocked him wherever he went in Bristol, England. And apparently, Thorpe was very good at doing impressions, he was good at it, and he had all of Whitefield’s mannerisms and gestures down pat. So he went with his buddies, the Hell-Fire Club, to a certain pub like a bar and he got a copy of one of Whitefield’s printed sermons, and he has the copy in his hand, gets up on the table and starts to mock Whitefield by preaching one of Whitefield’s sermons. Ten minutes into it, he is converted by the power of what he’s mocking.

He just sinks down on his knees in tears and begs Jesus to forgive him, forgive. This piercing power of the Word of God, and then he became himself a preacher of the Word, and led many to faith in Christ.

It’s the piercing power of the Word of God. You can’t escape it, if you’re one of God’s elect; and the Word of God has power to discriminate in your mind between this and that, to set it apart, to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow. I don’t know what that means exactly. Some theologians say that there’s a difference between the soul and the spirit. They say that the soul is that part of you that relates to God and they even, some of them, talk about it being implanted at the new birth, relationship with God. And then they say the spirit’s the natural kind of immaterial part of you that enervates you, that gives you life, etcetera. Look, I don’t know, I think that the word soul and spirit are frequently used interchangeable in Scripture, but I know this, if there can be a distinction made between soul and spirit, it’s the Word of God that can do it, and it can divide between joints and marrow too. And so it discriminates.

Charles Spurgeon put it this way, «The Word not only lets you see what your thoughts are, but it criticizes your thoughts. The Word of God says of this thought it is vain and of that thought it is acceptable. of this thought it is selfish and of that thought it is Christ-like. It is a judge of the thoughts of men and the Word of God is such a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart that when men twist about and wind and wander yet it tracks them down.»

II. Judgment Day Before the Word of God

And so, the written Word of God is vibrant, and its job is to bring us now, now, today, while there’s time, spiritually in our minds to bring us to Judgment Day. That’s its job. It brings Judgment Day to you or you to Judgment Day because it says it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. The function of Scripture is to save your soul. 2 Timothy 3:15, «How from infancy, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.» That’s what they can do. And so, before salvation can happen, a sinner has to be made to see himself as guilty in the eyes of the holy God. That sinner has to be brought to the judgment bar of God and stand guilty, and the Word of God has power to do that. It’s a mirror that shows you your corruptions, and it has power to illuminate your thought-life and reveal it to be godly or corrupt at any moment, it has the power to lay open the twists and turns of your tricky heart.

It says in Jeremiah 17:9 and 10, «The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?» That’s not a rhetorical question, it’s a real question. Who can understand the human heart? Next verse, «I the Lord search the heart and the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.» God knows your heart. He knows everything about it, even in its sinfulness.

Hunters catch foxes by studying their habit patterns and how they are clever and tricky, and how they double back on their ways and all that, what their layers are, and so human beings can hunt foxes successfully. But we can’t hunt our own hearts successfully, can we? But God through the Word can hunt our hearts successfully and the Word of God works together with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit uses the Word, and the Word and the Holy Spirit go together. And so the Spirit brings conviction of sin and it brings us to the judgment seat of God. And why is that?

III. The Searching Omniscience of God Himself

Look at verse 13, «Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account,» of God. This is God’s universe. He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and His holy eyes search out everything there is on this planet. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. We in our sin yearn to hide, we yearn to hide.

Adam and Eve made those fig leaf coverings for themselves and then when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, they ran and hid behind trees. They’re looking for a covering and they think that God cannot see what they do in the dark. But even the darkness is as light to God, there’s nothing in all creation hidden. Our secret lusts, our secret deeds, our secret desires, our secret histories, the things we’ve done in the past, the Word of God uncovers them in His holy presence so that we can bring them to the cross of Jesus for forgiveness. So that we can bring those things to Jesus and say, «Lord I am a sinner, oh Be merciful to me. Oh, Jesus, you shed your blood for sinners. I am a sinner. Save me, save me.» Even the best men in the Bible forget that God sees everything. We always think we sin in the dark, don’t we?

