What the Bible Will Do For You

What the Bible will do for you. First of all, I’d like to give you some general statements about the scripture.

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”

Now, where we have the word ‘breath,’ the Hebrew word actually is ‘spirit.’ Because the picture is God’s spirit coming with his word. As he spoke his word, his spirit came with it, just as when I speak a word, my breath goes with the word.

And that tells us how the whole created universe came into being. It’s not complicated. It came about by the word of the Lord and the spirit of his mouth. These are the two agents of God in all creation. If you read the record of creation in Genesis, you’ll see how exactly that agrees.

So, this is a staggering thought, but I want to impress it upon you. When you are reading your Bible and absorbing it, and letting it do its work in you, all the creative power of Almighty God is at work in you. Because God used nothing but his word and his spirit to create the universe. And the same word, the same spirit, are available to us when we read the Bible. So never set limits to what the Bible can do in your life.

Go out, look at the stars, look at the sun, look at the oceans, look at the mountains. The tremendous creative power of God demonstrated. And then say to yourself, then, the same agents that created all those things are working in me when I read my Bible.

And then in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 13, Paul is writing to the church in Thessalonica, which was a young church that had recently been formed. And he’s remembering how powerful the impact of his ministry had been there. And he thanks God for those Christians. And this is what he says to them:

“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectively works in you who believe.”

So Paul emphasizes, this is not the product of human wisdom. This is the word of God. This is God speaking to us. But it won’t fully do its work in us until we receive it with faith. “It effectively works in those who believe.” Unbelief can shut out the effect of God’s word. But if we open our hearts in faith, if we believe it, it works effectively. And what I’m going to be doing this evening is describing to you some of the effects that God’s word will produce in you if you receive it with faith.

And then in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews has certain things to say also. First of all, he speaks about God’s people, Israel, in the Old Testament, and how they were brought out of Egypt supernaturally by mighty signs and wonders. But through unbelief, they never entered the land that God had promised to them. And the writer of Hebrews comments on this in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2. And he says of Israel,

“For indeed the gospel” or the good news “was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”

So, they heard the word of God, but it didn’t do in them what God intended it should do. It didn’t bring the results and the blessings because it was not mixed with faith. It’s only when we mix it with faith that it does in us what God intends. But I’ll be telling you briefly in a little while, if you don’t have faith, you can get it. So don’t despair if you are here this evening and say, “Well, I’d love to be able to receive God’s word with faith, but I don’t know if I really have faith.” One of the marvelous things about God’s word is it creates faith.

One more thing in general about the word of God in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 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.”

Tremendous list of facts about the word of God. It’s living. It’s not dead. It’s powerful. It’s sharper than any two-edged sword, or in modern language, it’s sharper than any doctor’s scalpel. It can penetrate where no scalpel can penetrate. It can separate the joints from the marrow. It’s sharper than any psychiatrist’s probing. It can separate the things that are closest inside us, the spirit and the soul. And then the writer says, “It’s a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” I remember hearing somebody say this: “Remember that while you are reading your Bible, your Bible is also reading you.”