This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) This is day four together of our look through Hebrews chapter
four, this chapter that's all about God's rest in our lives. We're going to look at
verses 12 and 13 today. Before we do that, let me just remind you of where we've
been this week, talking about God's rest.

We've said there are some things we need to make, some choices you and I can
make in order to enter into this place of God's rest. Choice number one, you
have to combine hearing with faith, trust in what God has done, trust in what
God is saying. Choice number two is you understand that it's God's rest, not
your rest.

Choice number three, you make every effort to enter that rest. And choice number
four, I began to touch on this yesterday as we looked at what Jesus said. Choice
number four is you depend on God's word to get you to that place of rest.

Part of making every effort to enter into the place of rest is depending on
God's word to get you to that place of rest. Right after, right after this
chapter talks about making every effort to enter into that rest, not being
disobedient, it goes into these words about God's word, verses 12 and 13. For
the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.

It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the
thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing and all creation is hidden from
God's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must
give account. Now these verses that are familiar to many of you, it's important
to see as we walk through this chapter that they're spoken of in the context of
God's rest. The word of God that is so living, so active, sharper than any
two-edged sword.

This verse comes about in this chapter where we're talking about how God's rest
comes into our lives. I'd also say as we begin to launch into these verses that
they're very scary verses for some people as they first hear it. Everything
uncovered, everything laid bare.

I have to give account. As we get to the end of looking at these verses today, I
think you'll see that there's more confidence here. There's more peace here than
you might imagine.

But first let's look at the word of God. The word of God, we're told here, it's
living, it's active, it's penetrating, it's judging in our lives. There are a
couple of things to never forget about Jesus' words that Jesus taught us.

First they are spirit, but then they are also living. God's words are spirit. If
you don't look for the spiritual truth in the words that Jesus says to us and
the words that God has written for us in the Bible, if you just look at the
physical side of this, you're going to miss the point every time.

His words are spirit, but he didn't just say they're spiritual. He said they are
spirit. There is something different about the words of Jesus.

There's something different about the words of the Bible than any other words.
You and I have a soul, and that soul needs spiritual food. Where are you going to
get that spiritual food?

There's a lot of places that people look. They look in relationships and they
look in habits and they look in hobbies and they even look in physical things
like food and many other places we look. But the soul cannot be fed by physical
food.

It needs spiritual food. How are you going to feed your soul? At the movies?

I don't think so. Die Hard 15 is not going to feed your soul. It's not going to feed
this need in your life.

How are you going to feed that need, the depth of need for a relationship with God?
Jesus says my words are spirit. That's why his words can meet that need in your
life.

Each morning I spend a few minutes in God's word. I miss some mornings, but most
mornings I just spend a few moments in God's word. Now, do I remember five days
later exactly what I read that morning?

Not always. But do I remember five days later exactly what I ate for breakfast
five days ago? No, not always.

But the food that I ate five days ago nourished me for that day. And God's word
can nourish your soul for that day. His words are spirit and his words are life.

They're life. When you think of really living, what do you think of? Really
living.

A vacation in Hawaii, an all expense paid vacation in Europe, first class all
the way, that would be really living. Well, that'd be fun. That'd be enjoyable
for many of us.

But Jesus says, do you want to know what real living is? It's here in my word.
This is where you find real life.

Life that lasts. Life that lasts beyond a few months or moments or days or even
life in this world. Life that lasts all the way into eternity.

Jesus says you're never going to find any kind of life except for this. This is the
life out of which all life springs, the life that comes from his word. Now the
world tells us something different.

You could look at 1,000 advertisements and see it in every advertisement. The
advertisement says this is real life. This is what you need.

This vacation, this product, this whatever. The truth of the matter is his words
are life. And those words that are life, we're told here in verse 12 that those
words that are life are living.

They are active. These are not just dead phrases on a page. They work on your
heart.

