Sunday 7th
Hebrews 4:12-13
NIV (v12) – ‘For the word of God is alive 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.’
ESV (v12) – ‘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.’
We are returning today back to the last few verses in chapter 4 and it soon became apparent to me that I was not going to cover these verses in a couple of days so I have chosen to go through the remaining verses in this chapter over the course of the next week.
We need to remind ourselves that in the verses before this verse the writer has been warning his readers of the possibility of not entering the promised rest, and of encouraging them to not harden their hearts. (v7 ‘. . . again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”’) Our text today shows that the Word of God is so powerful that it discerns the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. In other words, it is so powerful it can break the hardest heart. I used to know a man who in his own words was a hardened criminal, spending time in prison for the crimes he had done, he was also a heavy smoker and while locked in his cell he ran out of paper for making up his own cigarettes, he decided to take the Bible that was discarded in his cell to tear out a page to use as a cigarette paper, he tore a page and as he was rolling it his eyes glanced upon what was written, of all the pages he should tear out it was a page that contained the words of John’s gospel, chapter 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ (KJV) and at that very moment his hardened criminal heart was broken, the Word of God pierced him, broke him down and he surrendered his life to Jesus.
In his recent ministry on our video, Ian spoke of the heart, and it is clear from this chapter that the state or the condition of the heart matters. Because of space I will add references only which you will need to turn to for further reading. The heart is the centre of our emotions and desires, Proverbs 15:13, it is from the heart we show our affection, Song of Solomon 4:9, and it is from the heart we control our will, Exodus 25:2, Ezra 7:27, it is from the heart that we acknowledge God, Psalm 119:10.
Sadly because of sin, the heart of man which would have been toward God was changed in its characteristics and we are reminded in the Word of God that the unregenerated heart is desperately wicked, Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 6:12-14, and has become hardened or stubborn toward God, Jeremiah 18:12. The heart is also deceitful and hostile toward God Psalm 14:1.
When an awful crime has been committed toward mankind, violent and inhumane crimes, such as those who carry out multiple murders in horrendous ways, have you ever wondered why and how a man can do such things? Here is the answer, it is firstly because mankind is sinful, secondly because mankind is lying in the lap of the evil one, and thirdly because the heart is so evil, as it is controlled not by God, but by the evil forces of the principalities and powers of the air. (Ephesians 2:1-3, 6:11-12) But thank God there is a power that is stronger than any evil force that can be found in this world, yes, there is power in the name of Jesus, power in the blood of Jesus, power in our personal testimony of faith in the Lord Jesus, there is power in prayer, but as we discover from the verse for today, there is power in the Word of God, and it can break the hardest of any unregenerate heart and turn the soul toward Jesus.
And once this has happened our desires are towards the things of God, our will is towards the things of God, our affections are towards the things of God, we are new creations and the Word of God which we will have previously rejected, we now allow to be hidden in our hearts, so that we will no longer sin against God.
I could have spent so much more time on the subject of the heart, but may we take the instruction from Hebrews 4:7, ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.’ And apply it to the text for today, as you read God’s Word, and as it begins to speak to you, do not harden your heart but allow the Word to do the work that God is desiring it to do. We will continue with this verse tomorrow.