Is the Word of God sharp enough to work in a person’s life? That is, is it powerful enough to bring a person’s spirit to penitence by changing their spirit so that they confess their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ? Is it strong enough to change a person’s outlook on life so that they think and act according to it? Certainly, anything that can change a person’s life in this dramatic fashion is much more powerful than what we can imagine.
Arthur Pink told a story of a friend who was in the Royal navy on his way to China.[1] Before embarking the ship, a gentleman was handing out Bible tracts to sailors on the dock. The friend received a tract, crumpled it, and put it in his pocket. Three weeks later, while reaching in his pocket for something to light his pipe, he pulled out a piece of the tract which said, “Prepare to meet thy God.” The man was struck by the saying, but could not get it out of his mind. After sleepless hours and pacing the ship’s deck, he was torn about his own state of mind because he was a strong drinker. He wondered, “How can I prepare to meet God, when I am so powerless to overcome my besetting sin?”[2] Finally, the man got down on his knees and asked God to have mercy on him, to save him from his sins, and deliver him from the power of drink so that he could meet him. This friend told Arthur Pink that he accepted Christ as his Savior from sin and never from that moment tasted liquor.
This story illustrates the power of God’s Word to transform a person even when they cannot transform themself. As adult beings, we think we can determine situations and overcome even our own concerns. However, there are some things which we cannot handle ourselves. One of those things is the stain of sin. It cannot be washed away with soap or a cleansing agent. Sometimes it presents itself as an addiction. But no matter what the form, sin separates us from God and that is a debilitating situation for all of us. Only Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross as defined in God’s Word can remove the stain of sin in our lives and prepare our spirits for eternal life. This transformation is a spiritual one. The apostle Paul exhorted the Corinthians with these words from 2 Corinthians 5:15-17: “And he [Christ] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again . . . if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” The reason that we should live for Christ is that He died for us. If we really comprehend the sacrifice that Christ made in the brutal beatings and the crucifixion that He endured for all of us, then we have no choice but to humbly offer ourselves back to Him. He died for us so that we can have a relationship with Him both now and forever. That is significant enough to transform anyone from what they were before to what they are, or can be, now.
[1] A.W. Pink, The Divine Inspiration of the Bible, (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot Publishers and Booksellers, 1917), 58-59.
[2] Ibid.