July 28, 2025 • 41 mins
Two Edged Sword
Hebrews 4:12-13
Pastor Chris Bonner
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:14):
Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
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So we are going to continue in Hebrews chapter 4.
We're only looking at two verses today because they are so packed and so familiar to you, especially the one.
And today's message is the two-edged sword and
So let's pray and thank the Lord for being here.
(01:00):
Lord, we just thank You for Your Word.
We thank You for Your Holy Spirit.
And that in and of itself is all we need here today.
So Lord, we ask You to teach us from within, Lord, what we need to take out of here to transform our lives and really help others transform their lives as well.
(01:22):
So we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
So last week we talked about entering God's rest and how so many of the ways God interacted with Israel are very applicable to us Christians.
And we drew the whole parallel analogy of how the Lord led Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness.
(01:47):
And then when they got to the Jordan River and said, all right, go in, send those spies out.
And then you're going in to inherit that land.
And they did not heed God's voice.
They doubted it.
They didn't trust God that God would provide all the victory in that land.
And as a result, the word said that they hardened their heart and could not enter the rest of the Lord.
(02:12):
Right. And so for 40 years, the Lord had to filter out those unbelievers and then brought that next generation in.
And so it all came down to really hearing the voice of God and listening to it. Right.
And so now from here, the spirit teaches us even more about how important the word of God is.
(02:35):
And it's like a two edged sword.
And this idea of a two edged sword, we see the sword of the spirit, right, is the word of God.
Ephesians chapter six tells us that.
In fact, in all the armor that we go into battle with, the only offensive weapon we have is the sword.
The rest is the helmet, the shield, the breastplate, shoes and everything.
(03:00):
But it's that word of God. That's how we defeat the enemy.
That's how we win victories is with the word of God.
And this idea of a double edged sword, John, in Revelation, we don't have the verse up.
But in Revelation chapter one, as he was having this vision, he sees, oh, actually we do.
(03:20):
He sees Jesus Christ. And in Revelation one, 16 to 17, he had in his right hand seven stars.
All these are symbolic of so many things we don't have time to get into.
And of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword.
And his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
(03:43):
And when I saw him, this is how we know it was Jesus, I fell at his feet as dead.
But he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, do not be afraid.
I am the first and the last. He's the Alpha and the Omega.
You know, as we were just reading that, I pictured, you remember when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration?
(04:05):
This is John, the Apostle John with James, his brother and Peter.
And when all of a sudden the Lord lit up and he was speaking to Moses and to Elijah.
And they all fell down to the ground, just like they were dead, because they heard the Father's voice.
Behold my son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
And they just like rattled and fell to the ground.
(04:27):
And then out of all of that, Jesus just touched them and says, do not be afraid.
It is me. And they looked up and it's all quiet.
And it's just Jesus back to the form that they could recognize.
And so here he is saying the same thing only in this about 60 years later through this vision of revelation.
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And so Jesus is the Word of God, isn't he? And so that's why we see him.
I was trying to find some kind of graphic on the Internet showing Jesus with a sword coming out of his mouth.
But they all are just so corny and weird. I'm like, I'm not even going to attempt that.
But this is what John saw. So we're going to dive right in and read these two verses.
(05:13):
Yeah. Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful word.
For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
(05:37):
And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
So here we see the Word of God is living and powerful.
Now, isn't that awesome how the word is living? It's not a dead word, right? It's living.
(06:02):
When we read the Word of God, it's not just a historical narrative or a theological narrative or an academic exercise to learn these things about the past.
It's living. That means it's relevant to your life right now, just like we read last week.
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Now, what is all that Israel coming out of Egypt and the wilderness? What does that have to do with us? It has everything to do with us.
It's all a point. It's all pointing to Christ in us. So it's all relevant. It's living. It's not a dead word. It's living.
I love how you ever notice how you're reading something that morning and suddenly you're out there and somebody says the same word you read that morning.
(06:47):
Or you see a situation and it reminds you of something you just read because the Word of God is living.
That's why it's so important, not a guilt trip, but it's so important to really engage with the Word.
I know little daily devotionals are good and fine, but when you just go through the book and you know what, just bite off one verse a day.
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Anybody can take one verse and you just bite that off and chew on it and just say,
yeah, Lord, how do you want me to use that word today?
And you'll find yourself over time just adding more and more verses to it because it's all tied together
and you don't want to take Scripture out of context. But after a while, it's so much fun to really just be living that Word of God.
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You know what happens? The world becomes like a parable to you. Did you ever notice that?
The more you know the Word, you see everything as a parable that you can also find in the Word of God.
So it's living and it's powerful.
The word energase is where we get energy. It's an energized Word, right? It's powerful.
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You know, that's why a lot of people when they're going through some sort of depression
or they feel that they're being attacked by the enemy, they'll play the Word of God in their house.
You know, at a level that isn't like distracting them, but the Word of God because as it's playing,
the demonic realm, the spiritual realm hates hearing the Word of God, right?
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Because He casts out the evil one, right? So the Word of God is so powerful, so energized
that the Word has enormous power in your life.
That's why when you don't know how to pray, just start reading the Word out loud.
I love when people just are, as they're praying, you can hear their paraphrasing
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and the Word of God just really coming off their tongue because they've been just soaking in it.
You know, I picture it's like a wick just dumped in the oil and the Word.
And when you just get all soaked up with the Word of God, it's just always burning.
It's always coming alive out of you because it's so powerful.
So the Word of God is living and powerful, amen?
(09:07):
And then it pierces and this sword of God, it's this word for sword.
You know, a lot of times we picture like this long, you know,
I don't know how those guys picked those things up and actually swung them around.
You ever watch those old gladiator movies?
I mean, those things, I don't know how much they weigh, but that looks difficult.
(09:29):
But these weren't those kinds of swords.
They were more like long knives, the Makira.
In fact, we have a couple of pictures here.
Thank you, Natasha.
I found these archives, you know, and here's a couple of them.
This is maybe a straight edge we're talking about here that they'd wear right in their sheath.
(09:50):
And but this, of course, would be a double edge.
So probably that straight one.
But this one, I forget what age that is,
but it's somewhere around the timeline that we're talking about.
So it's a Roman and Makira, and it's a shorter knife.
And it's used for practical things like butchering food and everything.
But it's also used for tactical purposes.
(10:12):
You know, I have another one that shows just the kind of size it is.
That's actually from 200 B.C., that one they found.
I don't know why they're letting that guy hold it, but that's another thing.
But anyway, but these are like short knives, okay?
And I mean, long knives, short swords.
They're very practical, right?
And actually, all four gospels, okay, report how Peter,
(10:36):
remember when Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane
and Peter pulled out his Makira and sliced off Malchus's ear right off his head.
And of course, Jesus restored it.
But it was something that most people would carry for a lot of reasons, you know,
not just for doing battle, but for a lot of practical reasons.
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And you know what?
And it cuts on both sides.
It's a two-edged sword, right?
So it's very practical.
And you know, when I think about this idea of a shorter two-edged sword,
it's meant for close-up battle, for everyday use, you know,
both battle and also for practical purposes, like we just talked about.
