Let's begin tonight in Psalm
19. Psalm 19. I read this passage to you this
morning in anticipation of tonight's message. In it, we see that God
has written three books, three books by which he speaks to men. The first is the book of creation.
By creation, all men know that God is. All men know his power
and his greatness. Looking into the stars above,
the sun in the sky, all God's creation testifies that God is. In addition to that, God by creation
has stamped upon every man's conscience a God consciousness
from which none can escape. Every man knows not only that
God is, but that God is righteous and just and will punish sin
and that he will meet God in judgment. Romans chapters 1 and
2 make that abundantly clear. There's no such thing as an atheist,
only liars who pretend to be. Only liars who suppress the voice
of God in creation in their own consciences and say, no God,
no God, no God. But they are holding down the
truth of God in unrighteousness, suppressing the testimony of
their own conscience rather than bow to the revelation of God.
God also has written a book of providence. By God's providence,
men are warned and warned and warned and warned and warned
every day of certain judgment. But men will not hear the voice
of God in creation, and men will not hear the voice of God in
providence. These testimonies of God are sufficient for man's
just condemnation, for he rejects the light that God's given him
in creation and providence. And they will not submit to it.
Neither creation nor providence will give life and salvation
to men. But God's written another book.
This book. This book. and the entrance of
thy words, the psalmist says, giveth light. When God sends
the light of this book into your soul, then you have light to
understand creation and providence and all things revealed in this
book. Look here what he says about
this book in verse seven, Psalm 19, verse seven. The law of the
Lord And in this place, as in most places in the Old Testament,
the word law doesn't refer to the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments,
or to the laws given to Israel, but rather it refers to the whole
revelation of God. You might read this, the doctrine
of the Lord. The teaching of this book is
perfect. The law of the Lord, the doctrine
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The law of the Lord,
this perfect revelation of God is perfect, converting, restoring
the soul. The testimony of the Lord, that
is the scriptures, the volume of scripture themselves. This
is God's testimony. This is God's testimony concerning
himself and his son is sure, making wise the simple God's
word. is able to make you wise unto
salvation. This book able to make you wise
unto salvation. The statutes of the Lord, his
visitations, his commandments, the statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. It's interesting. It doesn't
say the commandments of the Lord the commandment What is his commandment
that you believe on his son the Lord Jesus Christ the commandment
of the Lord is pure Enlightening the eyes now. Let's turn back
to Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12 The title of my message tonight
is piercing dividing discerning Piercing dividing discerning
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 For the Word of God is quick living
and powerful Lest I should fail to do so later. Let me tell you
the meaning of this word powerful There are as is often the case
in the scriptures Two different Greek words that are translated
power are powerful in the New Testament One of them is the
word from which we get the word dynamite. The gospel is the power,
the dynamite, the explosive power of God to salvation. This is
another word. This is the word from which we
get our word energy. The word of God is living and
energy. The word of God is living and
effectual. It's it's a living word and it
always accomplishes its purpose. It always accomplishes its purpose. So shall my word be, God says,
that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall prosper in the thing
whereto I send it. It shall not return to me void.
The word of God is living. It's effectual and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner,
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. In this fourth chapter of Hebrews,
we're told about the blessed rest that God's people have by
faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. That rest which assures us of
the sweet Sabbath rest that is ours in Him. everlasting glory
Because we are made partakers of the divine nature Because
we're made partakers of Christ now the Spirit of God tells us
in the latter part of chapter 3 about those Jews that Moses
brought out of Egypt and led through the wilderness for 40
years and He spoke to them. He prophesied to them. He preached
the gospel to them so that they heard the same gospel you hear
and They heard the gospel just as we do, only they did not believe
God. They did not believe the word
that God spoke to them. God spoke, but they didn't hear.
God spoke, but they didn't listen. God spoke, but they didn't obey.
