Hey podcast listeners. Thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. And right now your generous gift will have twice the impact thanks to the Proclaim the Gospel matching challenge active right now through December 31st. To give a special year-end gift, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. This is Robert Jeffress. In response to the horrific attack on Israel, I've written a brand new book called Are We Living in the End Times?
Go to ptv.org to order your copy. that causes you to miss God's rest. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Hebrews 4 verse 12 says the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword.
Yet many Christians treat the Bible like a collection of stories and never allow it to penetrate and renovate our hearts. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shows us the real purpose and power of God's Word. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks David and welcome again to this very important edition of Pathway to Victory. Sunday, December 31st marks the final day of the Proclaim the Gospel matching challenge and we've been specifically asking God to move in the hearts of people just like you to help us reach the goal of $500,000. Now the deadline is Sunday at midnight and so now's the time to send your generous year end gift. As long as your letter is post dated before Monday or as long as you give online or call us on the phone before Monday, we'll make sure your generous gift is counted toward the matching challenge. Some will be able to give $100 which translates into a $200 gift. Others can give $500. Some can give $5,000 or even more.
In every case, your gift, whatever it is, has twice the impact because of the matching challenge. Plus, when you give before midnight Sunday, we'll be saying thank you by providing the exclusive Pathway to Victory daily devotional for 2024. This is a substantive leather bound volume, well over 500 pages in length, containing enough chapters for every weekday in the coming new year. As a bonus, I'll also include the practical brochure I've written called Jesus, The Fulfillment of God's Prophecies. You'll be amazed as you survey dozens of predictions that foretold the life and ministry of Jesus generations before he arrived on planet Earth. Now, I'll say more about the matching challenge and the other resources later in today's program, but right now let's turn our attention to God's Word.
I titled today's message, Truth that Transforms. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four, as we talk about the real purpose and the power of the Word of God. But to understand these verses, you have to understand the context.
Look at chapter four, verse one. Let us therefore fear, lest while a promise remains of entering God's rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. God has a present rest that he wants us to experience.
By rest, I don't mean taking a nap. When we talk about his present rest, we're talking about that place of blessing God wants us to experience in our marriages. In our schoolwork, in our relationships, in our finances, that no matter what is going on around us, we can have peace of mind. We can experience God's best in every one of those areas. Well, you say, what's the key then to experiencing God's rest? Well, that's the context of verses 12 and 13. Look at Hebrews four, verse 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. 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.
I want you to write down this statement on your notes because this is the theme of what these two verses is all about. God's Word frees us to experience God's rest. Will you notice here the characteristics of God's Word that make it so effective? First of all, God's Word is living. The Word of God is living. It is alive, and that's what makes it different from any other book that is written. Jesus said in John 663, for the words I have spoken to you are life. Not only is the Word of God living, the writer says it is also active. That word active means it is full of energy. The Word of God is both living and it is active. I like the way somebody said it. The Bible is alive. It is always doing something to anyone who reads it or hears it. It is alive.
It is active. And third, it is sharp. In fact, it is so sharp, it is sharper than any two-edged Roman sword.
This morning when I got up, I had a Gillette razor and I shaved my face. That's a one-sided razor. But the Roman two-edged sword was one clean, mean killing machine.
It was sharp on both edges. And so when a Roman soldier would slice through somebody in one direction, he would then go in the opposite direction and finish the job. That is the power of the Word of God to penetrate the wrong thinking that leads to wrong actions and causes us to miss God's rest. And that's the power of God in your life as well. For the Word of God is alive.
It is active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. I think about Martin Luther, a monk in the Roman Catholic Church. And as much as he tried, he was praying to be a priest. He could find no rest, no satisfaction from guilt in Roman Catholicism. There was no way to know how you had ever done enough, how you had ever done enough penance, how many times you had confessed, how much money you had given to know that you were right with God.
And he was bound up with guilt to the point of absolute and utter despair. But Martin Luther started reading the book of Romans and he read it over and over and over again. And he centered in on those two themed verses from the book of Romans, Romans 1, 16, and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and then also to the Greek. For in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is displayed from faith to faith. For as the scriptures say, the just shall live by faith. And Martin Luther in his testimony says four words kept coming back to him from those verses, the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God. That's what Martin Luther craved, a right standing from God. And it hit him one day what God was saying, that righteousness, that right standing comes on the basis of faith, not works. And that simple word of God, those simple four verses freed Martin Luther from guilt and allowed him to accept Christ as his savior. And it was those four words that inspired and sparked the entire Protestant Reformation. That is the power of the word of God. It frees us to experience God's rest. I experienced that in my own life one time when I think about the power of God's word to penetrate and to free us to experience his rest.
I always think about a Monday night in October of 1985. Amy and I had just gone to pastor our first church, the First Baptist Church in Eastland, Texas. And not long after we came to the church, I was invited to deliver the annual associational meeting for our Little Baptist Association. And it was being held at the First Baptist Church in Breckenridge, Texas.