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Just like the Word of God.
The Word of God isn't for this big picture societal analysis of all things.
It's for everyday use.
It's for like, you know, I need this all the time.
You know, this is day in, day out, up front, close and personal battle
(11:38):
in my everyday life, you know, that's what this...
And so this is why they specifically use the Makira as an example
of what the Word of God is like.
And it's two-edged.
That means it cuts both ways, you know?
Isn't it funny how when you read the Word and I'm reading,
I'm like, Jill really needs to get this.
(11:59):
She really needs to understand this.
I mean, all my fingers getting cut, right?
Because really, it's probably me who has to really get that.
It cuts both ways, right?
The Word of God, because we need it all the time.
And God's always revealing things to us.
And you know, we wouldn't want it any other way.
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Would you like to get up in the morning
and look in the mirror and say, you know what?
This is as righteous as I'm ever gonna be.
This is as, well, we are righteous in Christ.
But I mean, this is as good as it's gonna get.
I'm looking at me right now and this is it.
You get what you get?
No, He's always, always just refining us, right?
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He's always cutting out the things
that don't belong in our life if we let Him.
And He's always imputing the things that should be there.
And that's great, isn't it?
That you can know, especially as I get older in life,
and I'm just being practical here for a minute,
I realize there's a lot of things
that aren't gonna necessarily get better.
I'm not gonna run faster.
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I'm not gonna lift more weights.
I'm not gonna, like, there's a lot of things
that aren't gonna get, quote unquote, better.
But I can be more and more Christ-like.
I can think more like Him.
I can speak more like Him.
I can love more like Him.
This sky's the limit.
Until my last breath, I can be more and more like Him.
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Isn't that something great to look forward to?
In the end, it doesn't matter what age we are,
that's something to look forward to.
Lord, I'm just gonna surrender more and more to You, Lord,
because I want You to be just resonating
and being a fragrance, Lord, out of my life.
And so that's the idea here, is this double-edged Makaira.
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And it pierces.
It pierces deep.
You know, this word, diyekmaiomai,
aren't you glad I tried to pronounce that?
The Greek word, but it's only found one time in this verse.
And it doesn't mean to just prick or pierce.
It means to cut through, okay?
I mean, picture a butcher just saying,
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all right, we're gonna get this part out.
You know, it means to cut fully through.
So this is the idea with the word of God.
It wants to cut all the way through.
We're gonna see, to separate, to distinguish,
to differentiate things that don't belong, okay?
And the first thing it says is dividing soul and spirit.
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Soul and spirit.
Now, the thing about soul and spirit,
we're not gonna get all into the body, soul and spirit,
because that's a long, long conversation.
But the thing about soul and spirit,
when you read it in the word,
a lot of times they're almost interchangeable, okay?
Which makes a theologian difficult
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because they want everything kind of to fit in a box.
But soul and spirit actually are kind of used interchangeably,
especially in the Old Testament.
I have an example in Job 7-11 and Isaiah 26-9.
It says, therefore, I will not restrain my mouth.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
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I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
It's kind of interchangeable.
And then Isaiah 26-9 says,
with my soul I have desired you in the night.
Yes, by my spirit within me, I will seek you early.
So again, it's like, it's the soul and spirit.
And I've heard actually people have doctorates in theology saying,
(15:37):
you know, that body, soul, spirit model
kind of breaks down a little bit
when you engage it in scripture.
But nonetheless, it's blended,
especially in the Old Testament.
The spirit is often used as an emotion.
I have an example.
When Moses went to speak to the children of Israel,
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he says, God sent me to bring you out of Egypt.
And they actually had a spirit of anguish.
They were so used to being in bondage.
The thought of leaving, they're like, no, no, no.
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We belong in bondage.
And they couldn't hear him.
They couldn't hear him.
Remember, Jesse just told on this recently,
in Numbers when they're trying to figure out
whether this woman had an affair
and whether she committed adultery
because the husband had a spirit of jealousy, you know, a spirit.
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So a lot of times, you know,
the spirit is connected to an actual emotion or feeling.
Now, all of this matters.
I'll show you why in a minute.
When Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes,
he says it's better to have a spirit of patience than of pride.
So you get the idea.
There's a lot of so many things of anguish, of distressing.
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Remember when Saul,
when the Lord took the Holy Spirit from him
and put it upon David,
he repeatedly had a distressing spirit.
Now, that was also spiritual,
which we'll talk about like an evil spirit.
But still, it's an emotion.
It's a feeling.
So spirits are used that way as well, okay?
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And then so in all of this,
this idea of spirit,
and then of course, it's also a spirit.
There's evil spirit.
So the spirit comprises so many things.
So let's look at this slide,
ruah and numah, okay?
In the Old Testament,
it's called a ruah,
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and it's numah in Greek in the New Testament.
But we see that the spirit is God's Holy Spirit.
The spirit is the human themselves.
We are all born with a spirit, okay?
When he breathed into man,
we all now have a human spirit.
We have emotions, we have feelings,
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like we were just talking about,
that's considered a spirit.
And also there are evil agents of the enemy,
spiritual, spiritual,
evil spirits that also afflict us.
So what kind of spirit is the sword
trying to separate from us?
Well, it's the spirit of God, right?
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He wants us to only be listening to
and heeding the Holy Spirit.
That's what he wants us to yield to.
He wants to cut out these emotions and feelings
that are not relevant
to what God is trying to do in our life.
If there's feelings and emotions that don't belong,
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like I'll give you an example.
You ever notice sometimes that
we could be triggered by situations or people, okay?
In fact, a lot of times the PTSD is tied to this.
If certain situations really haunt us from the past,
whenever that situation or that kind of person
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comes into our sphere of involvement,
we can suddenly get these feelings again,
like, oh no, oh no, I know how this is gonna end.
I've had many people come to me in situations
and we just had to confront them about something,
whatever it is,
and they immediately tie everything from their past
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that went wrong to this current situation.
I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no.
That's not what this is.
We need to separate things from the past
that don't apply to this particular situation.
Does that make sense?
Because otherwise we could be carrying a load of emotions
and feelings that we've never allowed the Word
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to separate from our soul and really take it away
and we just bring it with us
so everything still reminds us
of everything bad that ever happened.
But the Word of God wants to cut through all that and say,
no, no, this, I want this separate.
I want this taken away.
This doesn't belong because that's what he wants to do.
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The Holy Spirit wants to separate soul and spirit.
Does that make sense?
A lot of times our souls can get hijacked
by these spiritual things.
Even as a believer, it's easy to see why unbelievers
would be afflicted by evil spirits
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because they don't have the Holy Spirit
because when we have the Holy Spirit greater is he who is in us
than he who is in the world,
we have the greatest Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God.
When you accept Christ into your life,
he comes in and dwells in you, right?
He seals you to the day of your redemption.
He has a deposit in you.
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The enemy cannot possess you,
but he can oppress you sometimes.
I don't know if you've ever been oppressed as a believer,
but it's still not fun.
You know it's not of God, but he's still oppressing you, right?
