1 00:00:09,740 --> 00:00:12,200 Now would you like to turn please to 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:23,990 Hebrews, and 3 00:00:23,990 --> 00:00:26,610 though I shall be bringing the Bible study 4 00:00:26,610 --> 00:00:31,790 from the AV, let me just for you 5 00:00:31,790 --> 00:00:36,350 the rendering in the New International Version of 6 00:00:36,350 --> 00:00:36,750 the Bible. 7 00:00:36,990 --> 00:00:39,910 We're reading the 12th and 13th verses. 8 00:00:39,910 --> 00:00:43,030 For the Word of God is living and 9 00:00:43,030 --> 00:00:46,830 active, sharper than any double-edged sword. 10 00:00:47,510 --> 00:00:51,190 It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, 11 00:00:51,450 --> 00:00:52,490 joints and marrow. 12 00:00:53,230 --> 00:00:56,940 It judges of the heart. 13 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,280 Nothing in all creation is hidden. 14 00:01:02,380 --> 00:01:09,200 Everything is before the eyes of Him to 15 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,300 whom we must give. 16 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:17,180 One of the most significant doctrines in the 17 00:01:17,180 --> 00:01:23,480 Word of God is that which, that this 18 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:25,400 Bible is inspired. 19 00:01:26,100 --> 00:01:30,860 The doctrine of the plenary, the full inspiration 20 00:01:30,860 --> 00:01:31,920 of Scripture. 21 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:37,020 It is to that belief that the signature 22 00:01:37,020 --> 00:01:40,960 shall be laid. 23 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:44,480 We acknowledge the Word of God as being 24 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,700 authoritative in its entirety. 25 00:01:48,420 --> 00:01:55,370 And there are messages that we could put 26 00:01:55,370 --> 00:01:59,230 before those who would question our view that 27 00:01:59,230 --> 00:02:01,790 this is indeed a reasonable view. 28 00:02:04,660 --> 00:02:11,210 The Word of God is God's message down 29 00:02:11,210 --> 00:02:11,690 the center. 30 00:02:17,540 --> 00:02:26,920 That's the reason we believe that God speaks 31 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:28,120 through the book. 32 00:02:48,470 --> 00:02:54,420 The God speech, Word of God. 33 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:58,440 We believe that holy men wrote as they 34 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:03,090 received centuries ago. 35 00:03:03,550 --> 00:03:07,820 And that's the reason why we've got authored 36 00:03:07,820 --> 00:03:12,700 by some 30 plus over a long period 37 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:15,600 of time. 38 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:18,960 The Word of God inspired by the Holy 39 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:19,560 Spirit. 40 00:03:21,250 --> 00:03:27,560 Now, when we come to these verses of 41 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:32,740 Hebrews 4, we encounter one of the grandest 42 00:03:32,740 --> 00:03:36,360 statements of the doctrine of the inspiration of 43 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:36,760 Scripture. 44 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,200 And particularly the 12th verse. 45 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,020 I remember as a young Christian trying to 46 00:03:43,020 --> 00:03:45,880 memorize key passages of Scripture. 47 00:03:46,420 --> 00:03:48,220 And this was one of the first that 48 00:03:48,220 --> 00:03:50,560 I locked away in my mind. 49 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,700 The Word of God is quick and powerful 50 00:03:53,700 --> 00:03:56,700 and sharper than any two-edged sword. 51 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,220 Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul 52 00:04:00,220 --> 00:04:02,940 and spirit and of the joints and marrow. 53 00:04:03,340 --> 00:04:06,580 And is the discerner of the thoughts and 54 00:04:06,580 --> 00:04:08,960 the intents of the heart. 55 00:04:09,890 --> 00:04:15,720 And when we come to this particular verse 56 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,260 of Scripture, we do so, I remind you 57 00:04:19,260 --> 00:04:24,180 my friend, in the context of an illustration 58 00:04:24,180 --> 00:04:29,040 which the writer drew from an experience of 59 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,220 the Hebrews centuries before he wrote this epistle. 60 00:04:33,220 --> 00:04:37,640 He had been talking, you remember, of those 61 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:43,520 thousands of Hebrews who left the land of 62 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,940 Egypt and pushed their way to the borders 63 00:04:46,940 --> 00:04:50,540 of the promised land and yet never entered 64 00:04:50,540 --> 00:04:51,040 Canaan. 65 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,600 We have the tragic sight of seeing their 66 00:04:55,600 --> 00:05:02,800 graves, mounds of clay, scattered around the Sinai 67 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:03,600 peninsula. 68 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:08,680 A very sorrowful picture is drawn in the 69 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,460 verses that precede this 12th and 13th verse 70 00:05:12,460 --> 00:05:14,380 of Hebrews 4. 71 00:05:14,380 --> 00:05:17,760 You remember I spent two weeks dealing with 72 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,280 this and I also smuggled in a gospel 73 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:23,580 address on the subject just to ensure that 74 00:05:23,580 --> 00:05:25,380 the whole picture was clear. 75 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,820 A tragic situation, if ever you espied one. 76 00:05:30,220 --> 00:05:33,540 Men and women who died in the wilderness, 77 00:05:34,140 --> 00:05:37,300 never entered into the rest of God, never 78 00:05:37,300 --> 00:05:40,880 inherited the blessings which had been promised to 79 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,320 them on condition of their obedience. 80 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,860 Now you might ask yourself the question, as 81 00:05:46,860 --> 00:05:49,720 I often did as a youngster studying this 82 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,760 letter to the Hebrews, what has the 12th 83 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,860 verse got to do with the preceding verses? 84 00:05:56,620 --> 00:05:59,900 Because verses 12 and 13, they seem out 85 00:05:59,900 --> 00:06:01,700 on a tangent, out on a limb. 86 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:05,060 They don't seem to be immediately on a 87 00:06:05,060 --> 00:06:09,400 casual reading to have anything to do at 88 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:11,760 all with what went before. 