Will you please turn to 1 Thessalonians?
Now the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly;
and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it.
And then will you please turn to Hebrews, the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 4, verses 12 and 13.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, we want to thank Thee again for loving us, and loving us to the uttermost. We praise and thank Thee for what Thou hast done for us. Thou hast given Thyself totally to us.
Lord, we are grateful, and we do pray, Lord, that whatever Thou hast done will all be accomplished in our lives, that Thou mayest be glorified. So we do pray, Lord, that Thou wilt breathe upon Thy Word again. Make it living and operative in each of our lives, that we may, through Thy Word, find Thyself.
We want to give Thee all the glory. In Thy precious name, amen.
Well, thank God for gathering us again this morning.
This time we are thinking of sharing on the four life-changing lessons in spiritual exercise. We know that unless we exercise our spirit, all that God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ will not become living experience to us. So that is how important spiritual exercise is.
Last day, we shared on the first lesson, and the first lesson is consecration. We mentioned at that time that after we have received all the mercies of God, and we are constrained by the love of Christ, our only reasonable response is to present our bodies a living sacrifice.
In other words, we give ourselves to the Lord and allow the Lord to have absolute freedom to work in our lives according to His will.
Now, of course, when we first consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we do not really understand what consecration means. We think by consecration, well, we are going to live for the Lord and to serve the Lord. Now, God knows our heart.
But even though we try to live for the Lord and to serve the Lord, we still live, as it were, by our old, fallen, natural self-life. And even in our serving the Lord, it is the same thing.
We need to learn that consecration is not serving the Lord or living for the Lord by our own natural life. Consecration means we give ourselves to Him and let Him deal with our natural life until we live by His life and serve by His Spirit.
So we remember what Jessie Penn-Lewis learned. After she had served the Lord faithfully for several years, she was seeking for more power on high, that she might serve the Lord better and greater.
But then the Lord one day revealed to her that she saw her hand with a bundle of filthy rags. And the word was spoken to her: “This is what you have done all these years.”
And Jessie said, “Oh, Lord, no. I have served You with a dedicated and consecrated life.”
And then the word came to her and said, “Consecrated self.”
And finally she heard the word: “Crucified.”
So, brothers and sisters, even in our consecration, you find we have to grow into the real meaning of consecration. We need to learn the lesson of being crucified. Our self has to be crucified, so that whatever comes out of us, whether in our daily living or in our service to the Lord, it is not I; it is Christ.
And after we have learned this lesson, then we will be able to live a consecrated life, just like what we see in the life of the Apostle Paul.
Now this morning we would like to continue on to the next lesson that we learn in spiritual exercise. And the next lesson is the dividing of soul and spirit.
Now we are approaching this not only from the doctrinal, the teaching, side. We will mainly approach this from our personal, experiential side. But, of course, any spiritual experience that is not based on the Word of God is false.
Only those experiences that are according to the Word of God have the right foundation, and these exercises will be real spiritual exercise.
So, brothers and sisters, when we are sharing on this matter of the dividing of the soul and spirit, merely our emphasis is on how we are going to experience this in our life, rather than trying to give a theological message.
But we cannot experience in a spiritual way without having a firm foundation in the teaching we find in the Word of God.
Now, I do not know how much you know in the Word of God, but for the sake of safety and emphasis, I would like to go back a little bit. At least we need to have a basic understanding of our constitution—that is to say, who are we? How are we created?
And, you know, even on this point there are differences in theological understanding. But I think we want to make it as simple as possible, without going into all these controversies. Just look at what the Word of God says to us.
Now, if you just read 1 Thessalonians 5:23, you will find that verse says, “Now the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly.”
You have the words, “our God is the God of peace,” and peace simply means harmony. He wants us to be one with Him. And the God of peace, He says, “Sanctify you wholly.” God is holy; therefore, He wants us to be sanctified, to be set apart for Himself, and holy as He is holy.
Now, you see the word “wholly” there. Wholly simply means entirely—every part of your being is to be sanctified. And then it is continued by: what do you mean by “wholly”? It means your whole spirit, number one; soul, number two; and body, number three.
So from this verse, you can find that we are constituted with three parts. Just like God is a Trinity, so we are a three-part person. We have a spirit, a soul, and a body.
Now, body is evident, because we are here with our body.
And according to Genesis, what is our body composed of? In Genesis 2:7, it is said that God took the red earth and formed it into a body. So our body is formed with the red earth, with the dust of the earth.
Now, that is how our body is made. But how marvelous—it was fearfully and wonderfully made. And because it is made of red earth, you find our body has the same elements as you find in the earth.
So that makes us world-conscious. We are conscious of the world, the physical world, because we have a body. And with a living body, we are in touch, by our five senses, with the world.
And then the Bible says God breathed His breath into the nostrils of that form made of red earth, and man became a living soul.
Now we know the breath of God comes from God Himself, and He breathed that breath into the nostrils of the formed man.
So the breath of God that has been breathed into the body forms the spirit of man. Why? Because God is Spirit. So His breath is spirit. Through His Spirit, He creates within us a spirit.
So by the human spirit, we are able to communicate with God. Otherwise, we have no way to communicate with God. It gives us God-consciousness.
And when the spirit and the body react together, man becomes a living soul. That is where our soul comes from. It is the combination, the reaction, of the spirit and the body. The soul gives us self-consciousness.
So the Bible oftentimes uses the word “soul” to represent man, because this is what we are basically—our personality. The soul gives us the function of feeling, emotion, thinking, the mind, and willing—the will and disposition.
So you find from the Bible that when man was created, he was created with a spirit, a body, and a soul.
And after God had created Adam, He put him in the Garden of Eden. In the garden He planted many trees, good for food, fruits for the body of man. But in the midst of the garden, He planted the tree of life; and by its side, He also planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need a basic understanding here. Why did God plant all these trees in the Garden of Eden with fruits? That is for the need of the body, because God does not just create a body without providing for the body. He did.
Now, why did God place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden? That is food for the soul, because the soul is where our human knowledge is. And then, in the midst of the garden, God planted the tree of life. Now, that is the fruit for the spirit.
So you find God made every provision here. But then He made man to choose, because God has a free will. So He created man with a free will. He created man according to His image. We have a free will.
God does not make a robot. He makes a free-willed person. And if there is free will and there is no choice, what is the use of free will? So that is why you find God put these two trees together: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So man could make a choice.
And what is the choice? It is as if God said, “Now I have created you. Now you are going to choose: how are you going to live? You are going to choose your own future.”
“Whether you are going to choose Me, the tree of life, and by that live by Me—you depend upon Me—or you choose to live by yourself. You can take the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and make yourself knowledgeable, and live by that knowledge—what is good, what is bad, what is evil. You can live by your knowledge. That is another way you can live.”
And unfortunately, our forefather made the wrong choice. And when he made the wrong choice, he made it not only for himself, but for all those who came out of him.
You know the words: we all had made that wrong choice. In other words, we do not want God. We do not want to depend upon God, to live for God. We want to live by ourselves and for ourselves.
So when we are born into this world, what is our condition? Our condition is that our spirit, which God created for Himself, was dead in us.
Now, by that, it does not mean that it does not exist. It is still there, but it does not function properly. It can function improperly, but not properly. In other words, we have no way of reaching God.
Communication with God was completely cut off. So when we were born into this world, we were born with soul and body. And that is why you find in Genesis 6 that it says man has become flesh. Flesh is the combination of soul and body without a functioning spirit.
And even in the book of Jude, it says, “Natural man, without the Spirit.” Now, that was the condition of all the people in the world before we were saved. That is what we were.
So you may know everything about the world and become a very knowledgeable person, but when it comes to God, you are completely helpless. You know nothing. There is no contact.
But thank God, He has saved us. God loved us. In His mercies, He sent His only begotten Son into this world to become a man, to be our Kinsman-Redeemer.
And how He died on the cross, bearing our sins, taking all the judgment upon Himself, that we may be saved.
