Hebrews 4:11-13

“11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (NKJV).

Over the past two weeks, we have talked about rest. No, not sleeping, but resting in the finished work of Jesus that He did on the cross. The rest that comes with our surrender to the Lord Jesus is not just as Savior but as the complete Lord and Master of our lives. We allow Him to take us into the future as He sees fit, no matter how good, bad or ugly, just so long as He is leading. We often read the book of Job and see the turmoil he went through, but we forget that God allowed Job to go there; God allowed Satan to do these things to Job. True rest comes to the conclusion that God is enough. No matter what else happens, God is enough.

We explored the power and person of Jesus in the previous lessons, and we explored true rest in the last few lessons. Today we will look at the Bible, “the Living Word of God.”

Last week during my personal devotion time, the programs I am reading through had me read Psalm 51. In verse 6 of that Psalm, King David makes an enlightening statement that has stuck with me.

“Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts” (NKJV).

God desires that we have inner truth – that we be built on truth from the inside out. This is difficult; we often lie to ourselves, and for many of us, we have built a very convincing facade that covers who we truly are inside.

I have been in the ministry for just over 38 years; people see me preach and teach the word of God, and I work hard at being very disciplined in the Bible. But inside, I am truly a shy and often insecure person. Because of this, I tend to over-study and arm myself to be challenged so that I am not caught off-guard. I am detailed, and I have to be reminded not to be too long-winded; it is a fault of mine. God wants us to be true about who and what we are. He wants us to be truthful about whose we are and to live lives of truth. To equip us in this pursuit, God has given us His Holy Word, the Bible.

• Powerful, verse 12

God is All-Powerful, and His Word is as well. It is still transforming lives all over the world to this very day. Millions of other books have been written about the struggles of mankind, but in all of that, the Bible deals with all of the struggles of men and mankind. It does so by looking at the lives of real men and women from eras covering 4,000 years of history, and it allows us into the most intimate aspects of their lives. We get into the heads and into the hearts, and we see the conflicts that lived in their homes. We see love, hate, friendship, betrayal, lies, truths, wars, and on and on.

The Bible covers family, marriage, sexual attraction, how to maintain it in a marriage, how to raise children, run a business, find friends, how to treat money, sadness, and depression, and it is honest about man’s ultimate needs and God’s gracious provision of salvation in Jesus. No one has ever gotten to the end, and no one has ever exhausted its wisdom. And for sure, no one has proven it to be wrong.

• Sharp, verse 12

The Bible gets to the point. It is upfront and blunt with mankind; we are evil to the core. God is perfect to the core, and the gulf between us is unpassable without Jesus. The Bible makes the way and method of salvation clear; Jesus and only Jesus. No one else and nothing else matters. God owns Heaven, and only He has the right to determine how we get there. He has determined that Jesus is the only door into Heaven. No other word matters, no other opinion matters, and there is no room for arguments. You can come Jesus’ way or not at all.

The Bible cuts to the core; it demands that men love their wives, it demands that true leaders first be great servants, and it tells us that the truly rich do not have a lot of money but that they have Jesus and are wholly surrendered to Him. The Bible tells us that it is not what you do that matters but what you think inside (thought and intents of the heart), thus eroding the façade that too many live in. We are called to love God and others more than ourselves, the very opposite of the world’s philosophy. The Word of God forces you to either live in a lie of rebellion or to be humble and ask God to change you; either way, you will never be the same once you hear it.

• Nowhere to Hide, verse 13

Everyone on this planet or who has ever walked on this planet will be judged according to the Bible, the Word of God. No one will escape; even the saved will have their saved lives judged by the concepts and precepts of the Bible. See 2 Corinthians 5:10, NKJV.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Now, if you are saved and have the Holy Spirit living in you, there is no hell in your future. But you will still have to give an account of your life. To those without Jesus, you too will be judged from this book or the books as John describes them in Revelation 20:12, KJV.