89 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:14,960 But if you make that deduction, you do 90 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,180 because you're reading with cursory. 91 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:22,360 A little bit of close investigation of the 92 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,940 previous verses gives you this impression. 93 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:34,680 The Hebrews so tragically died in the wilderness 94 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:39,620 because they refused to accept the message that 95 00:06:39,620 --> 00:06:40,600 Moses preached. 96 00:06:41,620 --> 00:06:44,880 Let me repeat that, it's an important statement. 97 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:51,260 The Hebrews died tragically in Sinai because they 98 00:06:51,260 --> 00:06:54,320 spurned the message that Moses proclaimed. 99 00:06:55,220 --> 00:06:58,220 I told you last week, I've argued it 100 00:06:58,220 --> 00:06:59,780 previously from this pulpit. 101 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:02,800 There is only one gospel in the Old 102 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:03,740 and New Testament. 103 00:07:03,740 --> 00:07:06,500 A fuller revelation of it, to be sure, 104 00:07:06,620 --> 00:07:08,840 exists in the latter part of the Bible. 105 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,760 But in the foremost part, in the first 106 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:14,800 part of the Word of God, the gospel 107 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:15,660 is predicted. 108 00:07:15,940 --> 00:07:17,200 The gospel is promised. 109 00:07:17,420 --> 00:07:18,860 It's there in embryo. 110 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:21,140 It comes to full birth in the New 111 00:07:21,140 --> 00:07:21,560 Testament. 112 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,240 Now the essence of the gospel message was 113 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,340 preached by Moses to the Hebrews. 114 00:07:30,190 --> 00:07:31,780 And they rejected it. 115 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,120 That's what the second verse says of this 116 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:35,500 chapter. 117 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,420 For unto us was the gospel preached as 118 00:07:39,420 --> 00:07:41,520 well as unto them. 119 00:07:42,580 --> 00:07:45,600 But the word preached did not profit them, 120 00:07:46,380 --> 00:07:50,340 not being mixed with faith in them that 121 00:07:50,340 --> 00:07:50,960 heard it. 122 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,880 Now when you come to the twelfth verse 123 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:59,660 of this chapter, what the author is doing, 124 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:05,380 is showing us the importance that God attaches 125 00:08:05,380 --> 00:08:07,340 to his most holy word. 126 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,840 Reject that word and you'll reject it at 127 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:12,340 your peril. 128 00:08:13,090 --> 00:08:17,360 You know, in some senses, I'm caught in 129 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,460 a dilemma when an opportunity for personal evangelism 130 00:08:21,460 --> 00:08:22,540 presents itself. 131 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:24,360 I'll tell you why. 132 00:08:26,020 --> 00:08:29,800 It's because if I proclaim the gospel of 133 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:35,360 Christ clearly, in a comprehensible fashion, and the 134 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,080 person does not respond to what I am 135 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:42,299 saying, then their reaction is an offense to 136 00:08:42,299 --> 00:08:43,100 the holy God. 137 00:08:44,140 --> 00:08:48,200 Their reaction is an offense to the holy 138 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:48,600 God. 139 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,560 God's word is an important word. 140 00:08:53,340 --> 00:08:57,000 It's directed to man, not for his consideration, 141 00:08:57,260 --> 00:08:58,620 but for his acceptance. 142 00:09:00,490 --> 00:09:04,050 The Hebrews rejected what God's spokesman Moses had 143 00:09:04,050 --> 00:09:05,310 to say in the wilderness. 144 00:09:06,250 --> 00:09:09,010 They were against saying and a disobedient people. 145 00:09:09,010 --> 00:09:13,410 Constantly, though God manifested his presence in their 146 00:09:13,410 --> 00:09:17,190 midst, they rejected what he had to say. 147 00:09:17,990 --> 00:09:21,830 And ultimately, God rejected them. 148 00:09:22,870 --> 00:09:28,870 The word of salvation became the word of 149 00:09:28,870 --> 00:09:30,170 condemnation. 150 00:09:31,010 --> 00:09:35,990 And as it was yesteryear, so it is 151 00:09:35,990 --> 00:09:36,430 today. 152 00:09:37,430 --> 00:09:41,670 The proclamation of God's word is a most 153 00:09:41,670 --> 00:09:45,510 important thing, and the man and woman who 154 00:09:45,510 --> 00:09:52,170 fears and rejects offends almighty God. 155 00:09:53,310 --> 00:09:56,550 Well, I say that in passing, but I 156 00:09:56,550 --> 00:10:00,550 do so for the simple reason that the 157 00:10:00,550 --> 00:10:05,110 twelfth and thirteenth verses do not constitute a 158 00:10:05,110 --> 00:10:08,370 tangent from what has preceded. 159 00:10:09,430 --> 00:10:14,350 Rather, gathered up by the writer, is the 160 00:10:14,350 --> 00:10:17,330 concept of the importance of God's word. 161 00:10:18,290 --> 00:10:22,630 And because those ancient Hebrews rejected it, they 162 00:10:22,630 --> 00:10:25,230 never entered into the rest of God. 163 00:10:25,890 --> 00:10:28,790 And that very word that could have saved 164 00:10:28,790 --> 00:10:31,470 damned them. 165 00:10:34,570 --> 00:10:37,110 The connection between these two verses, and I'm 166 00:10:37,110 --> 00:10:39,290 not sticking very close to my notes just 167 00:10:39,290 --> 00:10:41,170 at this moment, I'll come back in a 168 00:10:41,170 --> 00:10:41,910 moment or so. 169 00:10:42,330 --> 00:10:45,970 The connection between verses twelve and thirteen actually, 170 00:10:47,230 --> 00:10:50,030 again, is obvious if you dig between the, 171 00:10:50,450 --> 00:10:53,090 not dig between the lines, but dig within 172 00:10:53,090 --> 00:10:57,410 the actual illustrations that I use. 173 00:10:58,310 --> 00:11:02,010 We've got the idea of God's word plunging 174 00:11:02,010 --> 00:11:07,550 into the very headquarters of man's personality in 175 00:11:07,550 --> 00:11:08,410 the twelfth verse. 176 00:11:08,650 --> 00:11:12,630 There's nothing that it cannot touch. 