God spoke, but they didn't believe God. And because they refused
to believe God, because they would not believe the word that
God gave them by his prophet Moses, they perished in the wilderness,
the word not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
And then we read about another man who was raised up by God
to succeed Moses, Joshua. Joshua brought the children of
Israel into the land of Canaan. He brought them into the land
of promised rest. But Joshua, too, was not able
to give the people rest. He brought them into the land
of promise. They had a typical rest because they possessed the
land of rest. But as you read the history of
Israel, they continued not to believe God. that continued not
to believe God's word. Ultimately, when our Savior came,
he left their house desolate and cast off that nation forever.
His intention was never the salvation of just the nation of Israel
or the salvation of Israel as a nation. Rather, it was the
salvation of God's elect, the Israel of God, scattered among
all the nations of the world. And so the apostle tells us there
remaineth therefore a rest unto the people of God, the blessed
rest of faith in Jesus Christ, not a carnal Sabbath rest, not
a carnal rest of any kind, but the kind of rest God enjoyed
on the seventh day when God ceased from all his works. This is the
rest of faith. Oh, God, help you to hear. To have faith in Christ, to believe
on the Son of God, to be saved by God's grace is to quit working. It is to quit working. It is
to cease from your works. You cease to labor to make yourself
accepted to God. You cease trying to make yourself
righteous. You cease trying to do good. You cease trying to improve your
situation so that God will look on you and smile on you and kindly
accept you because now you have at last achieved some measure
of righteousness by something you do. No, no, no, that's not
faith in Christ to labor for for righteousness and labor for
holiness to rest in Christ is to cease from your works and
Enter into his finished work to enter into his rest by faith
now we read about this man Joshua and he tells us even as a we're
told here even as Joshua was a great type of Christ the rest
he gave was only typical look at Verse 8 Hebrews chapter 4
verse 8 for if Jesus that is if Joshua had given them rest
Then will he not after would have spoken of another day There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God For he that
is entered into Christ rest He also hath ceased from his own
works as God did from his let us therefore labor to enter into
that rest and Labor to quit laboring, work to quit working, strive
to quit striving, lest any men fall by the same example of unbelief. Now look at our text again. Four. Four. The word of God is quick
and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints
and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. The opening word of verse 12,
4, refers back to all that we have seen in chapters 3 and 4.
All that Moses was not able to do and Joshua was not able to
do. Not able to bring the people
to that rest that was typified in the land of Canaan. But it
says now, because, because God has done a work for us and in
us, by His Word, because God has sent His Word to you and
put His Word in you, this living, quickening, effectual, powerful
Word of God. Now we have rest in Jesus Christ
the Lord, so that the rest of faith is created in believing
centers by the power of God's Word working in us unto life
everlasting by His Spirit. Again, I remind you the phrase
here used, the Word of God, speaks specifically of the written Word
of God. It speaks specifically of this
inspired book, the word of God that is preached to you by the
gospel. And this word of God is that
by which Jesus Christ, the incarnate word, reveals himself and makes
himself known in and to his people, by which God makes himself known
in his son, as he's revealed in the word of Holy Scripture.
Christ is the living word, the word of life. The word of life
is that which is brought to us by this living word, the written
word of our God. Now, it's equally obvious that
the word he declares this volume of Holy Scripture is that and
that alone. This book is that and that alone
by which God reveals himself in his son to men. Now that's a big statement. That's
a big statement. You mean preacher God doesn't
reveal himself to us by dreams and visions and revelations and
experiences and providence and creation. No, he does not. No, he does not. God reveals
himself to us by his word. He reveals his son to us by his
word. And we understand creation and
providence and experiences by the word. We do not understand
the word by creation and providence and experience. Oh, what a terrible
mistake men make. when they try to interpret the
Word of God by experience. They try to interpret the Word
of God by providence. We live in this age of Prophecy
mania and it's been going on for as long as I have been in
this world People have been talking prophecy at prophecy conferences
and write books on prophecy hundreds of them come out every year right
you remember the Y2k thing everything's supposed to end when we turned
to the year 2000 everybody's sitting on the edge of their
seats I mean fellas sold books by the tons sold books by the
tons. I Happen to know One of them,
don't do him well, just happened to know him. He came all through
this area, had prophecy conferences, writing books and selling them.