So Moses right before he kills the Egyptian, what’s he do? He kind of looks here and there. Well, what’s he looking for? For eyewitnesses. Seeing that there were none, he proceeded and killed the man, but he forgot the most important eyewitness of all, Almighty God. Or Jonah, he runs down and gets on the ship. Why? To get away from God. You can’t do that. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. There’s nowhere you can go from His Spirit, nowhere you can flee from His presence. And we yearn for a covering. And why?

IV. Judgment Day Before God Himself

Because some day in verse 13, we are going to give God an account. We are going to stand before Him and we will give Him an account.

Later in this book of Hebrews, «Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment.» And we are not ready, in our naked sin, we are not ready to stand before Him. We need a covering, amen? We need a covering. And there is a covering; the covering is the blood of Jesus, and so it says in Romans Chapter 4, «Blessed is the man whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.» We need a covering and the covering is provided. His name is Jesus, His blood was shed that we might be covered, that we might be forgiven, that we might stand clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.

V. Application

And so, what application can we take from this? Prize and reverence the Word of God, revere it. I don’t mean set the book in front of you, and bow down to it like some heathenish idol. Not saying that. I’m saying open it up and read it, listen to its message and realize that God’s speaking to you by it. And let the Word of God convert you. You may be here in an unconverted state, you should tremble about that, it should cause you to be worried and concerned about your soul. I plead with you to flee to Christ. Jesus shed His blood for sinners like you and me, God raised Him from the dead on the third day, trust in Him. The Word of God has power to convert you. And if you’re already a Christian, but you’re feeling saggy in your Christian life, you’re feeling drained, you’re weak, especially in your prayer life, let the word of Christ revive you spiritually. Go to the Word to derive new strength from it and let the Word of God strengthen you for His service. You’re given a ministry but you’re getting weary in it, you’re not seeing the fruits of the results, you’re tired of it. Go back to the Word through the Spirit, and let the Word of God revive you and renew your strength so you can go out and serve Him. And let the Word of God be your main strategy for fruitfulness.

If the Lord tarries and if the Lord calls me away from this pulpit, either by death or by some other calling, which I don’t intend at all, it’s not in my mind… I’d like to stay here till death. But if you’re here and the time comes to get another pastor, get one that’ll preach the Word, that’s what you’re searching for. And if you’re looking, you’re searching for a church, if you should leave from this place as our covenant says, or you’re not a member yet, find a church that preaches the Word above all else, that’s what you need. And finally let the Word of God search your innermost heart. I would suggest you physically lay down on your bed from time to time and say Psalm 139:23 and 24, «Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way and lead me in the way everlasting.» And then having been renewed and revived and strengthened, then take the Word of God out to a world that needs it. You’re surrounded by people without hope and without God in the world, minister the Word of God to somebody this week, say the words of Scripture to a lost person this week, get into a great conversation like Jesus did with that woman at the Samaritan well. Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank You for the power of the living and active Word of God. We thank you for everything it does in our souls. I pray that you would take the words that I’ve spoken and that You would blow away the chaff, the influences and effects that I have given that are unhelpful for human hearts. Blow them away, but let the eternal seed of the Word of God take root in hearts and grow to bear fruit for eternity. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Video Item Preview

Flag this item for

• Graphic Violence

• Explicit Sexual Content

• Hate Speech

• Misinformation/Disinformation

• Marketing/Phishing/Advertising

• Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

movies

Sermon The Inspired Word Of God

by

True Words Christian Church

Publication date

2020-08-30

Topics

word of god, king james version, bible, modern bible versions, inspired

Language

English

Sermon The Inspired Word of God

Addeddate

2021-01-14 15:35:09

Identifier

sermon-the-inspired-word-of-god

Scanner

Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to
write a review.

108

Views

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

download 1 file

ITEM TILE download

download 1 file

MPEG4 download

download 1 file

TORRENT download

download 83 Files

download 6 Original

SHOW ALL

IN COLLECTIONS

Sermons & Religious Lectures

Spirituality & Religion

Uploaded by

True Words Christian Church

on January 14, 2021

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014)

The first thing each and every Christian must fully realize is that the Holy Bible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God.

