Oh, how you and I need to know ourselves. But how can we? Jeremiah the prophet writes, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately (incurably) wicked. Who can know it?”(Jeremiah 17:9). No one on this earth can know his heart apart from the x-ray of the Word of God. The Word of God is the only instrument which can diagnose our need, cut out the problem and heal the wound, so says Hebrews 4:12. Consider this verse with me phrase by phrase:
- The Word of God X-Rays Our Unknown and Unseen Spiritual Condition. As it were, the Word of God stretches us out on the operating table and reveals to us the critical needs of our souls when we thought we were perfectly healthy though on the verge of death. Illus.: Millions of people go to their doctors for a check up, thinking they are perfectly fine, only to learn that they have a cancer which must be removed or they will be dead in a very few days. Millions are dying in our world – many in our churches – think they are in good shape because they have never seen their true needs in the Word of God.
- The Word of God Does Not Simply X-Ray and Reveal The Cancer of Sin, But It Cuts Out What Needs To Be Cut Out. No physical surgery is pleasant, but absolutely necessary for healing and without which there is certain death in a matter of time. So it is with the spiritual surgery, but spiritual surgery is rough. Because of this many will go no further than getting a band aid. Facing our sins and turning from them, real repentance from the heart which changes our lifestyles are hard, hard, hard, but unless it takes place, spiritual death is inevitable.
- But how does this take place? Our text says God’s Word is active and living and pierces even to the “division of soul and spirit.” The soul is what we are naturally; the spirit is what we are super-naturally. The point is that the Word of God reveals to us our true selves, even the thoughts and intents (motives) of the heart. The Word shows us whether we re natural (lost) or super-natural (born again). And if born again, the Word will reveal to you if you are sinning against God’s holiness and you have been deceived by religious activism.
- Finally, The Word of God Does Not Just X-Ray Our Condition, And It Does Not Just Cut Out The Cancer, But The Word of God Heals Us Where Healing Is Needed. So after pointing out the x-ray of the Word and the spiritual surgery that is needed, the writer of Hebrews invites us, even commands us, to come to the Throne of Grace to be totally healed. Listen to Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched by the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Will you today come to the Word and permit it to x-ray your souls, then to cut out the cancer, and finally to heal you that you might live and not die?