He can have an impact on your life,
but the Lord is saying,
look, allow my word to come into your life
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and separate this spiritual affliction
because you're not to be manipulated by this anymore.
You know, we have a human spirit
that sometimes has difficulty differentiating,
but the word of God helps us do that.
In fact, I have a verse in this.
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1 Corinthians 2, 11 to 12 says,
for what man knows the things of a man
except the spirit of a man, which is in him?
Even so, no one knows the things of God
except the spirit of God.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world,
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but the spirit who is from God,
that we might know the things
that have been freely given to us by God.
So we have a spirit that can help us discern,
but we're still warned again and again in scripture,
don't be carried away with other spirits,
even as a believer.
We could be carried away if we aren't true
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to knowing the word and consistently absorbing it.
So does that make sense?
So the Lord wants to separate a spirit that doesn't belong
so that we are completely dependent on his Holy Spirit.
We don't want to be manipulated by evil spirits.
We don't want to be manipulated by our own feelings
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and our own fears and our own insecurities or pride
or whatever it might be.
Those are spirits.
We just looked at these.
These are spiritual things,
but that's not who the Lord wants us to be captivated by.
He wants us to be captivated by the Holy Spirit.
And then the next is cutting through the soul and spirit.
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Then it's the joint and marrow, the joint marrow.
He wants to separate the joints from the marrow.
Now, again, all of this is kind of a metaphor.
It's using bodily things, right,
to represent spiritual things.
So why does he say joints and marrow?
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Why does he say that?
That's a funny picture.
I don't even know if I can contort my body that way.
I don't know.
But joints and marrow, why is he using this?
Well, think about what a joint does.
First of all, in scripture, right,
this word joint is used for doors, okay?
The hinge on a door, okay?
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It opens and closes the door.
It's a hinge, right?
But they call it a joint, right?
It's not, don't be thinking joint like the cannabis joint.
Some of you, I know what you're thinking.
But we've been set free of all that, amen?
But, or armor, it talks about the joints of an arm.
Remember, Ahab was struck by an arrow
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that happened to land right in between a joint in his armor.
And as a result, he ended up dying.
And so they talk about that.
But what is a joint?
It's something that's moving, right?
Now, our body has a lot of joints, doesn't it, right?
And what does it do?
It creates motion.
And I looked at this diagram.
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It's too small to really see.
But I didn't realize this.
Our bodies have all kinds of joints.
Did you know that?
Like all kinds of different identifying joints,
like a pivot joint, a hinge joint,
a saddle joint, all these different joints in your body.
But what do joints do?
They enable movement.
So why is the word of God sharp or two-edged sword
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dividing the movement of our life?
I'm going to tell you in a second.
Then the next thing, joint and what?
Marrow.
So let's take a look at marrow for a minute.
So marrow is so significant for our health, right?
Because marrow is producing red blood cells,
(25:19):
white blood cells, platelets.
I mean, it's what our body needs.
And the white blood cells,
I was reading up on this,
how it produces all kinds of auto,
like it produces immunity, right,
to viruses, parasites, bacteria.
It produces T cells, right, Monday.
(25:39):
This is right up your alley.
He's a chemical engineer.
Did I get that right?
Chemical, something like that.
He's kind of nodding like, okay, just move on.
But he's a chemical engineer over at Merck,
and so he studies, he knows T cells.
Well, T cells produce all kinds of anti-inflammatory agents
in your body.
(26:00):
They fight against, again, parasites
and all these different things,
viruses that can be attacking your body.
Well, marrow is good for all of that.
It produces.
And you know, when it releases these cells,
those cells only live 24 hours,
and it has to keep producing.
So it's producing millions of these cells in your body
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to fight against this stuff.
I mean, the body is truly an amazing thing, isn't it?
Like, God designed all this.
So why is the Lord bringing up joints,
and why is he bringing up marrow?
Like, what does that have to do with anything?
Well, think through this.
Because joints represent what?
Motion, action, okay?
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And marrow represents health, right?
Represents providing for our bodies
what's necessary, health.
So if the Lord is separating our actions,
our emotions, right,
from what is healthy for our life,
isn't that a good thing?
Because perhaps our actions aren't lining up
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with a healthy life.
Do you see that?
Like, because, you know, I can be saying on one side,
well, my body, you know,
I really want to be unaddicted to anything, okay?
I really want to have more love in my life.
I really want these things for my life,
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because I know God wants it for my life.
That would be the marrow.
And yet over here,
lying to my boss, I'm cheating on my wife,
I'm still, you know, shooting up, smoking, whatever I'm doing,
I'm still doing all the things,
because that's the joints of my life, that's my actions.
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But the marrow is over here saying, what's up?
Like, you're not doing anything
that should be lining up with marrow here, right?
And, you know, so the word of God wants to cut in
and separate and say,
look, your actions are not lining up
with the health you want for your life.
You know, in scripture,
marrow is always pictured as a healthy, an abundant life.
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It's really, it's symbolic.
And I have a few verses that we're going to look at,
Job 21, 24, and Psalm 63.5, Isaiah 25.6.
His pails are full of milk.
This is seen as a blessing.
And the marrow of his bones is moist.
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You know, a moist, it's not dry.
You know what dry marrow means?
It probably means you're dead, okay?
Or at least you're not healthy.
Part of you is dying, right?
But it's the idea of a healthy life.
In Psalms, my soul shall be satisfied
as with marrow and fatness,
as my mouth shall praise you with my joyful lips.
(28:54):
Again, marrow is seen as an abundant,
thriving, healthy life.
And then finally, on this mountain,
the Lord of hosts will make for all people
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of the rich food full of marrow,
of aged wine well refined.
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So we see again, this marrow is seen as a positive thing.
So when we say the word of God is sharper
than a double-edged sword that wants to divide,
he's saying, are your actions lining up
with your desire to have a God-filled,
God-honoring, God-representative life?
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Does that make sense?
And that's what the word wants to do.
And then finally, the word of God
wants to separate thoughts and intentions, you know?
So notice in all of these three analogies,
he's always putting the lesser thing before the greater thing.
So in other words, he says the soul and the spirit,
(30:02):
the soul is really submissive to spirit.
We just talked about that, right?
In fact, we have a diagram of the soul.
If you could put that up, the spirit, soul, and body, okay?
And the body really is just going for the ride, okay?
Not for animals.
Animals live by what their body wants, you know?
I'm hungry, I'm going to go kill something, right?
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I'm lustful, I'm going to go, you know, do something else
and procreate with four dough or whatever it is, you know?
I mean, that's the body.
We're humans.
We're making Gods like this.
We're not to be animals, right?
So the body is like a tent to us.
You know, we don't have to submit to it.
But the soul and spirit is where it gets a little murky, okay?
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Because the soul is weak and it just shifts.
It changes its mind.
It changes its willpower, you know?
But the spirit, the spirit is what drives.
It's almost like a steering wheel.
It drives that soul, right?
You've heard of the rudder of a ship being like this tongue
of someone's life driving it through the ocean.
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Well, our soul is like the steering wheel,
but the spirit steers, steers our lives.