There are many liberal Christians who are starting to question the validity and authenticity of the Bible. I will not use this article to debate the origins of the Bible, all of the authors who wrote the books, and how the different translations came into being. There are plenty of good books at your local Christian bookstore that deal with this topic very extensively.

After studying the Bible in its complete entirety – there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that all of the Bible is God-breathed – that all of it has come directly to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit.

For those of you who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, and that all of it has truly come to us from God the Father.

I will use this article to give you some extremely powerful verses from Scripture to show you that not only did all of the Bible come direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit to all of the authors who wrote all 66 books of the Bible – but I will also give you some powerful verses from the Bible showing you how powerful the actual words of the Bible really are, and how they can also help to change and transform you into the kind of person that God really wants you to become in Him.

The actual words of the Bible are anointed by the Holy Spirit Himself – and they have the full ability to completely change and transform you if you are willing to work with the divine truths that are contained in the actual words.

Jesus says in the Bible that you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. However, you first have to know what the real truth is before the truth can start to work to set you free.

This is why Kind David said we must meditate on the words of the Bible – so we can find out what their true meaning is and how all of these divine truths can apply to our daily lives. Meditating on the Bible means to think about, to chew on, to try and figure out the meaning of all of the different verses in the Bible.

Though the Book is long, God has made it as simple and easy as He possibly could. Think about this. There is only one Bible. In one Book, God has given us everything we need to know about Himself, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the basics of our salvation through His Son Jesus, how He wants us to live this life, the things that He wants us doing, and the things that He does not want us to be doing.

In this one Book are all the ways and commandments of our Lord, along with all the information we are ever going to need on what is awaiting all of us on the other side when we die and cross over – heaven for the saved and hell for the unsaved.

I believe the number one reason God created the human race was for intimate fellowship. Even to the amazement of the angels in heaven, God seems to have some type of special longing and love for the human race.

The fact that God would send His one and only Son Jesus down to our earth in the flesh to go through the worst form of physical death at the time He came, all just to bring us back to Himself, really does show us how much God really does love all of us.

The Bible tells us that the love that God has for all of us is like a “consuming fire.” These two words are showing us a love that is of maximum intensity. With this kind of intense, passionate love that God has for all of us, I believe He is trying to tell all of us one main thing – and that one main thing is that He is looking to enter into a one-on-one, personal, love relationship with each one of us.

Think about this – that the one and only all-powerful God of the entire universe is looking to make a direct, personal connection with you on an individual and unique basis.

If you really step back and look at the big picture and all the things that we see in this life – what is the one thing that most of us long for in this life? What is the one thing that will make you cry when you see this portrayed on the movie screens?

It is the longing for a true soul mate. It is the longing for a pure, true, and unconditional love from a person of the opposite sex. There is nothing that can satisfy the deeper longings of your soul the way that true love can. However, there is just one small catch with this scenario. Even though some of you may have found your true soul mates in this life, there is still one more thing that has not been met.

No matter how perfect you think your mate may be – your mate is still not perfect like God is, since the Bible tells us that all men and women have sinned and have fallen way short of the glory of our God. What this means is that no matter how good of a love relationship you may have with your mate, that person is still not capable of giving you a perfect love because that person is not perfect in their very nature and personality.

Thus, every single one of us still has that little hole in our soul that just cannot seem to be filled with anything else in our lives.

No matter how much money we have, no matter how many material possessions we have, and no matter how many loving children we have – there is still something missing and none of these things can completely fill that little hole that is in all of our souls.

God has purposely left a vacuum, a hole, and a void in each one of our souls when He created us. And the only thing that can fill this hole and void is God the Father Himself, His Son Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit.

There is absolutely nothing else on this earth that can fill that empty void. People are literally chasing after the wind trying to find anything and everything to fill that void – and no matter how many lovers they have, no matter how many marriages they enter into, and no matter how many toys they buy with the money they have – nothing they chase after in this life will fill that hole in their souls.