177 00:11:13,490 --> 00:11:16,130 There's nothing that it does not cut. 178 00:11:17,090 --> 00:11:20,830 And in the thirteenth verse, you've got the 179 00:11:20,830 --> 00:11:26,570 picture of man being exposed before God. 180 00:11:27,650 --> 00:11:30,670 So if in the twelfth verse the idea 181 00:11:30,670 --> 00:11:35,410 is of the word of God penetrating, in 182 00:11:35,410 --> 00:11:38,730 the thirteenth verse it's the God of the 183 00:11:38,730 --> 00:11:40,150 word perceiving. 184 00:11:40,730 --> 00:11:41,370 Have you got that? 185 00:11:41,410 --> 00:11:43,230 It's important, but it's simple to grasp. 186 00:11:43,230 --> 00:11:46,850 In the twelfth verse, there's the word of 187 00:11:46,850 --> 00:11:51,870 God penetrating, cutting right to the inner private 188 00:11:51,870 --> 00:11:55,370 parts of a man's thinking of his personality. 189 00:11:56,090 --> 00:11:59,530 And in the thirteenth verse, here is the 190 00:11:59,530 --> 00:12:03,050 God of the word having everything in view 191 00:12:03,050 --> 00:12:07,890 in respect of any individual human being. 192 00:12:07,890 --> 00:12:12,510 As God then judged the Old Testament Hebrews 193 00:12:12,510 --> 00:12:16,810 by his word, as everything was exposed as 194 00:12:16,810 --> 00:12:21,270 far as their conduct was concerned, centuries ago. 195 00:12:22,170 --> 00:12:25,810 So the same situation applies today. 196 00:12:26,330 --> 00:12:28,450 And of course it applied at the time 197 00:12:28,450 --> 00:12:32,510 of the writer to this Hebrew community who 198 00:12:32,510 --> 00:12:34,850 first received this letter. 199 00:12:34,850 --> 00:12:39,350 You see, the writer is somewhat anxious. 200 00:12:39,590 --> 00:12:39,810 Why? 201 00:12:40,230 --> 00:12:44,390 Well, he's not too sure that these Hebrews 202 00:12:44,390 --> 00:12:46,630 are going on with the Lord. 203 00:12:47,110 --> 00:12:49,510 He's not sure that they're giving evidence of 204 00:12:49,510 --> 00:12:51,170 a genuine faith. 205 00:12:52,050 --> 00:12:55,030 And he's reminding them, having had the gospel 206 00:12:55,030 --> 00:12:59,850 preached, they are in a very responsible situation. 207 00:12:59,850 --> 00:13:04,950 They're responsible before God for the way that 208 00:13:04,950 --> 00:13:06,710 they've reacted to that word. 209 00:13:07,390 --> 00:13:10,150 And he wants them to realize that they 210 00:13:10,150 --> 00:13:14,570 too are exposed before the Lord and one 211 00:13:14,570 --> 00:13:17,930 day will be judged by him for the 212 00:13:17,930 --> 00:13:22,190 way that they reacted to his divinely inspired 213 00:13:22,190 --> 00:13:23,030 message. 214 00:13:23,790 --> 00:13:26,970 Well then, with those things in mind, let's 215 00:13:26,970 --> 00:13:30,070 come to work through these twelfth and thirteenth 216 00:13:30,070 --> 00:13:30,610 verses. 217 00:13:30,950 --> 00:13:34,610 The twelfth under the general title of the 218 00:13:34,610 --> 00:13:35,590 word of God. 219 00:13:36,450 --> 00:13:38,630 For the word of God is quick and 220 00:13:38,630 --> 00:13:41,970 powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, 221 00:13:42,090 --> 00:13:45,370 piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul 222 00:13:45,370 --> 00:13:47,990 and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and 223 00:13:47,990 --> 00:13:50,610 it is a discerner of the thoughts and 224 00:13:50,610 --> 00:13:52,210 intents of the heart. 225 00:13:52,210 --> 00:13:54,470 God's word is quick. 226 00:13:55,050 --> 00:13:56,110 It's powerful. 227 00:13:56,730 --> 00:13:59,250 Or as the NIV puts it, it's living. 228 00:14:00,150 --> 00:14:01,250 It's active. 229 00:14:02,030 --> 00:14:03,930 And you would expect that, wouldn't you? 230 00:14:04,210 --> 00:14:09,850 Because the word is directly linked by the 231 00:14:09,850 --> 00:14:11,030 writer to God. 232 00:14:11,150 --> 00:14:13,470 It's not any ordinary word. 233 00:14:13,730 --> 00:14:15,130 It's God's word. 234 00:14:15,810 --> 00:14:17,470 God is a living God. 235 00:14:17,470 --> 00:14:22,010 And therefore the message that he proclaims is 236 00:14:22,010 --> 00:14:27,290 an alive message, relevant to everyone. 237 00:14:28,250 --> 00:14:36,110 When God speaks, he anticipates securing his objective. 238 00:14:37,290 --> 00:14:41,530 So in Genesis, the opening chapter, you'll get 239 00:14:41,530 --> 00:14:47,990 the six-fold stage of creation presented in 240 00:14:47,990 --> 00:14:51,550 terms of, and God said, and it was 241 00:14:51,550 --> 00:14:52,330 done. 242 00:14:52,990 --> 00:14:54,430 God's word, powerful. 243 00:14:55,130 --> 00:14:56,770 God's word, creative. 244 00:14:57,550 --> 00:15:02,670 God's word, pulsating with energy, creating power, bringing 245 00:15:02,670 --> 00:15:05,990 life out of absolutely nothing. 246 00:15:06,710 --> 00:15:09,150 The word of God is quick and powerful. 247 00:15:09,150 --> 00:15:13,230 I believe this when the gospel is preached. 248 00:15:13,510 --> 00:15:17,250 His word will not return until him void. 249 00:15:17,890 --> 00:15:19,930 You remember that's what Isaiah said. 250 00:15:20,570 --> 00:15:22,610 I believe that we should have, as a 251 00:15:22,610 --> 00:15:25,370 result of our study this evening, a greater 252 00:15:25,370 --> 00:15:29,550 concept, not only of God's word, but of 253 00:15:29,550 --> 00:15:33,190 God's word as it is proclaimed through gospel 254 00:15:33,190 --> 00:15:33,670 preaching. 255 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,150 For that has the authority of the Lord 256 00:15:37,150 --> 00:15:38,950 behind it. 257 00:15:39,510 --> 00:15:43,990 It's a quick, and it's a powerful word. 258 00:15:44,450 --> 00:15:48,010 One that creates, recreates. 259 00:15:48,590 --> 00:15:51,430 One that gives energy. 260 00:15:53,110 --> 00:15:57,170 But the writer doesn't just start by impressing 261 00:15:57,170 --> 00:16:02,910 upon us the liveliness of God's word and 262 00:16:02,910 --> 00:16:04,030 its efficiency. 263 00:16:05,030 --> 00:16:09,410 He draws for us this picture of the 264 00:16:09,410 --> 00:16:09,910 sword. 265 00:16:10,850 --> 00:16:14,850 The word of God is sharper than any 266 00:16:14,850 --> 00:16:15,830 two-edged sword. 267 00:16:16,850 --> 00:16:20,530 It's like a sword very, very much. 268 00:16:21,790 --> 00:16:26,290 But any illustration pales into insignificance because if 269 00:16:26,290 --> 00:16:28,710 it's a sword, it's sharper than any sword 270 00:16:28,710 --> 00:16:30,370 that you can possibly imagine. 271 00:16:32,890 --> 00:16:37,870 Now, it's because the reference is made to 272 00:16:37,870 --> 00:16:40,530 the word of God as a sharp sword 273 00:16:40,530 --> 00:16:42,210 that I could not go along with some 274 00:16:42,210 --> 00:16:45,450 commentators who think the writer of the epistle 275 00:16:45,450 --> 00:16:47,510 in referring to the word of God is 276 00:16:47,510 --> 00:16:48,910 referring directly to Jesus. 277 00:16:49,930 --> 00:16:52,830 You never find reference in the word of 278 00:16:52,830 --> 00:16:54,570 God to Jesus as a sword. 279 00:16:55,430 --> 00:16:58,790 Rather, you find in Revelation that Jesus wields 280 00:16:58,790 --> 00:16:59,310 the sword. 