The Water of the Word

Grace Covenant Reformed Church

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Well, last week, our work through the book of Exodus took us into a passage that centered around the atonement offering and led to a conversation regarding the short phrase that we found there, which says, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and so we talked about how that shekel was a standard for the

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Israelites to use in determining the offering. We went from there to remind ourselves as believers that just as this was a standard for the people of Israel, God's word is a standard for us.

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This morning, our study will take us just a bit deeper into this same thoughts about that standard, which is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

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You may recognize that part of a sentence from the opening of the

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London Baptist Confession of Faith, the first chapter, the first paragraph dealing with Holy Scripture.

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If we continue down that first chapter of the London Baptist Confession of Faith, we come to paragraph four, where we read these words.

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The authority of the holy scriptures obligates belief in them.

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This authority does not depend on the testimony of any person or church, but on God the author alone who is truth itself.

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Therefore, the scriptures are to be received because they are the word of God.

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This particular paragraph does many things, and we're not going to sit here and discuss all of them this morning, but one of the major things that this paragraph does for us is remind us that the authority of scripture itself comes from God who is truth, and because of this, because they are his words, they, therefore, are also truth.

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According to an article published by Barna Research Group in May of this year that was based on a survey conducted by Arizona Christian University, they wrote these words.

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The most popular source of truth input in America is personal feelings.

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According to the average American, three quarters, approximately 74%, occasionally at a minimum rely on their own emotions to discern moral truth.

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Feelings emerge as the sole source trusted by a majority of adults.

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If we dig a little deeper, we find that about two out of every five adults rely on each of four other truth sources.

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So the largest portion, 75%, rely on personal feelings. When you take the remaining 25%, only 44 % of those are relying on scripture.

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41 % relies on public policies and laws. 40 % on scientific and mathematical claims, and the remaining 39 % come from social norms, majority beliefs, and cultural traditions.

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About one out of five adults sometimes, sometimes turn to philosophical or religious views other than the

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Bible or personal experience or to input from family, friends, and peers.

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As most of us have witnessed in the world around us, truth to the majority of people in this world has shifted from being something that is objective to something that is subjective.

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In other words, truth has become subjective to your own personal interpretation to the point where there are many people identifying their truth and claiming that it is what they make it to be.

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The same study suggests that 77 % of Americans reject absolute moral truth, that we cannot absolutely know what truth is.

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But at the same time, two -thirds of those

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Americans also claim to be Christians. So two -thirds of the 77 % of Americans who reject absolute moral truth proclaim to be

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Christians. Of that roughly 67 % of those who claim to be

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Christians, only 44 % of them cite scripture as the basis for truth.

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Now, I think if we were to go around the room this morning and ask, most of this information, at least in understanding, is common knowledge to us.

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We see it happening around us. It likely is not a surprise.

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But while it is not a surprise, it should be a great concern.

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The reason it should be a great concern is that as we as Christians live, this affects the way in which we live out our lives.

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Because scripture is that which we have to guide us.

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In our text for this morning, we will be looking at the lava that God has commanded

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Moses to have fabricated for the priests to wash themselves in before they are to enter into the tent of meeting or before they are to approach the altar.

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This is the final piece of furniture that is connected to the tabernacle, and it contains a deep truth for us regarding our lives as Christians before a holy

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God and how our lives and the way in which we live them affect our fellowship with God.

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If you will, take out your Bibles, make your way to Exodus chapter 30. We will be looking at verses 17 through 21, and we'd ask that you stand for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, complete, and sufficient word.

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In Exodus chapter 30, beginning in verse 17 and following down through verse 21, we read these words.

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And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, You shall also make a lava of bronze with its stand of bronze for washing.

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And you shall put it in between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it.

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When they come into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die.

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And when they approach the altar to minister by offering up smoke and a fire sacrifice to Yahweh, so they shall wash their hands and their feet so that they will not die.

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And it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and for his seed throughout their generations.

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Most gracious Father, we bow this morning before your throne of grace and mercy. Father, we are grateful for Christ's work on the cross that allows us to enter into your presence to worship you, you who are our every need, our sustainer, our only true comfort.

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We thank you for your faithfulness. We praise you for your mercy. We enter into your courts with thanksgiving for you and for your goodness.

