Let God’s Word Penetrate Your Deepest Part — Zac Poonen

I'd like to share with you, you know, we speak in the CFC churches of the new covenant of being distinctive from the old covenant. And it's very easy for us to understand the theory of it without experiencing the reality of it in our personal life.

And it's very dangerous, actually, to know something without experiencing it. In fact, it is worse if we talk about it without experiencing it. In Hebrews in chapter 4, I'd like you to turn there. Hebrews chapter 4, we read here in verse 12, the word of God is living and active and sharper than any to its source, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit and judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Word of God Judges the Heart

Now, they never had the word of God like that in the Old Testament. The Old Testament law never judged the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It was only on the outside, if you look at the Ten Commandments, everything was on the outside, except the last one.

The last one was judging the thoughts of the heart. You know, it says you shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor, his house or his wife or his daughter or anybody, but in the New Testament.

So let me just before getting here. Notice here, there are two things I want you to notice before we go further. The word of God judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart, whereas the old covenant law tested for people on the outside.

Did you bow down to an idol? Did you kill someone? Did you tell a lie? Did you commit adultery on the outside, except for the last commandment, as I said? And the reason God kept that last commandment there was to test people.

I'll come to that in a minute. But here there are two things mentioned. One is the word of God judges our thoughts and intentions. Intentions means what was your motive, the thoughts and motives. So when you read the word of God, when it says here, the word of God is able to judge your thoughts and your motives.

We should ask ourselves when we read the scriptures, whether we are allowing it to search our thoughts and our motives, or whether we just see that we have obeyed it on the outside, or even worse, if we are just accumulating information, accumulating information is good for Sunday school children, the stories of the Bible and stories of what Jesus did, et cetera.

But here is something distinctive about the new covenant, that when we read God's word, it must reveal to me my thoughts and my motives, because that is where sin is rooted. Sin is not in our actions or even in our words.

It's in the thoughts and intentions. You can't say that you've conquered anger if you're able to control your tongue. People have lost their temper yelling at people or at home and no control over their tongue.

One day when they control their tongue, they think they have overcome their anger. No. Anger dwells in the heart. Jesus said, the heart is the place from which evil thoughts, murders, ornications, everything comes.

And whereas the Old Testament only cleansed something when it came out, Jesus wants to deal with the root. You remember what John the Baptist said, turn to Matthew chapter 3. Now, the reason I say this is because so often we can find a satisfaction in having overcome something on the outside and pat ourselves on the back that we have come into the new covenant.

Not at all. Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist. John the Baptist preached some amazing things. He preached about the baptism in the Holy Spirit in verse 11, Matthew 3, 11. But before that, he said, the ax is laid now to the root of the tree.

And if the tree doesn't bring forth good fruit, it's cut down. In the Old Testament, there was no ax. The Old Testament, Moses and all, we can say, came with a pair of scissors to cut off the bad fruit when it came, to punish somebody if the bad fruit came out.

But Jesus is not dealing with cutting off the word that comes out of our mouth or some action that we do on the outside. That's like a pair of scissors cutting off a fruit. He's laying the ax to the root.

And I want all of you brothers and sisters to ask yourself, when you read God's word, are you allowing the Holy Spirit to lay the ax to the root of the tree, which is in your heart? That's the thing we need to ask ourselves.

Examining Motives for Spiritual Growth

And so when we turn back to Hebrews 4 again, the word of God penetrates, revealing the motive with which I did something. For example, if I did some good act, like even preaching a sermon, the reason I judge myself after every sermon I preach is because I want to examine the Lord has to show me what is in my heart.

And the motive, was there even one sentence that I said to get honor or which I treated in a very light way without reverence for God? And did I waste people's time by talking too long? You know, these are things in the heart.

Now, if everybody who shares the word of God in a meeting, every preacher in the world would go home and judge themselves after every sermon they preach, there would be such a tremendous development in their ministry because God sees them, that this man is serious about improving the quality of his ministry.

But if I can just get up and share something and then go home and say, yeah, that was great. Some people said they were blessed and some people came and thanked me. It means nothing if people come and thank you for it.

