God"s Word is Alive

Let's stand and read the Word of God, these various texts.

Stand and read with me. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Thank you. Please be seated. Without physical nourishment for our bodies, we die in a matter of days. Without food for our souls, we perish forever. We want to learn today and remind ourselves about God's Word so that our lives conform to the Word of God.

It's so easy, isn't it, to have a Christianity on our own terms, a Christianity which makes us comfortable, a Christianity which mirrors our culture, but of course, that kind of Christianity, a Christianity which is not true to God's revelation is not Christianity at all. Next Sunday, as we've announced, Lord willing, I'm going to commence a six-week series on controversial subjects like marriage, divorce, the gay debate, LGBTQ, transgenderism. Now, I say controversial not because I'm going to give my own views or opinions.

I will not do that. But rather, in our continuing study of Matthew, we're going to come to Matthew chapter 19, and as you know, we've been going consecutively through the book of Matthew for a long time, and we're going to examine the words of Jesus. And it's a very sad reflection of our country, isn't it, that God's Word on these subjects is now controversial. Doesn't that show the decline of our culture, that what is the clear teaching of Scripture is now regarded as controversial and even bigoted. In 2007, Drew Faust became the first female president in Harvard University.

She's now president emeritus. And in her speech when she became president, here it is, Harvard, this elite educational establishment in her country, she said this, the veritas for, you know, is Latin for truth, the veritas in Harvard's shield was originally intended to invoke the absolutes of divine revelation, the unassailable verities of Puritan religion. We understand it quite differently now. Truth is an aspiration, not a possession. Yet in this, we and all universities defined by the spirit of debate and free inquiry challenge and even threaten those who would embrace unquestioned certainty. We must commit ourselves to the uncomfortable position of doubt, to the humility of always believing there's more to know, more to teach, more to understand. How sad. Harvard's original motto was veritas pro Christo et ecclesiae, Latin for truth, for Christ and His church.

Think of that. In this country, as Harvard University was founded, it had this wonderful motto, truth for Christ and His church. Then early in the 20th century, the motto was reduced to merely veritas, truth. Now, the president, former president, President Emeritus is saying, truth is merely an aspiration, not a possession.

What a sad way to live, isn't it? Some of you read the announcement that Greg Epstein is the new chief chaplain of Harvard University. He was elected to the presidency of the university just recently by an organization of chaplains at Harvard representing some 40 chaplains from some 20 different faith and spiritual traditions. Greg Epstein, the new chief chaplain, is a self-professed atheist and a self-described humanist. I also read that in 2019, 37.9 incoming freshmen to Harvard identified as either atheist or agnostic.

Just think of that. Some of the brightest here not just in the United States but throughout the world are going to Harvard, this wonderful university and almost two-fifths of them are saying we're atheists or agnostics. Epstein was raised in a Jewish household, told the New York Times, quote, we don't look to God for answers, small g. We don't look to a God for answers, we are each other's answers.

That sounds very smart, very sophisticated. I find it very, very sad that God is now rejected and the answers to life are found within ourselves. What a departure from Harvard's original model. The truth is whatever you want it to be. So, as we begin next week, Lord willing, the series on marriage and gender issues, I want us to be crystal clear that our authority is not our ideas, not our feelings, not your private views, not the views of our society, not the laws of Congress, not the decisions of the Supreme Court but the Word of God, which is absolute truth.

Do you believe that? So, I'm not necessarily going to tell many of you anything new, but I want us to reaffirm our commitment at Calvary Church and in our personal lives that God's Word is alive and it is the authority. Remove that and everything crumbles and you end up, as Harvard has done, an institution which began so strongly, truth for Christ and His church. Now, there's no such thing as truth.

In fact, let's have an atheist as our chief chaplain and no wonder that many of the freshmen are described themselves as atheists or agnostics. If you have your Bible, open it please to Hebrews. It's towards the end of the New Testament. Hebrews chapter 4, and I want to read a couple of verses, very important verses. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12. These are wonderful verses. For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.

One day, you and I will stand before God. God's Word first is living and active, the text says. The Word of God is living and active. God's Word is living.

Of course it is. God is a living God. He's not dead and His Word is alive.

Martin Luther said, the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me.

It has hands. It lays hold of me. This Word, the Word of God is alive. It's living because it is the very breath of God. We read from 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is inspired by God, is breathed out by God.

It is the very breath of God. It is God's Word written. You want to understand what God is saying? We read the Scriptures.

