All right, 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5, I want for us to kind of use verse 23 as a launching point here, but let's look at verses 23 and 24, and looking at the idea of dividing us under the soul and spirit. I'm gonna use this as a starting point here tonight, verse 23, and the very God of peace, you know, to sanctify, set apart you wholly or entirely, And I pray, notice Paul's prayer request here, I pray your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. I want you to also notice with me, this is going to be a primary verse we look at here tonight, but Hebrews 4, verse 12, Hebrews 4, verse 12. And I want you to hold a marker here because I will go back to look at, turn away a couple places here and then for us to focus in on the statements here in verse 12. Hebrews 4 verse 12, for the word, the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder, here's our statement, dividing asunder of soul and spirit, the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight. Notice it doesn't say its sight, speaking of just the Bible itself. So the word of God, I believe in this passage, first and foremost, deals with the word, the living word of God, Jesus Christ, who gives us the written word of God. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest, openly revealed in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. I just started reading. I don't know if I'm going to even read much of this book, but it's kind of been the launching point. All I've done is read the introduction to this book. But I came across an old book as I was working on 1 Thessalonians 5 that kind of intrigued me. And it was written in 1836, published in 1867 after this English pastor had passed away. His name was Dr. David Tom, T-H-O-M, and I actually looked online to see if I could find anything, and there's nothing that came up as far as a search. So he was pretty much a well-known pastor in England, but that's the extent of it. But in the introduction, it was just interesting, in the introduction, he calls people back to scripture from philosophy. And I really believe that's something that fits exactly in our day as well, and I'm gonna share a little bit of aspect of philosophy that we don't always necessarily think about. And with that said, notice with me Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter two, verses six through nine. So when we think about philosophy, of course philosophy means a lover of wisdom. that says in Colossians chapter two, verse six through nine, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Notice, rooted and then built up in him. Here's what I. wanna emphasize here tonight that we need to make sure that we are rooted and built up in Christ, not in the philosophies of man. So rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Notice the warning here in verse eight, beware lest any man spoil you. All right, so this word spoil there carries the idea of taking spoil in battle. So if we're not careful, we will allow the teachings of man to spoil us Notice through philosophy and vain deceit. Vain deceit, of course, is deceiving of ourselves. After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Now, I've explained this before. The word rudiments means a first principle, that which must be first learned. So when we're talking about the rudiments of the world, we're talking about man-made teaching. And notice, not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, when we think about the teaching that this world offers to us, in fact, as I'm gonna emphasize tonight, there are some subtle ways in which this teaching comes into our lives as well. Now, related to this, notice 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6. Again, I'm using various passages to lay a foundation here for the start of this series. Like I said, I don't know how long. But I want for us to explore this soul and spirit. And of course, we're going to use the word of God to show us what needs to change in relation to our soul and spirit. It says in verses 20 and 21, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Notice this, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science, falsely so called. Now we could call this pseudoscience. pseudo-knowledge. Now, of course, false science, evolution fits in that category. Evolution, theistic evolution, I mean, there's so-called professing Christians who hold to a form of evolution. And let me just say this also, the Scofield Bible and so many teach this, what is commonly called the gap theory, that an original creation was destroyed by God, that we live on the recreation. And so, you know, just ignore what Romans 5 says, because then you have judgment before you know, judgment and sin before Adam. No, Adam is the cause of our sin nature passed on. So as we understand this, all forms of that false science fits into this category of oppositions of science falsely so-called. Also, I want you to consider philosophy. Psychology fits into this as false science. We have so much psychology today that has come into Christianity. Related to this also, I believe, is what is commonly called the textual criticism. I've talked about this before in relation to the King James Bible. As we understand this, the textual criticism, basically these are so-called scientists, men with knowledge of the original languages, and they're literally tearing apart the Bible, trying to determine what is part of the Bible, what is not. I thank God that I can open my Bible every morning, get words of comfort, and challenge and strength from the Lord, not wondering, you know, is this verse really a part of the Bible? As we understand this, God has given us his word. But I'm also going to throw in this, and I'll explain what I'm talking about in relation to this, systematic theology. I want you to understand that systematic theology is not the same as studying Bible doctrines. Systematic theology is man-made systems of putting all the doctrines together There's man-made interpretations that go into those. So again, oppositions of science