And if those things make us, pop us up, then we won't examine ourselves. We won't allow the word of God to come and judge the motive, the motive with which I added that extra sentence or the motive with which I said this thing.

Was it because I saw somebody sitting in the congregation and I wanted to hit him on the head, so I added something in my message? Well, if you did that, that was not from the Holy Spirit. And you've got to ask God to forgive you, even though nobody in the church would have known the reason why you said it.

Yet, if you fear God, you'll go before God and say, Lord, examine me. This is the way of spiritual progress. When I think of so many believers, I've seen even in CFC churches who year after year after year, they are good people, but there's no development.

It's like if you have a child who's three years old and it's a certain height, maybe two and a half feet, and then three feet, and then three years later, still three feet. You'd be concerned. Or if a child is sitting in the first grade for three or four years, you'd be concerned.

But lots and lots of believers are like that. In the old covenant, there was no opportunity for spiritual growth. You avoided doing certain things. You obeyed certain commandments, and that was it. But in the new covenant, God wants us to grow.

And that can only happen if we allow the word of God to examine ourselves, the thoughts and motives of the heart. And I want to encourage you, every one of you, not only when you preach. I say every day in your life, the things that you do from morning till night, ask God to reveal to you the thought and motive with which you say things.

The thought and motive with which you say things to your husband or wife or to the brothers, sisters, or the thought and motive with which you do things in your place of work. Everything. And if you ask God to do that, you will gradually grow spiritually and become more useful to the kingdom of God.

Sometimes we can be satisfied with our spiritual state because we are a little better than everybody else in our church. Or we are a little better than most people in your church. Are you satisfied with that?

If I had followed that rule, oh, well, I'm a little better than the other people in our church. I would have been static 40 years ago. I said, no, I'm not comparing myself with anybody here. I decided years ago I would only compare myself with Jesus Christ because the word of God commands me to walk every day as he walked.

And that is my standard. And when I examine myself, I find I come short. And I judge myself. I say, Lord, I haven't come up to the mark. And that is how I have grown. That is how I got light on myself.

And that has brought me into a greater intimacy with Jesus Christ. It's the most wonderful thing to become intimate with Jesus Christ. I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, I know you all pray. And is your prayer, has it become like a conversation with someone you are very intimate with where you have become so close to him and you're getting closer and closer?

That's how it should be. I'm saying this so that the devil doesn't deprive you of what you're supposed to have here on this earth. Don't wait till heaven. Right now, we can experience intimacy with Christ.

But if you allow the word of God to divide between. I mean, to expose the thoughts and motives in everything you do. Let me give you another verse in this connection in 1 Corinthians 10. These are New Testament standards that were never found in the Old Testament.

1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31. 1 Corinthians 10 31. And here it refers to the most ordinary thing that we do every day of our lives. Eating and drinking. And that means it applies to everything else that we do in our life.

Whether you eat or drink. Or. Whatever you do. 24 hours a day. When you sleep. Go to work. Do everything. For the glory of God. You know, that's one of the most impossible commands in scripture. Without the help of the Holy Spirit.

Doing Everything for the Glory of God

Imagine eating and drinking for the glory of God. That means I'm not eating. Of course, God wants us to be healthy. In other words, I'm careful even about what I eat and drink. Means I'm disciplined. The great lack in many, many Christians.

Is discipline. And that's why they do not grow. Here it says that every single thing. And you say that's a very high standard. Sure. I ask people this question. Are you scared of 100 health? Physical health.

Supposing a doctor said to you. I'm going to make you 100 physically healthy. Oh, that's too high a standard. I don't want 100 physical health. Just give me about 50%. That will be good. None of us would say that.

We don't even want 95 physical health. We want 100 physical health. And if. And I'm sure all of us say that. And particularly if you are. Sinking in some disease. Doctor says, listen, you've got about six months to live.

But if you do these two or three things that I tell you every day. You live for another 50 years. Will you do it? I'm sure you'll do it. Because we love living on this earth. Whatever we may say. And I want to say.

That the Lord says. If you live by the principles I teach you in my work. It's never going to be a burden. Some people think it would be such a strain. You always live for the glory of God. Boy, everything I do for the glory of God.

