As you're seated, if you would turn in your copy of the scriptures to Ephesians chapter 6, we will have that up on the screen in a moment. And following our reading through a portion of Ephesians 6 verses 10 through 18, we'll go ahead and once again pray, shall we? Verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you may or can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Praying at all times in this spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Well, let's go to our God in prayer, shall we? And Father, as we once again take up this passage, considering the spiritual war that we are in, we pray that you would please enter into the meditation of your word, Spirit of God, that you would come. As you said that you would be our instructor, Lord Jesus, you are our prophet, our priest, our king. We look to you, dear Lord, to impress this passage upon our hearts that we would be all the more grateful and all the more zealous in studying and appropriating your word to our hearts. Please help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as you can see, we have the belt of truth there. And this is something of an extended metaphor the Apostle Paul is using to help us to be equipped for the spiritual battles, which we will surely face. So we have the belt of truth we've looked at. We've looked at the breastplate of righteousness, which, of course, is the righteousness that comes by faith to all that believe in Jesus Christ, Romans 3 and verse 24. We've also looked at the footwear, the gospel shoes that every man of God is to wear, the preparation of the gospel that we can see, and so that we not only are able to to endure through life's journey, being faithful to the Lord, but also to bring the gospel to a lost world. We're also seeing the legionary sword, which we had recently considered, which is able to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one. We also looked at the helmet of salvation, the helmet of the hope of salvation, which we considered recently. And then this evening, we're taking up the Roman legionary sword, which you can see there behind me. And so as we consider this, Pastor Mitch's notes were helpful on this, so he gets the kudos for this. This is a two inch wide double edged sword, unlike those of other armies previous to the Roman Empire. That was a standard issue to the Roman soldier and was advantageous in their method of close quarter fighting. It was admirably suitable for a cut and thrust weapon for close work. And now this sword can be used also defensively to ward off an opponent's sword. But it is primarily, as you'd imagine, an offensive weapon. to take the fight to the foe. And so the successful use of the sword requires accurate and controlled parries. And this may be a hint as to how we are to handle the Word of God. And so with that brief introduction, we'll take up the consideration of the Word of God before us. All right? If you have your hand now, you'll notice with me under Roman numeral one, the Old Testament connection. As we've seen with the other weapons, the emblems that Paul uses in this illustration, we find actually referred to and rooted in the Old Testament, primarily in Isaiah's prophecy. And so if you would turn with me to Isaiah chapter 49, we're just going to look at a few verses there. While you're turning there, I want to consider, A, the context of Yahweh's servant warrior. Israel was given the mission of being a light to the Gentiles, to give the nations a vision of life centered around the worship of the one true and living God, and also a society ordered by his law. And as you know, tragically, they failed to fulfill that mission. The Lord Jesus himself, however, now the servant of the Lord will come, not only to bring light and salvation to the nations, but also in his armor of God to deal with the sins of his people. Isaiah chapter 49 beginning at verse 1. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In his quiver, he hid me away. And he said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. Yet surely, my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God. And now the Lord says, He says, it is to light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserve of Israel. I will make you as a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. And so although, as we read through the New Testament, we can see that our Lord Jesus experienced the rejection of his own nation as their king and their messiah, he will and is bringing salvation to the Gentile nations through the shedding of his blood upon the cross and his subsequent resurrection and exaltation in heaven. That sword in his mouth would be used, as one writer suggests, as a surgeon's scalpel to remove the hearts of stone and transplant our Lord's own heart, a heart of flesh, into every believer. And so his sword is used really to heal the nations. Consider with me Roman numeral two as we look more closely at the sword of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you would turn with me to Matthew chapter four, passage that we're all likely very familiar with. Consider how our Lord Jesus deftly used the sword of God's Word to dispatch the devil's repeated temptations, beginning at verse 1 of Matthew chapter 4. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit. This is immediately following, as you know, his baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered him, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him into the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. From Psalm 91. Jesus said to him, again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me. And as we look a few verses later, Jesus finally said in verse 10, then Jesus said to him, be gone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, in him only you shall serve. And then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. And so recall with me that the children of Israel, like our Lord Jesus, were tempted to despair of God's provision of food, and water as well, while they were in the wilderness. Jesus conquered this temptation. How? By the Word of God. The children of Israel and their wilderness wanderings also faced the temptation of putting the Lord to a test by grumbling against him, for example, at the waters of Meribah. Here, Jesus saw through the devil's foolish test and responded with the Word of God. Finally, the Israelites gave into worshiping an idol that their hands had fashioned while Moses was on the mountain. And Jesus resisted the devil's ploy and responded again with scripture to show God alone is to be worshiped. And so how are you and I doing in our day? Are we committed to living by the word of God even as Jesus was? Many of us recently have launched out in the previous month by following a plan of systematically, of prayerfully, obediently reading and meditating on God's Word. Our minds are gradually being transformed into God's mind and His perspectives on life and eternity. So how's your plan going? We're at the end of February. Are you still following through on that plan? But remember, the important thing here is not are you able to check every box every day, as good as that is, but are you making progress in learning the truth of God, in committing passages of Scripture to memory, in learning the Word of God systematically? Are you making progress? Can you look back even since the beginning of the year and reflect upon the things that God has taught you or retaught you, as is the case for many of us as we've studied the Word of God? Are you persevering in your intake of the Word? Are you doing it regularly, even daily? Is there a regular time, a regular place in the cadence, pardon me, in the cadence of your life to get alone with your Lord and your Bible? And if so, I commend you. Keep it up, keep on doing it. Your soul's health, your resolve against sin will be stronger and your love for your master will also grow. I want you to briefly turn to Psalm 19 with me, and I just want to review some of the benefits that you're going to realize in your life by meditating daily upon God's truth. Psalm 19, beginning at verse seven. The law of the Lord is perfect, David writes. reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Are you growing in the wisdom of God as you meditate upon God's truth? This is one of the benefits. The precepts of the Lord, verse eight, are right, rejoicing the heart. It is good to meditate. It is pleasant to meditate upon God's truth. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes, purifying your desires. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. This is something that's going to last. Its influence will last all the days of your life. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. They're altogether dependable for you and for me. Verse 10, more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey. and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward." Now, certainly there are a number of passages that we could go to that would underscore what we see here in Psalm 19. I think of Proverbs 1 right off the top of my head. And yet, when we see this, It's a delight to have that regular time getting alone with God. It was the practice of our Lord Jesus when you look at Mark chapter 1, to get alone with God before the break of day. And so note particularly verse 11. It is in the keeping, the obeying of God's word that we find great reward, not only in this life, but in the eternity to come. And so the word of God cuts to the root of issues that we face and our souls, our own souls as well. And as we think about that, we want to consider the sword of the spirit again. Letter B on your outline, that sword can pierce, can't it? as it confronts our sin and sinful dealings in our own lives. So part B, the sword, it is a sword to pierce, a sword to pierce. Our Lord's words were like a sharp sword to lay bare the hypocrisy and the greed of the Jews of his day. Only one passage that we'll cite just for now, Matthew chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11, if you would turn there with me, I'll begin reading at verse 20. Then Jesus began to denounce the cities, where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. Verse 21. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. Obviously, our lords were very offensive to those who thought that they were righteous, and yet they did not believe and did not repent when they had the very word of God before them. No one had ever dared to speak to these corrupt religious leaders as Jesus did. They needed the word of God incarnate to cut through their spiritual blindness. They were also, they were as the false prophets of Jeremiah's day as well, feeding upon God's flock instead of feeding and caring for them. They needed God to come as a sword and as a hammer. If you turn with me to Hebrews chapter four, an important passage as we consider the function of the word of God to pierce. Hebrews chapter four, beginning at verse 12, Certainly this is worth a sermon by itself. For the Word of God, beginning at verse 12, is living and active. Those Greek words are full of the picture there. John Owen interprets the word active as effectual, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of the spirit, of joints, of marrow, of deep things that are unseen. and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we will give account. Owen comments, upon the whole matter the design of the Apostle in these words is to declare the intimate and absolute acquaintance that the Word of God has with the inmost frames, purposes, desires, resolutions, and actings of the minds of hearers, and this sure unerring judgment which he makes of them thereby. One wrote that apart from a knowledge of God, true knowledge of ourselves is actually impossible. Think of Jeremiah's words from chapter 17. Terry and I read this this morning. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can understand it? But as we just observed in Hebrews, God knows you and me through and through. And his word cuts to the heart, exposing things hidden, even from ourselves. but where the Lord Jesus cuts with the sword of his mouth, he's also able to heal as well. Consider with me part C, the sword which heals. We looked at this a moment ago. If you would turn with me to Matthew chapter nine. As our Lord Jesus began his public ministry, and this is following the Sermon on the Mount here, Jesus heals that paralytic, beginning at verse one. We looked at this not too long ago. I think it was with Alex Leans that opened this passage to us. And getting into a boat, he crossed over and came into his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, take heart, my son. Your sins are forgiven. And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, this man is blaspheming. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, why do you think evil in your hearts? He knows our hearts. For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise and walk? Verse six, but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And he rose and went home. And when the crowd saw it, they were afraid. And they glorified God, who had given such authority to man. And so when you think about it, this man left that house that day with a double cure, didn't he? He walked. Perhaps for the first time in his life. But far more essentially, Jesus forgave his sins. Now we don't know what the man's sins were. That's not open to us. Nor really to what extent he felt the need for those sins of being forgiven. But one thing is unmistakable. He knew Jesus had the authority to forgive sin. Perhaps you are here this evening somewhat aware of what sin is. You may, for example, know that sin is lawlessness, going beyond what God has permitted or failing to meet God's perfect moral standard. For example, you know your words have not always been loving. not always truthful, helpful, needful, or timely. Perhaps you know when you spoke when you ought to have been silent. Perhaps a certain set of vocabulary has crept into your conversation that would make your mother blush with anger should she hear you. Jesus Christ can cleanse and forgive that careless, unloving speech and even that perverse heart from which those words spill out of? And would you go to him today for that cleansing, for that healing of your own heart? You need not go through the roof to find Jesus. He is here even now. And so like the surgeon's scalpel, God cuts, he uses his word to lance the boil of our pride, to release the abscess of addictions, to remove the heart of stone and replace it with the heart of flesh in the new covenant. God never makes a mistake when he observes and identifies our crimes. His analysis is perfect. But we also need to consider that because part D, that sword is also used to judge sin. That sword is used to judge sin. Well, where do we find that? Well, if you would turn with me to the book of Revelation chapter 19. The fact that the Lord Jesus has yet a sharp two-edged sword in his mouth even now, as we see in Revelation 1. And that's amplified for us in chapter 19, by which he will judge the nations. Revelation chapter 19, if you'd look down beginning at verse 11. John writes, then I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now recall that in the Hebrews 4 passage that we looked at, we saw how penetrating the Word is into the recesses of our hearts. John Owen, in his commentary, makes a very strong argument that in that passage, the Word of God is actually a proper noun, a title for the Lord Jesus. who is the Word of God. And that Word is going, is guided by the PET scan of God's all-seeing gaze. We marvel at the precision of the diagnostic tools of modern medicine. There is the camera pill to reveal the pathway of our digestive tract, as some have recently experienced. There are wonderful MRIs, echocardiograms, PET scans to detect the precise location of tumors and increase blood flow. And yet none of these can reveal the sinful inclinations of our hearts. those hidden but deadly tendencies that are in all of us. God comes with his word, guided by his piercing gaze and penetrates our self-deceptions, our rationalizations, our blame shiftings, our minimizing our darling sins and exposes all of them. What a mercy to God's elect. If an MRI is a mercy to detect, an illness within you, how much more is the Word of God to do that in our own souls? And so, but to those who refuse to acknowledge our crimes, their crimes, it is a sword more deadly than Herod or Nero's sword for that matter that we learned of in Romans 13. And yet to the true disciple of Jesus, it is often a severe mercy, as C.S. Lewis puts it. to be under the knife of God's Word. What a mercy it is, and we can thank God for it. But there is more here than just a piercing sword, a sword that judges sin, a sword that heals. It's also referred to in one way as the father's pruning knife in your outline part E, a sword as a pruning knife or a pruning hook. If you would turn with me to another well-known passage, John chapter 15. John chapter 15, beginning at verse one. Jesus said in that upper room discourse to his disciples, I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burn. And note the father's use of that pruning knife or that pruning hook. There is the activity in the branch where you see there's growth there. Growth in a particular sprout that will not result in fruit. And so instead, the sprout will draw energy away from that branch, making it not more, but less fruitful. And so of course, the point of having a vine is not for beauty, because there's many more types of flowers that are more beautiful than a grapevine. You may disagree. A vine is not really good as a construction material when you think about it either. The purpose