281 00:17:00,190 --> 00:17:03,270 And you discover in Ephesians that the word 282 00:17:03,270 --> 00:17:06,190 of God is the sword of the Spirit. 283 00:17:08,839 --> 00:17:13,859 Well, this book, this word, this gospel, it's 284 00:17:13,859 --> 00:17:14,700 razor sharp. 285 00:17:16,579 --> 00:17:18,740 And it's not just razor sharp on one 286 00:17:18,740 --> 00:17:19,020 edge. 287 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,160 It's razor sharp on two edges. 288 00:17:23,660 --> 00:17:26,960 Which made the older commentators, going back to 289 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:29,780 the 3rd, 4th, and 5th century, they were 290 00:17:29,780 --> 00:17:31,800 commenting on the Bible in the 3rd, 4th, 291 00:17:31,820 --> 00:17:32,580 and 5th century. 292 00:17:33,020 --> 00:17:34,440 And you can read what they have to 293 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:35,740 say if you've got a lot of time. 294 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,760 They were suggesting that the two-edged aspect 295 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:42,340 of the word of God was the Old 296 00:17:42,340 --> 00:17:44,760 Testament and the New Testament. 297 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:49,120 But I think modern commentators are perhaps a 298 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:53,940 little more shrewd in the way that they 299 00:17:53,940 --> 00:17:58,660 suggest that the two edges of the word 300 00:17:58,660 --> 00:18:04,000 of God describe the two-fold reaction that 301 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:05,340 there is to God's word. 302 00:18:07,100 --> 00:18:10,320 That's the reason why we read earlier from 303 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,540 John's gospel and chapter 12. 304 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,440 Because there our Savior is preaching. 305 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:21,940 And he's saying something about the word that 306 00:18:21,940 --> 00:18:24,140 he has proclaimed. 307 00:18:24,940 --> 00:18:38,060 John 12, 48, What 308 00:18:38,060 --> 00:18:39,380 does that mean? 309 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:41,200 That God's word can have a two-fold 310 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:41,740 effect. 311 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:46,560 It either saves or it condemns. 312 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,740 It's never neutral in its consequence. 313 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,660 It either saves a person or it condemns 314 00:18:55,660 --> 00:18:55,820 him. 315 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,100 So when the word is wielded, it's wielded 316 00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:01,860 like a sword with two edges. 317 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:04,460 With some it will be the cut that 318 00:19:04,460 --> 00:19:04,960 will save. 319 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:09,100 With others it's the cut that condemns. 320 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:14,400 The Apostle Paul doesn't maintain the same metaphor 321 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:19,760 but he is teaching the same concept when 322 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:23,840 writing to the Corinthians the second letter and 323 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:25,080 the fifth chapter. 324 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:32,360 And the 15th verse he tells us about 325 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:36,080 the word of God and the way that 326 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:41,040 it either is a word to salvation or 327 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,200 a word to damnation. 328 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:49,200 That's a very interesting comment that the Apostle 329 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:50,440 there has to make. 330 00:19:50,540 --> 00:19:55,320 This twin reaction to the gospel message. 331 00:19:55,420 --> 00:19:57,000 It becomes a word of salvation. 332 00:19:57,620 --> 00:20:00,100 If they accept it, it becomes a word 333 00:20:00,100 --> 00:20:01,600 of damnation. 334 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,560 It is rejected. 335 00:20:05,540 --> 00:20:08,080 So then it's a very powerful illustration we've 336 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:08,500 got here. 337 00:20:08,500 --> 00:20:10,500 The word of God is quick and powerful, 338 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:12,700 sharper than any two-edged sword. 339 00:20:14,100 --> 00:20:16,380 And do you not see in the early 340 00:20:16,380 --> 00:20:20,720 preaching of the church the wielding of that 341 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:21,080 sword? 342 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,740 Here's Peter on the day of Pentecost and 343 00:20:23,740 --> 00:20:26,900 he preaches about Jesus being God's Son and 344 00:20:26,900 --> 00:20:30,020 the fight that the Jews have put him 345 00:20:30,020 --> 00:20:30,480 to death. 346 00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:33,460 And we read that some in the audience, 347 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,960 some in the congregation were cut to the 348 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:37,400 heart. 349 00:20:37,740 --> 00:20:39,300 Cut to the heart. 350 00:20:39,380 --> 00:20:41,480 It's the language of the sword. 351 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:45,420 It's the language of someone whose being has 352 00:20:45,420 --> 00:20:46,740 been penetrated. 353 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,720 You'll get it on further occasions in the 354 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:52,460 Acts as I indicate in my notes. 355 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:54,260 No need to turn to them right now. 356 00:20:54,500 --> 00:20:56,540 But the idea again is of a Christian 357 00:20:56,540 --> 00:21:02,120 soldier who unseathes his sword and he penetrates 358 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:05,860 the hearts of men as he proclaims the 359 00:21:05,860 --> 00:21:06,120 word. 360 00:21:06,820 --> 00:21:12,300 Some, they respond positively and I repeat it 361 00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:14,080 becomes the word of salvation. 362 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:19,700 Some respond negatively and the word therefore condemns 363 00:21:19,700 --> 00:21:19,960 them. 364 00:21:20,780 --> 00:21:22,960 But the sword remains powerful. 365 00:21:23,580 --> 00:21:27,660 Always having an effect despite the fact that 366 00:21:27,660 --> 00:21:31,160 the two effects seem to be at the 367 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,240 opposite extremes. 