This is the Word of God. You say, well, but John is a very, very old book. We're much more learned.

We're much more sophisticated now. How can such an old book be alive? Because it is the eternal Word of God. It is the breath of God. Hebrews describes it as the very voice of God. And that which is eternal, as is the Word of God, that which is eternal is always relevant. Turn over a few pages to 1 Peter chapter 1 where we will see this. If you're in Hebrews, James, and then 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23. By the way, if you don't have a Bible, buy one.

If you can't afford it, the brother who prayed subbu will buy you one. And we want you to get the Word of God. Seriously, get a Bible. First Peter 1 verse 23, Peter says, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding Word of God. Transformation, spiritual birth, salvation, Peter is saying, is not coming from perishable seed, such as your own opinion, such as culture, what some philosopher believed 20 years ago or 200 years ago.

No. It comes from the imperishable Word of God. It's living and abiding. For, here Peter quotes from Isaiah, all flesh is like grass and all is glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever. Throughout the history, human history, there's been all kinds of ideas, all kinds of religions, all kinds of philosophies, all kinds of perspectives.

They've come and gone. What was accepted as wisdom a hundred years ago is now discarded. But, says Peter, the Word of God remains forever. And this Word, notice the last part of the last verse of the first chapter, 1 Peter 1, he says, this Word is the good news that was preached to you. God's Word, we will learn, does not change to accommodate your views. God's Word doesn't change to accommodate political action. God's Word doesn't change because the Supreme Court ruled a certain way.

God's Word doesn't change because you have adopted a particular lifestyle that you like. God's Word stands forever. And when the Bible speaks, God is speaking. That's why we give great reverence to the Word of God. That's why we're teaching it, as we are in Awana, to our children.

That's why it's being communicated to our students. That's why the Bible studies which are beginning for men and women are rooted in Holy Scripture. It is not only living, it is life giving. Peter says, in order to be born again, to have God's life in your very soul, it must come through the Word of God. How important it is, we then hear reverently, read and obey the living Word of God. Are you listening? Are you listening to God? Do you come with an expectation that today God is going to speak to you through His Word?

Tomorrow morning, when you get up and you open this book and you read it, do you have the expectation that God is speaking to you? It's His Word. It's living. But also, the writer says in Hebrews chapter 4, not only is it living, it is active, active.

I like that. The word active refers to an activity which produces results. The Word of God is effective.

It's dynamic. It's life changing. Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.14, from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures, which were able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. How do you come to saving faith in Jesus Christ?

By looking to someone else for an answer, to form a little committee, to brainstorm as it were, absolutely not. From a child, from infancy, you've known the Holy Scriptures, which gives you this wisdom, Paul says, through faith in Jesus Christ. And the Word of God unleashed in our lives produces results. Here, we just heard of two men fighters in the Taliban, extreme Muslims, believing strongly that Christians are infidels and will kill them.

And what happens? The Word of God comes and transforms them because the Word of God is active. It's profitable for teaching, for the proof, for the correction, for training in righteousness.

It's powerful. God's Word transforms us. It saves us, transforms us, and makes us ready, equips us for every good work. God's Word is also active.

You know this if you read it, if you're humble to it. God's Word is also active in the sense that it cleanses us. It keeps us clean. This morning I get up and I have a shower. I want my body to be clean. But that shower, however wonderful it was, can do nothing to my heart and my soul. I want a clean body, but I also want a clean heart.

Am I going to get a clean heart? Psalm 119 verse 9, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? How can a student go to UNC Charlotte and live a pure holy life in such an unholy world? How can you live a holy life in an unholy world?

Answer, by taking heed thereto according to Your Word. You've got dirty thoughts. You've said some dirty things, feeling guilty, feeling shame, said something which you feel is defiling you. Do you feel that your very soul is polluted? You can't get a shower.

What do we do? The Word of God is pure and it is active in my life. It produces results. It's not just giving me information so I have a big head and can impress someone in my Bible study.

No, it's active. It produces transformation. It directs us to the path of righteousness. So Jesus says, sanctify them in Thy truth. Your Word is truth. John 17 verse 17. How are you going to live a clean life? The Word of God.