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Father, before you, we confess our sins, we repent of them, and we seek to live by every word that proceeds from your mouth.

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Lord, we ask that as we gather and continue in worship this morning that our hearts would be stirred by your spirit, that your word would penetrate, and that we would grow in grace and knowledge according to your will.

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We ask all of these things in the name of our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated.

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So as we open up this particular passage this morning, it is interesting and important to note that just as we opened up last week, it begins with, once again, the repetition of these words.

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And Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, once again, we are reminded immediately off of the bat that it is the very words of Yahweh, that these are the words of Yahweh, that these are the commands of God.

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As Moses was to go down the mountain and deliver these words to the people, they were to know that these were the words that God gave.

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They were to understand that these commands were not something that Moses thought of, but that were dictated by the very mouth of God to Moses as he stood on Mount Sinai.

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If you recall from earlier studies, the scene surrounding the

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Israelites standing at the foot of Sinai would have been a most impressive sight.

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Before them stands a mountain ringed in clouds and lightning and thunders and the earth shaking.

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And all of these things are happening, yet when we get to Exodus chapter 32 in the very first verse, we read these words.

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Then the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain. So the people assembled about Aaron and said to him,

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Arise, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

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These people who stood witnessing the very act of God surrounding the mountain of Sinai had already fallen away.

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It reminds me of that writing of Paul as he writes to the church in Galatia, I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel.

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It was necessary that these people understand that their focus was maintained, that these commands were of Almighty God.

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As we continue on, we have the description of the lobber.

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Out of all of the pieces of the tabernacle, this particular piece actually contains the least amount of description.

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If you remember when we studied the golden lampstand, it didn't contain any measurements, but we had a lot of detail.

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When we come to the lobber, we have very little. We have no measurements.

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But even with that, all that we really know of this item is first that it was bronze, and secondly, that the

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Hebrew suggests that it was round. Now understand, the

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Hebrew is not absolutely clear. There is some misunderstandings and misinterpretations and some different thoughts around exactly what the

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Hebrew word means. But it is thought that the root of that word comes from a verb that means to be made round.

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Later, in Solomon's temple, the lobber would be replaced, likely, by what is described and called the molten sea.

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And so in Solomon's temple, the molten sea served several other bathing areas that were set aside for the bathing of the sacrifices.

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But in all of this, we have two pieces of absolute certainty.

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One, that it was made of bronze or brass or copper, depending on who translated your copy of God's word.

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And secondly, that it contained water that was used by the priest for washing.

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So the material of its construction, the bronze, you may remember we spoke a lot about earlier in our study through Exodus as we looked at the bronze altars in the middle of the courtyard.

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And one of the things that you may remember from that study is that bronze signifies or typifies judgment.

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You may recall the words of Revelation 1, verse 15, where it describes

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Christ as, His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

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It's a description of the Son of Man who is standing among the seven golden lap stands, which are the seven churches.

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And Christ, as He moves through the seven churches, is inspecting and passing judgment on those churches, the results of which we have in the seven letters to the seven churches.

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Here the bronze being used to fabricate the lava, an implement that is to be used before the priest approach in their duties of ministering before God is the inflexible righteousness of Christ, testing, judging

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His people, condemning that which mars their communion with God, but also supplying the water, which removes the very things of which we are being condemned.

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The water it contained was used by the holy priests, those men who had been set apart to wash their hands before they were to approach.

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And if you'll notice, there's two specific places that they are to use it before they approach. One is the doorway of the tent of meeting.

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In other words, they are not even to enter the holy place without this washing occurring. And secondly, they are not to approach the altar without this washing occurring.

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Now there's a distinction here that we need to make sure we understand between the water that Moses used in the process of ordaining and consecrating the priest and the water that is held in the lava.

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The water that Moses used was part of the entire process, the larger ceremony that God had given for the purpose of consecrating and ordaining these men, of setting them apart for service, and that entire ceremony was representative of the cleansing of sin from the people of making them right in the eyes of God.

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And as we talked about that, it also points us forward to Christ's work on behalf of his people, once for all, cleansing us of our sin.

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The water in the lava, however, was used at a minimum daily.

