Chin Up and Face the Reality

From a sermon preached by Pastor John MacArthur explaining Hebrews 4:12-13.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow,
and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And no creature is hidden from his sight,
but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Now let's follow along in verse 12, the Word is alive, it's active, it's sharp, it cuts deeply and reveals the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Verse 13, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." God takes His Word, cuts deep into your heart, lays you open, you're flayed, as it were, right before God's eyes. And nothing is hidden, He sees every single thing about you. We are open to the eyes of Him.

He uses a most interesting term in the Greek which was also used among the soldiers. Let me give you a little idea of how it was used. It was used to describe a criminal who had to lift his face and face the crowd as he was marched to his punishment. And the way they did that was quite interesting. A soldier held a dagger right at the chin with it just barely piercing the skin. The point of that dagger was held to force the criminal to hold his head high and his face so that every one could see him as he was paraded to his punishment.

Now you see when you turn on the television set some criminal... and holding his hands over his head and ducking under his coat because he doesn't want to be seen by the television cameras. There's a certain amount of shame and guilt. They knew that but they wanted the criminal to have to face the whole wide world and the whole community to see his face so they rammed a little dagger up under his chin and made him walk with his chin up and were he to lower his chin, he would have pierced himself right through. And in a very real sense he is saying that's exactly what the Word of God does, it jams its pierced point right up under your chin and it makes you face the reality and it makes God able to see exactly what you look like.

It reveals you to Him.
You are open before Him.
You can't hide a thing.
That's what the Word will do.
The Word is a reprover.
The Word is a rebuker.
The Word is a convicter of sin.

It sifts, it analyzes, it reveals emotions, attitudes and thoughts.