“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

No one gets by without being judged by the Word of God. On that day, all will stand level, kings and beggars, illiterate and educated, free and slaves, all under the Holy Word of God. Go, get your Bible, read it, study it, cherish it and let the Holy Spirit guide you to living for, in, and by the power of Jesus and in His clearly expressed Word. We will be judged by what it says and what it calls us to be and do. No excuses.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch
Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

Hebrews 3:1-6, NKJV

1 “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

Last week we looked at Jesus, the Captain of our Faith. Today we will look at Jesus: God’s Ambassador. The dictionary defines an ambassador as an accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country and a person who acts as a representative or promoter of special activity. Jesus fits both of these definitions quite well, and like His brothers and part of the work He is doing, we too should be active heavenly ambassadors.

• Jesus Was Sent to A Foreign Nation

Jesus is called an Apostle in verse 1. An apostle is one sent with a message just like an Ambassador can be. Jesus came from Heaven to Earth. He left the beauty and comforts of Heaven, His home, to come and represent the King of Heaven to mere men here on Earth. He was the approved emissary from Heaven, the perfect Son of God who came and took on flesh, dwelt among us, showed us how wonderful His homeland can be, and offered us the opportunity to move there.

We don’t often think of Jesus as an Ambassador (Hebrews 1:1-2), but He was one sent from Heaven to represent it to us, and now He represents us to it as our Advocate. Jesus, we are told, was a Faithful representative of Heaven. All too often, we hear of diplomats who get involved in crimes and bring shame on their homeland. But not Jesus; He was a faithful representative, He brought no shame to the One who sent Him, and in turn, He has sent us, His local churches, to present the Kingdom to the lost masses. We are continuing His work in tandem with Him and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus gave us what is called The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20, NKJV), and it is the driving force for the local church anywhere that it exists. It is the very reason for the existence of the local church, that being to make more disciples. Take a look at Matthew with me:

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

This is why we spend millions of dollars on missionaries, tracts, crusades, evangelism, and the simple export of the Gospel. This is why we try to share the Gospel of salvation to any and all who will listen. Jesus came, and He was the first Ambassador, the first one to show us how wonderful the Kingdom of Heaven can be and is. He wants us to share the same message with all who will listen. Sometimes this means we will have to go or send others to foreign nations.

I have friends who have served the Lord’s churches in Kenya, France, England, South America, and to the very ends of the earth. We have seen men and women, boys and girls from all areas, creeds, languages, and backgrounds, come to realize that Jesus is the Son of God, that He was raised from the dead, and that He paid the price for their sins and offers them eternal life in heaven.

• Jesus was sent to promote a special activity:

Jesus came to promote God’s loving grace to mankind. We sinners do not need to fear God. God has made a way, opened a door, and created for us an opportunity to become not just citizens of Heaven, but His children, born again and indwelt by His Holy Spirit forever. Jesus came to promote God’s love, God’s mercy, and God’s kindness.

In like manner, as co-ambassadors, we should be promoting God’s offer of life, His grace, His love and mercy, and especially His kindness. This is the very heart of missions: that God loves you. He loves me. He loves us all and offers us the free gift of eternal life in Jesus. Are you promoting this free gift? Do you speak about it to your children, your relatives, and friends? Do you speak about it to all who will listen?

Jesus is still promoting the special activity, His sacrifice for us and His resurrection for us. Sadly, there is another special activity coming sooner than we want to admit. Soon, Jesus will return, and there will have to be a judgment. This is not as pleasant an offer like the one with eternal life, but it is the truth nonetheless. Like Jesus, we must be faithful ambassadors; even when there is bad news to be told, we must tell the truth. If we fail to warn the people around us of the coming doom, we are in the wrong. See this dire warning to the men of God from Ezekiel 33:8-9:

“If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, then that wicked man will die in his iniquity, yet I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you warn the wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from it, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life” (Berean Study Bible).

God requires that we, like Jesus, be faithful ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yes, there is a heaven awaiting those who trust Jesus. But there is a hell for those that reject the matchless grace and love of God and the free gift of eternal life. Jesus spoke of both, and we should as well.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch
Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)
Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca