Much Needed Grace, Part 1

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4, verses 11 to 16.

The title is Much Needed Grace.

Every one of us need the grace.

Of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And so this week and next week, as we look at these verses, we're going to understand how God dispenses.

His grace to those who are in need.

Hebrews 4, verse number 11 says, Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience.

For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-ed sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and morrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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.

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

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin.

There, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

There is probably no set of verses in the scripture that bring together the power of God's word.

And the ministry of the Messiah as concisely as these verses do.

And so we want you to be able to see that today.

The Bible says in the book of Acts, the 2 chapter, as the Apostle Paul was getting ready to leave Ephesus and leave those Ephesian elders, He said, I commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up.

Paul knew that commending them to God and the word of his grace was the only thing that would sustain them and move them to maturity.

And so we have here in these verses the power of that word.

The word of grace and the God Himself who dispenses that grace.

God's unmerited favor toward the undeserving or to the ill-deserving.

First mentioned in the book of Genesis with the man Noah.

When God favored Noah, God graced Noah.

And so in Genesis chapter 6, we realize that Noah was like everybody else on the face of the earth.

His thoughts and intentions were only evil continually.

Every man on the face of the earth was evil.

And evil had permeated the globe.

Yet God decided to dispense grace upon one man and his family.

And that was Noah.

Noah didn't earn his grace.

It's an unmerited favor which God sovereignty bestows upon those whom he chooses.

And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord God.

And thus the Bible is about how.

People experience the grace of the living God.

The Bible calls him the God of all grace.

In fact, if you got your Bible, turn over to 1 Peter chapter 5, and you'll see what Peter says about this God who is all grace.

When he says this in verse number 10, he says, After you have suffered for a little while, isn't that interesting?

That Peter is talking to people who are suffering en.

They are being burned at the stake.

They are being fed to lions.

They are being eaten alive.

And loved ones are having their friends devastated.

And they themselves are in fear of their lives.

Peter writes to an audience who is desperately afraid of what will happen next.

And Peter tells them, you're going to suffer for a little while.

But after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, not the God who has some grace.

But the God of all grace, because He is God and grace is an attribute of God.

So grace is 100% God.

Like love is 100% God and mercy is 100% God because that's the attribute of God That's who God is.

But Peter calls him the God of all g, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will him perfect, confirm, strength, and establish you.

God has a plan.

The God of all grace is going to take whatever it is you are going through, as enorm as it may be.

As tragic as it may be, as painful as it may be, as disheartening as it may be, whatever it may be.

The God of all grace is going to do something.

He's going to perfect you.

That's what he's going to do.

He's going to restore you.

The word perfect means to mend together, to take bones that have been set apart and mend them together so that they are whole again.

He's going to take all your broken parts and put them back together again so that you are mended, so that you are whole.

He's going to perfect you.

He's going to confirm you.

That is, he's going to make you as solid as steel, solid as granite.

He's going to make you impenetrable through his grace.

He is also going to strengthen you.

In other words, he's going to fill you with his strength.

And then he's going to establish you.

He's going to cause you to be the foundation.

For everything in your life, God's going to do great things.

Amen.

That's the God of grace, the God of all grace.

And that's why Peter says to him be dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

Because he realizes the greatness of God.

You see, grace is much needed in all of our lives.

And grace comes because it's a gift of God.

Everybody in the room experiences grace.

Everybody in the world experiences the grace of the God of all grace.

It's called common grace.

You ever heard that term?

Common grace?

It's a grace that God dispenses to every man.

Christ talks about it in Matthew chapter 5, where he says that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, the sun to shine on the good and the evil.

So, in other words, whether you're saved or not saved, whether you're good or evil, the sun is shining on you.

And the rain is falling on you.

I know there's some people who think they walk around and everybody's in sunshine and they have a cloud over them of nothing but rain.

They're drenched all the time.

That's not the way it is.

God doesn't just cause the rain to fall on the Christian farmers' crops.

He causes it to fall on all the crops.

It's like air.

Do you think God just dispenses oxygen to believers?

No.

