Jesus Is . . . The Word! Series

Jesus Is . . .!

Hebrews 4:12-16

July 9, 2017

I’d like to start out simply by reading the passage for today. No cute stories or anything to get us going, because I really believe this passage speaks for itself. In many respects, it does not need an introduction.

We’re doing a series on the book of Hebrews looking at who Jesus is. This passage from Hebrews 4 gives us more detail about Jesus and the nature of God. Listen to the words from the writer of Hebrews ~

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,

piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

13 And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,

but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I don’t know about you, but there is a lot of meat in these 5 verses. Maybe more meat than what you’re about to eat when I’m done talking.

Initially, when I was writing this sermon, I was going to talk about all 5 verses, but as I wrote and as the Spirit led me, I realized I had way too much to say about the first 2 verses, so we’re going to look at the verses 12-13 today, and 14-16 next week.

Let’s look at what the writer is getting at in these verses. In verse 12, we read ~

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

I wonder if I were to take a survey and ask people what they thought about the Bible, I don’t think many would say the Bible is alive and active. Many look at the Bible as an old archaic set of laws and demands on people.

But that is not what the Bible is about. While there may be laws and commands upon you and I, it is for our safety, our neighbor’s safety and more than anything it is for you and I to be able to come to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, so we could have a real relationship with Him.

The Word of God is alive and active. Is it alive and active in your life? It could be . . . . IF we would allow it to be. You see, I tend to think we don’t read the Bible for a few reasons.

On the one hand, some people expect that to be the Pastor’s job. He’ll read it and tell me what the Bible says. He went to school to understand what the Bible says. He’s the expert, I’m not! Oh, people, don’t buy that lie. That’s satan at work. I may have the degrees, but if you are not reading the Word of God, then you are not prepared for the daily battle. You need to know how to defend your faith, simply put, you need to understand your faith.

My sister, Susie, was always Jewish. There was a definite spiritual side to her. For a time she and her husband, Chuck, would go to Friday temple services, she would light the Sabbath candles . . . but she was clueless what it meant to be Jewish. So, I bought only an O.T. for her and Chuck. I told her read this, it’s the story of what you say you believe in. I wanted her to understand what it meant to be Jewish.

On the same token, if you say “I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus. He’s my Lord and Savior.” Then fantastic, but do you really know what you believe in? I can help on Sunday’s, but there are 313 other days for you to be reading the Bible. Know what you believe. Help your belief. Equip yourself for your daily living.

Let me tell you something the Bible never tells us to do - - - It’s really kind of strange, but the Bible never says to STUDY the BIBLE! Most people would think, well of course the Bible says we should study it, but that’s not the case. I could read scripture after scripture to you, but I want you to get a sense for what the Bible says about the Word of God ~