It is not only living, it's active. So today, as I'm preaching the Word of God to you today, I know whether you're here in the sanctuary or watching on live stream, I know that God has His purposes and that God will use this Word that we're reading to effect change, conviction, challenge, and comfort in people's life because this Word is active. It will not return to God empty. Isn't that what Isaiah says? Isaiah 55 verse 10 is the rule, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and don't return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Rain comes down and it produces results. It produces growth. The seed grows. Verse 11, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

How wonderful. You're a Sunday school teacher? You're a mother. You meet with your four and five-year-old around you and you read the Word of God. You teach it in Sunday school and you sometimes wonder, is anything happening here? As preachers, we wonder that. Believe me, sometimes I've gone home on a Sunday night after preaching my heart out twice and I say to God, what was all that about? And I remember God's Word is active. It's active. It's powerful. I did a funeral on Tuesday of Brian Murray, some of you know, the only other Scotsman that came here, so I feel very lonely now that he's gone.

We stood up against the Americans, two of us, we could take you all on. Now I'm not so sure. But Brian Murray, years ago, stepped forward here, right there, to confess Jesus Christ as his Savior. And he's about 70 years old. And for most of his adult life, in fact all of his adult life, he had turned and pursued his own destructive ways.

But he told me he had a very unhappy home. He was brought up by his great aunt who took him to church, church of Scotland, Presbyterian, right, the frozen chosen, but with apologies to my friends. But the minister, I heard him when I was a student at Emory University, the minister was a faithful preacher of the Word of God. And as a little boy, although his aunt dropped him off at church and went her own way and then picked him up. And he stopped going when he was about 14 years old. And here he now comes as a 70-year-old.

I asked him to come to church, worked at Carmel Country Club as a maitre d', and he finally came. And the Word that was sown in his heart as a little boy, which he had largely suppressed, put the back of his memory, lived his own life, and a very chaotic and destructive life it was, when he now comes to Calvary Church and he hears the same Word and the same Gospel. Think of this, how wonderful it is, that seed which was sown all of these years ago now brings forth fruit. That's God's Word in action, isn't it?

So when you're teaching the Word of God to your children and you're a Sunday school teacher and you've got adult children and you've taught them and they've wandered away and you wonder, keep praying. That seed is active. It's living and active. And it never fails to accomplish God's purposes. Today, hear it. Today, obey it. And supernatural transformation takes place.

It's living, it's active. Also, it is sharp. Hebrews 4, 12, sharper than any two-edged sword. The double-edged sword was a symbol of judges and magistrates in the Roman world.

They wanted, as we do, a justice which is sharp and penetrating, not blunt, not superficial. And God's Word is sharper than any two-edged sword. That's very uncomfortable, isn't it? You know, sometimes people say, well, I'm choosing a church that makes me comfortable.

That's not good. Or someone gets a little ticked off with me from time to time and I'd say, pastor, you've made me very uncomfortable. Well, if I have, I apologize, but if the Word of God makes you uncomfortable, praise God. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. It challenges us. It convicts us. As I read the Word of God, it penetrates me.

It shows my shallowness. It reveals my sin because our hearts become hardened and deceived, don't they? 3, verse 13, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we've come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

As it is said, today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. And we who are followers of Jesus Christ, isn't it true? We sometimes get deceived. Our hearts become hardened.

We become a bit stale. We go through the motions. And then we are reading the Word of God. We're in a Bible study. We hear the Word of God preached and it pierces us and it convicts us. It's an indispensable tool in exposing our sin.

We need an uncompromising standard because we're bombarded by the views of the world, the views of our enemies. They come in our media, in our school, in our politics. They're all around us wherever we go and how important it is then. We close our ears to that and we say, speak Lord, for your servant hears. And God's Word comes and it convicts us. It cuts through the tough areas of our life and our attitudes. That's why some preaching makes me uncomfortable.

That's why some of you, I trust all of you from time to time, as you sit there, you're almost squirming. Praise God. God's Word is sharper than a two-edged sword. It is piercing, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Isn't this a living Word? This divine sword is profoundly sharp and it penetrates the innermost recesses of human existence as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrows. God's Word reaches into the deepest recesses of human personality and existence. It pierces our facades, our hypocrisies, our pseudo-spirituality, our defense mechanism. God's Word is so sharp, it's so piercing that no psychoanalyst, no psychiatrist, no therapist, no counselor or anyone else can do what the Word of God does. So someone says to me, well, I've gone to therapy for five years. God and unbeliever discuss their problems.

What is it? One deceitful heart trying to look into another deceitful heart. I'm not saying that therapy is always hopeless. I'm not saying that, but I am saying this, that God's Word can penetrate if you're humble and will bring life and transformation, will expose the areas of your life and mine that need to be changed because our hearts can become hard and deceitful. We have our defense mechanisms.