You breathe the air that God, through His grace, has given to all of us.

You are here today.

You're alive today because of the grace of God.

Because the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God.

Is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So whenever you sin, you should die, but you don't die, right?

You're still alive.

You sinned on the way to church today by yelling at your wife or yelling at your kids and getting upset with them, right?

Don't answer that.

But you sinned when you got up this morning, some way, somehow, you sinned, but you didn't die.

Because God is the God of all grace.

See, that's called common grace.

We all experience that.

But we need to understand the special grace that God gives.

It's called saving grace.

For by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, right?

S grace is a gift of God, God's unmerited favor toward those who are undeserving.

And I wondered this morning if you've experienced saving grace, because the writer of Hebrews is trying to get these Jewish people to understand God's saving grace, that they must approach the throne of grace.

See?

And so there is a special grace.

It's called sa grace.

But saving grace is a sanctifying grace.

Okay?

And we all need that, right?

We all need saving grace so that we can experience eternal life.

But when you experience saving grace, then you have the opportunity to experience sanctifying grace.

Paul talks about it in the book of Titus, Titus chapter 3, or excuse me, Titus chapter 2, when he says these words.

For the grace of God has appeared, these words, verse 11, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us.

To deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.

So, in other words, the grace of God that appears, bringing salvation to all men, is a saving grace.

But that saving grace is an automatic, sanctifying grace, right?

You ever heard somebody say, well, yeah, I'm saved, but they live.

As if they're of the world.

They don't have the sanctifying grace.

Well, if you got saving grace, you're going to have sanctifying grace because the grace of God teaches us something.

It teaches us how to deny ungodliness, worldly lusts, so that we might live the life that God wants us to live.

It's called sanctifying grace.

Isn't that great?

God is so good to us.

There's this much-needed grace that saves us from our sin and that continues to sanctify us.

Until one day we're ultimately glorified in the presence of Almighty God.

So I wonder if you've experienced saving grace today.

Because if you have, sanctifying grace is read available.

But there also needs to be strengthening grace.

Strengthening grace.

That we need to be strengthened by the grace of Almighty God.

We read about it in 1 Peter 5, verse number 10.

But over in 2 Timothy chapter 2, Paul says these words to young Timothy.

He says, You therefore, my son, be str.

In the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

So, in other words, He tells Timothy, you need to be able to dispense biblical truth to people.

He goes on to say, in verse number 2, the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Timothy, you need.

The grace of God.

You have a great responsibility, but in order to fulfill that great responsibility, you have a resource that's called grace.

And grace is going to strengthen you so that you can impart truth to others that they in turn might be able to tell others about the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.

But every one of us needs to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

For, in other words, we are as weak as pos when it comes to living the life God wants us to live without His grace.

So we need saving grace.

That's special grace.

We need sanctifying grace.

That too is special grace.

And we need. strengthening grace that comes from the God of all grace, that truly we might be able to live his life.

We also need suffering grace.

Suffering grace.

Paul talks about it in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 when he says this.

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself.

Paul talks about this thorn in the flesh.

And translators all throughout history, comment all throughout history, have tried to define the thorn in the flesh.

And everybody has an idea as to what it is.

Here's the answer: we don't know what it is.

Paul never tells us what it is.

We can speculate about what we think it is, but nobody knows what it is.

So quit trying to figure out what the thorn in the flesh that Paul had is.

It was something that was given to him.

It was something that was the messenger of Satan that God allowed to happen in Paul's life.

It kept him from exalting himself.

It kept him from thinking more highly of himself than he needed to think.

Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.

Whatever it was, I asked the Lord three times.

I asked the Lord specifically to remove whatever it was that was a thorn in his flesh.

And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you.

For power is perfected in weakness.

Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of God, or the power of Christ, may dwell in me.

We call this suffering grace.

You can call it sufficient grace.

You can call it strengthening grace.

But whatever it was, Paul experienced God's grace amidst his thorn in the flesh.

Every one of us needs that.

Every one of us does because whatever suffering we go through.

Whatever it may be, we need the grace of God to sustain us.

Because God's grace is only, the only thing that does.