So we need to make sure the right spirit is behind the wheel.
Does that make sense?
And so the Lord, again, wants to separate the soul
from the spirit because the soul is weak
and it just submits to different spirits.
(31:32):
Let's make sure who's driving the ship or the car
in this case, right?
And then the next thing, the joint and marrow,
the joint are your actions.
It's what we do from instinct.
But you got to change your actions
if you want that marrow-filled life, the abundant life.
And now we get to thoughts and intentions.
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So thoughts are what we think about.
And Ken, by the way, did an amazing job teaching yesterday,
and he was talking about prayer,
but he said again and again in 2 Corinthians 10-5,
he kept saying, take every thought captive in Christ,
because our thoughts can go all over the place.
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Have you ever been reading the word and all of a sudden
you're thinking about bizarre, weird things?
Like, wait a minute, I'm in front of the Bible.
Why am I thinking about this?
Like we can think about a lot of strange things
at strange times, right?
But the intentions are right.
Like I want my life to be reflective of Christ.
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That's the intentions.
You know, I've officiated lots of weddings in my day,
and one of the part is declare your intentions, right?
Because you need to declare things and say,
I plan to do this.
And I say, you know, I'll say, do you, Jake,
promise to love, breathe with all your heart soul?
That's not the one.
But, you know, and provide for her through sickness
(33:00):
and in health and be faithful to her.
And at the end, it's I do, right?
That's the intentions.
But you have to state those intentions.
Sometimes we have to keep reminding ourselves
what the intentions of our hearts are,
because sometimes our thoughts aren't lining up
with our intentions.
Because our thoughts can wander all around.
(33:22):
That's why the word says take every thought
captive, right, to Christ.
So we can say, wait a minute, this,
no, these thoughts don't belong.
I shouldn't be looking at that.
I shouldn't be thinking about that.
I shouldn't be excited about that, whatever it is.
These don't line up with my intentions
(33:43):
to live that life for Christ, you know?
So the Holy Spirit wants to divide.
That's why in Romans 12, too, it says,
don't conform to the patterns of this world, right?
And that's one version, but the other is,
don't conform to the world, okay?
Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
(34:08):
Then you will be able to prove the good acceptable.
And you know, in the scriptures,
acceptable actually means well-pleasing.
The good, well-pleasing, perfect will of God.
Isn't it amazing how it just keeps getting better?
The good, the well-pleasing, the perfect will of God.
See, when our minds are transformed,
(34:31):
you know, then our thoughts will line up
with the intentions of our heart.
So the word of God wants to come in and say, all right,
do these thoughts line up with your intentions?
I think most believers, we get saved,
and we think, wow, the sky's the limit.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
(34:52):
I am now, I have the divine nature,
second Peter, chapter one.
I am a divine, I have divinity living in me.
I have a divine nature.
I have power.
I have authority in my life.
And it's like, all the sun, we just, wow,
like this is who I am.
(35:13):
But then all of a sudden, what happens?
Suddenly another spirit comes in and starts driving,
you know?
Or perhaps our actions are just running away
doing their own thing, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
you know, it's not lining up
with who I just realized I was in Christ.
Or perhaps my thoughts are going AWA,
(35:34):
and I'm starting to think in a defeated mindset.
And we are forgetting who we are in Christ.
So the Word of God wants to separate all of that
and take what doesn't belong away,
but He wants to put what should remain in.
Imagine going into surgery,
because after this, verse 13 talks about,
(35:56):
He lays all things naked, and nothing's hidden from it.
Like, He sees right through you.
Did you know that?
Like that skeleton guy we just looked at?
I mean, He sees right through, He sees everything in you.
You're like, oh boy, I wish He didn't see ever.
He sees it all, right?
He can just scan right through you,
and He still loves you,
(36:18):
and He knows how much He can do through you
if you would just let Him,
just surrender fully to Him.
And when we're on the operating table, okay,
we can't cover up.
We can't say, no, Lord,
I don't want you to be able to see everything.
Well, then I can't operate on you, okay?
I need to see it all.
(36:39):
And sometimes we think we're gonna cover up
like Adam and Eve at the fig leaves.
It's not gonna happen.
I know exactly where you are, right?
And He sees us for who we are,
but He also sees us, who He is making us into,
because we are predestined to be the image of God, right?
And He sees it all.
(37:00):
And I was just thinking, imagine, you know,
the Lord knows what to take out and what to put in.
Imagine going into surgery and you have a brain tumor,
and the surgeon's there, and He says, all right, now,
so let's leave the tumor in, but take the brain out.
You know, it's like, you wouldn't do that, right?
God doesn't, He knows what is meant to be left alone
(37:22):
and what's to be put in.
You know, I have a few anchors in my body here and there,
you know, I had to get things put in
so things would stay together, you know,
probably some of you did too, right?
He knows what to put in,
but He also knows what to take out, amen.
As the worship team comes up
(37:45):
and we contemplate these things,
now the Lord wants to divide
the spirit and soul, the soul from the spirit.
He wants to be able to separate the spirit
(38:05):
that doesn't belong behind the wheel
as He wants to separate our actions
from the abundant life, the thriving, healthy life
He wants us to have, spiritually healthy,
maybe physically healthy too.
I believe the more spiritually healthy you are,
you will be more physically, financially
(38:26):
and other areas healthy too, you know,
because He loves us and He wants to provide for us.
And the word, it says in the word that the word
will prosper our lives, right?
And so there's that.
And then finally, He wants to separate thoughts
from the spirit.
Are we letting Him do that?
(38:47):
Are we letting Him really cut deep, cut through
and letting Him remove those spirits
that just don't belong hijacking our lives anymore
or the actions that need to stop if we're really gonna thrive
or the thoughts that are not from God, they're from the enemy.
(39:09):
You know, that's why we have a shield of faith
to extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy
so that they don't land and stay in us.
And so the Lord wants to purify us of all those things, Amen.
So let's stand up and pray.
Father God, we thank you that your word of God
is like a scalpel in the hand of a surgeon.
(39:34):
And Lord God, you know exactly where to cut
and what to remove and what to put in
that we would be vessels for you,
that we would thrive in you, Lord God,
that we would thrive in the Holy Spirit,
that we would thrive in our actions and our motives
(39:58):
and that we would thrive, Lord God,
in our thoughts that they would line up
with the intentions of our heart, Lord God.
We ask your word to just continuously just pour into us.
We thank you for your Holy Spirit
because without it we wouldn't even understand
what we're reading or what we're hearing.
(40:19):
But Lord God, your Holy Spirit enlightens it to us.
It's like a lamp upon our feet
so we could see where we're going
through these dark days, Lord God,
and bring light everywhere we go.
So we thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.
Let's give the Lord a round of applause.
(40:42):
Let's just make this our prayer.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!
(41:09):
God bless!
Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
(00:35):
So we are going to continue in Hebrews chapter 4.
We're only looking at two verses today because they are so packed and so familiar to you, especially the one.
And today's message is the two-edged sword and
So let's pray and thank the Lord for being here.
(01:00):
Lord, we just thank You for Your Word.
We thank You for Your Holy Spirit.
