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Title: All Things Move Toward Their End
Intro:
I fought the urge to go all linguistic and diagnostic on you and delve into the structure of the Greek and uniqueness of some of these words. That’s normally how I present a message. But you probably have noticed I’m on the floor, without a keynote, I just want to talk to you about what this verse says, why it is utterly terrifying and convicting, and, if you stay with me, I promise it has a rewarding ending.
12 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer.
(Any notable variant translations?)
Initial thoughts:
Verses 12 and 13 flow together very naturally. In verse 12 we see the word as an instrument of unimaginable precision, and to piece, and dissect a human being like nothing else in existence, able to even “judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Then, in verse 13 we see who, precisely, this instrument is used on.
- Every creature. Every single one. (Why do you think it doesn’t say “Every human”?) All creation answers to him, all creation is judged. Romans 8:20-22 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, [n]in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
- There is no hiding. There is no way to conceal, or even minimize the truth. (Vaeh when she had her professional head shots done at 16 and the airbrush makeup artist, and she WAS an artist, who hid every blemish and made Vaeh look like porcelain.)
- All things. Not just actions, but motivations, intentions, pre-meditations, prejudices, ignorant opinions, and even honest mistakes. (Conversation with Nate Harrison about swearing in a reactionary moment when almost in a car accident.)
- Open and laid bare. These actions, both those the world and even other Christians would judge as “good/evil/neutral” are “open and laid bare.” The are stripped back to their very core and shown to God who perceives what they really are. (I’m lying in bed and I wake to a faint noise. I immediately sense I need to use the bathroom. Because I’m 47 and anytime I wake up I need to use the bathroom, amen? I look over at Mary’s side of the bed and I see our baby monitor, and I can hear Mazza faintly whimpering. I get up to go the bathroom, and I hope that Mazza wakes Mary up while I’m in there and then I can just go back to the bed. Mary will never know my split motivation for using the bathroom, it’s a victimless crime. But not to God Almighty. Because that action, and all it’s complex inter-workings are Open and Laid bare before Him for EXACTLY what they are.
- To the eyes of Him. I’m listening to a true crime podcast right called “Your Own Backyard”, is anyone familiar with it? It’s about the murder of a college student that took place in California in 1996. It’s an excellent podcast that has struck a chord with me in unique way because the victim, an woman named Kristen Smart would be the same age as me today. She was a freshman in the spring of `1996 when I was a freshman just down the road at Ashland University. Another thing that makes this podcast unique and frankly exciting is that the podcast and the podcaster, a young man named Chris Lambert, inadvertently become part of the story. The first six episodes were released in 2019 and while there was no arrest at the time of the release, there was a very strong suspect that the podcaster investigated. And all signs kept pointing back to him. Well, as the podcast grew in popularity, new leads and sources started to come out, on this case that was now 23 years old. Law enforcement began working with the podcaster and they eventually gathered enough evidence to build a case and make two arrests. So four years after the podcast began, there is an entire second half of the podcast which covers the murder trail itself. I won’t give too much away but I’ll just say this, I was extremely surprised by the two verdicts of the two accused. And as I pondered the rationale of the juries I thought “what did they see or not see that I missed?” How could they come to these conclusions when we all looked at the same information? How many of you remember feeling a similar sense of confusion when the O.J. Simpson verdict was read on national television in the Fall of 1995? Well, friends, we must remember that there is no jury of our peers. At judgement there is only God. There is only “The eyes of HIM”. And those eyes, they are perfect, perceptive, piercing, dividing, probing, and infallible. A perfect God does not make any mistakes. So the judgement is always pure. There is no cloudiness in His vision. He has all the information, and looks upon it with an absolutely perfect perception of what that information actually is, and renders a perfect verdict.
- “To Whom we must answer” Out lives are linear. From the moment we are born, we are dying. All things move toward their end. And at the end, at least the end of our physical lives, is the ONE to whom we MUST answer. Do you grasp what this means? There is no pleading the fifth. There is no looking at the floor in silence as your sentence is read. There is no plea of insanity, there is no plea of ignorance. And, the message the world today needs to most hear: There is no claiming that this judge has no right to judge us. There is no mistrial. At judgement there will be NO atheists! There will be a LOT of regret, but no one who says, “This can’t be happening! I never believed in YOU!” We will give an answer. And that answer will determine our fate. And folks those answers all come down to two camps. “I did these things because I loved myself and not you as I should have.” OR “I did these things because I loved myself. I do deserve Hell, and if you send me there it is the right decision and utterly perfect. But your Son, whom you sent to redeem mankind penetrated my heart with a two edged sword, it penetrated to the division of soul and spirit, to the joints and marrow, and it broke me, killed me, and I was reborn in the name of Jesus. When you look upon me, look upon your Son, for it was He who has paid the price I never could for own sin. It is in him that I have any hope before you. It is through Him that I cast myself upon your mercy. For there is no other name by which any man can be saved.
Close and Q/A