Let me ask you a question. Do you think the life of Jesus. Do you think his face is always strange? His eyebrows. Knotted together. Oh, I have to live for the glory of the father. Not at all. I believe Jesus' life is the most relaxed.

Life that anybody lived on this earth. And yet it was the most perfect. Strain comes when you have to act like somebody else. You know an actor acting in a drama. It's a strain for him. That's not his normal.

That's not what he is normally. Supposing a drunkard is acting in a drama like some Hollywood star. Many of them are drunkards. And then they have to act like John the Baptist or Moses in some Christian movie.

They really have to be on a strain as long as that music. I mean as long as that movie is being recorded. And once it's over, they can relax and go back to their life. In other words, it's a strain because they're acting.

And if the Christian life is a strain for you. I want to say to you very lovingly. You're acting. It's like a Hollywood actor. His main life he's divorced and he's a drunkard. But now he's got to act like Moses or John the Baptist.

That's a strain. It's a strain when we have to act as something different than what we really are. And there was no strain in the life of Jesus. So when you read a command like do everything for the glory of God.

Do you think that's a strain? Not at all. It's something that will excite us. Because whatever God commands is for the very best for every part of us. Even our physical health. It's for our good. Everything that God commands is for our good.

And if you seek the glory of God in every single thing you do. I believe you will live one of the most relaxed and most fruitful lives that you can ever live on this earth. When you come to the end of your life and look back over a life well lived.

You may not make so much money. You may not become so famous. But you will really accomplish the will of God before you finish. So that is why it's so important to let God search the motives of our heart.

Was that for the glory of God? Or was that for your own honor? Or was that some other motive? Was it to please somebody, some human being that you did that? Whatever you do, do for the glory of God. You can keep that as a goal in your life.

And every day let the word of God search you. Not just the Bible. But allow God to speak to you through the spirit. That is also the word of God. God's word comes to us not only when we read the Bible.

But when the Holy Spirit speaks to us through our heart. If you allow the Holy Spirit to do that, I tell you, by this time next year, you'll be a different person. Mark my words. Take me at my word. You will be a different person.

And you'll be a far greater blessing in your local church than you are right now. Don't be satisfied with just being a member there. Coming along to all the meetings faithfully and having a good testimony before the people there.

You need to have a good testimony before God. That he approves of your life. And that is if he sees that you're at least making an effort to really do everything for the glory of God. It's not a strain.

I'll tell you it's not a strain. In this connection, there is another verse which I want to show you in 1 Peter 4. In 1 Peter Chapter 4, it speaks about the characteristics of those who belong to the family of God.

1 Peter 4. It's a favorite verse of mine. 1 Peter 4, Verse 17. It is time for judgment to begin with the church, the household of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for others?

Judgment Begins with the Household of God

So what has to begin with us first in this verse? Judgment. As human beings, we have this tremendous tendency to judge other people first. We judge our marriage partners first. Most husbands and wives in the world, you know, they can give you a big list of what's wrong with their partner.

If you ask the average husband, can you tell me something's wrong with your wife? They say, oh, sure. Tell me something's wrong with your husband. He says, sure, good. That's in their mind very much. Can you tell me something's wrong with yourself?

That may take a little time. That shows that we are not in the habit of judging ourselves. It says here we must judge ourselves first. Then we discover the thoughts and motives of the heart. Allow the word of God to expose us like a light shining in the darkness and showing us the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And we judge ourselves. And it says here, I read it like this. This judgment begins in the household of God, in the family of God. So I say, according to this verse, one of the identifying marks of people who belong to God's family is this.

They judge themselves and not other people first. We judge ourselves first. I want to ask all of you, brothers and sisters, whether you do that. One thing I want to ask you, are you a member of the family of God?

You say, yeah, you are. Well, praise the Lord. Let's test it out. Here it says those who belong to the family of God will judge themselves first. Do you do that? In your home, do you judge yourself first?

In your church, whichever church you're attending, wherever you are, do you judge yourself first? Then you belong to the family of God. I do that. God is my witness when I say this, that I judge myself every single day and many times a day, and it has made a world of difference in my life.

And that's not made me miserable. No. If I find some dirt inside me and I cleanse it away, am I going to be miserable? Do you feel miserable after you had a shower and washed away the dirt from your body?

Or do you feel fresh? Exactly. When you cleanse away the things that God shows you are wrong inside you, you don't feel miserable. You feel fresh. And I praise God. Judging yourself is like having a shower and scrubbing yourself with soap and cleansing yourself, and you feel fresh at the end of it.

This is the spiritual equivalent of it. God wants clean people in his house. You wouldn't think of coming to the church meeting stinking, but it's possible in your spirit there are things like that. That is why I say in the old covenant this was not there.

They did not have the possibility of this. It's like saying they couldn't have a shower inside. They could have a shower on the outside like all of us do, but they could not have a shower inside. Their inside was filthy.

You know how Jesus described their inside? He told the Pharisees, your inside is like a grave full of dead men's bones and stinking flesh. You open a grave after somebody has been buried there for four or five days.

It stinks. And Jesus told the Pharisees, you guys are like beautiful monuments built on top of graves, but underneath that is all stink. That's what he said. We've got to be careful. We're not like that.

Beautiful on the outside, but the inside not cleansed. Dear brothers and sisters, the new covenant deals with the inside. The ax must be laid to the root of the tree. The thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Okay. Let's go back to Hebrews 4 .12, please. The word of God judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And then it also says here, it pierces to the division of soul and spirit. So, in the Old Testament, it could not divide soul and spirit.

But the New Testament, it can. So what is the difference between soul and spirit? We turn to 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 23. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23. It says, May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely.

Your spirit, soul, and body. May he sanctify you entirely. There we read that man is also a trinity like God. God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But when he made man in his image, he made man also with three parts.

One person, but with three parts. One, number one, spirit. Not body. Body is number three. Soul, number two. And three, body. Spirit is the deepest part of me where God dwells. God doesn't dwell in my body, but in my spirit.

I can't feel him or see him with my eyes, but in my spirit, I can know for certain that Christ lives there. That's the deepest part of us. Sometimes it's referred to as the heart, spiritual heart. But between the spirit and the body, there's another thing called the soul.

And let me just explain what that is. Our soul is our intelligence, our understanding, and our feelings, our mind, and our emotions. That's our soul. Trees have got a body. They don't have a soul. They don't have feelings.

They can't think. They don't have a mind. They don't have emotions. But they have a physical form. The stars are like that. They've got a physical form, but no soul. Now, once it comes to thinking and feeling, that's not all there is in the soul.

It's more than that. There's something the most important part of the soul is my will. And with my will, the will is like the door to the spirit. And if I yield my will, God can enter my spirit. If I don't yield my will, now this is not just theory.

I want to tell you it's downright practical. If you don't yield your will, God is not able to penetrate and enter your spirit, and you remain unspiritual. You remain carnal. So we can say God's word comes to us through the body.

Through the body means through the ears. Right now it's coming through the ears. Sometimes through the eyes when you read the Bible or a Christian book. So the word of God comes through the body first, always, to the eyes or the ears, and then comes into our soul, into our mind where we understand it.

And that's why it's very important whenever we speak something from Scripture that people understand what we are saying. I've heard preachers preach, and I can't even understand what they're saying. And such people are not called to preach.

Best they keep their mouth shut. Because what we say must come through, and it must come into our mind so we understand. And the second thing the word of God does, it can stir our emotions. It can make us rejoice and say hallelujah.

Or it can convict us and we feel sorrowful and repentant feelings. So the word of God comes to mind and feeling, but it doesn't make you spiritual. A lot of people, they think they're spiritual because they've understood something, and they feel excited.

Or they feel sorrowful and weak. It means nothing. I remember in my younger days, I used to see movies of Jesus Christ's life. And every time I saw them hammering him to the cross and whipping him, I would really cry.

I was a little boy and I'd see this and I'd say, oh Lord, you did all this for me. But the next day I was just the same person, the same naughty young boy I was before. That was just a temporary emotion.

