Hebrews Chapter Four, All Things Exposed

 

John, bearing the same testimony as Paul, writes, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us,” 1 John 2:19. Who is the “they” John refers to that apostatized from the church?

Those who denied Jesus was the Christ, denying the Son the position and prerogative of Lord and Savior, 1 John 2:22, 23. Such men were deceivers (verse 26) that were apparently teaching license in the church (3:4, 6), John issues a warning a second time not to let such perverse teaching deceive the saints, 3:7. How was such a matter resolved? With sound doctrine. Every epistle written was done to edify, clarify and correct for the benefit of the church. Those who dissented did not dissent against the written word, but against the living Word, who endorsed every jot and tittle of Scripture by the seal of the Holy Spirit. False teachers will scrutinize, spiritualize, or abandon the Bible in favor of their interpretation, new revelation, etc. They are revealed as apostates without any effort on our part. Their every word and deed is condemned by the written word since their thoughts and the intents that energize them run contrary to God’s revealed word.

 

The Bible discerns our thoughts and intents. Discern can mean, “distinguish, determine, understand.” What we say will be judged in the light of Scripture’s truth, which cannot be altered and never changes, since the nature of God is unchanging. What we do will likewise be judged in that same holy light. Professors that claim to believe but have no spiritual interest in the things of their Lord stand in jeopardy. John Bunyan once wrote a sermon in which he said that when a child is born he naturally cries immediately; if the child makes no sound at all he is stillborn. The illustration is this: new life should endow us with new interests aligned with God’s own. Christ’s prayer during the Sermon on the Mount was that God’s will be done on earth as it was in Heaven. Is that our interest? If we agree intellectually, do we agree with out lifestyle and actions? Glaring incongruence reveals the dividing discernment of God’s word. 

 

Likewise when we hold fast to sin but preach God’s truth. It is en vogue presently to claim that Christ accepts Christians that are unrepentant homosexuals, non-binary, etc. Such preaching serves only to demonstrate that we value our opinion and what we want more than God’s truth, and how He desires us to walk. The New Testament is replete with instructions on how men and women are to be distinct, complimentary genders. “Gender dysphoria,” in the church indicates a sharp and shameless departure from sound doctrine in favor of felt needs, masking sin as preference, and salvaging human pride as the determiner of truth in a church that has rejected the God who created both it and them.

 

Verse 13 confirms our inability to hide from God. In this age of seeming silence, this church dispensation, God seems reserved pronouncing judgment upon sin. Men become emboldened and glorify sin over God because we mistake God’s amazing grace, not wanting any to perish, for God’s tacit approval of our loathsome words and deeds. This hearkens back to the time of ancient Israel when the Jews mocked at God while sinning, verily daring Him to bring the Day of the Lord upon them. They failed to realize, as Peter reminds us, that God’s longsuffering is for our salvation, not a sign that He abdicated control of His moral government to sinful man, 2 Peter 3:15.

 

All things are naked and open to Him, this same Him that we must give account of ourselves to. Our day will come when we stand before God. There will be no excuses, rebuttals, taunts or swagger. God’s holy presence, His ire for sin and contempt for rebellion will silence the wicked. The sundering nature of the Bible, not only conveying truth, but revealing it in the hearts of those who hear, exposes us to the living Word, the God with whom we have to do. No creature is hidden from God’s sight. This verse, possessing a judging indictment to it, parallels the loving grace of God toward those who are His. “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 8:38, 39. There are few statements better worded and more dogmatically stated regarding a believer’s eternal security than these two verses of Scripture. But I would like to focus on Paul’s expression, “any other created thing.” The KJV simply renders “created thing” as “creature.” The NIV translates this portion of verse 39 as, “nor anything else in all creation.” The idea here is one of universal scope. Nothing, apart from God, can separate the believer from Him. Not even us, since we too fall under the “created things” category. As for our merciful and gracious God, He has already declared that He will not. “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away,” John 6:37, NIV.

 

In this same universal catchall, we arrive at verse 13. Nothing is hidden from God’s sight. Worse, not only is nothing hidden, but all things are naked (entirely exposed) and open (easily searched out) to God’s eyes. The written word divides; the God who wrote it observes the natural division His work incurs. Nothing is left unnoticed. And in the end, God will divide the believers from the unbelievers, and assign to each camp their portion without fail. This is the God to whom you and I and everyone on Earth will eventually give account to for what we have done, said, and thought while in the flesh. The author wrote these things to preserve his Hebrew brethren, and to turn them from Law obedience to Christ obedience. Jesus’ motivation was love; He proclaimed it, and then He demonstrated it in the ultimate example: dying in our stead. John writes, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked,” 1 John 2:6. Love is our motivator because our Lord first loved us, dying for us to save us from the penalty of sin. Knowing this, we are to walk in love, not living for self and indulging the flesh, but living for Christ and glorifying the Father through Him. In fact, if we are born again, we are reckoned dead to sin and it is Christ’s life in us. It is as though our Lord were living through us the more submitted we become to obeying the divine will. Jesus, during His earthly ministry, lived a life of absolute obedience to the Father’s will, doing only what pleased the Father. The writer of Hebrews calls on his fellow believers to do likewise, building his argument for the risen Christ’s preeminence in all things. If they (or us) substitute something else for Jesus Christ, the dividing work of Scripture and the omnipresent eyes of God will find them out.