They work to bring life to you. Now how do they bring this life? That's where
you and I start to get a little uncomfortable.

I love the idea that God's word brings life to me, that it's life-giving. The
word of God is living and active. But then we start to get a little
uncomfortable when we read sharper than any two-edged sword.

It penetrates to the dividing of soul and spirit. How do God's words bring life?
The same way a surgeon brings life.

Just like a surgeon will cut into human flesh in order to bring new life to an
organ, new life to a heart. God's word cuts to the division of soul and spirit.
Now what is the division of soul and spirit?

We could talk many, many, many, many moments about that. But in essence, it's
the place where my will and God's will have this battle. Is it going to be what I
want or what God wants?

My spirit says, my soul says to do this, my idea. But God's spirit within me is
saying, no, this is where you go. This is what you should do.

And God wants to bring that spirit to life. Is it going to be my will or is it
going to be God's will? They cut to that place God's words do so that I can see the
selfishness in my life.

It's exposed. Once it's exposed, you can see it for what it is and God can cut
it out. I can't, but God can and God does it through his words.

They cut out that which is killing me. In so doing, they bring life to that
which God wants to bring life in my life. I have a niece who a few years ago had
to have brain surgery.

Surgery was over 20 hours. She had a tumor in her brain and a lot of the
tendrils of that tumor had made its way into places where the surgeon had to go
in and very delicately make sure that the tumor was taken out while the brain
tissue, the healthy brain tissue remained. God's words bring life.

We need an expert surgeon to go into the places of our lives to take out the
selfishness so that the places the Holy Spirit wants to invade can invade those
places and bring real life to us. And the truth is, just like no one wants to go
into surgery, we don't really want this to happen. All of us would say, okay, if
I had a vote, I would like the life without the surgery.

It's impossible because it's the surgery that brings real life. Now, in order to
do surgery on our hearts, God has to judge our hearts. That's what he says here.

Nothing in creation is hidden. Everything is laid bare. In order to do surgery
on our hearts, God has to judge our hearts.

And for many of us, that seems so embarrassing that God would have to judge our
hearts. But the truth is, he knows our hearts already. He knows everything
that's in your heart.

And the one who knows everything that's in your heart, better than you know it
yourself, he is willing to come into your life through his word, into your heart
and lift out that which is killing you and put through his spirit new life into
your life. Can you imagine going to a surgeon because you had a heart problem
and saying, well, I don't really want to talk to you about this problem 'cause I'm
just embarrassed to admit to anybody that I might have a problem with my
physical heart. If you did that, you'd never go to the surgeon.

And that's the way many of us act before God. You know, the healthier way to
realize, to recognize is just to say, I know I'm not perfect. And if I know I'm
not perfect, God knows I'm not perfect.

And so I'm coming to him who loves me the most. His judgment of me is not to
keep me away from him. It's not to keep me away from heaven.

He's already judged those sins on the cross. That's already taken care of. His
judgment of me is to bring health into my life.

I want, if I go to a surgeon to cure my heart, I want her to judge the problem
so she can fix the problem. When I go to God, I want him to judge the problem so
that he can fix the problem, so he can lift those things out that are killing me
spiritually. And he can put in the place of those things, things that will bring
life to me.

Lord, based on what we just read, and based on our faith and trust in you as our
father, that you want what's best for us. We come, and for some of us very
tentatively, we pray this prayer. Lord, judge the thoughts and attitudes of my
heart.

Judge the thoughts and attitudes of my heart through your word, so that you can
bring new health to my spiritual heart, so you can bring new health to my life.
So instead of me chasing after ways to solve everything in my life, I can
realize that you, through your word, can bring a new kind of life to me. Kind of
life that's not about what I chase after, but instead is about me following you.

That's the life I want to live, Jesus. So thank you for your word. Thank you for
what you can do in my heart.

And like never before, right now, I open my heart to you, Jesus. In your name,
amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look together at the impact in our daily lives of
our great high priest.