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Now again, this is one of those points where theologians disagree. Some say that the command basically says that they're only supposed to use it just as they come in each morning to begin the day's work, and that as soon as they've done that, they don't have to do any more.

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Others argue that there's nothing in there that stipulates that it's limited, and so therefore it's any time they move out and back into the holy place or they come away from and re -approach the altar.

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What we do know is that the water here represents a different type of cleansing.

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So when we take into account where the altar was placed and we look at what it was used, how it was used, it becomes clear that it is speaking of the removal of the daily defilements of life, those things that happen that hinder communion with God.

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A .W. Pink is helpful as he writes these words. The blood on the hands of Aaron and his sons evidenced that they had come into contact with death.

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So we as Christians in our everyday lives constantly have dealings with those who are dead in trespasses and sins, and their very influence defiles us.

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In like manner, our passage through the wilderness world, which lieth in the wicked one, and he's quoting 1

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John 5, verse 19, which says, we know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

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He says that our journey, our passage through that wilderness, fouls our walk, and there is a daily need for these things to be removed.

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Now, I want to take a moment here and emphasize a couple of things to you.

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First and foremost, we need to have a very clear and very right understanding of what is being said and what is not being said.

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As we move through the remainder of our conversation today, this will become increasingly important.

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The first thing I want you to notice here is that in the description of the laver, it is only to be used by the priests.

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It is only for those who have been specifically set apart by God for his purpose.

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So now oftentimes in today's church, we read words like this, and the first thing that people in the congregation do is they say, oh, well, that means it's only for the preacher and nobody else.

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Brothers and sisters, that couldn't be further from the truth, because you as Christians are a chosen nation, a royal priesthood that has been set apart for God.

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And as such, this speaks of something that is happening in the life of a believer.

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It's placement between the altar and the door. It's usage occurring at any point where we begin to come into communion with God.

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Now, as we discuss salvation, we discuss salvation, and we typically use three words, three terms that are very important.

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We speak of justification, we speak of sanctification, and we speak of glorification.

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We refer to salvation as a momentary event that continues throughout the life of a believer.

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Scripture is clear that you have been saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved.

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Justification, that momentary event in which faith, by grace, we are declared right in the eyes of God.

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This is a one -time thing. If you think back to the water that Moses used to cleanse the priest for the ordination and consecration, one,

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Moses did the washing. The people themselves, the priests themselves didn't do anything in that situation except receive what was given.

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It was also a one -time event. This is why it is tied back to justification.

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It is tied to the work of Christ on Calvary's cross for his people that brings us into a right standing.

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It is when those who have been regenerated by the work of the Holy Spirit place their faith in the finished work of Christ alone for their salvation.

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So understand, before we go any further this morning, that the conversation we are having is not about justification.

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The conversation we are having is about sanctification.

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Now, unfortunately, there are those people out there who believe that you are made perfect at the moment you are justified.

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Those people, unfortunately, have not done a very good job of studying the

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Word of God and have a gross misinterpretation of what it teaches. Because you see, we are not made perfect in the sense that we will never sin.

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Yes, we are declared just in the eyes of God. Yes, at that moment, if we were to die physically, we would move to the spiritual realm and be with God, but we are not perfect.

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That perfection, that growing in Christ -likeness occurs over the rest of our life.

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So the individual that professes faith is once for all time sealed to God. There is nothing that that believer can do to separate himself.

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There is nothing that the true believer can do to remove himself from the hand of Almighty God.

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So why am I beating this drum so hard? I am beating this drum because I want you to understand that as we move forward in this conversation, that there is a difference in what we have before us, in the water that is being used in the lava, and salvation by Christ, by faith in Christ alone.

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So hopefully, we move forward understanding that we are moving forward in a fixed position that says that everything else that comes after is implicating the life of those who have professed faith in Christ.

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In other words, what we are going to talk about from this point forward deals with someone who is eternally saved.

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Now, I mentioned a few moments ago this thought of attaining perfection at the moment that you are justified.

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And the danger of this is that we have the idea that in that situation we can pretty much do what we want to do.

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However, this cannot be further from the truth.

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So now, as we have this foundation regarding the fact that we are discussing people who have been saved, then let us move forward by turning our attention to the most important element in this lava.