368 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,200 So the word of God is quick. 369 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:37,420 It's powerful. 370 00:21:38,100 --> 00:21:40,680 It's sharper than any two-edged sword. 371 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,500 It pierces even to the dividing of soul 372 00:21:44,500 --> 00:21:46,900 and spirit and of the joints and marrow. 373 00:21:48,260 --> 00:21:50,280 Some of the early church fathers, they had 374 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:51,840 a whale of a time telling us what 375 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,000 the soul was and what the spirit stands 376 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,640 for, what the joints stand for, what the 377 00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:58,740 marrow stands for. 378 00:21:59,340 --> 00:22:00,740 Seems as though they were butchers in the 379 00:22:00,740 --> 00:22:02,560 way that they were able to do a 380 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,700 sort of dissecting of human anatomy. 381 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,800 But it seems to me, again I think 382 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,160 I indicate in the notes I publish, that 383 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,360 John Calvin, as he so often does, saw 384 00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:17,860 the truth when he says this metaphor is 385 00:22:17,860 --> 00:22:21,000 indicating there's nothing so hard or firm in 386 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,860 a man, nothing so deeply hidden, that the 387 00:22:24,860 --> 00:22:28,700 word of God cannot penetrate through to it. 388 00:22:28,700 --> 00:22:31,360 The word of God is powerful. 389 00:22:32,060 --> 00:22:33,340 Haven't you seen that sometimes? 390 00:22:33,500 --> 00:22:35,860 Maybe you experience it in your own testimony. 391 00:22:36,300 --> 00:22:38,760 I knew a man who lived in Roslin, 392 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:44,240 a town which is quite conveniently situated next 393 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:45,400 to my home city. 394 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:47,280 And he was a miner. 395 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:50,300 I remember my father making reference to him, 396 00:22:50,340 --> 00:22:53,040 a very hardened man, a man who would 397 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:55,200 not have bought to the thought of murdering 398 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:55,580 someone. 399 00:22:56,340 --> 00:22:58,600 And the day came when that man was 400 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:00,480 brought under the sound of the gospel. 401 00:23:01,300 --> 00:23:03,520 And no one would have believed that he, 402 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,200 of all the people in his area, Roarmarch 403 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,580 was the suburb that he lived in, that 404 00:23:09,580 --> 00:23:13,480 area of Roslin, that he would have responded, 405 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:14,400 that he did. 406 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,360 The word of God got right through. 407 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,020 You find illustration of this in Bristol, in 408 00:23:20,020 --> 00:23:23,500 the preaching of the Wesleys and Whitfield. 409 00:23:23,500 --> 00:23:26,180 These hardened miners, when they came up from, 410 00:23:26,300 --> 00:23:27,860 was it called Kingswood Colliery? 411 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:32,200 And they listened to Whitfield, this man with 412 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,320 an angelic countenance, proclaim the word of God. 413 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:36,300 And it got through. 414 00:23:36,740 --> 00:23:38,320 You wouldn't have believed it, but it did. 415 00:23:40,430 --> 00:23:42,710 The thing that's kept me going sometimes in 416 00:23:42,710 --> 00:23:45,770 the late hours of the night, talking to 417 00:23:45,770 --> 00:23:49,250 some of those punks, was the thought that 418 00:23:49,250 --> 00:23:53,970 it couldn't have been a harder heart that 419 00:23:53,970 --> 00:23:56,810 Whitfield was presented with when he preached in 420 00:23:56,810 --> 00:23:57,210 Bristol. 421 00:23:57,770 --> 00:23:59,290 And the word got through. 422 00:24:00,150 --> 00:24:01,670 And one of the things that I try 423 00:24:01,670 --> 00:24:04,970 to convince our own youngsters of, is that 424 00:24:04,970 --> 00:24:09,790 the word in itself, despite any secondary help 425 00:24:09,790 --> 00:24:13,510 that one may have in gospel presentation, the 426 00:24:13,510 --> 00:24:16,030 word itself can do its own job. 427 00:24:16,030 --> 00:24:18,290 It's the most important thing. 428 00:24:19,390 --> 00:24:20,710 I'm not against music. 429 00:24:21,370 --> 00:24:22,850 You can have all the music in the 430 00:24:22,850 --> 00:24:23,150 world. 431 00:24:23,870 --> 00:24:28,390 You can have all the presentation of pictorial 432 00:24:28,390 --> 00:24:29,790 displays. 433 00:24:30,550 --> 00:24:31,990 I'm not against that. 434 00:24:32,950 --> 00:24:35,910 But the prime thing is the word of 435 00:24:35,910 --> 00:24:39,130 God, enlivened by the spirit of God. 436 00:24:39,290 --> 00:24:42,170 It can get through when nothing else can 437 00:24:42,170 --> 00:24:42,670 get through. 438 00:24:44,300 --> 00:24:49,180 And the guitarists, Whitfield and Wesley, and other 439 00:24:49,180 --> 00:24:52,600 men who've had no help at all musically, 440 00:24:52,740 --> 00:24:55,720 no big choirs like the London Emanuel Choir, 441 00:24:55,860 --> 00:24:57,440 just to redress the balance. 442 00:24:57,500 --> 00:24:59,080 Those of you who think I'm knocking modern 443 00:24:59,080 --> 00:24:59,980 music, I'm not. 444 00:25:00,100 --> 00:25:01,580 I'm not knocking anything at all. 445 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,160 I'm just making the point that the word 446 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:11,000 of God, unaccompanied by anything else, when the 447 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,520 power of the spirit is in evidence, can 448 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:15,900 get through to a man. 449 00:25:16,740 --> 00:25:19,700 And there's nothing else that can do just 450 00:25:19,700 --> 00:25:20,660 that, right through. 451 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,940 So it becomes a discerner of the thoughts 452 00:25:23,940 --> 00:25:26,800 and the intents of the heart, the headquarters 453 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:27,920 of the personality. 