Now, when we are saved, what happens? When you believe in the Lord Jesus and you are saved, what happens?
Probably the first thing we realize is that our sin, as a burden, as a load upon us, rolls away. Our sins are forgiven. Our consciences are at peace.
Thank God for that. I think we all have experienced this. What emancipation! What joy!
But, brothers and sisters, this is only negative—having our sins redeemed. But God has done something positive. And what He does is this: He quickens our dead spirit into life.
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:6.
Ezekiel 36 says that He gave us a new spirit. In other words, our dead spirit was restored to life, and it is a new life.
And the life in our spirit is Christ Himself. He comes and dwells in us. So, brothers and sisters, all who are saved know this: we not only have our sins forgiven, but we have our dead spirit quickened into life.
And into that spirit a new life comes into us. It is the life of Christ, the resurrection life of Christ, which comes into us and dwells in our spirit. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit of God also comes and dwells in our spirit.
So that is what you get positively when you are saved.
So now, what is our condition? Our condition now is that we are restored, as it were, to have a living spirit, a living soul, and a living body. We are alive.
Now, how do we live? You know, before we were saved, we lived by ourselves, by our natural life. We knew how to live, how to do things, and how to decide things.
But now we are saved. After you are saved, how are you going to live your spiritual life? Still by your own self? No. You now have a new life in you. You now have Christ in you.
So you are supposed now to live by the life of Christ in you.
And as a matter of fact, when we are first saved, we are in our first love with God. At that time it does seem as if we live wholly by the new life in us.
So you find in 2 Corinthians 5:17, it says:
If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. But all things are of God.
Now, that is what you find in Corinthians. And during the beginning stage of our salvation, we do experience a new creation, is that not so? Because in our first love, I mean, we love God so much. We are willing to give up anything for God.
There is nothing too much. We want to love Him, serve Him, and please Him. And it seems as if we are really living in the third heaven.
But unfortunately, such a situation does not linger long. Maybe with some people it lasts a few months. Maybe with some people it is longer or shorter. But sooner or later we discover something new.
We discover that we are not totally a new creation. It is true we are in Christ, but in our daily life, do we really live in Christ?
We find, as it were, we come out of Christ and wander around more of the time than we are really dwelling in Christ. And because of this, we find that it becomes more and more difficult to obey God.
And when problems come in, we find that it is more difficult to know what is really the will of God. Why? Because we begin to discover that in us there are two lives. We are a dual personality.
Now, a non-believer does not have that problem, because he is all over on the side of the enemy. But after we are saved, it seems as if we become two persons.
In us, there is one life in our spirit, which is Christ, and there is another life in our soul, which is our self. Even though our sins have been forgiven, the sinner seems to be still there.
And within us, we begin to have civil war. I think, from the experiential side, sooner or later we will experience this.
Unless you have never consecrated yourself to the Lord and are totally living by your soul-life, you do not have that problem. But if you are really in business with the Lord, and want to really love Him and follow Him, eventually, sooner or later, you will discover this.
So you find young Christians often ask the question, “Tell me, what is the will of God?” As if the will of God is the most difficult thing to know.
Because within you, you have a desire to do the will of God. You have a new life in you, and you do have a desire to do the will of God. But then, on the other hand, you find within you there is another one who hates the Word of God.
There is a real conflict within you, and your own reasoning oftentimes overcomes what the Spirit speaks to your spirit.
So that is the reason why you find a young believer always asks the question, “What is the will of God?” It seems as if this is the most difficult thing to do.
Now, if God wants you to do His will, will God make His will known to you? Or will He keep it secret and cause you all the problems? Of course not.
Now why is it that a young believer finds it difficult to know the will of God? It is because you have two lives within you.
And the life in your soul is the old Adamic life, full of experience and strong. But the new life, Christ in you, is young.
And furthermore, constitutionally speaking, our soul is in the body, and our spirit is in the soul. So you find the spirit is imprisoned within the soul. The soul is much stronger than your spirit. It is hard.
So that is why it makes us puzzled and weakens us. We really cannot follow the Lord all the way.