And that in and of itself is all we need here today.
So Lord, we ask You to teach us from within, Lord, what we need to take out of here to transform our lives and really help others transform their lives as well.
(01:22):
So we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
So last week we talked about entering God's rest and how so many of the ways God interacted with Israel are very applicable to us Christians.
And we drew the whole parallel analogy of how the Lord led Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness.
(01:47):
And then when they got to the Jordan River and said, all right, go in, send those spies out.
And then you're going in to inherit that land.
And they did not heed God's voice.
They doubted it.
They didn't trust God that God would provide all the victory in that land.
And as a result, the word said that they hardened their heart and could not enter the rest of the Lord.
(02:12):
Right. And so for 40 years, the Lord had to filter out those unbelievers and then brought that next generation in.
And so it all came down to really hearing the voice of God and listening to it. Right.
And so now from here, the spirit teaches us even more about how important the word of God is.
(02:35):
And it's like a two edged sword.
And this idea of a two edged sword, we see the sword of the spirit, right, is the word of God.
Ephesians chapter six tells us that.
In fact, in all the armor that we go into battle with, the only offensive weapon we have is the sword.
The rest is the helmet, the shield, the breastplate, shoes and everything.
(03:00):
But it's that word of God. That's how we defeat the enemy.
That's how we win victories is with the word of God.
And this idea of a double edged sword, John, in Revelation, we don't have the verse up.
But in Revelation chapter one, as he was having this vision, he sees, oh, actually we do.
(03:20):
He sees Jesus Christ. And in Revelation one, 16 to 17, he had in his right hand seven stars.
All these are symbolic of so many things we don't have time to get into.
And of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword.
And his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
(03:43):
And when I saw him, this is how we know it was Jesus, I fell at his feet as dead.
But he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, do not be afraid.
I am the first and the last. He's the Alpha and the Omega.
You know, as we were just reading that, I pictured, you remember when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration?
(04:05):
This is John, the Apostle John with James, his brother and Peter.
And when all of a sudden the Lord lit up and he was speaking to Moses and to Elijah.
And they all fell down to the ground, just like they were dead, because they heard the Father's voice.
Behold my son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
And they just like rattled and fell to the ground.
(04:27):
And then out of all of that, Jesus just touched them and says, do not be afraid.
It is me. And they looked up and it's all quiet.
And it's just Jesus back to the form that they could recognize.
And so here he is saying the same thing only in this about 60 years later through this vision of revelation.
(04:48):
And so Jesus is the Word of God, isn't he? And so that's why we see him.
I was trying to find some kind of graphic on the Internet showing Jesus with a sword coming out of his mouth.
But they all are just so corny and weird. I'm like, I'm not even going to attempt that.
But this is what John saw. So we're going to dive right in and read these two verses.
(05:13):
Yeah. Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful word.
For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
(05:37):
And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
So here we see the Word of God is living and powerful.
Now, isn't that awesome how the word is living? It's not a dead word, right? It's living.
(06:02):
When we read the Word of God, it's not just a historical narrative or a theological narrative or an academic exercise to learn these things about the past.
It's living. That means it's relevant to your life right now, just like we read last week.
(06:22):
Now, what is all that Israel coming out of Egypt and the wilderness? What does that have to do with us? It has everything to do with us.
It's all a point. It's all pointing to Christ in us. So it's all relevant. It's living. It's not a dead word. It's living.
I love how you ever notice how you're reading something that morning and suddenly you're out there and somebody says the same word you read that morning.
(06:47):
Or you see a situation and it reminds you of something you just read because the Word of God is living.
That's why it's so important, not a guilt trip, but it's so important to really engage with the Word.
I know little daily devotionals are good and fine, but when you just go through the book and you know what, just bite off one verse a day.
(07:12):
Anybody can take one verse and you just bite that off and chew on it and just say,
yeah, Lord, how do you want me to use that word today?
And you'll find yourself over time just adding more and more verses to it because it's all tied together
and you don't want to take Scripture out of context. But after a while, it's so much fun to really just be living that Word of God.
(07:36):
You know what happens? The world becomes like a parable to you. Did you ever notice that?
The more you know the Word, you see everything as a parable that you can also find in the Word of God.
So it's living and it's powerful.
The word energase is where we get energy. It's an energized Word, right? It's powerful.
(07:57):
You know, that's why a lot of people when they're going through some sort of depression
or they feel that they're being attacked by the enemy, they'll play the Word of God in their house.
You know, at a level that isn't like distracting them, but the Word of God because as it's playing,
the demonic realm, the spiritual realm hates hearing the Word of God, right?
(08:20):
Because He casts out the evil one, right? So the Word of God is so powerful, so energized
that the Word has enormous power in your life.
That's why when you don't know how to pray, just start reading the Word out loud.
I love when people just are, as they're praying, you can hear their paraphrasing
(08:43):
and the Word of God just really coming off their tongue because they've been just soaking in it.
You know, I picture it's like a wick just dumped in the oil and the Word.
And when you just get all soaked up with the Word of God, it's just always burning.
It's always coming alive out of you because it's so powerful.
So the Word of God is living and powerful, amen?
(09:07):
And then it pierces and this sword of God, it's this word for sword.
You know, a lot of times we picture like this long, you know,
I don't know how those guys picked those things up and actually swung them around.
You ever watch those old gladiator movies?
I mean, those things, I don't know how much they weigh, but that looks difficult.
(09:29):
But these weren't those kinds of swords.
They were more like long knives, the Makira.
In fact, we have a couple of pictures here.
Thank you, Natasha.
I found these archives, you know, and here's a couple of them.
This is maybe a straight edge we're talking about here that they'd wear right in their sheath.
(09:50):
And but this, of course, would be a double edge.
So probably that straight one.
But this one, I forget what age that is,
but it's somewhere around the timeline that we're talking about.
So it's a Roman and Makira, and it's a shorter knife.
And it's used for practical things like butchering food and everything.
But it's also used for tactical purposes.
(10:12):
You know, I have another one that shows just the kind of size it is.
That's actually from 200 B.C., that one they found.
I don't know why they're letting that guy hold it, but that's another thing.
But anyway, but these are like short knives, okay?
And I mean, long knives, short swords.
They're very practical, right?
And actually, all four gospels, okay, report how Peter,
(10:36):
remember when Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane
and Peter pulled out his Makira and sliced off Malchus's ear right off his head.
And of course, Jesus restored it.
But it was something that most people would carry for a lot of reasons, you know,
not just for doing battle, but for a lot of practical reasons.
(10:56):
And you know what?
And it cuts on both sides.
It's a two-edged sword, right?
So it's very practical.
And you know, when I think about this idea of a shorter two-edged sword,
it's meant for close-up battle, for everyday use, you know,
both battle and also for practical purposes, like we just talked about.
(11:17):
Just like the Word of God.
The Word of God isn't for this big picture societal analysis of all things.
It's for everyday use.
It's for like, you know, I need this all the time.
You know, this is day in, day out, up front, close and personal battle
(11:38):
in my everyday life, you know, that's what this...