falsely so-called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee, amen. Now, when we understand these man-made philosophies, what you think about in Acts 17, I believe this is true in our day also, where it says they did, you know, the ones on Mars Hill did nothing. It's all they did all day long was sit around and talk about the latest philosophies. I want you to understand that that's what has entered into modern day Christianity as well. I believe we need to pay attention to those things. And you have man-centered philosophies as far as humanism. And I believe there's an element of humanism that has come into churches today. And I want to address those. So when we understand in Acts 17, we're talking about science, false science, philosophies, and so on, people just sitting around. You think about Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and others. So when we think about the man-centered philosophies of our world, I want for us to understand very clearly that those things have creeped into the churches, and we need to take notice of them. I want you to notice another form here in Matthew 15, Matthew chapter 15. And I want to show you the effect here with this passage. I want to show you the effect that man-made traditions, man-made philosophies have on the Word of God. It will affect the Word of God and what it will do in our lives. So literally, what I'm trying to do for us tonight is, in relation to our soul and spirit in particular, call us back to Scripture from the philosophies of this world that have made their way into churches. All right, so Matthew 15, I want for us to, for the sake of time, just notice verses one through three, and then the last part of this section as well. Then came to Jesus, scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? Notice again, their question is not, why do thy disciples transgress the word of God? They're not asking. Why do thy disciples transgress the law of God? They're asking, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? So these are man-made traditions that are outside of God's word, you know, God's Old Testament law that had come into the Judaistic system. Four, they wash not their hands when they eat bread. So obviously, this is related to the ceremonial washings and so on that were required by the Pharisees, the Jewish leaders. But he answered and said unto them, Here's the question that he asks, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? I want you to notice the real issue is that they were violating the law of God with their man-made teachings. Notice then the end of verse six, it says, Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Of course, what we skipped over is the issue of this day, that they were dedicating things to the temple because they had dedicated things to the temple, they were not under obligation to provide for their parents when they got older, all those things. Notice they were violating, the Bible word is making of none effect the commandment of God by their tradition. You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Pause there just a moment. Notice the people were drawing near unto the Lord with their mouth. Oh, Lord, Lord, Lord. But notice they honored him with their lips, what they said, but their heart was far from him. Of course, he's specifically talking about, as far as Jehovah, the Old Testament here. In vain they do worship me. He's quoting Isaiah here yet. In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." How many times I've heard over the years, and until I studied out the issue, I also promoted it from time to time, but you think about James Dobson. I mean, he is rooted and steeped in worldly psychology. And I want you to consider his books permeated Christianity. I want you to think about how often we have done these things. We've taken the philosophies of this world and incorporated them into the churches. Now, let's go back to Hebrews 4, verse 12. I want to break this verse down here. Again, we're introducing this series here tonight, so I want for us to break this down so we understand what we're talking about here in relation to dealing with the Spirit, and the soul. So together, we would say that it's our inner man. Collectively, we'd say the soul and spirit represents our inner man, but we're gonna see that the word of God actually divides asunder the soul and spirit. So God's word will actually divide apart the different issues in relation to the soul and spirit. Notice it says here in verse 12, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Notice here the threefold description of what the Word of God will do. And again, in context, we're talking about, as I mentioned, verse 13, we're talking about Jesus Christ, the Word of God, John 1.1, 1 John 1, talking about the Word of life. So first of all, it says that the Word of God is what? It is quick, right? So it's quick as we take the three aspects of what the Word of God will do. It is quick. Now, when we think of quick, what do we think of? Somebody's fast, right? They're fast, they're swift. No, the word quick here, there's more than one meaning of it in scripture. The word quick here actually speaks of being alive and living. The example, one example that came to my mind is 2 Timothy 4, 1, talking about the Lord Jesus judging quick and dead. All right, so does that mean those who are fast are gonna get judged? No, quick, and so, Opposite of dead is what? Alive, right? So alive and dead. So when he comes, he is going to judge the quick and dead. You have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. So again, we see here the word of God is quick. It's alive. This is not just a textbook. This is not just a book of words. This is a living book. In fact, I didn't write this down. Let me read for you. I'll remind you of the wording here in 1 Peter 1. It says, verse 23 through 25, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. I believe that's inspiration. This is a living book. It's always inspired by God. It's preserved in its inspiration, which liveth and abideth. It's preserved forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man 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." So again, we see that the Bible is quick, it's alive, it's a living book. What's the second description of what the word of God is in verse 12? It's powerful, right? So this book has the power to change lives when it is obeyed. See, there's the qualifier. This is not a powerful book in somebody's life if it's not mixed with faith according to Hebrews 4. So when we think about Hebrews 4, verses 1 and 2, in fact, we're close there. Let us therefore fear lest a promise left us of entering into his rest, the Lord's rest, and if you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. I believe in context, we're talking about Old Testament Israel, but the application also fits in a church setting as well. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Because before and after this passage, he uses the example of unbelieving Israel, as they refuse to go into the land of promise. So this is a powerful book when it is mixed with faith. The word of God has power to change lives when we are obeying by faith. What's the third description here of the Word of God? It's quick, it's powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Now, I believe what this is talking about here is in relation to what Paul would have seen as a Roman soldier was always standing guard on his house as he's been under house arrest up to this point. You know, the Roman soldier would have a dagger-like sword. It's a double-edged sword. It would cut both ways. as they're in battle, they could cut both ways. It was a sharp blade on both sides of the sword. So notice it's sharper. The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. How is that sharper than a Roman sword? When you think about this, a Roman sword is only going to affect what? The physical body. It's not going to affect the soul and the spirit. So notice the application. piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." Again, this is the theme that I'm emphasizing here tonight. piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, than a Roman sword, because this book is actually going to be used to divide asunder. All right, so it's going to deal with the issues of soul and spirit. It's going to divide those matters of the inner man. There's different issues as far as spirit. There's different issues as far as a soul. So when we understand this, the Word of God discerns, He knows, God knows, using the Word of God through the Spirit of God, applies that to our hearts and our lives. So He deals with our inner man, but notice also it affects the physical man as well. And of the joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So when we talk about the joints and marrow, obviously the Word of God applied will affect my physical life as well. There's going to be some changes in my flesh and my habits. But notice again, as it closes out this verse, it says it's a discerner of the thoughts. All right, so our thought life, and the intents, the motives of the heart. Now, we've had a short series. I'm not actually done with that yet. I just kinda been going in other directions. But when we think about the heart, the seed of the emotions, various aspects of the heart. So when we think about man here, as it's described here, soul and spirit, you know, the body, joints and marrow, our thoughts and our intents, our motives. I want you to consider again how God has created us. We saw this in our First Thessalonians 5 message a few weeks back. But Genesis 2.7 says, I want to remind you of the wording here, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. Obviously, that refers to his physical body, right? So let's break this down. So we're seeing that we are a three-part being. God created us a three-part being, why? Because he's a triune Godhead, three persons in the Godhead. So when we think about the body, so the joints and marrow, this physical body, and then it says he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. I believe that refers to the spirit of man because Very likely, I believe, as we see in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, the breath of life was breathed into his nostrils probably by the breath of God, the Holy Spirit of God, the inspiration of God, as he's called in the book of Job. And then it says, man became a living soul. Oh, that's pretty easy to figure out. The last one is he's created us having a soul. Now, when we think about the question, what is man? Psalm 8 says, when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? So when you think about the vast universe, you look at the stars and how far they seem away. When you consider how far away the moon is in the sun, when you think about that, the question is asked in Psalm 8, What is man that thou art mindful of him? Now, what I want to emphasize as we think about this, and we'll look at Jeremiah 17 in a moment here, what I want you to understand is the reason why we need the Word of God is because we do not honestly know all about ourselves. We think we know all about us, but you think about somebody who has struggled with an addiction, and they live in victory and then all of a sudden they give in to it. Why did I do that? Good question. Why did you do that? God knows and God sees the patterns that lead to those failures and so on. So again, spirit, soul, body. I wanna emphasize again so that we understand where we are here as far as our three-part nature. As far as our spirit, it is born dead. dead in trespasses and sins, according to Ephesians 2.1. But our spirit that God gives to us enables a relationship with God. Soul, this is what I kind of liken the soul sometimes, our personality. Do you realize that your soul is different than my soul? So you think about the soul, we could sum it up as being our personality, who we are, our inner man, our inner person. Our soul is made up of our emotions, our reason, our will. And what's interesting is related to this is the mind. Romans 8 says, you know, our flesh