Sustain us.

We also need serving grace.

Did you know that?

Serving grace.

Peter speaks about it in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse number 10.

He says.

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the man grace of God.

In other words, you have received a serving gift.

And that ser gift is ministered best.

Through the grace of God.

He gave it to you as a gift, it's a special gift, but that special gift is enabled by God's grace to accomplish great and mighty.

Things.

We need to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jes.

This is all the way back to Acts 20, verse number 32, where Paul says, I comm you to God and the word of his grace.

That is able to strengthen you, to build you up.

There's something about God and His Word, which is the Word of grace, which is able to sustain us.

God is called the God of all grace.

Jesus, when he came, was full of grace and full of truth, right?

In other words, everything about him was grace and truth.

And John 1:16 says that that grace was lavished upon us, grace upon grace.

The limitless power of the grace of God.

W seen in the Son of God.

The Bible, in Hebrews 10:2, says that the Spirit of God is called the Spirit of grace.

So, you have the God of all grace.

You have Jesus, who is full of grace, you have the Spirit, who is called the Spirit of grace, and we have received the Word of grace.

Because the Word of grace is in full operation through the Spirit of grace in our lives to strengthen us to live a life of grace.

It's all about grace.

It's all about God's unmerited favor toward those of us who are so ill des and un.

Much need grace.

So the right of Hebrews begins to speak.

To Hebrew people about the need that they have for God's grace.

Some of us need long-term grace.

Because the events in our lives are all consuming for a long period of time.

Some of us need short-term grace.

To strengthen us, to enable us, because the trials that come kind of come and go at different times.

But whatever you need today, It only happens through the God of grace who has called us to the throne of grace.

That He might bestow upon us the mercy that we need and the grace That we need to live for Him.

God is so incredibly good to us.

And the Write of Hebrews gives us the promise.

The promise that comes through the rest that's available.

Listen how he says it.

He says, therefore.

Based on what I just said about rest, remember he mentions rest ten times in the first 11 verses of Hebrews chapter 4.

Therefore, based on the rest that I've just talked about, which is what?

He talked to us about creation rest, the Sabbath rest.

He talked to us about Canaan rest, he talked to us about Calvary rest.

And Calvary rest is able to restore creation's rest.

For when the day God rested, which was On the seventh day, or the sixth day, God rested.

He rested from his sixth days he created, on the seventh day he rested.

He rested from all of his labors, not because he was tired, but because he lived in the satisfaction of the goodness of his creation.

And that rest is the rest that Adam and Eve lived in.

But yet, when they rebelled against God, they forfeited that rest.

So Canaan became an illustration of creation rest.

But it wasn't fully realized until Calvary.

And Calvary's rest will not completely be realized until Christ comes again.

But the right of Hebrews is trying to Explain to these Jewish readers that they need to enter into God's glorious rest.

So it's not what he says.

This is so unique.

He says, therefore, let us be diligent to ent that.

Rest.

Think about that.

Let us be diligent.

Let us labor.

To enter that rest?

Wait a minute.

I thought that you entered rest by the grace of God.

Why is it I have to labor diligently to enter that rest if that rest is a free gift?

Of the living God.

You ever ask yourself that question?

Of course, you didn't.

You probably just asked it today, right?

Because you never read the verse before until today.

Therefore, let us labor.

To enter into that rest.

Well, wait a minute.

We know that salvation is by grace through faith in God alone.

We know that not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration, by the renewing of the Spirit, Titus 3:5, a man is born.

Born again.

It's not by the works that we do, it's by the grace of Almighty God.

So, why does the right of Hebrews who's Jewish?

Implore the Jewish readers to labor diligently to ent that rest.

That 's a great question.

In fact, it's so great, it helps you understand why people today have watered down the gospel as much as they have.

Because the writer of Hebrews understands the essence of the true gospel.

So let me remind you once again when Jesus said these words in Luke's Gospel str To ent through the narrow door.

For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Jesus said that, but asked the question: Are only a few being saved?

And Jesus said, Agon, str.

Put forth the effort to enter because the road is narrow.