And so this is why they specifically use the Makira as an example
of what the Word of God is like.
And it's two-edged.
That means it cuts both ways, you know?
Isn't it funny how when you read the Word and I'm reading,
I'm like, Jill really needs to get this.
(11:59):
She really needs to understand this.
I mean, all my fingers getting cut, right?
Because really, it's probably me who has to really get that.
It cuts both ways, right?
The Word of God, because we need it all the time.
And God's always revealing things to us.
And you know, we wouldn't want it any other way.
(12:20):
Would you like to get up in the morning
and look in the mirror and say, you know what?
This is as righteous as I'm ever gonna be.
This is as, well, we are righteous in Christ.
But I mean, this is as good as it's gonna get.
I'm looking at me right now and this is it.
You get what you get?
No, He's always, always just refining us, right?
(12:42):
He's always cutting out the things
that don't belong in our life if we let Him.
And He's always imputing the things that should be there.
And that's great, isn't it?
That you can know, especially as I get older in life,
and I'm just being practical here for a minute,
I realize there's a lot of things
that aren't gonna necessarily get better.
I'm not gonna run faster.
(13:03):
I'm not gonna lift more weights.
I'm not gonna, like, there's a lot of things
that aren't gonna get, quote unquote, better.
But I can be more and more Christ-like.
I can think more like Him.
I can speak more like Him.
I can love more like Him.
This sky's the limit.
Until my last breath, I can be more and more like Him.
(13:27):
Isn't that something great to look forward to?
In the end, it doesn't matter what age we are,
that's something to look forward to.
Lord, I'm just gonna surrender more and more to You, Lord,
because I want You to be just resonating
and being a fragrance, Lord, out of my life.
And so that's the idea here, is this double-edged Makaira.
(13:51):
And it pierces.
It pierces deep.
You know, this word, diyekmaiomai,
aren't you glad I tried to pronounce that?
The Greek word, but it's only found one time in this verse.
And it doesn't mean to just prick or pierce.
It means to cut through, okay?
I mean, picture a butcher just saying,
(14:12):
all right, we're gonna get this part out.
You know, it means to cut fully through.
So this is the idea with the word of God.
It wants to cut all the way through.
We're gonna see, to separate, to distinguish,
to differentiate things that don't belong, okay?
And the first thing it says is dividing soul and spirit.
(14:34):
Soul and spirit.
Now, the thing about soul and spirit,
we're not gonna get all into the body, soul and spirit,
because that's a long, long conversation.
But the thing about soul and spirit,
when you read it in the word,
a lot of times they're almost interchangeable, okay?
Which makes a theologian difficult
(14:54):
because they want everything kind of to fit in a box.
But soul and spirit actually are kind of used interchangeably,
especially in the Old Testament.
I have an example in Job 7-11 and Isaiah 26-9.
It says, therefore, I will not restrain my mouth.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
(15:14):
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
It's kind of interchangeable.
And then Isaiah 26-9 says,
with my soul I have desired you in the night.
Yes, by my spirit within me, I will seek you early.
So again, it's like, it's the soul and spirit.
And I've heard actually people have doctorates in theology saying,
(15:37):
you know, that body, soul, spirit model
kind of breaks down a little bit
when you engage it in scripture.
But nonetheless, it's blended,
especially in the Old Testament.
The spirit is often used as an emotion.
I have an example.
When Moses went to speak to the children of Israel,
(15:59):
he says, God sent me to bring you out of Egypt.
And they actually had a spirit of anguish.
They were so used to being in bondage.
The thought of leaving, they're like, no, no, no.
(16:22):
We belong in bondage.
And they couldn't hear him.
They couldn't hear him.
Remember, Jesse just told on this recently,
in Numbers when they're trying to figure out
whether this woman had an affair
and whether she committed adultery
because the husband had a spirit of jealousy, you know, a spirit.
(16:43):
So a lot of times, you know,
the spirit is connected to an actual emotion or feeling.
Now, all of this matters.
I'll show you why in a minute.
When Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes,
he says it's better to have a spirit of patience than of pride.
So you get the idea.
There's a lot of so many things of anguish, of distressing.
(17:05):
Remember when Saul,
when the Lord took the Holy Spirit from him
and put it upon David,
he repeatedly had a distressing spirit.
Now, that was also spiritual,
which we'll talk about like an evil spirit.
But still, it's an emotion.
It's a feeling.
So spirits are used that way as well, okay?
(17:27):
And then so in all of this,
this idea of spirit,
and then of course, it's also a spirit.
There's evil spirit.
So the spirit comprises so many things.
So let's look at this slide,
ruah and numah, okay?
In the Old Testament,
it's called a ruah,
(17:49):
and it's numah in Greek in the New Testament.
But we see that the spirit is God's Holy Spirit.
The spirit is the human themselves.
We are all born with a spirit, okay?
When he breathed into man,
we all now have a human spirit.
We have emotions, we have feelings,
(18:09):
like we were just talking about,
that's considered a spirit.
And also there are evil agents of the enemy,
spiritual, spiritual,
evil spirits that also afflict us.
So what kind of spirit is the sword
trying to separate from us?
Well, it's the spirit of God, right?
(18:29):
He wants us to only be listening to
and heeding the Holy Spirit.
That's what he wants us to yield to.
He wants to cut out these emotions and feelings
that are not relevant
to what God is trying to do in our life.
If there's feelings and emotions that don't belong,
(18:51):
like I'll give you an example.
You ever notice sometimes that
we could be triggered by situations or people, okay?
In fact, a lot of times the PTSD is tied to this.
If certain situations really haunt us from the past,
whenever that situation or that kind of person
(19:14):
comes into our sphere of involvement,
we can suddenly get these feelings again,
like, oh no, oh no, I know how this is gonna end.
I've had many people come to me in situations
and we just had to confront them about something,
whatever it is,
and they immediately tie everything from their past
(19:35):
that went wrong to this current situation.
I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no.
That's not what this is.
We need to separate things from the past
that don't apply to this particular situation.
Does that make sense?
Because otherwise we could be carrying a load of emotions
and feelings that we've never allowed the Word
(19:56):
to separate from our soul and really take it away
and we just bring it with us
so everything still reminds us
of everything bad that ever happened.
But the Word of God wants to cut through all that and say,
no, no, this, I want this separate.
I want this taken away.
This doesn't belong because that's what he wants to do.
(20:17):
The Holy Spirit wants to separate soul and spirit.
Does that make sense?
A lot of times our souls can get hijacked
by these spiritual things.
Even as a believer, it's easy to see why unbelievers
would be afflicted by evil spirits
(20:39):
because they don't have the Holy Spirit
because when we have the Holy Spirit greater is he who is in us
than he who is in the world,
we have the greatest Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God.
When you accept Christ into your life,
he comes in and dwells in you, right?
He seals you to the day of your redemption.
He has a deposit in you.
(21:00):
The enemy cannot possess you,
but he can oppress you sometimes.
I don't know if you've ever been oppressed as a believer,
but it's still not fun.
You know it's not of God, but he's still oppressing you, right?