454 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:29,660 That word can penetrate. 455 00:25:31,380 --> 00:25:34,360 I think in one sense, without being at 456 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:38,240 all, in any sense, too stern or even 457 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,760 verging on the sadistic, there's no more wonderful 458 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,820 sight than to see a man rising in 459 00:25:44,820 --> 00:25:45,360 conviction. 460 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,400 Because that means the word is having its 461 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:49,860 effect. 462 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:54,180 One of the things that's missing today, it 463 00:25:54,180 --> 00:25:56,300 seems to me, when we're preaching, and that 464 00:25:56,300 --> 00:25:59,160 would indicate, therefore, my lack of spirituality. 465 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,440 I confess that publicly before this congregation. 466 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,180 I can see no other reason for the 467 00:26:05,180 --> 00:26:09,680 lack of fruit in some areas in our 468 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:10,840 evangelism here. 469 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:16,340 But one of the things that's missing is 470 00:26:16,340 --> 00:26:17,260 the conviction. 471 00:26:18,380 --> 00:26:23,720 When the word of God is preached, the 472 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,120 word is able to do its work. 473 00:26:27,860 --> 00:26:29,680 I wonder if the lack is not within 474 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:31,500 my own spirit. 475 00:26:31,500 --> 00:26:33,360 Your own spirit. 476 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,980 That we're not able to handle that word 477 00:26:36,980 --> 00:26:38,580 well enough. 478 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,660 Or maybe we're not holy enough for the 479 00:26:42,660 --> 00:26:46,020 Spirit of God to act upon the word. 480 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:49,140 And bring men and women to that state 481 00:26:49,140 --> 00:26:51,500 of abject despondency. 482 00:26:52,060 --> 00:26:55,540 That they rise in conviction and cry out, 483 00:26:55,700 --> 00:26:56,960 What must we do? 484 00:26:58,590 --> 00:27:02,050 One of the hardest things, I challenge anyone, 485 00:27:02,170 --> 00:27:03,530 you're welcome over there this evening. 486 00:27:04,450 --> 00:27:07,030 One of the hardest things is to get 487 00:27:07,030 --> 00:27:11,530 some of these radical punks to acknowledge that 488 00:27:11,530 --> 00:27:12,690 there's such a thing as sin. 489 00:27:13,610 --> 00:27:16,390 When you talk about forbidden fruit, they laugh. 490 00:27:17,350 --> 00:27:19,910 When they talk, you talk about morality, they 491 00:27:19,910 --> 00:27:20,250 laugh. 492 00:27:21,030 --> 00:27:23,510 When you talk about sexual ethics, they don't 493 00:27:23,510 --> 00:27:25,210 even know what the term indicates. 494 00:27:25,770 --> 00:27:27,150 They've got no yardstick. 495 00:27:27,390 --> 00:27:28,370 They've got no judgment. 496 00:27:28,870 --> 00:27:30,610 They can't relate it back to a mother 497 00:27:30,610 --> 00:27:32,590 and father who lived a moral life. 498 00:27:33,070 --> 00:27:34,450 Very often their parents didn't. 499 00:27:34,870 --> 00:27:36,470 And in any case, we put the television 500 00:27:36,470 --> 00:27:37,230 in front of them. 501 00:27:37,530 --> 00:27:39,430 We're responsible as a nation at any rate 502 00:27:39,430 --> 00:27:41,370 for what is projected on the screen and 503 00:27:41,370 --> 00:27:42,250 on the cinema screen. 504 00:27:43,490 --> 00:27:45,810 The lack of holiness, it's not there. 505 00:27:46,690 --> 00:27:50,030 Or rather the concept of holiness is not 506 00:27:50,030 --> 00:27:50,330 there. 507 00:27:50,570 --> 00:27:52,330 And it's like preaching in a vacuum. 508 00:27:52,330 --> 00:27:54,250 They've got no yardstick. 509 00:27:54,910 --> 00:27:56,930 And nothing seems to touch them at all. 510 00:27:58,110 --> 00:27:59,730 And maybe that's one of the reasons why 511 00:27:59,730 --> 00:28:03,190 in our desperation we try every conceivable method 512 00:28:03,190 --> 00:28:04,290 to get their attention. 513 00:28:05,310 --> 00:28:08,630 But I'm assured that the best method is 514 00:28:08,630 --> 00:28:11,830 to bathe our preaching with prayer and to 515 00:28:11,830 --> 00:28:16,190 love these young people as Jesus loved folks 516 00:28:16,190 --> 00:28:17,970 when he was on this earth. 517 00:28:18,070 --> 00:28:20,330 Well, it's the word of God that penetrates 518 00:28:20,330 --> 00:28:21,370 the inner citadel. 519 00:28:21,370 --> 00:28:24,790 It's this word of God that is so 520 00:28:24,790 --> 00:28:28,250 powerful that it can pry into the very 521 00:28:28,250 --> 00:28:32,210 intimate details of a man's life and make 522 00:28:32,210 --> 00:28:35,850 him feel an absolute worm shrinking from the 523 00:28:35,850 --> 00:28:36,810 presence of God. 524 00:28:38,090 --> 00:28:39,950 And you see, you get the flip side 525 00:28:39,950 --> 00:28:41,910 of this in the 13th verse. 526 00:28:42,670 --> 00:28:45,170 The word of God, that's emphasized in the 527 00:28:45,170 --> 00:28:45,570 12th. 528 00:28:45,570 --> 00:28:47,870 The God of the word is emphasized in 529 00:28:47,870 --> 00:28:48,570 the 13th. 530 00:28:48,570 --> 00:28:51,070 There's such a connection that in one sense 531 00:28:51,070 --> 00:28:53,210 you can't drive a wedge between God and 532 00:28:53,210 --> 00:28:55,230 his word because as the writer of the 533 00:28:55,230 --> 00:28:58,270 Hebrews tells us in the opening verse, he 534 00:28:58,270 --> 00:29:00,150 is the God who communicates. 535 00:29:00,570 --> 00:29:01,890 God who hath spoken. 536 00:29:02,230 --> 00:29:03,730 He is the speaking God. 537 00:29:04,070 --> 00:29:05,170 God is never dumb. 538 00:29:05,590 --> 00:29:06,710 God is never silent. 539 00:29:07,590 --> 00:29:11,950 And what his word achieves, it does so 540 00:29:11,950 --> 00:29:15,910 because that is what he wanted it to 541 00:29:15,910 --> 00:29:16,410 affect. 542 00:29:16,410 --> 00:29:21,390 When his word penetrates the mind, the heart 543 00:29:21,390 --> 00:29:25,290 of a man, he perceives as the God 544 00:29:25,290 --> 00:29:30,410 of the word, the innermost state of the 545 00:29:30,410 --> 00:29:32,410 human being. 546 00:29:33,070 --> 00:29:36,590 Neither is there any creature that is not 547 00:29:36,590 --> 00:29:38,430 manifest in his sight. 548 00:29:39,130 --> 00:29:42,010 All things are nature and open unto the 549 00:29:42,010 --> 00:29:43,970 eyes of him with whom we have to 550 00:29:43,970 --> 00:29:44,170 do. 551 00:29:44,170 --> 00:29:45,710 We've moved from the armory. 552 00:29:45,870 --> 00:29:46,910 We're now in the hospital. 553 00:29:47,170 --> 00:29:48,430 We're in the x-ray theater. 554 00:29:49,030 --> 00:29:51,710 And here is God scanning humanity. 