And the few that find the road or the gate, excuse me, who find the gate Many of them will not be able to enter.

So, the writing of Hebrews is really echoing what Jesus has already said.

In Luke's Gospel.

In fact, Jesus said these words in Matthew 11, verse number 12, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence.

And violent men take it by force.

Wow.

When's the last time you heard that?

In the street evangelism message.

And then he says this: Acts:.

Or sorry, Luke 16:1.

The gospel of the kingdom is preached.

And everyone is for their way into it.

Wow.

What about the free grace of God?

What do you mean, str to enter?

What do you mean, violent men, take the kingdom by force?

What do you mean that people are striving to enter to the narrow gate?

Whatever happened to, hey, believe in Jesus.

Hey, why don't you just read this prayer that I've written down for you?

You read the prayer, say the prayer, believe the prayer, you're in.

Whatever happened to that?

I thought that's what we were all about, right?

What about, come on now!

Come on down, like the price is right.

Come on down, ent into the kingdom.

Come on down, say a prayer.

Come on now, some talk to you about Jesus.

What about labor diligently, str to enter, because the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force?

Whatever happened to that message.

See, we don't preach that message because nobody comes.

So we think.

We don't preach that message because we won't get the numbers.

We don't preach that message because we don't look like we're doing anything for the kingdom's work, for the kingdom's sake.

We don't preach that message because we think that we really have something to do with whether or not somebody really gets saved or not.

We really think that how we say it is going to convince somebody to come on down, to sign the dotted line, to say the prayer, to believe in Jesus.

In of realizing that it's a sovereign work of God to bestow grace on those whom He chooses.

And we forget that Jesus said, If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Labor diligently.

In other words, Jesus said, if you want to follow me, you have to deny your ambitions.

You have to deny your aspirations.

You have to deny all your dreams.

When was the last time you heard that preached at an evangelistic setting?

I want you to set aside, deny all of who you are, and embrace Christ for all of who He is.

Your dreams no longer matter.

Your aspirations no longer matter.

Your ambitions no longer matter.

All that matters is Jesus.

You come to Him.

That's all that matters.

But we don't preach Luke 9, 23.

Jesus would even get stronger in the 14th chapter of Luke when he said this to a crowd of people, thousands of them following him.

Large crowds are going along with him.

He turned and said to them, Come on now!

The price is right.

Come on now.

No, he didn't say that.

He said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, And wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes.

And even his whole life, he can't be my disciple.

Just can't.

He says, Look, the way is narrow.

It is so narrow that the many who find the narrow way, only a few will ever get in.

Because they love their life too much.

They're not willing to deny him and take up the cross and follow Christ.

He goes on to say, Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Wow.

Then he says, For which one of you, when he wants to build the tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

You got to count the cost.

The cost is great.

Because it's going to cost you your life.

It's going to cost you everything that you dream about, everything that you aspire to.

Because I want you to be all about me and not about you.

That's what I demand.

And then he goes on and gives an illustration, another illustration about counting the cost.

And then he goes on to say: So then, not one of you can be my disciple who's not willing to give up all of his possessions.

Does not the message of Jesus doesn't fit today's modern church's evangelistic sermons.

And that's a problem.

It's a huge problem.

The popular teaching today About Christians coming to believe some facts about Jesus, coming to say some pre prayer that's in the back of a book someplace.

Just as not in scripture, we have to be very careful about making sure that we accurately present the gospel the way Jesus presented the gospel.

I mean, after all, it's his invention, it's his words.

Why is it we think that somehow we have to embellish those words or make those words easier to understand or make those words something that will be appealing to the masses?

Because we want them to respond.

But you see, whether or not a person responds is not up to me.

It's up to the Spirit of God, the Spirit of grace.

It's up to the God of all grace, who, through the preaching of the Word of grace, Brings people to the throne of grace.

Salvation is God's work, not man's work.

Salvation, according to Jesus, was never going to be easy.

The gate is small, and few are those who find it.

So when you see multitudes of people responding to the gospel There must be an antenna that goes up and asks, Was the truth of the gospel really presented?