We have our rationalizations. Got a problem in your marriage? Got a problem in your family?

Got a personal problem? Are you humbly coming to God's Word so that that sharp sword will come and pierce you? How easy to have deep scars, callous hearts, wounded souls, dark secrets, things that you never tell another person and God's Word will expose your superficiality. God's Word, brother, will expose that secret sin that you hide and drive you to Christ for forgiveness and change. Will you allow this two-edged sword to penetrate? It's sharp.

It's hard. It will expose your true motives, your thoughts and your sin. Today, when you hear the Word of God, do not harden your heart.

Hear it. One of our themes for this year is obey the Word of God. God's Word saves our soul. God's Word equips us for every good work.

It's sharp and it's piercing. Now, God's Word is supernatural because it's the sword of the Spirit. Read that with me in Ephesians chapter 6, the wonderful chapter of the armor of God. You say, living for Christ is hard. I find it very hard. You find it hard. And at school, at bank, at store, wherever you are, it's hard to stand as a warrior for Christ, isn't it?

How are you going to do it? Put on the full armor of God and essential to that, verse 17, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. This is a sword. Not my sword. It is the sword of the Spirit.

The interpretation is given. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. The Word of God comes from the Spirit. It is all of the authority of God behind it. It is our supreme and final authority and it is supernatural.

It's the sword of the Spirit. It's the very Word of God. God's Word is a light which will guide us through all of life. A lamp to my feet and a lamp to my path. How wonderful to know, whatever you're facing, that God's Word will guide you, step by step. You want everything planned out ahead of you? God has done that.

Usually, He doesn't reveal that to us. He just tells you to take one step in accordance with Scripture. It's always relevant because it lives and abides forever. Psalm 119, verse 89, forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens and you'll never, ever be spiritually mature unless you spend time in the Word. Spend time in the Word. Know it. Obey it. Take the sword of the Spirit. You have to do that.

You say, well, you know, I'm reading a book about the Bible and I've got this little study guide. We've all seen little boys and girls, haven't we, who don't want to eat the table. Perhaps some of you would like that. And we see parents go through ridiculous exercises to get little Johnny to eat that green bean that is such a favorite vegetable here in the south. Or to eat grits or whatever it is that little Johnny doesn't want and they'll put it on a spoon and pretend this is like an airplane. Open your mouth, Johnny. Or here's the choo-choo train coming with the food. And they go through this, so little Johnny will get nutritious food. I sometimes think some churches are like that. Everything's got to be fun. Fun, fun, fun. We've got to entertain people because the Word of God, you know, that can be really boring, really heavy, so we've got to spice it up.

We've got to change it. Now this results in people remaining baby Christians. Baby food is OK for babies. How you speak to children in kindergarten about the Gospel should be a little different from how we speak as adults. Paul talks to the Corinthians. He says, you're, you're spiritually mature. You're babes in Christ.

You know what it is? They're spoon-fed. They're spoon-fed. I've met followers of Christ who have been following Christ for many years. They say, well, they can't really need to read the Bible on their own.

They need a study guide and you spend all your time trying to work out what this person's question is. And you say, well, I like to read about the Bible. I do. I've got a huge library. I love to read. But nothing, and I keep saying this, and I think sometimes I feel like John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, there is nothing, nothing to substitute you, the Holy Spirit, and this book. Study guides, commentaries, videos, all have their place. But you, yes, you, whoever you are, five-year-old little boy, 95-year-old person, you need every day to be in this book.

You will grow. You can't be spoon-fed all the time. Now, in Ephesians 6, Paul is telling us that the Word of God is a sure weapon against the attacks of the enemy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, the deceit, the lie of the devil, consists of this, that he wishes to make man believe that he can live without God's Word. Do you think you can live without God's Word?

Some of you are acting as if you can because you're never yourself reading this book. At the beginning, I had you stand and read the words that Jesus used when he was attacked by the devil. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And when the enemy attacked our Lord Jesus, what did he do? Quoted Scripture, he used the sword of the Spirit.

In Ephesians 6 verse 17, the emphasis is on the specific Word of God in a particular situation. And before we can use the sword of the Spirit, I need to know the Word of God. It will defeat the enemy. God's truth always, always stands against the attacks of the enemy. It is written, it is written, you'll always be victorious against the attacks of the enemy when you use the sword of the Spirit. It's the perfect weapon against the tannic attack. Powerful in Afghanistan, yes.

