Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Compromise is a word that our world is all too familiar with.

People of all ages in recent days have experienced the temptation to compromise their values and morals in the wake of an avalanche that is ravaging our society.

We look around our world and we see problems left and right and many of them are the result of compromise, especially within the church.

In recent months, multiple pastors have apologized for saying that Jesus Christ is the only way that one can be saved because they now believe that that is a message that is divisive and not tolerant.

There have been other pastors who have recently apologized for what they used to teach regarding homosexuality in the Bible as they used to teach that the Bible calls that a sin that we are called to repent of just like gossip, lying or drunkenness but now one prominent pastor in Atlanta shared that he knows what the Bible says about it but his experience tells him something entirely different.

Y’all, if we don’t stand on something, we’re going to fall for everything!

We must have some sort of conviction in this life or else we’re going to be in trouble and that conviction can’t be in just who we are or something like that… it has to be rooted in something more powerful and authoritative than that.

Throughout the history of the church, whenever Christianity became popular, compromise almost always has followed as Christians began to compromise their beliefs in favor of fitting in with worldly morality.

We look around our world today and we see people compromising their faith and we even see non-Christians compromising their values in order to simply fit in and find acceptance with those around them.

Now, there are times where compromise is a good thing because, get this, not every hill is one worth dying on and most of the time, our way isn’t the only way!

But there are some hills that are.

There are times where we must stand our ground because of our Biblical convictions and we’re going to look at one of those hills this morning as we look at what Hebrews 4 tells us about God’s Word.

The authority and truthfulness of God’s Word is absolutely a matter of conviction in the life of a Christian, not compromise.

We can disagree about the interpretation of things in God’s Word, but we cannot give one inch regarding the authority that God’s Word has over every aspect of our lives from morality, to identity, to sexuality, to ethics, and everywhere in between.

What our changing world needs, desperately, is a group of people who stand on the centrality of Scripture without shame as Romans 1:16 commands.

As we get ready to look at our (short) text this morning, ask yourself this: Do I have Biblical Conviction or am I one who has made Biblical Compromise in recent days?

Have I allowed the things of this world to change the way that I value God’s Word, or does God’s Word change the way that I see this strange new world?

The theme in this short passage of Scripture is two fold: verse 11 concludes the previous section of Scripture and tells us that we must obey or else we will fall away.

How do we obey?

verses 12-13 spell this out: we listen to God’s active, powerful, and true Word and we allow His Word to change everything about us - not the other way around.

God’s Word is Personal

What do you believe about the Bible?

This is a loaded question with many different responses.

Many Americans believe that the Bible is a fictional book with made up stories.

Some believe that the Bible is a book that contains some wisdom that can be helpful, but it is nothing more than a resource to be used on occasion.

There are even some people who attend churches who believe that the Bible is a good book but it isn’t inspired by God and it isn’t as important as our feelings or compared to what our society tells us to think or believe.

What we see in Scripture, though, is that there is a God who created all things who has revealed Himself to us supremely through His Son, Jesus Christ

God has revealed Himself to us through Jesus Christ and we know Who Jesus is by reading His Word.

So many people know things about Jesus or certain stories in the Bible, but they don’t actually know Jesus and this is what the preacher of Hebrews is warning against in this entire chapter: the danger of unbelief and not entering God’s rest by grace through faith in Christ.

This is a serious subject!

So where does God’s Word come into play here?

How does God’s Word help us as we strive to enter God’s rest and obey what He wants us to do?

Many ask this question because they believe that the Bible is outdated and only impacts people of a different time in history… Hebrews 4:12 tells us that God’s Word is living.

Why does God’s Word matter in the life of every single human being on planet earth today?

Because it’s author is alive - not dead - and its message is still the only message that solves our greatest problem.

Not only is its author living but His Word itself lives and breathes and changes lives today!

There is a movement that is growing like wildfire around the world and it shares that people can love Jesus without loving the Bible.

People want to pick and choose the sections that they like and ignore the parts that they don’t like.

This really has to do with the Old Testament as some want to unhitch the Old Testament from the New Testament and ignore it entirely because it’s confusing or hard to understand… Whenever we pick and choose, we demonstrate that we have so much room to grow.

Jesus and the Bible go hand in hand - just as our Savior lives, His Word lives and God’s Word will live forever unlike the things of our world.

Think of all of the books that you’ve read in your entire life.

Some of you all are book people and maybe you have read so many books that you can’t even begin to think of that number… others, though, might be able to get pretty close with a guess or two.

Regardless of how many books you’ve read, chances are you have read a book before that is either out of print or so far removed from your brain that you don’t remember a single thing from it.

This is how books work often times, we have to read them for a class and the information is in one ear and out the other as soon as the test is done.

We read a book only to forget the book or be unable to access the book years down the line.