We got there early, I preached the afternoon session and then I was to deliver the keynote message that night. And as Amy and I were seated in the pew waiting for the service to begin, an usher came down the aisle and tapped me on the shoulder and he said, Dr. Jeffress, there is an emergency phone call for you in the pastor's office and you really need to take it. And I couldn't imagine who it was calling and cracking me down like that. So I went back to take the phone call and on the other end of the line was my brother-in-law. And he said, Robert, they just did some exploratory surgery on your mom today. And we're here at the hospital and the doctor found inoperable cancer that had metastasized everywhere.
They're not able to do anything for her and they've given her four months to live and you probably ought to come back if you can. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. And I remember going back into that sanctuary and preaching the message that evening. I can't tell you to this day what I preached that night. But as soon as we finished, Amy and I hurriedly left the church, got in our cars and started driving back to Dallas. And I will never forget driving through those dark back roads of West Texas, headed to Dallas, overcome with grief and questions about what was going to be in the future and why the Lord would allow such a thing to happen.
And I turned on the radio and it happened to be set on KCBI. And I'll never forget the voice I heard. It was a familiar voice.
It was Chuck Swindoll and he was reading Romans eleven thirty three. Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments?
How unfathomable are his ways? And I don't know how many people were listening to the broadcast that Monday night, but God knew that is exactly what I needed to hear that night. Because those verses reminded me that God has a plan that is beyond our comprehension.
He has a plan that he is working out, even though in the darkness we can't see what that plan is and we can trust him. It was God's word that freed me that night to experience God's rest. And that's the power of God in your life as well. For the word of God is alive.
It is active. It is sharper than any two edged swords. I want you to notice God's word is not only a sword that frees us to experience God's rest. It is also a scalpel, a surgeon's scalpel that cuts us so we can experience God's healing in our life. He talks about the conviction of God's word in verses 12 and 13.
Look at it with me. The last part of verse 12. And piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from God's sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. I was just reading this last night late. It's interesting how the writer goes from talking about God's word to talking about God himself. You know why?
There's no difference between the two. God's word and God are inseparable. You can't hide from God's word because you can't hide from God, even though we try to. Out of guilt, many people try to hide from God.
They quit going to church thinking, maybe I won't have to face God if I'm not in his house. Adam and Eve thought that. After they sinned, they went and hid themselves.
But guess what? God knew where they were. He came and found them and confronted them with their sin. Think about Jonah. He had heard the word of God. He decided to go in the opposite direction from Nineveh.
But after a few nights in the belly of a great fish, he had a change of heart. The fact is you cannot hide from God. How foolish it is to say, well, I just don't believe the Bible anymore. I just don't believe it's God's word. Do you think that changes anything?
Just because you don't believe in gravity doesn't mean gravity doesn't exist. It's there whether you believe it or not. And the same is true with God's word. In fact, he goes on to say that everything is laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. John MacArthur notes that that word translated laid bare refers to the practice in the first century of a criminal convicted of a capital offense being led to an execution.
And it was the practice then to strap around that convicted criminal's neck a spike that was pointed upward and it was placed right under his chin so that as he walked to his execution, he could not bow his head in shame, but he had to hold his head up so everyone could see his guilt. That's what the word of God does. It refuses to allow us to hide from the judgment we deserve.
Somebody has said the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me. It has hands.
It lays hold of me. God's word is like that surgeon's scalpel that cuts us, pierces us in order to heal us. What does that have to do with us today? Let me just share with you in closing two principles that I hope will change your attitude toward God's word today. Number one, view God's word as medicine and not poison. I want you to imagine, and this is so basic, but I want you to imagine that you're suffering from a fever of 103 degrees, you've got a sore throat that won't stop, and finally you're so miserable you go to the doctor for some relief.
He said, oh, I've got just the thing you need. I've got these purple pills here. And if you'll take one of these purple pills every day, you will feel better. And so you take one of those purple pills and almost instantly you begin to feel better. The next morning you get up and you forget to take your purple pill. It's not a part of your regular routine.
That's understandable. As the day progresses, you begin to feel worse and worse and worse. The fever, the sore throat returns. The next morning you get up and you know you need that purple pill, but you're running late to work or school and you can't be late, and so you can't take time to drink a glass of water and take the pill. And so, again, the fever and the sore throat rages on.
How many days would you go until you decided this is a priority for me to take this purple pill? Now, I know that is a simple analogy, but it's the same way with God's word. God gave us his word to bring healing into our life, to remove the discomfort from our life that comes from disobeying him. And yet, you know, many of us have the same attitude toward the Bible that we do toward broccoli.
I know it's good for me, but it makes me gag. And we continue to suffer the results of not having that regular intake from the word of God. Could I give you a real practical solution if you've gotten away from reading the Bible?
And that's so easy. We all struggle to make time to read God's word. I used to have a practice when I read the Bible of reading the Bible from my only Bible, the one that I preach from, the one I've had for 35 plus years.
But here's what I found. When I would read these passages, I'd have so many words underlined already. I'd read it so often, the words almost came by rote to me.
I'd look at the notes I'd made in my margins. I'd begin thinking about people I had shared these verses with, sermons I had preached in the past, and then I started taking a stroll down Memories Lane instead of allowing the Bible to speak to me. And what I've started doing is, once every year, I get a fresh copy of God's word, a fresh translation or a paraphrase, so that I can sit down without any markings, without any familiarity, and let the Bible speak anew to me.