So, to a Christian who is really seeking, when you are in that kind of situation, what will happen? You become very nervous, is that not so?
So I often say, nervous Christians are good Christians. If you are not nervous at all—in other words, you just do what you want to do—you are not nervous.
But if you really want to do the will of God, you find, number one, you do not know what is the will of God; number two, you do not have the power to do the will of God. You have two problems, and they make you very nervous.
Now, how are we going to solve that problem? Well, you do not know what the will of God is—whether you should do this or do that, whether you can go there or go here, what decision you have to make.
Now, how are we going to deal with the situation? There are two ways we will try.
Number one, the easiest way is to ask other people. “I am just a new Christian. Now, you have been a Christian for years. You certainly know.”
So you go to a person who has been a Christian longer than you are, and you ask him. And sure enough, you find teachers everywhere. Now, we are all born teachers. We want to teach others.
So the opportunity has come, and you say, “Well, that is easy. This is the will of God. Do this, and you are all right.”
You seem to have solved your problem, but it is not solved. Why? Because your way is directed by man, not by God.
And there is another way: you try to analyze yourself. Analyze your thinking, reason it out, introspection. Go back to yourself and try to analyze, figure it out, weigh the pros and cons, and come to a conclusion.
Now you remember in Isaiah 50—I think it is verse 11. Or maybe we read from verse 10.
Who is among you that feareth the Lord,
that obeyeth the voice of His servant,
that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?
let him trust in the name of the Lord,
and stay upon his God.Behold, all ye that kindle a fire,
that gird yourselves about with firebrands,
walk ye in the flame of your fire,
and among the brands that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have at My hand;
ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Isaiah 50:10–11.
Now, when we are in darkness, what should we do? If we kindle a light of our own and then walk in that light, what will be the result? We will lie down in sorrow.
You know, introspection and self-analysis never help. Unfortunately, there is a teaching around: you have to search yourself, go back even to your childhood, bring back everything in your life, and repent before God. Then you are all right.
That is self-analysis. It does not help you. It will bring you deeper and deeper into it.
Now, I remember a real case. There was a man in China, a Christian leader well known among Christian circles. You would not know him, because I knew him—it was beyond your time.
And he was wealthy in China, and he was a writer. He wrote books and was respected. It was during that period when the Oxford Group movement came. You may not know what the Oxford Group was, because that was in the early days.
People tried to make themselves perfect by examining themselves. You examined yourself and repented of everything, then you were perfect.
And this man got into this Oxford Group movement. Whenever he found he was weak physically, that affected his mind, and all his past things came back to him. He had to confess once again in order to get peace, but there was no peace.
He was older than I, but I met him and we talked together. He shared with me what happened to him. At that period again, he was weak physically, and he was again going through the same thing again and again.
I tried to tell him, I said, “Brother, no. It is the blood of the Lord Jesus that cleanses us once for all. God forgives and forgets. Do not try to analyze yourself.” But he still was a prisoner.
So that kind of teaching, self-examination, never helps.
Now, I remember a story about a centipede. I do not know whether you know the centipede. A centipede is supposed to have a hundred feet, and it walks very fast.
But one day the centipede said, “Well, I want to know which of my hundred legs moves first.”
So he was standing there, trying to figure it out, and he was immobilized. He could not move anymore. So after a while he said, “I give up,” and off he went.
Now, brothers and sisters, how often we are like a centipede. We try to analyze ourselves in order to know what is of God and what is of myself, what is God’s will and what is my will.
And when you are doing that, you are paralyzed. So you find many good Christians are paralyzed. That is the human way. It does not work.
Now, what is God’s way? What is the divine way? It is very simple, because you find that in Hebrews 4:12.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Now, behind the word there is a picture. The picture is in the old days among the Jews, when they sacrificed. You find that a sacrifice would be brought to the altar and tied to the altar.
And then the priest would come, kill it, and put it on the altar. But he dissected it. He cut it into pieces.
And he was such an expert that he could cut just right. You know, when his sharp knife cut, it cut to the joints. The joints were penetrated and cut, and when that was done, the marrow in the bones was exposed.
