How the Word of God Becomes Spirit and Life

Alright, we suddenly discovered that so much of what we have done has been in the power of human life. Now, brethren, so you have learned it, now forget it. I would hope that the church, the brothers and sisters here in Goleta, would not get in the habit of saying, Oh, I was doing this in my soul. Brothers, listen, do you think God cares if you’re in your soul? I told you this over there. Do you really think he cares whether you do something in your soul or not? The Lord has never even noticed that, and if you start going around noticing it, you’ll be the only one worrying about it. I’m not going to worry about it, and your brothers and sisters will just kind of, you know, they’ll help you along, but they’re not going to worry about it. Why should you worry about it? Forget it. The Lord will say hallelujah every time you are in the spirit, and he won’t care a bit about the other. Brother, it is where you’re headed, it’s not where you are. It’s where you’re going, it’s not where you are. Brothers, you are to be in the Spirit. You labor to enter the rest. That’s the verse of scripture. You labor to enter the rest. That’s a strange verse of scripture in it. That’s a biblical term. You labor to enter into the rest. You strive to be in the Spirit. I mean, don’t turn around and say, I’m in the soul. I’m just not going to do anything. That’s the worst thing you can do. That’s really been in the soul. But I, Lord, by your mercy, I’m going to find the way in the kingdom. I’m going in, Lord. Whatever else, I’m going in.

Alright. Now then, brethren, this living, this living word of God that is quick, that is living, this word of God, it separates soul from spirit. Who separates soul and spirit? Do you? No. Let him do it. Will you just let the Lord do it? And he can do it so beautifully. You just better believe it; you don’t have a thing to worry about. You just say, Lord, this is where I want to go. The word of God will cut the soul and separate it from the Spirit. Here is my soul. The word of God that is living and quick. Not the word that is dead letter, but the word that is living and quick will split the soul and divide it from the spirit, and the spirit and the soul will be separated, and what does the rest of that verse say? Would someone take up reading it right there? Real loud and clearly.

(Hebrews 4:12b) …piercing 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.

Alright, now then.  It cuts the joint from the marrow. We are like a bone. The soul is the bone. You see the bone is in here. What’s out here? The flesh. Then inside is the bone. And the spirit cuts the bone, and inside the broken bone is the spirit. The Spirit of God cuts the bone and exposes the marrow, and the marrow comes out. It is deep within. What is the last thing it does? It discerns the thought and the intent of the heart. Well, I don’t want to go into a lot about the heart, but the Word of God can separate that which is thought and that which is will. It can separate that which is of you, and it can separate that which is of the Spirit. The Lord of God can discern. The living Word of God can discern the difference between the heart, the thoughts, and the intent of the heart. You cannot. Sometimes you cannot. I guess if we were really honest, every time we could not, I wonder. But there are times when we really just feel like we do not know, is this the spirit or is this the soul? But when we come to the Word of God, then as we come to the Word, the Word cuts the two and separates them, and we can sense, we can discern, we can know the difference between the spirit and the soul.

Now, brethren, it should be abundantly clear to us at this point what we need to do. We need to simply come and learn how to deal with the living word of God. So that the living word of God might quicken us, give us life, make us alive, and separate the soul from the spirit.

Alright, what is the first thing we do when we come to the word of God? Brothers, try your best, now don’t try too hard, I shouldn’t say that, just try a little bit, no, try your best, just try a little bit to not go to the word in your mind. And you know there is nothing wrong with the soul when the soul has been under the control of the spirit. Do not think of the soul as something evil; to God, it is very precious. The Lord Jesus died for your soul. It is very precious. What would a man give in exchange for his soul? Nothing. And when the soul is under the spirit, it is very precious to the Lord, so do not think evil of your soul, but when it is not under the influence and the control of the life of the Lord, it is enlarged as the self. Brethren, do not hesitate to use the soul to enter into the spirit. You have to go through the soul to enter into the spirit, so come to the Lord, come to the living word, and if you’re in the mind a little bit, it’s alright a little bit, but try to move out of the conscience, thinking, rationalizing, desire to learn, and come into the living word.

Ok, now, then what is the word of God? What is the word of God? Jesus Christ is the word of God. Let us turn to Galatians. Go ahead and turn there, but before you do, turn to Ephesians 6:17. Praise the Lord.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Alright now, brethren, what’s the word of God? Do you know this now? If you ever get a Nestle linear Greek (Bible version), it has a little asterisk by it, and it has a footnote, and it says, It is the spirit that is the word of God, not the sword. It is a strange arrangement of the Greeks, but it is the Spirit that is the Word of God.

Now then, would you go back to John 6:63 and 67? You don’t have to turn there. He said,

The Words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Brethren, the sword is not the word of God. The Spirit is the word of God. Jesus Christ, translated out of human flesh into Spirit, is as much the Word of God as Jesus Christ, the Creator in Genesis, is the Word of God, and Jesus Christ come as the Lamb in John 1. The Spirit is the Word of God. What does this mean? What does this mean to you, and what does it mean to me? It means that this book, though it is the scripture, is the spoken word of God; it becomes the Spirit in your spirit. I want to repeat that. This becomes Spirit in your spirit.