So people would lab diligently to enter that rest.

You see, do you think That Satan wants you to be a part of God's kingdom?

Of course not.

Of course not.

He wants to take as many people to hell with him as possible.

So, therefore, he will do everything through his emissaries to distract you from believing the truth of the gospel.

You see, when you become a Christian, you go to war.

That's why there's an armor that's given to the believer.

It's called the armor of God.

Remember, Ephesians chapter 6.

Because you're going to war.

You're going to battle everything that Satan has.

And so that's why the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men enter it by force, is because Satan is doing everything he can to keep you out of the kingdom.

It's a spiritual warfare that's happening.

All the time in every people's life, in every family, in every church, in every nation around the world, there is a spiritual battle that's happening day in and day out.

And we are sitting here in America spilling out words to make the gospel so easy for people to respond to.

That's no wonder.

You have all these people sitting in church thinking they're on the way to heaven, but they've never entered the narrow gate.

Oh, they've seen the broad road that says heaven, but leads to destruction.

They readily get on that road because it gives them a false assurance that heaven is their destiny.

But unless they've understood the true gospel of Christ, they've been deceived.

And that's why it's imperative that we understand what the writer of Hebrews is saying.

There's a promise given of rest.

But in order to enter that rest, you must labor diligently.

You must deny yourself.

You must take up your cross and follow the Christ.

You must realize that Satan is against you.

I know you love your life, but you've got to set your aspirations aside to embrace the Christ.

That's why in the parable of the treasure and the pearl, Christ talks about the inestimable value of the kingdom.

That once you understand how valuable Christ is in the gospel, you are willing to sell everything to obtain it.

That's why Christ says, what will a man give in ex for his soul?

Because you see, when you become a Christian, there's a transaction that takes place.

There's a transaction that says, I'm willing to give, to lose my life in order to gain God's life, because if I want to.

Keep my life, Christ says, You're going to lose your life.

So, whatever you want to keep, you've already lost.

So, be willing to lose it all that you might have me.

That's a transaction that takes place.

A willingness to sell it all for the sake of the gospel.

Some might be saying, wow, man, that just sounds so work-oriented.

It just seems like so much of an effort.

It seems, it just.

Seems contrary to what I've ever heard before, and that might be the case.

That's unfortunate, but that's probably the case.

But let me answer it this way.

If salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.

It makes no difference what Christ calls for.

Because if he calls for it, And you've been granted the grace to accomplish it, it'll happen.

Only those who have not been granted the grace to accomplish it.

See it as too difficult to accomplish.

But those who have They're willing to respond because they've realized the value of the treasure, they've realized the value of the pearl, and they're willing to say, yes.

Yes, Lord, I want you more than I want me.

I want you more than I want my family.

I want you more than I want anything else in the world.

That's how you know you've truly had a grace gift given.

How about you?

Where are you today?

There are so many people in the church.

That unfortunately have been sold to Bill of Goods by guys who impersonate themselves as pastors.

They dress up like pastors, they smell like pastors.

Some of them even look like pastors.

Not so much anymore today with the way they dress, but anyway, they impersonate themselves as pastors.

Saying that they really care for the sheep of the fold.

They really care about the kingdom of God, but they never tell the truth about the kingdom.

How can you live never telling the truth about the kingdom?

How can you go to sleep at night never really truly presenting the words of Jesus to a people that so desperately need to hear the truth?

And this is why the writer of Hebrews says it.

Listen to what he says.

Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall.

Through following the same example of what?

Disobedience.

What example?

The example he's been giving since chapter 3, verse number 7.

The example of the people who hurt everything.

Saw everything.

I mean, they were led by a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night.

They had water gushed out of a rock.

They had food prepared for them.

You never had to go to the grocery store if you were in the wilderness with the Jewish people.

No grocery store.

You never had to go grocery shopping.

Because God provided manna for them every day.

He gave enough food for them every single day.

It was always fresh that day.

Can you imagine going to your door and getting fresh vegetables and fresh fruit every day and never having to leave your house to?

Go to the grocery store.

Wow, that's just amazing.

