God's Logos at Work, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Bible is God's self-disclosure to us. It's through His Word that we see God and see ourselves as we really are. In today's passage, Hebrews 4, 11-13, we see that God's Word is alive and powerful. It exposes our hearts.

None of His creatures are hidden from His sight. Listen as Rich brings us today's message, titled, God's Logos at Work. This is part two of a message first preached on June 10, 2012. We know that verse really well, don't we? And I'm afraid that there are some elements of this verse that some have taken too far and created some doctrines and truths out of it that weren't really intended in this verse.

It's very simple what this verse is teaching us. But you say, wait a minute, what does the Word of God have to do with this? Well, the whole first four chapters of Hebrews have been about the Word of God.

Let's review here for a minute. What has God said? Where is the Word of God in this? First of all, in chapter 1, verse 2, God has spoken to us by His Son. Chapter 2, verse 1, the things we have heard. Chapter 3, verse 7, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you will hear His voice. And then all the way through the end of verse 11 in there of chapter 3, he's quoting Psalm 95 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Old Testament. Chapter 4, verse 1, a promise of entering His rest. God's promise, God's spoken promise, His Word of entering His rest. Chapter 4, verse 2, the Gospel was preached to us. You see, all of that is God's Word. And God has revealed Himself to us.

Now, here's the point of this. God's Word is at work. And how does He explain, how does He describe the Word of God in verses 12 and 13? Well, let's consider this here for a minute. First of all, for the Word of God is living and powerful, meaning it is alive and active.

Consider this. You take this Bible. How do you approach the Word of God?

Is it just ink on a page? Is it just cold information? Is it just truth, and that's all it is? When it says the Word of God is alive and powerful, when you read these words, you can know that the infinite sovereign God of the universe is talking to you. He is God Himself at work communicating to you. And what is He doing? And what is He doing?

He is drawing you. He's convicting you. The testimony that we heard from Lindsay this morning, that's what God was doing. Through His Word, He was, God Himself was at work in her life.

And so it is for every one of us. Whenever you encounter the Word of God, whether it's reading it, whether it's hearing it, meditating on it, you are encountering God and God is at work through His Word. God is speaking to you. He is drawing you and convicting you.

We'll understand a little bit later what that means. But what is He drawing to you? He is drawing you to His perfections, His goodness and His grace. He is convicting you of your own brokenness and your own selfishness. If we can look at the Word of God and not see our own brokenness, then we are clearly judging the Word of God instead of letting it judge us. We'll talk about that later on in a minute too. But not only is God's Word alive and active, but it is penetrating.

It is piercing, piercing down into what? What you hold most secretly at the level of desire. Like we said before, the nominal faith, you know publicly, I confess the truth of Christianity to be what I really want at the level of desire is something else entirely. You see, we lay bare before God's Word and it knows that about us. God knows that about us. So what you hold most secretly at the level of desire is subject to the scrutiny and judgment of God and His Word. God knows that.

There's no pretense before Him. Not only is God's Word alive and active, but it is penetrating. It is discriminating. Don't be distracted by that word. It has a political meaning to it today, but that's not what we're talking about. To discriminate means to sift, to separate one from another. It analyzes. It exposes the heart. It lays bare any self-delusions and moral justifications. It cuts right through any layer of insincerity.

It cuts through any layer of me coming to God on my terms. As we've been studying in Matthew on Wednesday nights, Jesus was a master at sifting through those who called Himself His disciples. And He would say some hard things. And after He said those things, He was a master at sifting out those who are coming to Him on their terms. Not truly entrusting themselves to Him, but coming on their terms simply for what He can do for them. And Jesus says, you don't come to Me on your terms.

You come to Me on my terms. That is surrender. When we surrender is when we experience His rest. So the Word of God is discriminating, and it knows all those things. It's exposing, fourthly. It's exposing.

It strips away all pretense. Look at what it says in verse 13. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Don't be distracted by that word in there. You know what naked means? Let me tell you what it means.

I looked in the Greek, and it means this. Naked. There's no way of hiding. He knows exactly what you're like and who you are.

You've got nothing to hide before Him. There is absolute vulnerability to the judgments of God's Word. This is God's Word at work. And this is what happens.

God knows who we are, and He can sift through all the intricacies of our heart and our mind. Two weeks ago, Andrea had a surgery on her left shoulder, her rotator cuff. And when the surgery was done, the surgeon came out, and she showed me seven pages of crystal clear pictures of all the inner workings of Andrea's shoulder and all the instruments that were going in there. I'm like, man, this is fascinating. And when I asked Andrea's permission to show these here as an illustration this morning, she looked at me like I had two heads. So I said, okay, enough said.

So we won't do that. But I didn't know what was in there. I don't know what's in here.

I know it's there, and it works, but I don't know what's in there. But that's what God's Word does. It goes in there and it penetrates, and it sees everything in there. And it shows a crystal clear picture of everything that's in there. And here's the good news about it.

It can correct what's wrong. God's Word is alive and active. And when you engage God's Word, God is at work in you. He's doing something. He's transforming. He's drawing you to Himself.

You want to see a real clear picture of that? Keep your finger in Hebrews. Go back to 1 Corinthians with me. Turn back to 1 Corinthians, chapter 14.

In 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, Paul is communicating some parameters for the exercise of spiritual gifts and the exercise of particularly sign gifts, particularly the gifts of tongues and prophecy. And he says, prophecy, when people prophesy, it is the communication of God's revealed truth. And when the church is intent about communicating God's revealed truth, here's what happens. Look with me at 1 Corinthians 14, 24. But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all.

He is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed. And so falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.

Isn't that great? That is the Word of God at work. It convinces, it convicts, it shows what's really going on in there. The secrets of the heart are revealed. And the person who in humility responds and surrenders to the truth of God's Word, falling down on his face, he will worship God.

What is that? That's God's Word at work. If this is not how you have responded to God's Word, then I have a question for you. Does God's Word judge you or do you judge it? Do you judge God's Word or does it judge you? To judge God's Word would look something like this. Well, I read it, but I don't think it really means what it says. So you're going to ignore it or you're going to give it an entirely different meaning. When you give the Word of God a different meaning, you take all its authority away and you take it upon yourself.

Judging God's Word can also look like this. Well, I understand what it says, but you know what? I don't like it. I just don't like it. So I'm not going to follow it.

What is that? That's judging God's Word. Do you judge God's Word or does it judge you?

Here's what happens. When we come to the Word of God and we understand that it's God's Word at work. When I come to the Word of God, then I see God in his hand. When I see God, then I understand how God sees me. You know, like the pictures of the shoulder, God sees everything in there.

There's not anything in there he doesn't see, but he's in there for the purposes of repairing it and transforming it. And when I look into God's Word, I engage God's Word, I see God, and then I understand how God sees me, and then I see myself as I really don't like it. That is letting God's Word judge you. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace, weekdays at 10 a.m.