minds the things of this world, of this earth, earthly mindedness. As far as our soul, it's our spiritual, rational, and immortal substance in man. I want you to notice me at Revelation 6. I may have mentioned this passage when we looked at 1 Thessalonians 5, revisit here because I want to show you something as far as the soul. So our inner soul will go to God, our spirit will go to God when this body dies. Notice it says in Revelation 6 verses 9 through 11. Of course these are the martyrs and again I've taught this before but I don't believe these are just tribulation martyrs. I believe these are martyrs that are in heaven, seen in heaven throughout the ages. It says here in verse nine, when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar, notice, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. Notice that that's not just tribulation saints, quote unquote. These are people who were slain. They died for the word of God and for the testimony which they held for the Lord. But again, I'm emphasizing the souls of them that were slain. So the soul, when they were slain, when they were burned at the stake, they were beheaded or whatever, their soul did not cease. It did not go into soul sleep. It went to this place right here. It says, under the altar. I don't believe this is because the soul is so small it can fit under an altar. I believe there was a place under the golden altar Revelation 9 talks about there being a golden altar before God's throne. I believe under that, I'll remind you also that there was a glass, almost like a glass pavement, and I believe what that's talking about is that these souls were under a place built and designed under the altar, where the altar is. So that gives us the picture of what we're talking about here, verse 10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell in the earth? There's the body. Think about this. Their body will someday be avenged. The shed blood, their shed blood would be avenged. But here's what I want you to take notice of. They cried with a loud voice. So the soul still has the intelligence that they had on earth. They still have knowledge of what took place on the earth. They did not cease to exist. They are now before in God's presence, in particular, there's a place for them as they wait for God to avenge their blood. But they are worshiping the Lord intelligently with their minds. And again, they understand, they remember what happened to them in the earth. They're calling out for their blood to be avenged on those who took their lives. Notice also, I've pointed this out before, but I'm emphasizing this here tonight. And notice white robes were given unto every one of them. So let me ask you, if our soul is totally what we would say immaterial, how could they have a robe put on them? Think about that. We think the soul is just, you know, this almost invisible, whatever, you know, some kind of substance that you can't see. We can't see it with our human eyes, but I want you to understand they actually have a form or they wouldn't have a robe that they could put, you know, that they could put a robe on. Notice white robes were given unto every one of them, but they're not gonna wear them until they have the glory of a body. That's not what that says. It says white robes were given unto every one of them. Obviously, they were able to put them on. And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. So the early servants of God who gave their very lives for the testimony of the Lord Jesus, they were killed. Others were going to be killed like them in martyrdom. Now I want for us to go to Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17. Here's why I say that we do not truly understand our very nature. God is the one who created us. God is the one who gave us his word. God's word will do surgery on our spirit, soul, and, of course, our body, this mortal, this corruptible flesh that we have. But here's what I want you to take notice of in Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Notice that question. So it's our heart is deceitful above all things. You think about the most deceitful thing you can think of, the most deceitful person. And notice our heart is deceitful above all things. And notice it's also not just wicked, but it's desperately wicked. And then the question is asked, who can know it? The answer is found in verse 10. You know, I remember Juana and we would learn to quote verse nine, but in many cases, people wouldn't quote verse 10. The answer to the question is found in verse 10. I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. Collectively, we would say the inner man. Even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. Notice he searches the inner man. Who can know man's heart? Again, collectively, we're talking about the inner man, soul, spirit. But the Lord is the one who searches the hearts. He tries the reign. Here's what I want to emphasize. We cannot fully know our inner man. We did not create our inner man. Also, I want to emphasize this in relation to what I just mentioned a moment ago. When you think about how many people will go to a psychologist or so-called biblical counselor. I want you to consider that is backwards of what this passage says. So if I go to a psychologist, guess what I'm doing? I'm going to another man who can't know his inner man. So how is he gonna know my inner man? I mean, when I started working through this here, especially today, How idiotic is that? I'm struggling, you know, with my emotions or whatever. So I'm going to go to somebody else, pay them $100 an hour, $50 an hour to try to figure me out what problems I have. Why don't we just do what the Bible says and go back to God? God's the one who knows who can know it. You see, we cannot even know our own hearts. In many cases, I want you to think about this. This is why I mentioned systematic theology a little while ago. In many cases, theologians have become nothing more than philosophers with a Christian perspective. Think about that. I listened to a message here recently that started