FBC Morning Light – September 6, 2022

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. Did you have a good holiday yesterday? I hope so. I hope you're able to get maybe a little extra rest, have some outside activities, I hope, and just enjoy the holiday.

The Living and Powerful Character of God’s Word

Well, today we're in Hebrews chapter four, and there's a couple of verses here in chapter four that are challenging to us because of their revelation about what God's word is like. They're challenging because we have to acknowledge what God's word does and is capable of doing, and therefore it holds us account of our interaction with God's word.

I'm thinking of verses 12 and 13, and I want you to notice four qualities of God's word that these couple of verses share with us. Let me read the verse. It says, 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 the intentions of the heart.

And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we must give account. Well, there's a challenging statement, isn't it? That all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him to whom we have to give account.

Four Qualities of Scripture: Living, Powerful, Penetrating, Personal

We are to be held accountable to the Lord. But I want to focus on God's word and what it's like, as verse 12 tells us. Notice in the first place, it's living. It's not a dead book. It's alive. It is a living book.

So, the canon of scripture was closed about 1900 years ago, a little over, 1925 years ago with the writing of the book of Revelation, the book is done. And it has been penetrating, it has been working, it has been active and used in people's lives for the last two millennia.

And even the Old Testament scriptures before that. So it is a living book. It's not a dead book like the writings of Shakespeare and some of these other things. Those were good classic works, et cetera, et cetera.

But it doesn't have the character, the living character of God's word. And then secondly, it says it's active, the word of God is living and it is powerful. It's active. It does things. It does things.

And if you've been in a situation where you read the Bible and all of a sudden you feel a sense of weight and conviction, that's the Bible doing that. It's a powerful book. And on the other hand, you're reading the Bible and you read something that is encouraging and it's a blessing, it's a promise and it gives you joy and rejoices your heart.

Why is that? Because it's a powerful book. It's a living, active, powerful book. And furthermore, it's penetrating. It's penetrating. It says it's like a two-edged sword, sharper than a two-edged sword because it divides between the soul and the spirit, the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow.

In other words, it gets down to the very depths of your being and slices through to the reality of what's going on inside of you. It's sharper than a sword because a sword, well, it can penetrate your flesh and can do a lot of damage, but it can't penetrate the depths of your heart like the Bible does.

It reveals the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. Only God's Word can do that. Only God's Word can do that. So it's living, it's active, it's penetrating. And then notice it's personal. It's personal.

It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart. And as verse 13 says, there's no creature hidden from the sight of the Lord. So this is a very personal book. And I want to encourage you to personally get involved with it.

Personally get yourself in a place where you hear God's Word preached regularly and you hear it taught. Why? So that that Word can penetrate and change your life for God's glory and for your good. Interact with God's Word yourself on a daily basis.

You listen to these devotionals, that's great. There's a kernel of truth, I hope, every day that's available for you from God's Word. Sometimes I hope it's penetrating. Sometimes I hope it's encouraging and gives you reason to rejoice.

Sometimes I hope you realize, because of that confrontation with the Word, of a truth inside of you that you've not wanted to face. And now you got to face it because God's Word has brought it out. It's pointed it out to you.

So it's a personal book. Take advantage of this incredible, living, powerful, penetrating, personal book that we call the Bible, the Word of God. Father, I thank you for your Word. I thank you for its power.

I thank you for its effectiveness. I thank you that your Word does not return to you void, but that it always accomplishes the purpose for which you send it. May your purpose be accomplished in our lives today, even in these few moments of our involvement with your Word.

And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Have a wonderful Tuesday. God bless you in it.