God provided.

And yet they did not believe.

In spite of all the overwhelming evidence of the Word of God and the works of God before them, they just would not believe.

The Bible says they disobeyed.

They live in disbelief.

It's where it means they would not be persuaded.

Really?

Seriously?

You wouldn be persuaded.

Water gushes from a rock.

You're not persuaded?

Food is there every day, you're not persuaded.

The Red Sea divides.

You walk through on your island, you're not persuaded.

How can you not be persuaded?

You see, because miracles never persuaded anybody of anything.

Except the wow factor.

Because it's the message that persuades people.

And that's why the writer of Hebrews is so clear and concise in its presentation of the gospel.

He just says in verse 11, and this is all we going to cover today.

Verse 11, that's okay.

You're not going anywhere.

Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience.

He gives you the danger of not entering into rest.

Today is the day, not tomorrow.

Today is the day.

Today is the day of salvation.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

You must labor diligently.

Today is the day.

Don't wait any longer.

Because if you do, you're in danger of following the same example of those who would not be persuaded.

You've hardened your heart.

So the question comes, what is it if they weren't persuaded, how are people today persuaded?

Can we do some kind of dog and pony show in front of the auditorium and get people to be persuaded?

Can we have some kind of musical package or musical group that will persuade us?

Of Jesus?

What do we need to do to persuade people?

When the nation of Israel was not persuaded, they died in unbelief in the wilderness.

And they would not be persuaded in spite of miracle after miracle after miracle.

And the Lord said in Numbers 2, they have tempted me these ten times I am done with them.

They shall not ent my rest.

A lot of people say, man, you got to enter in right now, unless you fall into the same category of those who would not be persuaded.

So he tells you how you're going to be persuaded.

This is so good.

I wish we had more time.

This is so good.

That's what he says.

He says, For the Word of God, ah, here you go.

This is how you can persuade Him.

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 morrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Wow.

They haven't.

They wouldn't be persuaded.

But let me tell you something.

The Word of God does persuade.

Because faith cometh by hearing, in hearing about a word concerning the Christ, Romans tells us.

James 1:1 says, We've been brought forth by the word of truth.

1 Peter 1, 21 to 23 tells us that we're born again by the living and active word of God.

It's the word of truth.

See?

And when you speak God's words, when you quote God's words, when you read God's words, wow.

What happens is so incredibly power.

We look at this book as if it means nothing.

But it means everything.

Because if this word is truly living, act.

Sharper than any two-ed sword, which really speaks not of destruction, but of division.

In other words, the Word of God divides, does it not?

That's why the Romans were diligent in terms of creating the master weapons for battle.

And they were the first to create the two-ed sword.

And the two-ed sword, which is the word of God.

Is used not for destruction but for division.

Now, in that division, there is some destruction, but it is a dividing instrument.

That's why Jesus said.

I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

Jesus came to divide.

He came to divide family members one from another, friends one from another.

Because God's Word is a dividing agent, it separates.

Because it's the word of truth.

And truth, whenever it's presented, is going to separate.

Good from evil, truth from error.

And that's what God's word does.

But the right of Hebrews wants the Jewish people to know that it's the word of God that's going to persuade you.

So much so that he says that in the next verse, I think it's verse number 13, that there's no creature hidden from his sight.

That everything is laid open, laid bare.

The Word of God is such a pre instrument.

That once it's read, once it's sp, what it does is it opens you up.

So that you are exposed.

That's what it does.

And then comes the deciding factor: once exposed, what will you do?

Will you respond to the God who exposed you and embrace him and approach the throne of grace?

Or will you continue to harden your heart and not follow after him and serve him?

That's where the Rite of Hebrews is going.

Next week, that's where we'll be.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word.

It truly is so incredibly powerful.

O Lord, may we be the people who speak your word, the truth.

Help us not to candy coat or sugarcoat the gospel.

The gospel is what you said it is.

It's the truth of God's redeeming power.

And our prayer, Father, is that there be no one among us today who does not know you, but they would labor diligently to enter that rest.

To embrace Christ at the throne of grace.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.