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And that is the element of water. The water that is used for the priestly washing.

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It should only take a brief survey of Scripture to realize that water plays a very prominent role in all of Scripture.

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Genesis 1 verse 6 through 13. Then God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.

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So God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so.

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And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

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Then God said, let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear.

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And it was so. And God called the dry land earth. And the gathering of the waters he called the seas.

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And God saw that it was good. Then God said, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them.

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And it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them after their kind.

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And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

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Two of the days of creation specifically deal with water. As we come down to the description of the garden found in Genesis chapter 2, we read these words in verses 10 through 14.

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Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it divided and became four rivers.

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The name of the first is Pishon. It is the one that went around the whole land of Havala where there is gold.

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Now the gold of that land is good. The bdellium and the onyx stone are there. And the name of the second river is

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Gihon. It is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is

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Tigris. It is the one that went east of Asher. And the fourth river is the

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Euphrates. The psalmist in Psalms 46 verse 4 further describes

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Eden. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the

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Most High. God utilized water to pass judgment on the whole of the earth in the flood.

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Later he would use water to close it in on Pharaoh and his army.

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Hagar and her son were spared not once but twice by water.

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Naman was healed by water in 2 Kings 5. Jehoshaphat's army was protected by water in 2

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Kings 2. Christ himself described himself as the living water.

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He performed his first miracle with water. And it was water and blood that flowed from his side as it was pierced on Calvary's cross.

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As we come to the close of Scripture we find water again featured predominantly in the final garden,

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New Jerusalem, where we read in Revelations 22 verses 1 and 2, Then he showed me a river of the water of life, bright as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the

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Lamb, in the middle of the street. On either side of the river was a tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

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It plays an important role in the life of a believer in that out of obedience we publicly declare our submission to God and our faith in Christ by being baptized in immersion.

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We know that it is an element of life that we cannot live without, both literally and figuratively.

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We cannot live without it in the sense that our bodies are predominantly made of water and although we can go without food for quite some time, we cannot go without water for very long.

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Figuratively in the sense that Christ, the living water, those who come to that fountain, Scripture says will have a never -ending spring flowing up inside of them.

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But what does this water tell us here this morning? What does it have to say?

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How does it impact our lives? First of all,

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I would invite you to recall the earlier statement I made about the placement of the lava and its use having to do with our ability to draw near to God in fellowship.

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Now I want you to understand that the water is not what allows us to enter the presence of God.

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The water is what allows us to draw near to the presence of God.

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The priest, we're inside the tabernacle courtyard, but to draw near, they must first wash their hands and their feet.

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So here in this passage, the water itself speaks to us as Christians today regarding the word of the living

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God. It is the word of God which helps us to draw near.

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It is the word of God which ensures that we can move forward.

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The priest had to have their impurities of the tasks and the work that they were about be removed before they could draw closer.

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You remember earlier in Genesis as Moses approached the burning bush,

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God spoke to Moses and said to him, remove your sandals for the ground on which you're standing is holy ground.

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This had nothing to do with the fact that Moses' bare feet needed to touch the ground to get some kind of magical power.

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It had everything to do with the defilement that was on the sandals that Moses had been wearing.

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And that defilement needed to be removed before he could further enter into the presence of Almighty God.

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Hopefully you recall that Psalm 119 in its entirety focuses us on the word of God and its necessity in the life of a believer.

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It is truly water to a man dying of thirst.

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In fact, Psalm 119 verse 9 says, how can a young man keep his way pure?

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By keeping it according to your word. As Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, we see his interaction with Peter.

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It says in John 13 verses 5 through 10, then he poured water into the wash basins and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with a towel which he had tied around himself.

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So he came to Simon Peter and he said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, what

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I am doing you do not now realize, but you will understand afterwards.

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Peter said to him, you will never wash my feet, ever. Jesus answered him and said, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me.

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Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.

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You are clean, but not all of you. Typically, when we have a teaching on the washing of the feet of the disciples, the focus is always on service.

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But to do so takes away from this interaction between Peter and Christ. You see,

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Peter did not want to submit to what Christ was doing, but it was because Peter did not understand what

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Christ was demonstrating. These words of Christ at the very end, saying you need but have your hands or your feet cleansed and you will be clean.

