GraceTrax

IF YOU'VE been with us for this series on the GraceTrax blog, you’ve seen that the Word of God is both alive and active. That separates and elevates the Bible from any and every other book in existence. It is in a category of its own, being both authored and empowered by the Holy Spirit. 

The next characteristic featured in our passage is the effectiveness of Scripture. The Word of God is effective; It is able to accomplish what God intends. Consider again our text from Hebrews 4. In verse 12, the writer describes Scripture as “sharper than any two edged sword.”  

That speaks to the effectiveness of God’s Word. When a man seriously reads the Bible, he cannot live any longer in complacency and indifference. Why not? Because the truth of God’s Word operates within his soul to convince, convict, rebuke and exhort. A serious man cannot ignore that. Scripture engages his mind and assaults his will. Only God’s Word can perform at that level. 

When a believer reads the Word or hears the Word preached, his complacency and indifference fall under the power of Scripture. Although a Christian can suppress and resist Scripture for a season, those seeds of truth cannot easily or finally be overcome. Often, when certain experiences or difficulties arise, God activates His Word and brings it to memory. 

The Bible is not like other books, a piece of literature to be read but forgotten, ignored, or laid aside. No. God’s Word demands a verdict when He makes it known to a man’s conscience. A serious Christian man or woman cannot read the Word of God with indifference.   

Even unbelievers demonstrate that characteristic of God’s Word. Consider the atheist. Most of the time when we encounter atheists and hear them talk about God and the Bible, we see them for what they are--great antagonists. Atheists are antagonistic toward the Word of God. Add to that the godless educator’s disdain for Scripture, the politician’s ignorance, and the common man’s hostility. 

No man harbors hostility toward a passive, harmless, inactive object. But the Word of God is none of those things. It is alive, powerful, active, and effective. And so depraved sinners see it for what it is--a serious threat to their perceived freedom in sin and depravity. And hence they resist it, oppose it and flee from it. They fear and hate the light, the exposure, the conviction.  Scripture is effective--and sinners hate it.   

For that reason, many preachers refuse to preach the Bible in their pulpits. They know enough about human behavior to reason like this: “If I really preach what the Word of God says, people will not like me. People will deride my ministry. People will gossip and undermine the church. They won’t give money to the church. They’ll leave the church. I’m not going to preach the Bible.” 

At one time in our nation’s history, you couldn’t find a church where the Word of God was not preached. But now you can go from church to church and never even see a copy of the Holy Bible. Preachers don’t use it, so parishioners don’t bring it. It’s unbelievable that in the Lord’s Church, the Bible has been discarded. Unbelievers hate the Word of God because it scrutinizes their hearts and exposes their sins. The Bible is powerful and effective, and that has ramifications for how we relate to it.   

Scripture’s effectiveness has two edges. One edge can cut a man’s conscience and devour his well-being by producing sorrow, guilt and fear. But, thank God, there is another edge. The Bible can work supernaturally within an unbelieving man’s soul in such a way that convicts, humbles, and drives him to Christ. It cuts him down in humility but raises him up in resurrection.  

That’s what God does. He takes His Word and slays us. He wounds us so that we can be healed. Never forget that wonderful truth about God. He rejects the prideful but gives grace to the humble. God’s Word shows us who we really are. It’s the most devastatingly accurate spiritual mirror in existence--and painful to gaze at. But we must.

The Word of God is effective. In their lost, blind, and ignorant condition, hostile unbelievers despise and resent that characteristic of Scripture. But we love it, and depend on it for growth, maturity and sanctification (John 17:17).    

WE ENDED the last article by asking a vital question: How does the Word of God function in our souls? What is the process, what does it look like, and how do we know when it’s effective?

Answering those questions takes us to a familiar passage in the book of Hebrews and invites us to consider the qualities and function of Scripture. Consider Hebrews 4:12-13:  

“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 account.”  

From that passage, let’s consider the functions of the Word of God and some of the applications for our souls.  

First, notice that the Word of God is a living and active agent--it’s alive. “For the Word of God is living and active.” Millions of books have been written and published, but only one book really speaks to the heart, and that is the Word of God. Not only does Scripture speak to the heart, it speaks to the present circumstances in which we find ourselves--that includes every generation.  

All who have read the Bible--through the hundreds and millennium of years--can testify how God’s infallible Word addressed their circumstances, how it explained and prescribed the proper response so they could pursue godliness. That’s always been the case with God’s Word. It is living, active and powerful. It cannot be silenced and it cannot be weakened because it belongs to God. As one man said, “The Bible is the anvil that’s worn out many hammers.”  

That alone makes the Bible the most relevant book in existence. It actively addresses our most pressing, most profound and deepest needs: God, man, sin, righteousness, heaven, hell, life, death, eternity and Christ. It is sufficient and superior to any other resource because it carries with it divine power. It’s a supernatural document. 

Scripture is also active. It’s not idle or passive. It operates on its user. You can see that in the remainder of the passage. It cuts, divides, exposes and judges. The Word of God is the only book you can read that reads you back.  

Because of our remaining sin, we sometimes entertain doubts and fears about the certainty of Scripture. The most effective remedy for that problem is direct application of Scripture to the soul. In other words, the more we fill our minds and hearts with divine truth, the quicker--and easier--those doubts evaporate. 

As we let God’s Word dominate our thinking, we experience anew and afresh the self-attesting element of God’s Word. That means the Bible affirms its own supernatural quality with use. As we read and apply God’s Word, the Holy Spirit strengthens our confidence in it. To reverse that formula, the less inclined we are to expose ourselves to Scripture, the more inclined we are to doubt its power and sufficiency.  

Just to consider the consistency, continuity and unity of Scripture is staggering. Think about it: The Bible was written over a period of 1600 years by over 40 authors who came from multiple cultures and spoke multiple languages, yet the unity is undeniable.  

In Scripture, you find traces of the same plot, theme, and subject in every book--with no contradictions or inconsistencies. As the story of redemption moves from the origins of Genesis through the culmination of Revelation, it’s clearly all tied together. Those facts are undeniable, and yet some reject God’s Word out-of-hand. 

Despite the attitude of some toward the Bible, Scripture is something every man must face. It offers truth that all people must either accept or reject--embrace or dismiss. No other books demand that response because no other books can. In fact, no other book can invite and survive the kind of scrutiny Scripture tolerates from skeptics. 

That’s quality number one for Scripture--it is alive and active. Without that characteristic, Scripture would wield no power and could offer no help to any of us. But thanks be to God that because He is alive; so is His Word. Are you reading it?