by Duane Maust
Hebrews 4: 12-14
October 11, 2009
The word of God is what?
I am going to start this sermon with some homework. What are some words that explain what the Word of God is like? I want each of you to look at Heb. 4: 12-13 and see what words you see explain the word of God.
Words– Living, active, sharp, penetrating to the soul, penetrating to the spirit, penetrating to our inwards, judges, nothing is hidden–
It still amazes me how the Bible can speak so pointedly to each of us. I had someone tell me that Elaine was preaching at him two weeks ago. That was just the word of God speaking. We both agreed that God was speaking to him that day in a direct way. Elaine was not preaching at him, but the words were hitting home.
That is what I see these two verses trying to say. God’s Word has a way of getting right in where we live. God’s word is alive. It is speaking to each of us in personal ways.
The last part of verse 13 reminds us that we have no secrets with God. God knows more than what we may want him to know.
Read verse 13.
This makes me think of a metal detector at the airport. Sometimes it will tell of a thing in our pocket that you forgot to pull out.
One time at the court house I had a pretty good pile of stuff out of my pockets laying there before they let me go upstairs. Pocket knife, nail set, drill bit.
Really this verse is probably talking about something more like a strip search. There is no way to hid anything. We can hide nothing from God.
This may make some of us concerned that God knows so much about us. We should not be afraid to hide anything from Him. If we are afraid of something, then maybe it is something we need to get rid of. Maybe we need to do some confessing about things he has already seen in us.
Kermit Eby writes in The God in You, “At some time or other, a man must stop running from himself and his God – possibly because there is just no other place to run to. There comes a time to every man when he has to meet that God from whose eyes nothing ever can be concealed.”
With this in mind, this is where the next verses come in handy. We have an advocate working for us in heaven that understands what we are going through.
We have a positive note to end on.
Read verses 14-16.