I understood it. I saw in the movie Jesus being whipped and nailed to the cross. And my emotion was stirred, sure, but my will was not yielded. I was still the same stubborn young man that I was before.

But the same thing can happen to us when we read God's word, or you listen to God's word right now. You can understand it. It goes to the soul, to your emotions. You feel it. Good. But if it does not make you yield your will, the door to the spirit is not open.

So let me say that again. Man is body, soul, and spirit. And the word of God comes through our body, eyes and ears, to our soul, to our mind, and stirs our emotions. But it's only when I say yes, Lord, I want to accept that what you're telling me.

For example, if God tells you you've got to ask somebody's forgiveness, you understand it, you're excited about it, but you don't ask his forgiveness, your will is not yielded. You'll never become spiritual.

If something you hear and God tells you something and you don't do something about it, that means you've not exercised your will to do that. You'll never be spiritual. And this is the trouble with lots and lots of people who sit in CFC churches who understood everything, understood it so well that they can preach it to others.

But they are not spiritual. Why is it like that? The word of God has never yielded their will. Understanding their mind, some people can preach in a way they can stir people's emotions. It doesn't mean anything.

The will is the door to the spirit. This is very beautifully pictured in the Old Testament in the tabernacle, which had one visible part, the outer compound, and two parts hidden under a tent. The outer visible compound is a picture of our body, and the two invisible parts under the tent, a soul and spirit.

The first covered part was called the holy place, and the second covered part was called the most holy place. And between the holy place and the most holy place was a very thick curtain called a veil, where God said to the Israelites, you cannot come inside there because I dwell there.

And the fire of God was in the most holy place, not in the compound. It was in the most holy place, not even in the holy place. So the holy place is a picture of the soul, and the most holy place is a picture of the spirit.

And between the holy place and the most holy place was this thick curtain. You know what happened when Jesus died? That curtain was torn from the top to the bottom. You know the meaning of that? It had a spiritual meaning.

Entering God's Presence Through the Veil

Let me show you Hebrews in chapter 10. In Hebrews chapter 10, it says, it's showing us how Jesus made a way for us to enter that most holy place where God dwelt, enter into the presence of God, and how God can enter into our spirit.

So when the veil in that temple or tabernacle, it later became a temple, when the veil was torn, there was a message in it. And the message is this. Brethren, Hebrews 10 .19. Hebrews 10 .19. We have boldness or confidence to enter this most holy place by the blood of Jesus, because you cannot go in there without your sin being cleansed, but not only by the blood of Jesus.

Many Christians know only the blood of Jesus, but it also says by a new and living way. Have you heard this expression? A new and living way, which Jesus inaugurated for us. It's like a road that was opened for us, inaugurated through the veil.

Here it is, the veil. That way was opened by Jesus, and that veil is his flesh. How have you understood that? I want to ask you a question that you need to ask yourself, which will show you how seriously you study the word of God.

Please take this challenge. I'm not trying to humiliate any one of you, because I'm not asking you to answer publicly. But you ask, answer this question to yourself, and it'll show you whether you study God's word seriously or not, and why you're not making spiritual progress.

What is the meaning of this phrase, that he made a way through the veil that is his flesh? It can't be his body. There's a difference. The Bible speaks about bodies as a physical thing, and flesh is something else in the New Testament.

You need to understand it when you compare Scripture with Scripture. Let me explain to you what the New Testament means by the phrase, the flesh. In Galatians 5, in Galatians 5, in verse 17, we must compare Scripture with Scripture to understand it.

And I don't want to believe a theory which you cannot find in Scripture. I want to understand what flesh means. So let's look at this verse. Galatians 5, 17, the flesh sets its desire against the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit sets his desire against the flesh.

But it can't be this physical flesh. That's not the meaning here. What is it that the Holy Spirit sets its desire against in man? If you understand that, you'll understand what the flesh means. I took many years to discover it.

The flesh means your own self-will. Do you know what the Holy Spirit is trying to break down in you? Your self-will. Your strong self-will. That curtain symbolizes that strong self-will of yours. That is the way into the most holy place.

And because God, the Holy Spirit, is not able to break that in your life, you're not able to dwell in God's presence all the time. I want to live in God's presence every single day, every single day of my life.