He can have an impact on your life,
but the Lord is saying,
look, allow my word to come into your life
(21:21):
and separate this spiritual affliction
because you're not to be manipulated by this anymore.
You know, we have a human spirit
that sometimes has difficulty differentiating,
but the word of God helps us do that.
In fact, I have a verse in this.
(21:43):
1 Corinthians 2, 11 to 12 says,
for what man knows the things of a man
except the spirit of a man, which is in him?
Even so, no one knows the things of God
except the spirit of God.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world,
(22:03):
but the spirit who is from God,
that we might know the things
that have been freely given to us by God.
So we have a spirit that can help us discern,
but we're still warned again and again in scripture,
don't be carried away with other spirits,
even as a believer.
We could be carried away if we aren't true
(22:26):
to knowing the word and consistently absorbing it.
So does that make sense?
So the Lord wants to separate a spirit that doesn't belong
so that we are completely dependent on his Holy Spirit.
We don't want to be manipulated by evil spirits.
We don't want to be manipulated by our own feelings
(22:47):
and our own fears and our own insecurities or pride
or whatever it might be.
Those are spirits.
We just looked at these.
These are spiritual things,
but that's not who the Lord wants us to be captivated by.
He wants us to be captivated by the Holy Spirit.
And then the next is cutting through the soul and spirit.
(23:09):
Then it's the joint and marrow, the joint marrow.
He wants to separate the joints from the marrow.
Now, again, all of this is kind of a metaphor.
It's using bodily things, right,
to represent spiritual things.
So why does he say joints and marrow?
(23:32):
Why does he say that?
That's a funny picture.
I don't even know if I can contort my body that way.
I don't know.
But joints and marrow, why is he using this?
Well, think about what a joint does.
First of all, in scripture, right,
this word joint is used for doors, okay?
The hinge on a door, okay?
(23:53):
It opens and closes the door.
It's a hinge, right?
But they call it a joint, right?
It's not, don't be thinking joint like the cannabis joint.
Some of you, I know what you're thinking.
But we've been set free of all that, amen?
But, or armor, it talks about the joints of an arm.
Remember, Ahab was struck by an arrow
(24:15):
that happened to land right in between a joint in his armor.
And as a result, he ended up dying.
And so they talk about that.
But what is a joint?
It's something that's moving, right?
Now, our body has a lot of joints, doesn't it, right?
And what does it do?
It creates motion.
And I looked at this diagram.
(24:35):
It's too small to really see.
But I didn't realize this.
Our bodies have all kinds of joints.
Did you know that?
Like all kinds of different identifying joints,
like a pivot joint, a hinge joint,
a saddle joint, all these different joints in your body.
But what do joints do?
They enable movement.
So why is the word of God sharp or two-edged sword
(24:58):
dividing the movement of our life?
I'm going to tell you in a second.
Then the next thing, joint and what?
Marrow.
So let's take a look at marrow for a minute.
So marrow is so significant for our health, right?
Because marrow is producing red blood cells,
(25:19):
white blood cells, platelets.
I mean, it's what our body needs.
And the white blood cells,
I was reading up on this,
how it produces all kinds of auto,
like it produces immunity, right,
to viruses, parasites, bacteria.
It produces T cells, right, Monday.
(25:39):
This is right up your alley.
He's a chemical engineer.
Did I get that right?
Chemical, something like that.
He's kind of nodding like, okay, just move on.
But he's a chemical engineer over at Merck,
and so he studies, he knows T cells.
Well, T cells produce all kinds of anti-inflammatory agents
in your body.
(26:00):
They fight against, again, parasites
and all these different things,
viruses that can be attacking your body.
Well, marrow is good for all of that.
It produces.
And you know, when it releases these cells,
those cells only live 24 hours,
and it has to keep producing.
So it's producing millions of these cells in your body
(26:21):
to fight against this stuff.
I mean, the body is truly an amazing thing, isn't it?
Like, God designed all this.
So why is the Lord bringing up joints,
and why is he bringing up marrow?
Like, what does that have to do with anything?
Well, think through this.
Because joints represent what?
Motion, action, okay?
(26:43):
And marrow represents health, right?
Represents providing for our bodies
what's necessary, health.
So if the Lord is separating our actions,
our emotions, right,
from what is healthy for our life,
isn't that a good thing?
Because perhaps our actions aren't lining up
(27:05):
with a healthy life.
Do you see that?
Like, because, you know, I can be saying on one side,
well, my body, you know,
I really want to be unaddicted to anything, okay?
I really want to have more love in my life.
I really want these things for my life,
(27:26):
because I know God wants it for my life.
That would be the marrow.
And yet over here,
lying to my boss, I'm cheating on my wife,
I'm still, you know, shooting up, smoking, whatever I'm doing,
I'm still doing all the things,
because that's the joints of my life, that's my actions.
(27:46):
But the marrow is over here saying, what's up?
Like, you're not doing anything
that should be lining up with marrow here, right?
And, you know, so the word of God wants to cut in
and separate and say,
look, your actions are not lining up
with the health you want for your life.
You know, in scripture,
marrow is always pictured as a healthy, an abundant life.
(28:10):
It's really, it's symbolic.
And I have a few verses that we're going to look at,
Job 21, 24, and Psalm 63.5, Isaiah 25.6.
His pails are full of milk.
This is seen as a blessing.
And the marrow of his bones is moist.
(28:31):
You know, a moist, it's not dry.
You know what dry marrow means?
It probably means you're dead, okay?
Or at least you're not healthy.
Part of you is dying, right?
But it's the idea of a healthy life.
In Psalms, my soul shall be satisfied
as with marrow and fatness,
as my mouth shall praise you with my joyful lips.
(28:54):
Again, marrow is seen as an abundant,
thriving, healthy life.
And then finally, on this mountain,
the Lord of hosts will make for all people
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of the rich food full of marrow,
of aged wine well refined.
(29:16):
So we see again, this marrow is seen as a positive thing.
So when we say the word of God is sharper
than a double-edged sword that wants to divide,
he's saying, are your actions lining up
with your desire to have a God-filled,
God-honoring, God-representative life?
(29:38):
Does that make sense?
And that's what the word wants to do.
And then finally, the word of God
wants to separate thoughts and intentions, you know?
So notice in all of these three analogies,
he's always putting the lesser thing before the greater thing.
So in other words, he says the soul and the spirit,
(30:02):
the soul is really submissive to spirit.
We just talked about that, right?
In fact, we have a diagram of the soul.
If you could put that up, the spirit, soul, and body, okay?
And the body really is just going for the ride, okay?
Not for animals.
Animals live by what their body wants, you know?
I'm hungry, I'm going to go kill something, right?
(30:25):
I'm lustful, I'm going to go, you know, do something else
and procreate with four dough or whatever it is, you know?
I mean, that's the body.
We're humans.
We're making Gods like this.
We're not to be animals, right?
So the body is like a tent to us.
You know, we don't have to submit to it.
But the soul and spirit is where it gets a little murky, okay?
(30:47):
Because the soul is weak and it just shifts.
It changes its mind.
It changes its willpower, you know?
But the spirit, the spirit is what drives.