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It was not about saving Peter. It was not about saving any of the disciples. It was about purity in the presence.

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Earlier I talked about and made a strong point of hoping that we did not confuse this water, this type, with something that demands another regeneration or another being made new.

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This is what Peter is talking about here when he says, Lord, don't just wash my feet, then wash all of me.

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Notice Christ's reply to him, and he says, Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me.

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Alongside me, not in me. In me would be salvation. Alongside me is this drawing near that is necessary in worship.

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And so Peter's reply to him to wash everything is a reply that goes back to,

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I need your salvation all over again. Nowhere in Scripture are we taught that we need a new regeneration or another being made new.

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To do this suggests that the blood of Christ is lacking not only in sufficiency but in efficacy.

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In other words, not only is it sufficient to cleanse us from our sin, but it is also not effective to cleanse us from our sin.

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And we know that the blood of Christ is both sufficient and effective. Pink again is helpful.

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The defilements of the way do not raise any need for me to be regenerated again. The new birth is once for all.

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Nothing can affect it. Nothing I do can cause me to become unborn. Such a thing is impossible both in the natural and in the spiritual realms.

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And so this brings us to the very heart of the matter, the fact that the word of God is integral in the life of his people.

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As I opened up this morning, I gave you some statistics that I consider to be rather disturbing.

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One of those was that four out of every ten Christians actually say that Scripture is their basis for truth.

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I suspect that if we were to dig into this number a little more, we would find things that would further dismay us.

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In fact, I would suspect that if you were to survey those people, just those four out of ten who say that God's word is their basis for truth, you would find that they legitimately spend very little time in the word of God.

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When I'm talking about this, I'm not talking about people who have a short devotional during the day.

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Please, you need to understand me and hear me very plainly. When we talk about spending time in the word of God, we are not talking about setting aside 15 minutes a day to open up your daily guideposts, read the one or two verses that it has posted there, whatever the author has to say about it, and the cute poem that they end with and think, ha,

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I have done my Bible study and reading for the day and I'm good. Brothers and sisters, that's not studying

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God's word. That's not studying God's word.

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You say, but preacher, I read chronologically. I read through my Bible every year.

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Let me ask, do you pause? Do you think? Do you meditate?

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Do you study? Do you seek other brothers and sisters in Christ and speak about what you've read and what you have understood and verified that you're truly getting to what the word says?

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Because you see, that's studying God's word. A mere nod to it is not.

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I'm not even talking about somebody who just supplements their daily devotion by listening to a podcast of a preacher or YouTube videos of a preacher.

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But again, this in -depth digging into God's word, so that you are sure that it shapes your life, that you are transformed by it.

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Again, last week we talked about Scripture being the standard. And as that standard, it means not only is this thing by which all of life is measured, all of our life is measured, but it is also the thing by which all of our life is to be lived out.

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I used an illustration last week, two different tape measures with no standard of what an inch was.

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But even if you have a standard of what the inch is, if you go back and you say, well,

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I don't really believe that's an inch, I believe that an inch on this tape measure is actually an inch and a quarter, you believe that there's something else or something that needs to be reduced from that standard, you have now changed the standard and it is no longer what you are to live by.

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Adding to taking away from the word of God has that same effect. Reading the word of God and coming up with something that is completely out there just because your personal feelings say that it shouldn't be that way is not living according to the standard.

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Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 12, a couple of verses that most of us sitting here this morning could probably quote off.

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Maybe you could even write them down word for word. If not, I would encourage you that you should be.

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He writes in verses 1 and 2, Therefore, brothers, I exhort you by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may approve what is the will of God, perfect and pleasing, good.

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The only way your mind is transformed, the only way your mind is renewed, the only way that you get to this place is by spending time in the word.

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Listen, you can walk out your back door, you can watch the sun set, the sun rise, listen to the birds chirp, go stand in front of a mighty ocean, go stand at the base of the tallest mountain.

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All of these things display for you God's wonder. It is in every bit of creation, but it will not get you to where you need to be.

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That is only found in the word of God. Specifically, as we refer back to Exodus 30, there are a couple of different things that we should understand coming out of this passage regarding this water.

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The first of those is that use of water, use of the word for us, prevents us from falling into evil.

