THIS OLD BOOK
Hebrews 4:12-13
When I was a kid, I was an avid reader. I cut yards to earn money and I bought/read all the Hardy Boys books. Loved Arthur/Camelot books. I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy adventure Books. I got a lot of enjoyment out of those books, but none of them really changed my life or helped me in any significant way.
When I was 6 or 7, though, I was introduced to an Old Book. In fact, it was quite ancient. I couldn’t understand much of it for a long time without having someone explain parts of it to me. But, I was fascinated by many of the stories I read in it. It is like no other book you will ever find. This Old Book is amazing. It has some of everything! Mystery, intrigue, love, hate, friendship, betrayal, all sorts of topics.
Adventure- Book of Acts- Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys.
Romance/Sex- The Song of Solomon.
War/Combat- Book of Joshua.
Self help Books- Book of Proverbs
History- 1&2 Kings and Chronicles, Ezra/Nehemiah, Ester, Prophets
Music- Book of Psalms
* Interestingly, this old book was written over the course of 1500 years but is still just as relevant today. What is it about this book that makes it still relevant today? It is because it is the Living Word of God.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
1. THE WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE.
You can go to Brandon to the downtown library and you will find thousands of books. Fiction, historical, poetry, all kinds of books. Many of these books are informational, enlightening, and entertaining. But there is one book that is all of these things and more. Of all the books in the library, only one of those is “alive.” That is the Holy Bible. God’s Word is not a dead work written by a now dead author. It is relative in every generation and for every individual.
But there is another way that it is alive. It is alive because it brings forth life. One of the basic laws of biology is that only life can bring for life. God’s word brings life to the lost person that reads it when they respond to the gospel and repent and believe in Jesus.
And a third way the Word of God is alive, is because Jesus is the Word of God. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and He was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory.
You can’t really believe in Jesus without believing the Bible and you can’t really believe the Bible without believing in Jesus.
2. THE WORD OF GOD IS ACTIVE/POWERFUL.
In 1789, a mutiny took place on a ship called the Bounty. Fletcher Christian and his mutineers took the ship from Cpt Bligh due to his acts of extreme cruelty to the crew. They settled on Pitcairn Island along with their Tahitian wives. The mutineers were lawless and drunkards, though. Quickly their little society tore itself apart through drunkiness and fighting. 10 yrs later only 1 man was left alive along with the women and children. His name was John Adams. John came across the ships Bible one day and began reading it. Soon, the power of God’s Word transformed him from a brawling drunkard to a peaceful, loving believer in Jesus Christ. In short order, he shared the gospel with every person on the island and all became Christians.
** There was no preacher, no evangelist.... only the Word of God.
For many years, God gave me the privilege of leading mission teams to many areas of the world. Over the course of about 8 years my mission teams gave out more than 6000 Bibles in a country in Asia. There was this One guy I gave a Bible to and witnessed to him. I told him to begin reading in the NT. He said, no, I want to start from the beginning. I was afraid he would get bogged down and quit reading. 6 months later we went back and he informed us that he had become a Christian. I asked what led him to do that? His answer was that he read about a loving God that created man. But how all mankind became filled with sin and throughout the years repeatedly God poured out his wrath on sinners. He realized that even though God hated his sin, He did indeed love him. He found Christ on his own during those 6 months with just himself and the powerful Word of God.
3. THE WORD OF GOD IS SHARP AND PENETRATIVE.
When Paul wrote this, he was obviously talking about the Roman gladius. There were 2 kinds a swords in the Rome. One was large and had an edge on one side. It hacked but was easily blocked. The gladius, though, was shorter but had a very sharp point and blade on each side. Because of this, it made it more effective. It cut quicker and deeper and could cut you from any direction. The Word of God is like this.
There was a guy that went to the doctor because he was having headaches and was passing out. He also complained that he was becoming increasingly agitated all the time. The doctor did an MRI and told him he had a tumor on his brain and if left untreated the rest of his life would be one of misery and he would die pretty soon. Surgery was scheduled and the doctor took a bone saw and cut thru his skull. The ugly, destructive mass was found and the doctor used a very sharp scalpel to carefully cut out that ugly cancer and then he sewed him back together. He was completely healed after that surgery.
Sin is just like that ugly tumor. It enters the body and grows there. It destroys us from within. It causes us great pain and discomfort and ultimately will lead to death unless it is dealt with.
God’s Word is like the doctor’s scalpel. It is used to expose that sin problem and remove it out. No matter how ugly your life is or has been, God can remove your painful past that is weighing you down and making your life miserable. He can heal you and restore you and bless you. But, for you to ever find the beautiful life God has for you, He must do surgery on you to remove your sin problem.
4. THE WORD OF GOD IS INSIGHTFUL.
able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
* As you read God’s Word, the Holy Spirit reveals to you who and what you truly are. A sinner that is in desperate need of a Savior.
* When you examine your life in the light of God’s Word you see all the ugliness that sin is. The Word helps you to see that you need to repent and be forgiven.
* You can read any other book and be completely unchanged. Not so after reading this Old Book. Once you come to understand just Who Holy God is and realize how sinful and lost you are, you are faced with a choice... to repent or continue in sin, angry at God and His Old Book.
It’s a true statement that reading the Bible will either bring you to God or drive you away from God. It’s hard to be indifferent to the Gospel.
But, no matter how you respond to the gospel, you will never be the same again after reading this Old Book, for you will have seen yourself as you really are. A sinner in desperate need of a Savior.
CONCLUSION:
Heb 4:13 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
This verse reminds us of something about God we should never forget.
* You can take God’s Word and ignore it.
* You can hate it.
* You can try to hide from it or you can try to run from it.
* You can fool yourself + rest of the world that it’s just an old book.
* You can do whatever you want with this Old Book, but you can’t hide anything from God and you certainly cannot run from Him.
* You see, God sees everything.
* and just as my friend in China came to realize, God loves you, but He absolutely hates your sin.
* And you will either repent of your sins and allow the Word of God to save you and transform you or the Word of God will one day judge you and cast you into the Lake of Fire.
How you experience the Word of God is up to you.