This is not so with the Bible!

See, Scripture doesn’t need our help to come to life.

Some are so nervous about presenting the Gospel or talking to someone about the Bible because they feel the pressure of making the Bible sound appealing or important - God’s Word does this by itself because it is alive.

It endures forever!

What is an example of the life found in Scripture?

How do we know that Scripture is personal and that it impacts us today?

During our Wednesday night Bible study time here in the Sanctuary, we’ve been participating in a course on Church History through MBTS and we’ve been learning about some of the persecution experienced by the early Christians.

They were persecuted initially by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem but that quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire.

So much persecution followed, in fact, that if you claimed to follow Jesus Christ in some regions you could be burned alive or thrown into the gladiator pits.

Years before these early Christians had their entire copy of God’s Word, they would have fragments and perhaps a single letter or two that they would read.

They would then pass their letter to another church and receive a letter that they had received and they’d study that letter and seek to apply it to their life.

These letters were like seeds and they helped the early Christians grow spiritually and numerically as more and more people heard about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and were saved.

The Roman emperors tried to wipe out the church time and time again, but they failed.

We wonder why?

The reason is because it is impossible to kill God’s Word because it is alive.

It is personal - it isn’t outdated or irrelevant.

It is the the power of God as it speaks about the only way that we can be saved.

As we study God’s Word, we see Who our God is, who we are, and what God desires from us.

In a world full of Biblical compromise, we have to first remember that we have a Bible that is inspired by God and deeply personal in the lives of His people as His Word changes our hearts and actions.

Because God’s Word is alive, we must take seriously our task of understanding the Bible and sharing it with those around us because, second,

God’s Word is Powerful

The next word the preacher of Hebrews uses in verse 12 to describe the Word of God is that it is effective and the literal Greek word is the word “energes” which is where we get our word “energy” from!

This doesn’t mean that whenever you only get 2 hours of sleep and you need some energy in the morning that you go and you eat your Bible like you would drink a morning cup of coffee - but it does give us a word picture for the power found within God’s Word as there is energy in what we read.

Where does this effectiveness come from?

Praise the Lord that it doesn’t come from you or me.

Aren’t you thankful that whenever you’re at your lowest point, you can find energy and life and strength inside of God’s Word to fill your cup? That’s good news!

If you’ve ever played sports or had a competition or performance or speech of some type, you know that feeling of having butterflies in your stomach, don’t you?

The nervous excitement attached with what you’re about to do? Guess what?

Pastors get that each Sunday morning too - not because of a performance or competition, but because there is something powerful found in Scripture and proclaiming its truth to the local body of Christ should make anyone nervous and excited because of what we find inside of God’s Word.

Our world is obsessed and confused about power.

People will compromise wherever they feel they have to in order to possess more power.

This has happened outside of the church and sadly it has happened inside the church as well.

There have been many church going people who have sought to water down the Word or to say that the Bible says something clearly but that it doesn’t really matter all that much because people feel a different way.

What we have to figure out in our lives is what will we stand upon.

Are we content standing on our feelings that change by the day or will we stand on something significantly stronger and more reliable and more authoritative?

Take our world’s stance on absolute truth.

There is a growing trend from older generations to younger generations to reject black and white statements that have only 1 correct answer with everything else being incorrect.

In other words, many people believe that all truth is subjective and no truth is objective or absolute.

How can we make these determinations?

What makes something “true” or not?

I might say that medium rare steak is the best type of steak but you might be more of a fan of a well done steak because you prefer eating charcoal and that’s fine because it’s your perspective just understand that well done is meant for good and faithful servants, not steaks!

Joking aside, neither one of us can make the statement that our steak is hands down the best steak that there is because we lack that authority.

It’s not black and white, it’s subjective and based on our taste buds.

But what about this statement: there are only 2 genders.

Is that subjective or objective?

Is that absolutely true or is that something that will change kind of like our taste buds?

See, we live in a world that believes that that statement can change depending on how we feel… so where can we do for help?

We can’t go inside our deceitful hearts like our world loves to do… we must turn to God’s Word because God’s Word is from God, our Creator, and God’s Word like our God is true.

So you and I know people who want to fight against this but they aren’t fighting against an opinion or an outdated perspective, they are fighting against the Word of God.

The same Savior who alone saves sinners from death to life is the same Author of Scripture which alone has the power to help guide us in the pathway of righteousness in the middle of a world full of compromise and confusion.

God’s Word is powerful because of its author and we must simply stand on what it says because our God determines what truth is.

Scripture is effective at changing lives and we must allow Scripture to change our viewpoints, not the other way around.

You and I are not powerful enough to twist Scripture to fit our position - Jesus has all authority and His way is the right way.

His Word has the authority to tell us what we must do.