The only thing that will fill that hole in your soul is finding, and then entering into a true, personal, love relationship with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. There is nothing else that will fill that void!

Since God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are totally perfect in Their actual natures and have no dark side to Their personalities, then They, and only They, are the only Ones who are capable of giving you a perfect, pure, and unconditional love that no one else can give you in this life.

This is why the Bible tells us that we will find a peace that will pass all human understanding once we have accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior and have become truly born again. That peace we will find is the result of finding the one true Person who can fill that empty void that is on the inside of each and everyone of us – and that one Person is God Almighty Himself.

However, once you have found God through accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, there is now something you must do. You must now grow in the knowledge of God and grow in the personal relationship that He wants to establish with you.

And how do you start to grow in the personal relationship He wants to establish with you and grow in the knowledge that He wants you to have about Him? By diving head first into the Bible!

When two lovers first meet and fall in love with one another, the first thing they naturally and instinctively want to do is to learn as much as they can about one another.

How can you truly fall in love with another person unless you first seek to know everything you can about your lover, their past, where they have been, what they have been through, who are all of their friends and family, etc. Once you really fall into true love with someone, you will have a major hunger and desire to find out as much as you can about them and their past.

It’s the exact same way in our relationship with God. God obviously knows everything about each one of us since He is all-knowing, but we do not know everything about Him, His Son, or His Spirit. So the only possible way that we can learn all about God is to read and study from the Bible, since the Bible is the only Book that we have down here on this earth that will give us detailed information as to who the Three of Them really are.

If a true, born-again, Spirit-filled Christian is really in love with God, and really wants to deepen the personal relationship they have now established with Him – then the first thing that person will really want to do is to get into the Bible so that they can find out everything they possibly can about this awesome God of ours.

The more knowledge you gain about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit from studying the Bible – the stronger and deeper your personal relationship will become with the Three of Them.

As you will see in the Scripture verses listed below, there are several other incredible things that will start to occur in your life if you seek to study the Bible with the intentions on wanting to learn more about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in order to deepen your personal relationship Them.

I will break these Scripture verses down under their appropriate captions below so you can see how powerful the Word of God really is, and how it can help change and transform the quality of your life if you are willing to study, learn, and seek to apply the divine truths that are in this incredible Book.

Study these verses very, very carefully. These verses are showing you how powerful and anointed the Bible really is. Since all of the Bible comes direct to us from God the Father, you can completely trust and rely on that what you will read from the Bible will be 100% pure, solid, God-truth.

1. All of Scripture is Given to Us By Inspiration From God the Father

These first two verses will specifically tell us, without any other possible interpretation, that all of the Bible has been given to us by “inspiration of God” through holy men who were “moved by the Holy Spirit” to write what they wrote!

In other words – all of the words in the Bible have come direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. The specific authors of the Bible then wrote under the guidance, inspiration, and illumination of the Holy Spirit.

This is why you can completely trust that what you will read from the Bible will be 100% pure, solid, God-truth! There is no other book on our earth that contains direct words from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ other than the Holy Bible. God Himself has personally arranged that all of the revelation that He wants us to have in this life about Himself, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit would all be contained in this one incredible Book.

Here are the two specific verses giving us this incredible revelation:

• “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
• “… knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20)

The first verse specifically tells us that all of Scripture, not just some or part of it, comes direct to us by inspiration from God the Father. The second verse then takes it one step further and tells us that the holy men of God who wrote the Bible, all wrote under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit Himself. It also says that no part of Scripture was of any private interpretation of these authors.

The first verse also lays out the groundwork as to what the Bible is going to be used for – for establishing solid Christian doctrine in the real truths of God, and for instruction in the knowledge and ways of God so that we may all be made complete and thoroughly equipped to go to work for God in the calling that He has set up for each one of our lives.

These two specific verses are powerful, foundational verses in which our study of Scripture has to be based on. If you do not believe that all of the Bible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God – then the Holy Spirit is not going to move on you to start to really work the truths that are contained in the Bible to change, mold, and transform you into the kind of person that God wants you to become in Him.