of a grapevine is basically a grape rack to bear grapes. And if it's not fulfilling that function, then something has to change. And that is all. That word of God which comes to you cuts out those worldly aspirations, activities, and plans that would render you to be ultimately unfruitful in God's kingdom. And so let the knife come. Let it cut away those things which only drain sap from that which is really profitable. You and I may enjoy some innocent earthly pastime that is not truly productive, not true recreation in that sense, but is more likely to become an idol. Let the word do its pruning work upon you. Though you may feel its edge, that fruit will ultimately come. And so this is where our stewardship of the Word of God begins. We've looked at several aspects of how God uses the Word of God in our lives. That it's to judge sin, it pierces to the innermost being of ourselves. Identifying sin, it's used for healing, it's used for pruning. But now let's consider some practical uses of the word under Roman numeral three. First, follow our Lord's example in fighting temptations of the devil. When you think back of Matthew chapter four, follow our Lord's example in fighting temptations of the devil. David can write in Psalm 119 verse 11, I have stored up your word and my heart that I might not sin against you. That gets harder with each passing year, doesn't it, some of us? We've already observed our Lord's use of scripture against Satan while in the wilderness. What are the specific temptations, the specific besetting sins that you're fighting with? Identify them and find passages of scripture that will strengthen your resolve against those sins and commit them to ready memory. Secondly, part B, use the sword to increase in spiritual and moral discernment. The Bible is God's inspired word. When we think of Ephesians chapter 5, The writer to the Hebrews could say these things. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. Now if you're a child, that's okay. That's legitimate that you would have the milk of the word, that you would go easy if you're young in the faith. But he goes on. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Does that describe you? You have been in the faith for a number of years. Can you see that you are developing in your discernment of good and evil? Or could it be that you're falling back into your own opinions or the world's wisdom? for solving problems. Really, you're doing that in a way that stems from your basic unfamiliarity with the Word of God. And of course, we need to recognize that studying the Word of God is a lifelong pursuit. And even then, those old among us would readily admit they have much to learn. But David can say in Psalm 119, verse 96, I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. Do you see that the Word of God will inform on basically every aspect of your lives? David could acknowledge this, that God's commandments are exceedingly broad and extensive in their use and their application. Two verses later, verse 98, your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. There are many enemies that are going to cross your path through your Christian pilgrimage. There are many. And you need every word of God in order to parry the attacks that will come upon you. And yet David could say, I am wiser than my instructors, than my teachers, because I have your word. I have that which I need to respond to those challenges. Moving on to C, willingly submit to the father's pruning knife, as we saw in John chapter 15. Expect the Father to use his word to trim and shape you into the image of his Son. He uses his word. Jesus prayed two chapters later, 17 verse 17, sanctify them in the truth, he prayed to his Father. Your word is truth. So do you feel like me at times, that in many ways than I care really to imagine, my views on things are not that distinct from my non-Christian neighbors? It's a scary thought, isn't it? How much of the culture has insinuated itself into my thinking, but I'm not even aware of it. And so we need the Word of God to regularly keep our eyes open. So willingly submit to the Father's pruning knife, and then D, carefully handle the Word. Carefully handle the sword of the word, as we saw at the opener with the illustration. Paul could write to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.15, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who is no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. There's a right way to handle the word of God, and then there's the other ways of handling the word of God. Do you know the difference? Do you know how to study the scriptures? Do you have those practical helps about you that would assist you in doing that? Also, beware of minimizing the Word of God in your life. That's the practical danger for most of us, isn't it? That we're not taking the time. We're not setting a time, that secret time, to get with the Father, to be in the Word and systematically study through it. Also beware of many who add to the Word of God in our day that's becoming more common. Some say we need fresh revelation in our day. Well, is not the Scriptures all that we need? When we look at them, since in these last days God has spoken to us in his Son, as it says in Hebrews chapter 1, he is the pinnacle of God's revelation to man. Owen says, if contemporary prophets say the same things as our Bibles, then we don't need them. And if they don't agree, then they're false prophets. That's plain and simple, isn't it? They're surely in error, and they're not from God. Calvin says every addition to the word is a lie. Beware of many in our day who would add to the word of God. The Book of Mormon. People, you know, claimed they had dreams and revelations and visions. I'd worked with some. Scary thought. Let's move on from part D to part E. Bear the sword daily in your pilgrimage. Going back to Psalm 119, verse 97. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. In this, free moments that you have throughout the day are you reflecting upon the truth of God and taking advantage of the means that you have before you. As we grow in our knowledge of the scriptures, we should increasingly grow in confidence that it does equip us for every good work, as Paul says. It is God-breathed. May God breathe, and he uses from Hebrews 4 that we were looking at earlier, may God breathe life, that zoe, into us daily by his living and active word. The word living and active there is anergon, the word for energy, his effectual word into our hearts, Ephesians 4 and verse 12. Colossians 3, another way of doing this is, as Paul says in Colossians 3, verse 16, to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And so what are the challenges you are likely to face in our postmodern culture? Become familiar with verses and passages of scripture that speak directly to those attacks. on your faith. And F, build your faith on a sure foundation. Build your faith on a sure foundation. Now, extra-biblical evidences of your faith may supplement but can never replace the scriptures as the foundation of your faith. I want to read to you a paragraph from the 1689 Confession, chapter 1, paragraph 5. on the Word of God. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church of God, to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures, and the heaviness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God, the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, and many other incomparable excellencies and entire perfections thereof, are arguments whereby it does abundantly evident itself to be the Word of God. And yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. We need the Word of God before us. Yes, it's true. But we need the Spirit of God as well to make the right use of it. Jeremiah 17, verse 5. Or are we trusting in man's views on things? Jeremiah said, thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in men and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. Are you trusting in the opinions of men, even men with all kinds of letters after their name? Or are you trusting in the clear teaching of the scriptures? Ultimately, that's what it gets down to. Who are you going to put your trust in? 1 Corinthians 2 verses 14 and following. The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but he is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we particularly in the scriptures, we have the mind of Christ revealed to us. And so some like to consider themselves free thinkers. And that's not a new thing either. That's an old thing. But it's still around today. Each of us are responsible to study the scriptures ourselves. Yes, to responsibly interpret the scriptures according to scriptural rules of interpretation. That's true. And yet, in reality, none of us are really free thinkers, are we? For we all follow our own desires, which influence how we choose to understand the Bible. But consider this, however. Studying the scriptures is not like reading any other book. We are completely dependent upon the Spirit of God, and this is what Paul is saying. We're completely dependent upon the Spirit of God to comprehend more fully the truths that are contained there. I've had a close conversation with a close relative in recent days, and she would tell me that she's completely lost reading the Bible. And there's several reasons for that, I'm sure, but at least one of those is going to be a complete lack of prayerful dependence upon the Spirit of God to illuminate her mind of what He has already inspired in His Word. So we need to study God's Word prayerfully, asking the Spirit to open His Word to us. Going back to the Confession, paragraph 10 in chapter 1, the supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits are to be examined and in whose sentence we are to rest can be none other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, and to its Scripture so delivered our faith is fully resolved. This is the foundation. We need to be reminded of this. This is the foundation of our faith. It is the Word of God. And so what does God desire for each of us here this evening? When I look back over this, Ephesians 2, verses 19 through 21, as a church, we come together. Paul can say, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone on whom the whole structure joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. All of us being instructed and informed upon that great foundation of what we have in our scriptures. So what is the foundation on which your life stands? The ever-changing tides of human opinion or the word of God? Remember in Matthew chapter seven, we won't turn there, but remember what our Lord closed the Sermon on the Mount with. What are you building your house on? You can build it on the solid rock of my words, the Lord Jesus says, and then the winds are going to come, and the storm is going to be on it, and that house is going to stand. Alternatively, or are you building your house on sand of the shifting opinions of men? We need to have our houses built like that house that's built on the rock of his words, by knowing, embracing by faith, and obeying his word. And when the storms of life come crashing in, and they surely will, may you and I be found yet standing by the grace of God and by the word of God. Let's pray, shall we? How firm a foundation we have in your word, O Lord. And we pray, dear Lord, Spirit of God, that you would help us to grip that sword and to use it for your glory. Grant wisdom to us. We cry to you that as we face this wave of false doctrine and that which becomes popular in our day, that we would examine it in the light of your piercing word, and that we would use your word to defend and to stand strong, to stand firm, as Paul teaches us, in your truth. We pray this in Jesus' name and for his glory. Amen. And so let's close by singing.