Right after it was over, I went on his webpage, see if I could
find one. I don't know what happened to them. They all disappeared. But
you know what he did? Came back the next year with
more prophecy conferences. Nobody pays any attention to
the nonsense. But people try to interpret the
word of God by providence and by experience. Don't do that.
You interpret providence and interpret your experiences in
life by the word. It is the word of God that is
the revelation by which God makes himself known to men. And it
is specifically by the preaching of the gospel, by the preaching
of this book, The preaching of the gospel is the preaching of
this book and there is no preaching of this book except the preaching
of the gospel by this means God is pleased to reveal himself
to men and to save sinners turn back to first corinthians chapter
one first corinthians chapter one We're getting verse 17 Paul says, Christ sent me not
to baptize. But he did baptize a lot of people.
He baptized a lot of people. But he says, that's not my mission.
I didn't come just to baptize folks. Christ sent me to preach
the gospel. To preach the gospel, not with
wisdom of words. Not to preach the gospel with
Learning and training and wise words that show you how smart
I am and to persuade you by my logic and reason What you must
believe now preaching does involve the use of skill It does involve
the use of reason it does involve the use of logic. No question
about that, but your faith is is not to be captured by me craftily
using my words to get you to say I believe in Jesus. Oh no,
no, no. Not with the wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
Now, no question that's talking about folks who just laugh at
the preaching of the gospel. They want signs and visions and
they want one thing and then another. And certainly it's referring
to that. But I can't tell you how many
times over the years I've had folks to say to me or to say
to folks who listen to the gospel we preach, well, they just preach
the gospel. Brother Fortner just preaches
the gospel. What a compliment. But the implication
is, that's foolishness. We've grown beyond that. We've
grown to, we must rise above those fundamental things. The
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. For it is written, I will restore
the wisdom of the wise. and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. That is to say, God fixed it
so you can't find him by your logic and by your science and
by your reason. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Turn back to Romans
chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Verse 13. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Drive by an accident on the way
home. And there's a fellow laying up there crushed under his car
and he's just about to get his last breath. And you say to him,
Oh, believe in Jesus and everything's all right. Just say, I believe
in Jesus and everything's all right. And he says, I believe
in Jesus. And he goes to hell with insurance. Everything's all right. That's
not what he's talking about. Let's talk about calling on the name
of the Lord. The word means worship. Whosoever shall worship the name
of the Lord, whosoever shall worship God as he is revealed
in Jesus Christ, his son, whosoever shall worship the name of the
Lord, he shall be saved. Not say the sinner's prayer,
not walk down in front of the church and get baptized. Whosoever
shall worship the revelation of God in his son, he shall be
saved. How then shall they call on him?
How shall they worship him in whom they've not believed? You
can't worship him you don't trust. And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? If you've never heard of him,
that is, no one has ever declared to you who Christ is, what Christ
accomplished. You cannot possibly believe on
him. How shall they believe in him
of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall they hear without a
preacher? God has ordained by the foolishness
of preaching the salvation of his elect. And how shall they
preach except they be sent? Brother Larry was talking to
me the other day. He used to teach Sunday school
down in Madisonville for years. And he said, I never approached
that. without being terribly nervous.
Have I got you right? Terribly nervous. He said, I
suspect you're even a little bit nervous now. A little bit
doesn't describe it. A little bit doesn't describe
it. I have a dread, a horrible fear and dread of running without
being sent. of standing here and talking
to you about religion with no power from God. And I pray. Oh, I can't tell
you how I pray as I prepare to preach. And I finish my preparation
and now time's come to preach. God, please. Oh, God, please help me. Send me now with your word. in
the power of your spirit to your people to deliver your message. Because unless God sends me to
you right now, Merle Hart, I can't preach to you. Unless God sends, all I can do
is make a lot of noise. Unless God sends, all I can do
is tell you what I've learned. Unless God sends, I can't speak
to your heart. How shall they preach? except
they be sinned. As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things, but they've not all obeyed the
gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? And though it's not quoted here,
Isaiah answers the question, to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Tell me to whom the Lord now
makes his arm known, and I'll tell you who receives our report. So then, so then, faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And let men say
what they will against it, as they may. Let them denounce us
for our insistence upon the importance of gospel preaching if they wish. This is the plain revelation
of God in Holy Scripture. The Lord God Almighty saves sinners
by the preaching of the gospel. That's how God saves sinners.
If we just halfway believe that, or if we just halfway believe
that, how inspired we How inspired we would be to carry the message
of God's grace to the ends of the earth by every means God
puts in our hands, by every means at our disposal. God saves sinners. God calls out his elect by the
preaching of the gospel. You would be wise. You would
be wise. Oh, how wise you would be in
your influence over men. those in your household, those
you have contact with, to do everything you can to get them
under the sound of the gospel as often as you can. That's how
God saves sinners. I recall years ago when the Brother
Paul Thacker built the church building at Pikefoot, where Brother
Tom Harding is pastor now. And just a little handful started
attending. He built the church building.
Said to Brother Mahan, he said, here it is. Come see if God will
raise it up at work. And Henry started preaching there.
I went to preach one Sunday. And the building's about the
size of this one, the auditorium is. And usually there's about,
oh, 18, 20 people attended. And I stepped out that morning,
and the building was full. I mean, it was slap plumb full.
Just plumb full. You can imagine my shock. And
I began to look around, and I realized That man, Paul Thacker, had been
on the phone all week long. And I don't know whether he paid
folks $15 an hour, whether he bribed them, whether he threatened
them, I don't know what he did, but everybody he could get there,
he had to hear the gospel one time. Wouldn't it be wonderful? Wouldn't
it be wonderful if every one of us did that every time we
came to hear the gospel? Bring everybody you can to hear
the word. God just might use it for the
calling out of his elect. We sit too comfortably with our
delighted knowledge of God's truth and hold it to ourselves. It is a light to be set on a
hill so that men might see the light by which God brings sinners
to himself. How we ought to cherish this
blessed book. The entrance of thy word giveth
light. Thy word, the psalmist said,
is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Without this glorious
revelation, you and I must have remained as we were born, poor,
blind, helpless, hopeless, miserable, lost sinners, without Christ
and without hope. But God sent his word. And now,
by the Word of God, we're made to know the message of His grace. We're made to understand our
ruin by the fall. We're made to understand redemption
by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We're made to know what
the work of God's grace is in regeneration by the power of
His Spirit. And resting in Christ, hoping
to enter into that perfect rest which yet remains for the people
of God, making our pilgrimage through this world, We are guided
by this word that we now hold in our hands. This book, this
book alone is inspired of God. This book, this book alone is
able to make one wise under salvation. This book, this book alone is
our rule of faith and practice, our rule of life as believers
and our rule of faith and practice as believers and as a congregation. We're told here the Word of God
is quick and powerful, living and effectual. This book, the
Word of God, is the means by which the Holy Spirit conveys
spiritual life to chosen sinners, redeemed by the blood of Christ.
Our Savior said, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. The spirit takes the words
that Christ has spoken and put forth in scripture. And these
words brought to your heart are spirit and life. The word of
God is preached to men by the gospel. When the gospel is preached,
the word of God is preached. And unless the gospel is preached,
The word of God is not preached. I tried to deal with this some
this morning, but I want to be crystal clear. You can preach exactly what the
letter of the word is and never preach the word. A man can preach
the historical, literal, grammatical interpretation of the word accurately
and never preach the word. The Word of God is preached when
a man comes and takes the scripture and shows from the scripture
Jesus Christ crucified. And if you go out the door and
you haven't heard the gospel, you haven't heard the Word of
God. Years ago, years ago, someone
sent me, I have no idea who it was, I forgot a long time ago,
just as well. sent me some sermons by a well-known theologian, what
fellows call a Calvinistic theological leader, a famous man in our generation. He's been dead a while now. A
series of five sermons he preached at Calvin College up in Pennsylvania,
a very conservative Calvinistic religious institution. The five
sermons were on the five points of Calvinism, total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
perseverance of the saints. Things that you hear every time
you come through the doors here. Things I believe. I don't take a backseat to anybody
in preaching those things. You know that and I do. I listened
to them, all five sermons, about 20 minutes apiece. I listened
to them twice. And I said to my wife after listening