And the way into God's presence in the most holy places is through this veil of my self-will. You know why Jesus lived in the presence of God all the time, every single moment, from childhood right up to the time he died on the cross, all the time?

Christ's Perfect Submission to the Father's Will

I'll show you the answer. Turn with me to John chapter 6. John chapter 6, where he speaks about this flesh of his. He doesn't use the word flesh, but he defines it. John 6 and verse 38. It's a wonderful thing to compare scripture with scripture.

John 6, 38. Jesus says, I came from heaven. Why? Now if you were to ask the average Christian, perhaps many of you sitting here, I ask you, why did Jesus come to earth? You would say, well, he came to die for our sins.

True. But that's not the whole truth. Probably 10 of the truth. And you say, what? You mean dying on the cross is only 10 Yes. What is the other 90 Dying on the cross took care of my past sins, but it didn't make a way for me to live a holy life.

Here it says, I came from heaven in one sentence. John 6, 38. He describes his entire 33 and a half years on earth. I would ask, Lord, can you describe your entire 33 and a half years on earth in one sentence?

Here it is. I did not do my own will, but the will of my father. That my own will, which he says here, is what the Bible calls the flesh. And when we read in Hebrews 10, 20, that he made a way, a new and living way through the flesh, it means he made a new and living way through man's self-will, which he took on when he came to this earth.

And he had to deny that for 33 and a half years. Even at the last day in Gethsemane, you say, Father, he says, if it is thy will, I'll do this. Even though personally I want to avoid it, but I'll do it.

He had a struggle. Not my will, but thine. Let me tell you this in a nutshell. The most spiritual statement, if you can say it honestly, that you can make to the Lord Jesus, is, Lord, I never want to do my will again, but your will in all the circumstances of life every single day.

That is the spiritual man who lives by that. Not one who can preach well, sing well, and go to all the meetings and lives a fairly good, upright, outward life. That's not spirituality. A lot of people out there in the world who live like that.

A lot of non-nominal Christians who live like that. A lot of people in other churches who live just as good as somebody in CFC. And be honest, isn't it true? It is. I've seen it. But the really spiritual man is the man who has said to the Lord, in my private life, in my secret life, from morning till night, I never want to do my own will.

I want to do your will. Not the will of other people, God's will. Again, you may say, oh, that would be such a strain. All the time. Tense. I can't do my own will. I must do the Father's will. Was Jesus' life tense?

Not at all. His was the most relaxed life that any human being ever lived on earth. He said, come and learn from me how to find rest. He said in Hebrews 11, 29, learn from me and you will find rest for your souls.

So the life of Jesus brings rest. Not tension. Not strain. I found that. My early Christian life I was defeated and my life was a strain, an attention to try and live like the Lord. That's gone from my life.

I'll tell you honestly, my life is relaxed every day. I'm not afraid of sickness. I'm not afraid of death. I'm not afraid that people will harm me or hurt me or rob me or whatever it is. It's a very relaxed life.

I'm not afraid that, oh, I won't have enough money to meet my needs. No. I didn't have that fear when I quit my job 56 years ago and I don't have that fear now. It's a very relaxed life if you say, Lord, I want to do your will in my life.

So many anxieties and fears you have for yourself and your children and your own life and when you think of the future, it's all because you have not sought to walk this new and living way through the flesh, through your own will to dwell in God's presence.

If you want to live in God's presence, you can live that relaxed life while you're doing your normal work. You may go to work 10 hours a day. You women may be busy with your children in the kitchen 15 hours a day and you can be relaxed.

Seek this life where you allow the Holy, the Word of God to divide between soul and spirit like we read in Hebrews 4 .12. You break down your self-will. That's the most important thing. So you can say with Jesus, I don't want to do my own will.

In everything in life, if you can believe that God's will is the best. I remember when I wanted to get married. I was 27 years old. I said, Lord, I don't want to choose whom I marry. I want you to choose for me.

It's not a question of who I feel. Oh, I fell in love with somebody in a married life. I'm in love with Jesus. So I want to marry the one who chooses for me. That's what's made my life completely relaxed and useful.