my mind working on this. The message grabbed my attention, the title of it. I have a Bible, not a theology. This is a Baptist pastor. I believe it's up in New York, if I remember right, but he says, I have a Bible, not a theology. So when we think about this theology, people will ask the question, I've mentioned this before, but people will ask the question, are you Calvinist or Arminian? Neither. I'm a Bible believer. Are you dispensational or covenant theology? Neither. Why do I need a man-made system when I have a Bible that I can Compare scripture with scripture. Here's a term, systematic theology. I have some lessons from my older years, younger, I'm sorry, my younger years, now I'm getting wiser, my older years is what I meant to say. And basically, systematic theology, systematizing, organizing Bible doctrines. I'm not talking about studying Bible doctrines, about the Godhead and so on. I'm talking about man-made systems, systematic, man-made systems of theology. Now, I read an article a little bit here this afternoon. It's entitled, The Folly of Theology Versus the Literal Use of the Word of God. Some of these things that I've come across here recently are really starting my mind working on some of this. The reason why we've fallen into so many traps of dispensationalism and all that kind of stuff is because we're constantly looking to man-made systems. Here's the reality. In fact, let me give you this statement. Systematic theology is a man-made invention designed to elevate scholars above the masses and keep them panting at the feet of said scholars for tidbits of truth. Charles Ryrie. I love my Ryrie Study Bible, so many people would say. What they're doing is they are bowing at the feet of a theologian. I mean, commentaries, whatever, it's far-reaching as far as some of these things. We literally have bought man-made systems. Go with me to 2 Corinthians 10. While you're turning there, I want you to listen carefully to Zechariah 4.6. 2 Corinthians 10. Zechariah 4, 6 says, then he answered and spake unto me, this is the word of the Lord unto his rubbable saying, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. What the spirit of God does is he uses the word of God to teach us. Now, notice here with this in relation to things that we need to change in our lives. 2 Corinthians 10, verse three. Though we walk in the flesh, in a physical body, we do not war after the flesh. Why? Because it's a spiritual battle, as we see in Ephesians chapter six. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Well, that sounds like addictions, things in our lives that need to be pulled down. Verse five, notice where this takes place. casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought. Remember Hebrews 4.12 talks about discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. So we're bringing every captivity into, into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Having a, a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. So again, we emphasize, we're talking about using spiritual weapons in a spiritual battle. Again, Ephesians 6, we'll look at this next time here, but Ephesians 6, 17 says that the word of God is our only offensive weapon. It's our only weapon, the sword of the spirit, right? Double-edged sword, sharper than a double-edged sword, as we've seen here tonight. So when we think about the fact that it's the sword of the Spirit as our weapon, nowhere in Ephesians 6, 17 do you find that it's the sword of the Spirit plus commentaries. It's not there. There are so many who will today, those who are theologians, They will tell you that until you start studying the Hebrew and the Greek, you won't fully understand what the Bible says. I can understand English just fine. In fact, I find so much in this English Bible, I don't need the Hebrew and Greek because I have plenty to figure out right now. It's not some theology book. You know, you need systematic theology by Charles Ryrie to truly understand the Bible. No. So many today are saying also that you have to have the early church, you need to study the early church fathers. Well, the early church fathers, many of them, their writings were used to form the foundation of the Catholic Church. I'm just gonna close with this here. There was a quote that I came across here today, a man named Luke Stamps. When he was a PhD, you know, Doctor of Philosophy candidate at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, he said this. Systematic theology must, in one very limited sense, go beyond the Bible. Did you catch that? Systematic theology must, in one very limited sense, go beyond the Bible. That is, it must do more than simply repeat the words of Scripture. That statement right there, and another one that I'll share with you next time, it's like, wait a minute. I have something else I need to relearn from Bible college. Here's the reality of this. Anytime we're talking about a systematic theology, we're talking about a man-made system, whether it's dispensationalism, covenant theology, whatever the case may be. I'm urging us again, in relation to the soul and spirit, let's go back to this book. We don't need psychologists, we don't need, Biblical counselors, we don't need all those things because we have the Holy Spirit. And John 16 says that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth will guide us into all truth. And can I just remind you again, we need the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth because God knows us better than we know ourselves. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to understand very clearly here tonight that we need thy truth. Holy Spirit of God, Spirit of truth, I pray that you would guide us into all truth. Help us to understand that if we can't understand ourselves fully, because thou art the one who created us, how are we ever able to go to some counselor or psychologist to have them help figure us out when we are struggling in our lives? Help us to go back to the word of God with confidence, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.