And you’ll remember that we looked in Matthew 4 when Jesus encountered Satan, He only met him with one weapon: “It is written.”

And then again, and we’re going very quickly now, in Ephesians 5:25–27:

“Husbands, love your wives...”

Just let me tell you husbands, that’s not a suggestion, it’s a command.

“Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

How will Jesus provide Himself with a bride who is holy and without blemish? Through the washing of water by the Word of God. The Word of God sanctifies us, it cleanses us.

John said of Jesus, this is He who came by water and by blood. Not by water only but by blood. By the blood of His sacrifice He redeems us but by the water of His Word He cleanses and sanctifies us. We need both. We’re redeemed by the blood that we might be cleansed by the Word.

And finally, James says, and we won’t turn there, but in his epistle, chapter 1, verses 23–25, the Bible is a spiritual mirror. When you look into it, it doesn’t show you your physical appearance, it shows you what you’re really like inside. James points out when you look in a mirror and see there’s something wrong, the sensible thing to do is tend to it. If your hair is out of order, you brush it. If your face is dirty, you wash it. You act on what you see in the mirror. And James says you need to do that when you look in the mirror of the Word of God. You need to see your spiritual self in it and act on whatever it shows you that you need to do.

So let me just recapitulate that and close. Eight effects of God’s Word.

It produces faith.
It’s the seed of the new birth.
It’s spiritual nourishment.
It produces mental illumination.
It provides physical healing.
It makes possible victory over sin and Satan.
It provides cleansing and holiness.
And, it is a spiritual mirror. Amen.

98:Tdc77,

Our proclamation this morning is taken from 1 Chronicles 28:20. These are the instructions that David gave to Solomon for completing the temple. They’re in the second person singular but we have applied them to ourselves so we say them in the first person plural. Do you understand? That’s one of the functions of proclamation; it’s to make the Word of God personal.

“We will be strong and of good courage and do. We will not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God our God will be with us. He will not leave us nor forsake us until we have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. Amen.”

Now we are continuing with the study of the six foundation doctrines listed in Hebrews 6:1–2. We have dealt with the first three: repentance from dead works, faith toward God and the doctrine of baptisms. In connection with the doctrine of baptisms I pointed out that the New Testament tells us of three distinct baptisms: the baptism of John the Baptist, Christian baptism and the

Laying the Foundation

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