to them, If I had come in the door not knowing how God saves
sinners and how sinners obtain life by faith in Christ Jesus
the Lord, I'd have walked out the door just as ignorant of
God. And yet everything the man said
was true. Everything the man said was true. There wasn't one
word that I heard in the five sermons with which I'd have any
disagreement or you. But he didn't preach the gospel. He didn't preach the gospel. The gospel is that by which the
word of God is preached, only the gospel. We're born again
by the incorruptible seed of the word, which by the gospel
is preached unto you. Now turn to second Corinthians
chapter 10, second Corinthians chapter 10 for a minute. We're about to have our 34th
annual Sovereign Grace Conference. You're going to hear, if you
take advantage of it, eight men preach the gospel of God's free
grace. One great goal I have, we have,
in hosting these conferences is to inspire other preachers
to preach the gospel of God's free grace. I can't tell you
how many men. make effort at preaching the
gospel. They preach what they know, and they make effort at
preaching the gospel, but they've never yet discovered. And they
haven't had the privilege that you've had of being raised in
a place where this is what we do. And they think you've got
to do something else. And so they have programs, and
they have plays, and they have shows, and they have entertainment,
and they have this group, and that group, and this ministry,
and that ministry, and you go on a web page and say, our ministries,
and they've got a whole list of stuff they do. And it's astounding
how little of it involves preaching. How very little of it involves
preaching. Now, there are many ways to build a church. I know how it's done. I know
how it's done. You can get folks to come to
church. There's lots of ways to do it. There's lots of ways
to do it. And you can get them to say, I believe in Jesus. And
you can get them to be active in church and give them money
and go to the mission field. But it's all just wood, hay,
and stubble. And it's going to wind up in
hell in the end. Unless it's built on this foundation. Jesus Christ crucified. People often wonder, why don't
y'all do this? Why don't y'all do that? Why
don't you have this program, that program? We need to do something
for these young people. We need to get them interested.
We need to have some parties. We need to... What folks need
is the gospel of God's free grace. Here's 2 Corinthians 10, verse
3. Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. We preach the gospel, and that's
all. That's all. Some of you go places
with me from time to time. Some of you men do. Some of you
ladies go to different places close by here. And you'll testify
that what folks hear wherever I go, the same thing you hear
three times a week. Don't do anything any different.
You preach like that everywhere you go? Everywhere I go. Some
places I don't go back. But wherever I go, this is what
they get. This is what they get. Why? Because, Bobby, this is
the only means by which God saves sinners. This is the only means. Not with soft, silk, smooth words. No, no, no. But with blunt, plain,
confrontational words. so that men are confronted with
the claims of God in the gospel and demand that they bow to the
revelation of God. You can't do that. Yeah, you
can if you have God's word and God sends you and God will make
them bow. God will make them bow. Now,
look at the next line of our text. The word of God is sharper
than any two-edged sword. A surgeon uses a scalpel and
he cuts very carefully. That's not how you use a sword,
especially a two-edged sword. A two-edged sword is wielded
by a man with skill, and it's wielded with deliberate purpose,
hacking and cutting in every direction and piercing so that
it makes its mark in a man. The expressions used here for
the word of God certainly speak of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
is that one who is the power of God. He came for judgment
into this world. He's the searcher of the hearts.
His eyes are a flame of fire. And every word in the text is
equally applicable to the written word. The word we preach, you
can't divide the two. By this word, God reveals himself
to men. By this word, the Lord Jesus
Christ is made known, and he does his work of dividing and
cutting. All flesh is grass, Peter said.
And the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth.
The flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. It goes forth out of the mouth
of the Lord Jesus as a sharp sword, both slaughtering and
making alive. It's compared to a seed, which
appears insignificant until it's sown into the ground. And then
that seed springs to life and shows its vitality. And so it
is that by the word of God, souls are born again unto eternal life. And those who receive the word,
those who believe the word God gives, By that word, experience
life. Not by text, not by doctrines,
but by the word of God entering our souls, we experience life.