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You notice that the command here was that they wash, that they may not die. Wash that they may not die.

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For this, this is not a warning of true death. This is not a statement that is saying that if you don't wash, you're unsaved.

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We're not in that place. These are real people, real believers, who are saved to the uttermost.

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But what does happen is your communion, your fellowship with God is diminished.

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As a believer, and I want to make sure we're clear on that, as a believer, if you do not spend time in God's word, your fellowship with God, your communion with God is diminished.

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The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is what is the chief end of man?

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Some of you in here could recite the answer for me. Some of you in here have no idea what I'm talking about. What I would say to you is find out what

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I'm talking about. Because the answer to the question what is the chief end of man is to glorify

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God and enjoy Him forever. To glorify

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God and enjoy Him forever. I would challenge you that apart from the word of God, you cannot accomplish this.

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You cannot glorify Him and you cannot enjoy Him. Why? Because you do not know

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Him. It's very hard to glorify someone that you do not know.

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And you certainly can't enjoy them when you do not know them. When we are not in the word, fellowship with God weakens.

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Sometimes our relationship with God is strained. When we come together in communion with Him it is sorely affected.

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Again, we can turn back to Psalm 119. Literally an entire

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Psalm simply devoted to God's word. Verse after verse after verse points us to the word of God as being necessity in the life of a believer.

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I've heard from pulpits often that prayer is like breathing to a Christian. Without it we would perish.

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Without God's word, you have no prayer. You have no light.

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You have no path. You have no way. And you cannot focus to pray.

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You cannot know how to rightly live. And you will falter.

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And you will stumble. The psalmist writes, your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

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I have sworn and I have confirmed to keep your righteous judgments. I am exceedingly afflicted.

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Oh Yahweh, Revive me. Revive me according to your word.

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I'll be pleased with the freewill offerings of my mouth, oh Yahweh, and teach me your judgments. My soul is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget your law.

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The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I have not wondered from your precepts. I have inherited your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

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I am inclined, my heart, to do your statutes forever, to the end. How blessed would it be if there were more believers who could stand up and say the words of Psalm 119, 11, your word

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I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you. It saddens me to get in conversations with people who claim to be

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Christians who get highly offended by the mere thought or suggestion that we should obey

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God's word. But trust me, if you want to have a conversation with a Christian, quote unquote, that will offend you and upset you, go find one who gets highly offended and upset when you suggest that they obey

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God's word. It's evidence for us, grip of the grip of the enemy and the effectiveness of this first and most successful campaign that asked did

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God really save? This is what someone who refuses to obey the word.

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Not only does God's word keep us on the right path and help us to prevent us from falling into sin, but it also helps to cleanse us from the daily grime of life.

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Listen, you and I live in a fallen world. We are continuously bombarded.

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We are constantly engaged in battle with the enemy and during the everyday walk of life and the throes of battle, we have a tendency to collect grime.

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As a child of the 80s, I grew up in a time where the war was physically focused, typically on the dangers of rock and roll.

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We were told how bad the music was, how horrible the lyrics were. We were shown how to play a record or tape backwards so that we could hear the demonic messages that were underlying the music that was on the track.

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What we never received though, what we never got in those conversations was truth that actually helped do battle with the real enemy.

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Because you see, you can go and you can say, okay, well, I'm just not going to listen to rock and roll anymore because it's the devil's music or however you want to approach it.

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Right? But here's the thing. Something's going to replace it.

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And if you don't understand the importance of God's word in your life, that something else may not be of benefit to you.

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In fact, it could quite honestly be worse than what you're already doing. We need tools that help battle.

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You and I today are constantly bombarded with all of the things of this world has to offer. And because we are not trained properly, because we don't spend time in God's word, we are susceptible.

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Colossians 3, 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom, teaching, abonishing one another with songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God.

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Thanks be to God that we are in a church where we, as brothers and sisters, can come together and do this exact thing.

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That we can worship almighty God. That we can turn to His word. That we can do battle together.

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The toolbox we need to do battle to have that daily grime removed is the word of God. Ephesians 5, 25 -27,

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Paul writes, Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless.