Bottom line – if you want the divine truths that are contained in the Bible to really be able to change and transform you – then you will have to believe that all of the Bible comes direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. If you do not, then the Bible will have little or no transforming effect on you and your life.

2. The Word of God is Living and Powerful

As you will see in the following verses, the words that are contained in the Bible are living, powerful, and sharper than any two edge sword we can make on this earth.

In other words, the words in the Bible have God’s supernatural power and life in them. They are literally anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. This is why the words and the truths contained in the Bible have the supernatural ability to change and transform you into the kind of person that God wants you to become in Him.

That is why Jesus told the apostles to “feed” His sheep. When you read and study the Bible for increased learning, you are feeding yourself with direct anointed words from God Almighty Himself.

Many Christians who do not regularly feed off the Bible have no idea on what they are really missing out on. The Words that are in the Bible are pure, solid, spiritual food that have the supernatural ability to feed your mind, soul, and spirit. Nothing else will feed your inner man like reading from the Bible will.

Just like our human physical bodies need physical food to be able to survive – so does our mind, soul, and spirit. The food that we feed our physical bodies will not nourish our mind, soul, and spirits.

The only thing that can spiritually feed and nourish us on the inside are true, solid, spiritual truths. And the only true, solid, spiritual truths that can feed us to cause any kind of true spiritual growth to occur in this life are divine truths that come direct from God the Father and Jesus Christ.

There are no other spiritual truths from any other sources that we can feed off of that will cause any kind of true spiritual growth to occur in this life.

Any other source is just dead meat. It has no supernatural life or ability to change us because it is not coming direct from God the Father and thus has no anointing on it.

All other false religions and New Age type thinking have no supernatural ability to change and spiritually transform you in this life. Only the divine truths that are contained in the Bible have this supernatural ability.

Now here are 9 major power verses showing you how much supernatural life and power there really is in the Word of God.

• “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)
• “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.” (Isaiah 55:11)
• “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)
• “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63)
• “This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life.” (Psalm 119:50)
• “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart …” (Jeremiah 15:16)
• “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)
• But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4:4)
• “… as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1 Peter 2:2)

Notice all of the food analogies that God is using to compare His Word with. What He is trying to tell us is that when you are studying the words that are contained in the Bible for increased learning – you are spiritually feeding yourself with supernatural nutrition!

I believe that all of the above Scripture verses are trying to tell us one main thing – that the Word of God is living, powerful, and real spiritual food for the soul and spirit of every person who is willing to feed off of it.

3. The Word of God is Pure, Solid Truth

If the Bible is telling us that all of Scripture is coming direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit – then the next thing that the Bible will be telling us is that all of the words that are coming direct to us from God the Father are 100% pure, solid truth.

If God is all-perfect and all-powerful, then this means His intelligence and knowledge on all things is all-perfect. And if His knowledge on all things is all-perfect, then this means that all of the words that He is conveying to us in the Bible can be counted on as being perfect words, thereby giving us perfect knowledge.

This means that all of the Bible can be counted on as being 100% pure, solid, God-truth with no errors and mistakes. The Bible tells us that all humans will only know in part with what knowledge we are able to gain down here on this earth. Thus every book you read from human authors will never be totally perfect in the knowledge that the author is trying to transmit to you.

However, since all of the Bible is coming direct to us from God Almighty Himself – then the Bible is the only Book that we have down here on this earth that is totally and completely perfect in the knowledge that it is trying to transmit to us.

This is why the Bible has the ability to change your life. No other book on this earth has the amount of wisdom and knowledge that this Book has – and this is all because this knowledge and wisdom is coming direct to us from God the Father Himself.

Now here are 4 very good verses from Scripture that are specifically telling us that every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is 100% pure, solid truth.

• “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5)
• “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” (Psalm 12:6)
• “For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:4)
• “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

Notice the first verse says that the words that come from God are “pure” words. The last verse then says that all of God’s words are “truth.” Put these two verses together and you get that all of the words that come from God are “pure truth.”