And I'd suggest you do the same thing. If you use the New American Standard Bible, why not get a copy of the New Living Bible paraphrase? I know some people say, oh, a paraphrase, that's not good to study with. No, it may not be something you want to study with, but there's something great about reading the Bible in today's language. Remember, Billy Graham, up until the day he died, read from the Living Bible every day.
If it's good enough for Billy Graham, you know, it's probably good enough for the rest of us. But maybe you use the New International Bible and you want to switch to the New American Standard. The point is, there ought to be a time every day when you read the Bible, you don't analyze it, you don't study the Greek word, you just allow it to speak to you so that you can hear the voice of God. Treat the Bible like medicine and not poison.
The second important principle I think from this passage is this. Allow God's Word to perform its work. Allow God's Word to perform its work in you. Yes, the Bible is like medicine, but it's also like the surgeon's scalpel. It is able to cut into the deepest part of our lives and lay our real motivations open, not only before God, but before our own hearts as well. You know, God's motivation in cutting you with His Word is not to bring hurt into your life, but to bring healing. But sometimes the hurt has to precede the healing. I remember a few years ago, I went to the doctor and he found this little growth and he said, Robert, we ought to really probably get rid of this growth.
It's not malignant, but it could become malignant, so we're going to cut it off. Imagine if I said to him, what? You want to cut me? You want to open me? What kind of doctor are you? Don't you remember the Hippocratic oath? You're not to do harm to anybody.
No, the reason the doctor wants to open me up and cut that growth out is not because he hates me. He wants to bring healing to me. And it's the same way with God. You know, in fact, God uses that exact analogy in Deuteronomy 32, 39. God says, I am the one who has wounded, but it is I who heals. God cuts us.
He wounds us, not because He's a divine sadist, but because He wants to bring healing into our lives. One of my favorite quotes is from Alan Redpath, who says, it is a tremendous moment in a Christian's life when he can honestly look up in the face of God and say, yes, Lord, you are right, and I am wrong. Yes, Lord, I got what I deserved in that situation. You are right.
I am wrong. That is the thing for which God has been working for in your life and in mine from the moment of our conversion. People occasionally ask me, Pastor, what is the unpardonable sin?
By the way, you know there is one, don't you? The unpardonable sin is the one you refuse to ask God's forgiveness for. God convicts us. He cuts us open so that He can bring healing into our lives. For some of you right now, as Christians, God has been working on you, working on you, but every time He tries to slice you open, you climb off the operating table. Not today, Lord, not today. The most important time in your life is when you come to that point as a Christian and say, God, you're right, I'm wrong.
Do your work in my life so that I can experience your rest. Of all people, it was President Woodrow Wilson who said, when you have read the Bible, you will know it's the Word of God because you have found it to be the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty. I can't think of a better way to conclude our year together than to celebrate the power and relevance of God's inspired Word.
As the writer of Hebrews said, 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. I've written a daily devotional for 2024 that's carefully crafted and designed to keep you centered on God's Word throughout the new year. And today is the final day I'll mention this beautiful leather-bound Pathway to Victory daily devotional. Plus, when you respond today, we're also pleased to provide the one-of-a-kind brochure I've written called Jesus, The Fulfillment of God's Prophecies.
In this resource, I've identified 37 of the more than 300 prophecies fulfilled by Christ's arrival. But here's the best part. We're in the final hours of the matching challenge in which we've been challenged by a generous group of friends who have committed $500,000 to this cause.
What they've said, in essence, is this. We want to motivate the Pathway to Victory family to give, just as we have, by matching dollar-for-dollar every generous gift that's given. So please don't allow the hours to slip by without taking advantage of this opportunity to double the impact of your generous gift.
Again, the deadline is midnight Sunday night. All of the matching funds we're able to collect will be used in 2024 to reach even more people with the living and active Word of God through this radio program, our daily television program, our website, our podcast, our published resources, and every other avenue we have at our disposal. Thanks so much for joining us as together we pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous year-end gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you the exclusive 2024 daily devotional from Pathway to Victory. As an added bonus, we'll also include the reference brochure titled Jesus, The Fulfillment of God's Prophecies.
To request this resource, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. And when your gift is $100 or more, we'll also send you The Incomparable Christ, a 14-message teaching set on DVD and CD. Plus, we'll include a brand-new music CD called Celebrate the Savior Volume 2 featuring the phenomenal First Baptist Dallas Choir and Orchestra. Remember, because of our Proclaim the Gospel matching challenge, your gift will be doubled in size and impact by some friends of Pathway to Victory.
But the clock is ticking and our matching challenge ends December 31st at midnight. So be sure to get in touch right away before time runs out. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You could also send your donation by mail. Write to P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
I'm David J. Mullins wishing you a happy and safe New Year. Then join us again Monday when Dr. Jeffress begins a new series called Say Goodbye to Regret. That's right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You've made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
We're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. And right now, your special year-end gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Proclaim the Gospel matching challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on December 31st. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click on the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