It's a good thing to take folks, our children especially, teach
them Bible passages, teach them the text, teach them the doctrines
of scripture. Don't hesitate to declare doctrinal
truth. You can't instruct folks without
teaching and teaching is just doctrine. But it is by the word
of God entering that life is given. When God, the Holy Spirit,
takes his word and pierces. When God cuts and exposes and
pierces the heart, life enters. Sinners are raised from the dead.
Salvation comes. Immortality is brought to light
by the gospel. And this book is a dividing sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
joints and marrow. The Word of God as it's illustrated
throughout scripture, divides. When the world was in chaos without
form and void, it was the word of God by the moving of the spirit
that brought order out of chaos and light out of darkness. The
word of God is that by which all things were called forth,
divided, and separated. The word of God separated the
darkness from the light, the waters above from the waters
below, and dry land from the sea. The word of God which came
unto our fathers, tried them, and proved them. The heart-searching
word called forth conflict and commanded separation, separation
from the things and people of this world, things desired and
cherished by the flesh. And the word of God incarnate
was, we're told, from his infancy, set for the fall and rising again
of many in Israel, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed.
Now understand this. Before the triune God gives life
to the sinner. The sinner dead in trespasses
and in sins. Everything is darkness and chaos
without form and void. And God sends his word. And the entrance of God's word
gives light. Darkness is removed and chaos
is brought into life. by the power of the word. The
heaven-born child of God has a new man in him, a new nature,
a new creature. He's made partaker of the divine
nature. He's created new in righteousness
and true holiness. And the word of God, when made
effectual to our souls, is mighty. The captain of our salvation
severs the joints and marrow. Marrow is the strength of life.
And the only way you can separate the joints and marrow is to sever
the joint from the marrow. To sever the joint and cripple
the man. I have an example in Genesis
chapter 32. Genesis chapter 32. Look at verse 24. Men commonly talk about Jacob
wrestling with God. Well, that's a mistake. Jacob never wrestled with God.
God wrestled with Jacob. I used to do some wrestling when
I was in the school. I was on the wrestling team.
I usually weighed so much I didn't have anybody to compete. Nobody
was in my division, so I won most of my bouts pretty easily.
But I know the object of wrestling. The object is to pin a fellow
down. Object is to get him pinned down and here we read about a
man Wrestling with Jacob and that man is the pre-incarnate
Christ God our Savior Genesis 32 verse 24 Jacob was left alone
and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the
day and when he saw that he prevailed not against him and He, this
man, touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's
thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said,
let me go for the day breaketh. And Jacob said, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. And the man said to him, the
Lord Jesus said to Jacob, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Tricky, cunning, deceitful, supplant, untrustworthy Whatever term you
want to use for a crook. That's my name And he said thy
name shall be no more called Jacob, but Israel a prince with
God For as a prince thou has power with God and with men and
has prevailed prevailed with God by confessing his name Prevailed with God when he was
pinned to the ground and had to confess what he was read on
and Jacob said asked him and said tell me I pray thee thy
name and he said Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my
name as if I haven't proved who I am and he blessed him there
How do you know that's what it meant as if I have approved who
I am, you know, I am Jacob Jacob called the name of the place
pity or For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penteel,
the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh." God sends his word, and he severs the joints in the
barrel, and a man's lame. And you know how many lame man
has to walk? Bob, you're a pretty good example.
You got to have something to lean on. Got to have something
to lean on. Can't walk without it. Or somebody
to lean on. And when a man is stricken by
the Word of God in his soul, he halts on his thigh all the
days of his life, leaning on Christ the Lord. Oh God, strike and cause me to
halt, leaning on my Redeemer. And the Word of God discerns
all things. Separating soul and spirit is
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, so that
God comes by His Word and puts in us the mind of the Spirit. causing us to discern all things. We have the mind of Christ, God
said. The mind of Christ. And discern
all things, because now we've been brought into a totally new
life. Into a totally new way of existence. Into a totally new realm of life. The carnal mind is enmity against
God, Paul said. And they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. But ye, brethren, are not in
the flesh, but in the spirit. In the spirit, if so be that
the spirit of God has raised you from the dead. Amen.