THE DANGER OF BEING LED BY THE LETTER ALONE

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Rom 8:14).
It’s a dangerous thing to be driven by the word (Letter) alone without the Spirit of the word. The Spirit of the word makes the word powerful and effective, without the spirit, the word is dead. The seven sons of Sceva were driven by the word they heard from Paul, but they lacked the Spirit behind that word, thereby making it of no effect, and the demons descended on them. They saw Paul casting out demons without knowing the secret behind it. Paul was casting out demons by the power of revelation knowledge from the word and the Spirit of the word. It takes a stronger Spirit to confront another spirit and defeat that spirit. When the demon spirits looked at Paul they saw a stronger Spirit in him behind the word he uses to confront them and they bowed. But when they looked at the seven sons of Sceva they saw no Spirit, they saw only borrowed word; in other words, they have no understanding or knowledge, which can only come from the Spirit of the word, the demons bounced on them, tearing them apart.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” (Hos 4:6).
Who is the man that rejects knowledge and easily destroyed for lack of it? It is a man who does not study the word, take it into his heart, and allow the Spirit of the word gives him revelation knowledge from the word. There is nothing that scares the devil and his demons as knowledge, when they know that you have knowledge, they stay away from you, because it’s not easy to deceive and destroy a man with knowledge.
When we are driven only by the letter and not by the Spirit behind the letter, it might be disastrous. The reason is that we only read the word just to fulfill all righteousness, and not to allow the word enter into our heart where the Spirit gives us revelation knowledge of it. It is not about reading the Bible cover to cover; it’s about revelation and knowledge you received after reading just a line in
a verse. This is what makes the word a living word inside of us and keeps us alive spiritually.
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”(2Co 3:6).
The New Testament or covenant is not like the old law written on a tablet (letter without spirit), but one written in our heart by the Spirit of the word. The Spirit is what gives the New Testament power to give life unlike the old law that kills because people can’t just obey them. The Spirit of the New Testament through His revelation knowledge gives us power to obey it and live. However, we face the same death the people of the old testament faced if we do not take the new testament into our heart where the Holy Spirit transforms it from a mere letter to a living word.
The power to overcome killers such as sin, sickness, Satan and his demons etc. is activated in us only when the word gains entrance into our heart. David says “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psa 119:11). The word must leave the realm of paper and ink (written) and enter our heart where it becomes living before it can have power to deliver us from destruction, otherwise we are still at the same level with the people of the old testament, because the difference is that the old law stays at the level of written word, but the new testament goes beyond that and become a living word.