555 00:29:52,490 --> 00:29:53,430 And he never misses. 556 00:29:54,390 --> 00:29:57,790 He never misses anything that's revealed on the 557 00:29:57,790 --> 00:29:58,150 plate. 558 00:29:58,730 --> 00:30:01,910 He sees the malignancy, the cancer of our 559 00:30:01,910 --> 00:30:02,170 sin. 560 00:30:02,610 --> 00:30:07,270 There is no one who can hide themselves 561 00:30:07,270 --> 00:30:09,630 from the living God. 562 00:30:09,870 --> 00:30:11,550 That can be a frightening thought. 563 00:30:11,570 --> 00:30:13,010 It can be a terrifying thought. 564 00:30:13,010 --> 00:30:14,590 But it can also be a very comforting 565 00:30:14,590 --> 00:30:15,310 concept. 566 00:30:16,130 --> 00:30:18,150 Hagar was very pleased, as I point out 567 00:30:18,150 --> 00:30:20,990 in my notes, that God saw her in 568 00:30:20,990 --> 00:30:22,050 her state. 569 00:30:22,090 --> 00:30:26,190 You remember, ostracized from Sarah and Abraham's camp, 570 00:30:26,690 --> 00:30:29,570 thinking that life would be taken from her. 571 00:30:29,590 --> 00:30:32,510 But no, Hagar, God has got his eye 572 00:30:32,510 --> 00:30:35,030 upon you as he's got his eye upon 573 00:30:35,030 --> 00:30:35,690 everybody. 574 00:30:36,390 --> 00:30:42,090 There's nobody who is in any way unknown 575 00:30:42,090 --> 00:30:44,490 to the Lord God. 576 00:30:45,150 --> 00:30:48,830 Neither is there any creature that is not 577 00:30:48,830 --> 00:30:52,590 manifest in his sight. 578 00:30:53,410 --> 00:30:56,710 You remember when the Lord Jesus was on 579 00:30:56,710 --> 00:30:58,990 earth, that he picked a handful of men 580 00:30:58,990 --> 00:31:00,550 and he made them his disciples. 581 00:31:01,250 --> 00:31:03,090 And he did so on the basis of 582 00:31:03,090 --> 00:31:03,450 knowledge. 583 00:31:03,450 --> 00:31:07,170 He understood what was in Nathanael before Nathanael 584 00:31:07,170 --> 00:31:07,910 was introduced. 585 00:31:08,790 --> 00:31:11,430 He didn't make a mistake with Judas of 586 00:31:11,430 --> 00:31:13,590 Caria, Judas Iscariot. 587 00:31:14,230 --> 00:31:16,170 He realized that this was a man who 588 00:31:16,170 --> 00:31:16,950 would betray him. 589 00:31:17,430 --> 00:31:19,250 He was not in any way ignorant of 590 00:31:19,250 --> 00:31:19,750 the fact. 591 00:31:20,430 --> 00:31:22,150 Jesus has x-ray vision. 592 00:31:22,690 --> 00:31:24,990 That's the reason why the author of the 593 00:31:24,990 --> 00:31:27,810 fourth evangelist, the author of the fourth gospel, 594 00:31:28,250 --> 00:31:29,950 says at the end of the second chapter 595 00:31:29,950 --> 00:31:31,970 he didn't entrust himself to man. 596 00:31:31,970 --> 00:31:35,630 He knew the treachery of men's hearts. 597 00:31:37,710 --> 00:31:38,990 God understands. 598 00:31:40,210 --> 00:31:43,810 And just in case we don't appreciate what 599 00:31:43,810 --> 00:31:46,150 the writer is here getting at, he repeats 600 00:31:46,150 --> 00:31:46,390 it. 601 00:31:46,550 --> 00:31:49,230 Neither is there any creature that is not 602 00:31:49,230 --> 00:31:52,530 manifest in his sight, but all things are 603 00:31:52,530 --> 00:31:56,150 naked and open unto the eyes of him 604 00:31:56,150 --> 00:31:57,290 with whom we have to do. 605 00:31:57,770 --> 00:32:00,470 All things are naked and open. 606 00:32:00,470 --> 00:32:04,810 You remember how Samuel has to have this 607 00:32:04,810 --> 00:32:07,110 message impressed upon him by the Lord. 608 00:32:07,890 --> 00:32:10,790 Samuel, who has the rather difficult task of 609 00:32:10,790 --> 00:32:13,690 choosing a replacement for Saul as the next 610 00:32:13,690 --> 00:32:16,210 king of Israel, and he interviews the sons 611 00:32:16,210 --> 00:32:18,930 of Jesse and the six older sons passed 612 00:32:18,930 --> 00:32:22,530 before him, and Samuel is singularly impressed by 613 00:32:22,530 --> 00:32:25,230 each one as he engages in an interview. 614 00:32:25,370 --> 00:32:27,550 But God says, no, not one of those. 615 00:32:28,090 --> 00:32:29,070 There's somebody else. 616 00:32:29,070 --> 00:32:33,470 And young David, an insignificant ruddy-cheeked lad, 617 00:32:33,870 --> 00:32:38,970 this youngster, looking after his father's sheep, stands 618 00:32:38,970 --> 00:32:41,730 before Samuel, and Samuel hears from the Lord, 619 00:32:41,830 --> 00:32:42,410 that's the lad. 620 00:32:42,830 --> 00:32:43,510 That's the one. 621 00:32:44,510 --> 00:32:47,730 Man looks on at the outward appearance, but 622 00:32:47,730 --> 00:32:49,210 God looks on the heart. 623 00:32:50,070 --> 00:32:52,070 What fools we are sometimes, my friend. 624 00:32:52,670 --> 00:32:54,930 My Christian friend, I say, what fools we 625 00:32:54,930 --> 00:32:55,130 are. 626 00:32:55,130 --> 00:32:58,110 We feel sometimes that we can do things 627 00:32:58,110 --> 00:33:01,370 on the quiet that God doesn't somehow see. 628 00:33:02,170 --> 00:33:05,050 We think that, like the ancient Hebrews in 629 00:33:05,050 --> 00:33:08,310 their tents, engaged upon that which was unlawful 630 00:33:08,310 --> 00:33:11,530 under the cover of canvas, so we may 631 00:33:11,530 --> 00:33:13,390 have a private area in our life. 632 00:33:13,630 --> 00:33:14,690 There is nothing private. 633 00:33:15,490 --> 00:33:17,090 Privacy does not belong to us. 634 00:33:17,350 --> 00:33:19,110 It is not a luxury that God has 635 00:33:19,110 --> 00:33:19,950 granted to us. 636 00:33:19,950 --> 00:33:23,390 He saw fugitives, Jonah, as he set sail 637 00:33:23,390 --> 00:33:26,410 out of God's will, booking a passage on 638 00:33:26,410 --> 00:33:28,870 a ship to take him away from Nineveh. 639 00:33:29,370 --> 00:33:31,770 In no way could Jonah escape. 640 00:33:32,410 --> 00:33:36,050 The psalmist was theologically more understanding than was 641 00:33:36,050 --> 00:33:39,350 Jonah, when in the 139th Psalm, you remember, 642 00:33:39,470 --> 00:33:40,890 he says, if I took the wings of 643 00:33:40,890 --> 00:33:43,690 the morning, if I descended down into the 644 00:33:43,690 --> 00:33:46,050 depths of the sea, even there would your 645 00:33:46,050 --> 00:33:46,790 presence be. 646 00:33:46,790 --> 00:33:50,210 His presence, it circumnavigates the globe. 647 00:33:50,830 --> 00:33:52,570 Our God sees all. 648 00:33:53,070 --> 00:33:56,330 Our God is a spectator upon this scene 649 00:33:56,330 --> 00:33:56,750 of time. 650 00:33:57,410 --> 00:33:59,290 And that's why the writer of this Hebrew 651 00:33:59,290 --> 00:34:03,790 epistle not only says that there is no 652 00:34:03,790 --> 00:34:06,230 creature that is not manifest in his sight, 653 00:34:06,590 --> 00:34:08,830 and that all things are naked and open 654 00:34:08,830 --> 00:34:13,969 before his eyes, but he attends to that, 655 00:34:14,449 --> 00:34:19,650 that very sobering little phrase, with whom we 656 00:34:19,650 --> 00:34:22,850 have to do, we have to give an 657 00:34:22,850 --> 00:34:26,690 account to this God, of all our activities. 658 00:34:28,310 --> 00:34:31,250 And you see, the writer has come full 659 00:34:31,250 --> 00:34:32,250 circle in his argument. 