Pure means 100% pure – which means that all of God’s words are pure, solid truth with no errors or mistakes. This is why the Word of God is also called infallible and inerrant. If the Bible says that a thing is so – then it is so – end of discussion. You can literally bank your life on it!

4. The Word of God Can Sanctify You

If all of the words of the Bible are 100% pure, solid truth – then this means that all of the words in the Bible have the supernatural ability to sanctify you, especially since all of the Bible has the anointing of the Holy Spirit Himself on the entire Book.

God’s ultimate and highest aim for all of us after we become saved and born again is to sanctify us, to transform us, to mold and shape us into the express image of His Son Jesus. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to start this molding, transforming, and sanctifying work in us after we get saved.

However, the Holy Spirit needs something to work with in order to get this transformation process kicked into full gear – and that something is knowledge. God wants you to have full knowledge on exactly what it is He wants to change about you before He really starts to move you into this sanctification process with Him.

And where do you get the knowledge that will get God to start this sanctification process within you? From the Bible! There is no other book that we can learn and study from that will give us the direct knowledge that we will need from God the Father to get Him to start this sanctification process within us.

It’s the Word and the Spirit working together in a believer’s life that will get God to start working full force in their life so He can change them into the kind of person He really wants them to become in Him.

Here are several powerful verses from Scripture specifically telling us all of this. The first two verses will tell you that God can literally sanctify you by His Word.

• “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
•  ” … that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:26)
• “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:9-12)
• “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3)
• ” … and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21)
• “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

Notice the last verse says that the Word of God can “effectively work in you.” This means when you start reading and studying the Bible in order to gain more knowledge about God – it will start to effectively work in you so you can start to change into the person God will want you to become in Him.

Just think of the power this Book has to dramatically change and transform the quality of your entire life. True inner happiness and fulfillment can only be found on the inside of your being, not on the outside with material things and possessions.

Hollywood is living proof that money, fame, and notoriety will not buy you true inner happiness. There are many in Hollywood who truly have what they think is “all” – yet they are miserable, unhappy, depressed, and go from one shrink to another – all in an effort to try and find what is still missing in their lives and why they cannot seem to find true inner happiness with all of the earthly wealth they have accumulated.

The only way to find true inner happiness in this life is to become saved and born again through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ – and then enter into a dynamic personal relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. From there, you are to start seeking after the knowledge about God and all of His ways by studying and reading the Bible on your own.

The personal relationship you will establish with God, and the knowledge that you will gain about God from reading and studying from the Bible is what will dramatically transform the quality of your life down here on this earth. Nothing else on this earth will do that for you!

5. The Word of God Will Give You Knowledge and Wisdom

The Bible tells us that we are to grow in the knowledge and ways of God. And the number one way in which we will grow in the knowledge of God is by reading and studying from the Bible.

There is no other way! If you do not seek to learn more about the Lord by studying from the Bible, then your spiritual growth in the Lord will stagnate and you will stop growing in Him.

There are no shortcuts to true spiritual growth in the Lord. You have to pay your dues, and those dues are that you have to gain and increase in knowledge about God and all of His ways before the Holy Spirit will start you on the road to true spiritual growth. And the only Book that will give you the knowledge that will cause true spiritual growth to occur in this life is the Bible.

And not only has God given us everything that we will ever need in this one Book – but He has also given us His Holy Spirit, whose main job is to “teach us all things” and to “guide us into all truth.”

Several verses I will list below will tell you that the Holy Spirit Himself will be the One who will personally open up the meaning of Scripture for you so that you can see the knowledge that God the Father is trying to transmit to you through this Holy Book!

This is a direct supernatural work that can be done for you by the Holy Spirit if you are willing to go into a seeking mode with Him when you study the Bible.

Here are several good verses telling us that the Word of God can impart true knowledge and wisdom to us, and that God does want us growing in the knowledge of Him, His Son, and His Holy Spirit.