It's almost like a steering wheel.
It drives that soul, right?
You've heard of the rudder of a ship being like this tongue
of someone's life driving it through the ocean.
(31:10):
Well, our soul is like the steering wheel,
but the spirit steers, steers our lives.
So we need to make sure the right spirit is behind the wheel.
Does that make sense?
And so the Lord, again, wants to separate the soul
from the spirit because the soul is weak
and it just submits to different spirits.
(31:32):
Let's make sure who's driving the ship or the car
in this case, right?
And then the next thing, the joint and marrow,
the joint are your actions.
It's what we do from instinct.
But you got to change your actions
if you want that marrow-filled life, the abundant life.
And now we get to thoughts and intentions.
(31:55):
So thoughts are what we think about.
And Ken, by the way, did an amazing job teaching yesterday,
and he was talking about prayer,
but he said again and again in 2 Corinthians 10-5,
he kept saying, take every thought captive in Christ,
because our thoughts can go all over the place.
(32:17):
Have you ever been reading the word and all of a sudden
you're thinking about bizarre, weird things?
Like, wait a minute, I'm in front of the Bible.
Why am I thinking about this?
Like we can think about a lot of strange things
at strange times, right?
But the intentions are right.
Like I want my life to be reflective of Christ.
(32:39):
That's the intentions.
You know, I've officiated lots of weddings in my day,
and one of the part is declare your intentions, right?
Because you need to declare things and say,
I plan to do this.
And I say, you know, I'll say, do you, Jake,
promise to love, breathe with all your heart soul?
That's not the one.
But, you know, and provide for her through sickness
(33:00):
and in health and be faithful to her.
And at the end, it's I do, right?
That's the intentions.
But you have to state those intentions.
Sometimes we have to keep reminding ourselves
what the intentions of our hearts are,
because sometimes our thoughts aren't lining up
with our intentions.
Because our thoughts can wander all around.
(33:22):
That's why the word says take every thought
captive, right, to Christ.
So we can say, wait a minute, this,
no, these thoughts don't belong.
I shouldn't be looking at that.
I shouldn't be thinking about that.
I shouldn't be excited about that, whatever it is.
These don't line up with my intentions
(33:43):
to live that life for Christ, you know?
So the Holy Spirit wants to divide.
That's why in Romans 12, too, it says,
don't conform to the patterns of this world, right?
And that's one version, but the other is,
don't conform to the world, okay?
Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
(34:08):
Then you will be able to prove the good acceptable.
And you know, in the scriptures,
acceptable actually means well-pleasing.
The good, well-pleasing, perfect will of God.
Isn't it amazing how it just keeps getting better?
The good, the well-pleasing, the perfect will of God.
See, when our minds are transformed,
(34:31):
you know, then our thoughts will line up
with the intentions of our heart.
So the word of God wants to come in and say, all right,
do these thoughts line up with your intentions?
I think most believers, we get saved,
and we think, wow, the sky's the limit.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
(34:52):
I am now, I have the divine nature,
second Peter, chapter one.
I am a divine, I have divinity living in me.
I have a divine nature.
I have power.
I have authority in my life.
And it's like, all the sun, we just, wow,
like this is who I am.
(35:13):
But then all of a sudden, what happens?
Suddenly another spirit comes in and starts driving,
you know?
Or perhaps our actions are just running away
doing their own thing, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
you know, it's not lining up
with who I just realized I was in Christ.
Or perhaps my thoughts are going AWA,
(35:34):
and I'm starting to think in a defeated mindset.
And we are forgetting who we are in Christ.
So the Word of God wants to separate all of that
and take what doesn't belong away,
but He wants to put what should remain in.
Imagine going into surgery,
because after this, verse 13 talks about,
(35:56):
He lays all things naked, and nothing's hidden from it.
Like, He sees right through you.
Did you know that?
Like that skeleton guy we just looked at?
I mean, He sees right through, He sees everything in you.
You're like, oh boy, I wish He didn't see ever.
He sees it all, right?
He can just scan right through you,
and He still loves you,
(36:18):
and He knows how much He can do through you
if you would just let Him,
just surrender fully to Him.
And when we're on the operating table, okay,
we can't cover up.
We can't say, no, Lord,
I don't want you to be able to see everything.
Well, then I can't operate on you, okay?
I need to see it all.
(36:39):
And sometimes we think we're gonna cover up
like Adam and Eve at the fig leaves.
It's not gonna happen.
I know exactly where you are, right?
And He sees us for who we are,
but He also sees us, who He is making us into,
because we are predestined to be the image of God, right?
And He sees it all.
(37:00):
And I was just thinking, imagine, you know,
the Lord knows what to take out and what to put in.
Imagine going into surgery and you have a brain tumor,
and the surgeon's there, and He says, all right, now,
so let's leave the tumor in, but take the brain out.
You know, it's like, you wouldn't do that, right?
God doesn't, He knows what is meant to be left alone
(37:22):
and what's to be put in.
You know, I have a few anchors in my body here and there,
you know, I had to get things put in
so things would stay together, you know,
probably some of you did too, right?
He knows what to put in,
but He also knows what to take out, amen.
As the worship team comes up
(37:45):
and we contemplate these things,
now the Lord wants to divide
the spirit and soul, the soul from the spirit.
He wants to be able to separate the spirit
(38:05):
that doesn't belong behind the wheel
as He wants to separate our actions
from the abundant life, the thriving, healthy life
He wants us to have, spiritually healthy,
maybe physically healthy too.
I believe the more spiritually healthy you are,
you will be more physically, financially
(38:26):
and other areas healthy too, you know,
because He loves us and He wants to provide for us.
And the word, it says in the word that the word
will prosper our lives, right?
And so there's that.
And then finally, He wants to separate thoughts
from the spirit.
Are we letting Him do that?
(38:47):
Are we letting Him really cut deep, cut through
and letting Him remove those spirits
that just don't belong hijacking our lives anymore
or the actions that need to stop if we're really gonna thrive
or the thoughts that are not from God, they're from the enemy.
(39:09):
You know, that's why we have a shield of faith
to extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy
so that they don't land and stay in us.
And so the Lord wants to purify us of all those things, Amen.
So let's stand up and pray.
Father God, we thank you that your word of God
is like a scalpel in the hand of a surgeon.
(39:34):
And Lord God, you know exactly where to cut
and what to remove and what to put in
that we would be vessels for you,
that we would thrive in you, Lord God,
that we would thrive in the Holy Spirit,
that we would thrive in our actions and our motives
(39:58):
and that we would thrive, Lord God,
in our thoughts that they would line up
with the intentions of our heart, Lord God.
We ask your word to just continuously just pour into us.
We thank you for your Holy Spirit
because without it we wouldn't even understand
what we're reading or what we're hearing.
(40:19):
But Lord God, your Holy Spirit enlightens it to us.
It's like a lamp upon our feet
so we could see where we're going
through these dark days, Lord God,
and bring light everywhere we go.
So we thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.
Let's give the Lord a round of applause.
(40:42):
Let's just make this our prayer.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!
(41:09):
God bless!
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