660 00:34:32,650 --> 00:34:35,070 He's back with a thought of these Hebrews, 661 00:34:35,670 --> 00:34:40,250 and those mounds of clay that indicate their 662 00:34:40,250 --> 00:34:41,270 untimely death. 663 00:34:41,850 --> 00:34:45,270 In Sinai, they had to give an account 664 00:34:45,270 --> 00:34:48,230 of the way that they'd lived their lives 665 00:34:48,230 --> 00:34:53,929 before the eyes of God, having rejected his 666 00:34:53,929 --> 00:34:54,350 word. 667 00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:57,760 And they got no answer. 668 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,840 And the judgment of God fell upon them. 669 00:35:04,180 --> 00:35:07,500 And here, the writer of this epistle, he 670 00:35:07,500 --> 00:35:08,400 terrifies us. 671 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,400 I can think of nothing more frightening in 672 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:13,320 the whole of Scripture. 673 00:35:13,660 --> 00:35:18,700 I'm not using purple language of some extravagant 674 00:35:18,700 --> 00:35:21,200 journalist at the moment as I say this. 675 00:35:21,420 --> 00:35:24,480 I can think of nothing more fearful, nothing 676 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,540 more awful, than for God to have seen 677 00:35:28,540 --> 00:35:32,460 everything that I have done in my life, 678 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:36,920 and to have it recorded, and to bring 679 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,880 me to judgment, to bring me to book. 680 00:35:40,540 --> 00:35:43,040 I find this, I say, one of the 681 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:48,180 most sobering passages of Scripture in the whole 682 00:35:48,180 --> 00:35:49,240 of the word of God. 683 00:35:50,380 --> 00:35:53,380 His word, it finds me out. 684 00:35:54,300 --> 00:35:58,420 It penetrates to the citadel of my personality. 685 00:35:59,340 --> 00:36:02,880 There is no stiff resistance that I can 686 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:05,600 mount to blunt the cutting edge. 687 00:36:06,220 --> 00:36:10,000 I stand there, absolutely pierced by his word. 688 00:36:10,620 --> 00:36:13,200 And then, not only the word of God, 689 00:36:13,260 --> 00:36:15,840 but even more terribly, the God of the 690 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:16,140 word. 691 00:36:16,460 --> 00:36:17,880 He reveals himself. 692 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,760 He reveals himself as a holy God, as 693 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:22,460 a God of consuming fire. 694 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:25,840 And I stand there terrified in his presence. 695 00:36:28,180 --> 00:36:30,420 As my dear brother Paul Tucker once said, 696 00:36:31,140 --> 00:36:36,400 In my hearing, the unforgiving sinner would take 697 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:41,200 one look into the eyes of God, and 698 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:45,480 he would gladly plunge into hell itself. 699 00:36:46,620 --> 00:36:47,820 Our God is so holy. 700 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:49,920 Our God is so righteous. 701 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:54,560 Our God sees all the rebellion and iniquity 702 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:56,180 and cancer within our souls. 703 00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:02,560 And here, then, is this passage of Scripture 704 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,120 that becomes frightening, and we wonder who is 705 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:07,540 sufficient for these things, and how shall we 706 00:37:07,540 --> 00:37:10,760 react when the word of God so terrifies 707 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:11,080 us. 708 00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:14,160 But you see, the author is not true. 709 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:18,680 He has to frighten us before he can 710 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:19,340 console us. 711 00:37:19,980 --> 00:37:23,320 Before he can console us, he has to 712 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:28,320 speak truthfully before he can apply the balm 713 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:29,040 of the gospel. 714 00:37:29,940 --> 00:37:32,300 And he says, don't get too frightened. 715 00:37:33,300 --> 00:37:36,340 Don't get so full with depression when you 716 00:37:36,340 --> 00:37:39,640 see the tragic example of those Hebrews whose 717 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,260 carcasses are in Sinai. 718 00:37:42,060 --> 00:37:43,080 There's something else. 719 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:45,960 Something else that God has to say. 720 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:48,940 Someone else that God will reveal. 721 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:55,220 Seeing, then, we have a great high priest, 722 00:37:56,100 --> 00:37:58,840 one that is passed into the heaven, Jesus, 723 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:00,000 the Son of God. 724 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:04,080 Let us hold fast our profession, for we 725 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:04,720 have an advocate. 726 00:38:05,340 --> 00:38:06,900 We have an intermediary. 727 00:38:07,900 --> 00:38:12,440 We have one who not only intercedes before 728 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,720 the Father for us, but we have one 729 00:38:15,720 --> 00:38:21,500 whose blood was shed to cancel out our 730 00:38:21,500 --> 00:38:22,060 sins. 731 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:26,260 We have one who comes to save. 732 00:38:27,380 --> 00:38:31,460 And the sinner, convicted by the word of 733 00:38:31,460 --> 00:38:35,720 God, is directed to the Christ of God. 734 00:38:36,460 --> 00:38:38,960 And there he finds pardon. 735 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,620 There he finds forgiveness. 736 00:38:43,620 --> 00:38:49,480 There he is promised the ministry of a 737 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:55,580 barrister who plead his cause, his case, in 738 00:38:55,580 --> 00:39:00,000 the heavens and enable him to enter into 739 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:05,060 a full and free pardon and become part 740 00:39:05,060 --> 00:39:08,140 of the family circle of God himself. 741 00:39:09,060 --> 00:39:11,360 Well, I shall show you next time I 742 00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:13,740 have the privilege of conducting these Bible studies 743 00:39:13,740 --> 00:39:17,140 of the nature of the high priest and 744 00:39:17,140 --> 00:39:23,340 how he continues to intercede on our behalf.