• “… but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)
• “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45)
• “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)
• “However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth …” (John 16:13)
• Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31)
• “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another …” (Colossians 3:16)
• “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path … The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple … Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.” (Psalm 119:105, 130, 133)
• “My son, give attention to My words; incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.” (Proverbs 4:20)

All of the above verses are showing us how powerful the words that are coming direct from God and Jesus really are. The Word of God can truly change your life for the better – but only if you are willing to spend some good quality time seeking to understand what is in this most incredible Book.

6. The Word of God Will Stand Forever

The last thing you will really need to grasp on the power of the Word of God is that the Word of God will last and stand forever – both in this life and the next life to come, which will be heaven.

Here are 3 very good verses from Scripture telling us that the Word of God is not chained and that it will endure to all generations – both in this life and the next life to come, which means forever!

•  “… for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained.” (2 Timothy 2:9)
•  “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations …” (Psalm 119:89)
• “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

Not only will your study of Scripture profit you in this life, but it will also profit you in the next life to come – which will be heaven.

I personally believe that we still continue to study the Bible even when we all enter into heaven. I do not believe any one human can truly master the Bible in this lifetime. There is simply way too much knowledge, wisdom, and revelation that is contained in this one Book for any one human to be able to fully grasp all of it in this lifetime.

I believe that the Bible is like a treasure chest that has no bottom to it. And to think that all of this knowledge is contained in just one Book! Only a true God of the entire universe could have put this much knowledge and revelation into one Book.

Conclusion

I will leave you with one last thought. Each Christian must make their own personal decision on this. Once you have become saved and born again by accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior – you now have one of two choices to make.

You can either choose to press in and start seeking after God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by spending regular quality time in the Bible to learn as much as you can about the Three of Them – or you can just leave well enough alone, figure you have as much of God as you will ever need in this life, and go on your merry way living for the world and the things of this world – never increasing your knowledge base about the Lord, and never really growing in the knowledge of God and all of His ways.

I am afraid most Christians in this day and age are taking the latter approach. Most Christians have either never read the Bible in its complete entirety, or have read very little of it in their own personal walks with the Lord.

This is one of the main reasons we have started up this website – to try and show everyone how much working knowledge there really is in the Bible, and how this knowledge can dramatically change and transform the quality of your life.

As I have shown you with all of the above Scripture verses, the Word of God is:

• Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant
• Living, Powerful, and Anointed
• Pure, Solid Truth
• Sharper than Any Two-Edged Sword
• Can Spiritually Nourish Your Mind, Soul and Spirit
• Has the Ability to Sanctify and Cleanse You
• Has the Ability to Teach You, Guide You, and Direct Your Steps in this Life
• And Will Last and Stand Forever – Both in this Life and the Next Life to Come

What more can you ask for in one Book? Bottom line – there is simply no other book on our earth that has this amount of unlimited knowledge direct from God Himself. And it is all there for the taking for anyone who wants to dive in and take the journey.

Introduction

There are more Bibles in print today than ever before. The Bible continues to be the best-selling and the most translated book in the world. Yet a Bible that eats dust on a shelf is worthless. Believers who suffer from spiritual malnutrition are people who don’t read their Bibles. The Bible carries God’s inspired word. Therefore it should be every believer’s first priority to feed on God’s word. Jesus called this “abiding”. How do I abide in God’s word? [This sermon is based on The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren]

Read John 8:31

1. Accept the authority of the Bible

A. Identify the Unreliable Authorities

For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, of following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things, (2 Timothy 4:3).

I. Culture (everyone is doing it): Culture is made of human values and often contradicts God’s Word.

II. Tradition (we have always done it): Culture and Tradition frequently walk together and often contradict God’s Word.

III. Reason (it seemed logical): No amount of human reasoning can beat the reliability of God’s Word.

IV. Emotion (it just felt right): Human emotions are deceptive because our hearts and minds are corrupted.

V. Instinct (intellect): Human wisdom is corrupted and impure. It leads to destruction.

B. Identify the Authority of the Bible

Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16).

I. The Bible is the expressed will of God. It’s inspired by God himself and serves many purposes in life.

II. The Bible is flawless. Experts have discovered that the facts recorded in the Bible hardly disagree with science and archaeology.