And what about the sacrifice? Now, the sacrifice does not try to kill itself. The sacrifice is just bound there, motionless, as it were.
And if it is a willing sacrifice, then there is no resistance, just like when Abraham offered Isaac. Isaac was a willing sacrifice. He was bound and lay there, motionless, just letting Abraham use the knife. And we know God saved him.
So, brothers and sisters, here you find it is not what the sacrifice does to itself. Now, we are supposed to be the sacrifice, but it is a living sacrifice.
Even though we are living, as a sacrifice we willingly lay on the altar and let Him do the work. We do not try to cut ourselves, because we are not trained. If we cut ourselves, we cut ourselves into a mess, and oftentimes we do.
And the sword is the Word. God’s Word is the sword. It is sharp.
But the written word that we find in the Bible is not living and operative merely as written words. The written word is written there in letters. They are true, but they are not sharp; they are not living and penetrating and operative.
So that is why, when we read the Word of God, oftentimes what we read are letters. They are not spirit, and because they are letters, they kill instead of quickening.
But here you find the Word is living and operative. Now, what does it mean?
It means that this is the Word of God, not only written, but the Word of God spoken directly to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.
So the Logos, the written word, becomes rhema, the living word. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. By His revelation, by His enlightenment, He will shine upon the Word of God and make it living.
It seems as if it jumps out, and it is operative. It works. So that is why revelation is so important—the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Now, of course, we cannot have totally new revelations outside of the Bible, because all God’s revelations are completed in the written Word.
But the written word has to be quickened by the Holy Spirit and spoken again to us. God speaks twice. The first time He speaks through the prophets and the apostles.
But the second time, He speaks the same word by the Holy Spirit to you and me. So when that word comes, it is living and operative. It works.
And who is wielding this sword? The Holy Spirit.
So the Bible says the Word is the sword of the Spirit. It is not your sword. It is not my sword.
Now, often we use the Word of God to beat or cut other brothers and sisters, or sometimes we cut ourselves. Do not do that, because we are not trained. We are not experienced.
Let the Holy Spirit do that. The Holy Spirit is the High Priest. He is an expert. He knows exactly what the will of God is, and He knows how to deal with each and every one of us.
So when the Holy Spirit begins to reveal the Word of God to you, then it penetrates and it cuts. It divides the soul and spirit.
And all your intents, all your thoughts, are exposed as the marrow is exposed. Now, of course, we know that the bone is the protective shell, and the marrow is the real life, because it makes blood. It is the real life.
So it is the marrow that makes life. Life will come up.
So, brothers and sisters, what is God’s way to deliver us from this darkness—not knowing what the will of God is, not knowing whether something comes from the spirit or comes from the soul?
If it comes from the spirit, it is Christ. If it comes from the soul, it is self. Now, we do not know which one it is.
And when you are in such a quandary, what do you do? Do not try very hard to analyze yourself. But go to the Lord, rest before Him, and look to His Spirit.
Let the Holy Spirit, in His timing, reveal God’s will to you. And when God’s Word is revealed to you, it is so clear that you know what is of God and what is of man, what is of the spirit and what is of your soul.
And not only that, it is operative; it is powerful. It gives you the power to overcome.
So, brothers and sisters, the dividing of soul and spirit is another experience. And this comes by the work of the Holy Spirit, by His revelation.
But on our side, we need to exercise our spirit. Because if God sheds His light upon our spirit and we do not follow the light, we will continue to walk in darkness.
And that is why spiritual exercise is so important.
So, brothers and sisters, whenever you do not know what the will of God is for you, but you have a question, actually the question is raised by the Holy Spirit. You will not raise that question yourself.
So when the question comes, go back to the Lord. Lay on the altar as a sacrifice, and look to the Holy Spirit to use God’s Word to divide your soul and spirit.
The more you learn this lesson, the easier you will know what the will of God is.
Let us pray.
Lord, we commit these words into Your hands and trust Thy Holy Spirit to bring us to this experience, that we may be assured of the will of God and walk in it. We ask in Thy name.