The Taliban with all of their atrocities, with all of the weapons that they now have, will not stamp out the Gospel in Afghanistan. I know that because there is the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit. You say, well, Satan's harassing me.

I know that. I'm harassed, distracted by the enemy. He'll rob you of your joy. He creates doubt. He creates worry.

He creates anxiety. Use the sword of the Spirit. Jim says, resist the devil and he'll flee from you.

Now, by yourself, he'll demolish you every time. Ah, but standing in the grace of God, with the armor of God, with that shield of faith, with the sword of the Spirit, the devil is resisted. Let me ask you, is there some area in your life where you are not obeying the Word of God?

Is there some area of your life where you're not taking up the sword of the Spirit? Because God's purposes are accomplished through God's Word. Paul says, it's through the foolishness of preaching.

The Greek word there for preaching is logos. It's through the foolishness of preaching the Word of God that people are saved. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. My faith is sometimes weak. I sometimes have doubts. I'm sometimes anxious.

What's the answer? The Word of God. You say, I wish my faith were stronger. Read the Word of God. Claim the promises of God. Your faith will be built up.

And God's purposes, as I said, are accomplished through His Word. Jesus said, you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. It's only the Word of God which cuts through the chains of spiritual bondage. Satan's got you in his hole, has he?

Very nasty habit, a bad attitude. What's the answer? The Word of God. It will cut the chains of bondage. It will cut through the lies and the deceit and the doctrine of demons. Such is the power of the sword of the Spirit.

And in spiritual warfare, this word, the Word of God, is essential. There was a queen in England, Lady Jane Grey, who was only the queen for nine days. She was a teenager and she was caught up in the intrigue after the death of Henry VIII and who was going to succeed him. And 16-year-old Lady Jane Grey was queen of England for only nine days. And before she was beheaded in 1554. This is what she wrote.

She was a believer in Jesus Christ. Now, this is from a 16-year-old young woman. Lord, could you make this a prayer for yourself, could we? Lord, as I read your words, let me hear you speaking. As I reflect on each page, let me see your image. And as I seek to put your precepts into practice, let my heart be filled with joy.

Notice the verbs. As I read your words, she's reading Scripture. Let me hear you speaking. This is the voice of God. Not just reading aimlessly, but reading to hear God speaking. As I reflect, she's reflecting, she's meditating.

Let me see your image. She wants to see God. She wants to see Christ. And she's seeking to put your precepts into practice. She wants to obey what she is reading and understand that she sees Christ and let my heart be filled with joy. And so, as she was in the tower, waiting, her beheading, her heart was filled with joy.

Do you do that? You read, you listen, you reflect, you meditate, you obey the result of joy, joy. In the midst of pain, in the midst of difficulties, in the midst of our trials, there is still this joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.

This is the living Word of God. While rehearsing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the musicians responded with a particular sensitivity to Toscanini's Every Wish and Desire, and the result was a performance of that magnificent piece of music that moved the orchestra, the man in the orchestra, to a spontaneous ovation. They rose to their feet and cheered the little man who had given them such a new and wonderful insight into the music.

Finally, when the ovation subsided, Toscanini said in a broken voice, it isn't me, man, it's Beethoven. And sometimes, isn't it the case, when God's Word is preached, a holy hush falls over this sanctuary. And we realize it's not the preacher, it's God's Word, which is alive.

It will be a lamp to your feet, it will be a light to your path, it will make you wise unto salvation, it will equip you for every good work, it will be the very bread of life to your soul, it will transform your life. Therefore, read it, hear it, obey it, humbly submit to it, memorize it, underline it, because this book, God's Word, is alive. Father, we thank You for the bread of life.

Thank You that You're a God who speaks. You're a God who is not silent, and You speak to us in Christ, in the very Word of God, and we thank You for our Bibles. We thank You for those who have given their lives for the Bible to be translated into different languages.

We think of some of our own missionaries in remote parts, studying the Word, translating it into different languages so that people can read the Word, and so come to saving faith in Christ. For ourselves, Father, may this be our standard, may this be our authority. Help us humbly to submit to it, we pray. There are some here today who have never heard this Word which makes them wise unto salvation. Humble them, Father, convict them of their sin, may the sword pierce them so they understand they need Christ, and they will look to our magnificent Savior who came not to judge us, but to save us. And as a living Christ, may they look to Him and live. We ask it in His name. Amen.