III. It’s like a Spiritual Compass that points to the true north (God) of life, (Psalm 119:105)

C. Submit to the Authority of the Bible

But I confess this to you, that I worship the God of our ancestors according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law and that is written in the prophets, (Acts 24:14).

I. Choose the Bible as your final authority regardless of culture, tradition, reason, and emotion.

II. When making decisions verify to see your desires are in accord with it. Consult your Spiritual Leaders if necessary.

III. Trust God’s word and obey when God says you to do something whether or not it makes sense or you don’t feel like doing it.

2. Assimilate its Truth

A. Receive God’s Word whole Heartedly

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you, (James 1:21)

I. The parable of the sower: Three unreceptive attitudes – a closed mind (hard soil), a superficial mind (shallow soil), and a distracted mind (soil with weeds)

II. Check your attitude when you feel you are not learning from a Preacher or Teacher of God’s Word.

III. Humble yourself to listen to even the most boring Preacher. Don’t criticize them.

B. Read God’s Word on a Regular Basis

It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:19-20)

I. Many Christians are more faithful to read the newspaper than to read their Bibles.

II. Read the Bible 15 minutes a day and you will read completely through it once a year – read it for thirty minutes a day and you will read completely through it twice a year.

III. Daily Bible reading keeps me in the range of God’s voice. Use a Bible Reading Plan. The Bible App is a great resource if you use a Smart Phone.

C. Study the Bible Systematically

But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does, (James 1:25)

I. There are many Bible study methods. The most basic principle of every method is to ask the right question.

II. Read the passage of your choice and ask Who? What? When? Where? Why? And how? Then attempt to answer those questions.

III. Pray that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the word and assist to apply the truths you learned.

D. Memorize the Word of God

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you, (Psalm 119:11)

I. Memory is not poor. We just don’t use it. We remember important things. Is God’s word important to you?

II. Memorizing scripture helps in times of decision making, stress, lack of confidence, lack of good advice, and witnessing to others.

III. Write key Bible verses on a small card and carry it with you and review them in the slightest break you get.

E. Meditate on the Word of God

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God, (Psalm 119:97)

I. In Eastern religions, meditation is focused on thinking. In Christianity, I select a verse and reflect on it over and over again in my mind.

II. If you know how to worry, you already know to meditate on God’s word. You can even take notes during a sermon for later reflection.

III. Biblical meditation is the key to answered prayer and the secret to successful living. It transforms me and makes me more like Jesus.

3. Apply the Truth

A. Why do we need to apply God’s Word?

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:20)

God’s word is practical. It prompts the reader to take action. It’s of no use to the reader unless he takes action.

B. What can we do to apply God’s Word?

Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to be sure of your calling and election. For by doing this you will never stumble into sin. (2 Peter 1:10)

I. Write out an action step as a result of your reading, studying, reflecting on, or listening to God’s word.

II. It should involve something for you to do and a deadline. Commit yourself to follow it closely.

III. If the application is genuine it will involve either your relationship with God, with others or your personal character.

C. Identify the hindrances to the Application

Jesus listed the hindrances to the application of God’s Word in “The Parable of the Sower” in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.

I. Application demands you to step into a process of change. Change can be difficult and painful.

II. Pride, Self-righteousness, Unforgiving thoughts and Unhealthy Attitudes are some of the issues that keep application at the bay.

III. Sometimes we need help from other Christians. If you find it difficult to change seek help from mature Christian leaders.

Conclusion

As Dr. D.L Moody said, “The Bible was given not to increase our knowledge but to change our lives”. Everyone called by God is called to become a disciple of Jesus a goal achieved only by doing what God’s word commands us to do.

---

If this content was helpful to you, please consider leaving your feedback in the comments section at the bottom, and sharing it with friends and family via email and social media, or both. It would be a great encouragement to me and a contribution to the edification of the Church. I seek to foster thoughtful and respectful dialogue. Toward that end, I request you use your full name when commenting. Also, any comments with profanity, name-calling, and/or a nasty tone will be deleted.