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2 Corinthians 7, 1, Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

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Daily, we should be turning to these pages, letting this be what fills our minds and our hearts so that our minds are renewed, they are cleansed, prepared so that we can stand.

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It's not hard to go to a church that's doing a service or a sermon or a series or a study on the armor of God.

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We love that passage in Ephesians, don't we? We love the idea and the picture of this armored up, battle ready

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Christian. And I think so often we fail to recognize what's really going on here.

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Notice that the words in these verses are truth, righteousness, gospel, faith, salvation, word.

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These are the true weapons. These are the true shields. These are the true things that will prevent you, that will allow you to, as it says, stand in the evil day.

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And then in Revelation, we see this picture in Revelation 22, verse 14, where it says,

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Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.

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The word of God is life to the believer. You don't get to life without Christ's blood, but your life is sustained by His word.

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Finally, if you recall earlier, I mentioned that there are no dimensions mentioned.

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There are no dimensions given. Nor is there anything that talks about the amount of water that the lover holds.

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This suggests that even in the judgment of Christ, symbolized by the bronze, that there is unlimited provision that has been made by God for our cleansing.

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The blood of Christ is sufficient. The blood of Christ is effective to remove every spot, stain, blemish, or wrinkle.

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And the word of God, the word of God is sufficient to continually strengthen and encourage us for this walk through life to have the ability to stand that we may be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm.

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Again, this morning, we are reminded of the holiness of God and the high calling of those who are

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His. The lover, though, there is very little in the way of description that it seems to be very simple, carries with it a profound and enduring message for the people of God.

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It stands between the place of sacrifice and the place of communion, not to replace the blood, to prepare the worshiper to draw near.

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And so it is with us. We sitting here this morning who have been justified by the blood of Christ are not left to wander aimlessly in the wilderness of this world.

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We have been given the word of God, the guide, that thing which is living and active and sharper than any two -edged sword.

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It's a means of daily cleansing, of guidance, of sanctification. Truth is, we need the water.

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We need the water of the word not simply as a concept to affirm or a text to quote, but as this continual stream in which we wash, a fountain of truth from which we draw life, clarity, conviction, and comfort.

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It is in the word that we see our sin. It is through the word that the spirit convicts, corrects, and conforms us to the image of Christ.

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Apart from that word, we grow dull. Apart from that word, we lose our sense of direction, and apart from his word, our communion with God grows cold.

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I opened up with statistics that aren't just data points. They're warnings. They're signs.

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They testify to a church increasingly conformed to the world rather than being transformed by the renewing of the mind.

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It reveals a profession of faith without a power of conviction.

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In other words, it reveals the tremendous lostness that actually exists.

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You and I are not called to live by the shifting winds of culture. We are not called to be modern or relevant to the world outside.

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We are called to live according to the word of God. We are not called to living according to our emotions.

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Remember, 70 -some -odd percent of people think that they find truth in emotions. Emotions are fickle.

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Our heart, above all things, is deceitful. You and I live according to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

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So, let us ask this question. Are we daily coming to the water of the word? Are we allowing the scripture to wash our hearts and our minds to prepare us for communion with God?

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Are we rightly handling the word of God that we may not die, but live in joyful, holy fellowship with Almighty God?

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So, my question to you here this morning because this deals specifically with believers. So, if you hear my voice right now and you are a believer, this question is specifically directed at you.

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Will you continue to let the dust of the world gather on your soul? Or will you come and be cleansed again and again by the water of the word?

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Let us pray. Our most gracious Holy Father, we thank you for the clarity, for the sufficiency of your word.

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Father, we know your word is life life to our bones. It is light to our path.

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You have not left us in darkness. You have not called us to walk alone, but you have given us your spirit and you have given us your truth to sanctify us day by day.

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Father, as we reflect on these truths, we are humbled by the call to holiness that rests upon all who have been purchased by the blood of Christ.

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Father, forgive us. Forgive us for the times we have neglected the cleansing of your word.

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Forgive us when we have drawn near to you with defiled hands and unwashed feet.

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Father, our prayer is that you cleanse us again this day. That you cause us to walk in your statutes and to treasure your precepts.

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Let the water of your word refresh our weary hearts and prepare us for deeper communion with you.

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Strengthen us to walk in obedience and give us a growing hunger for your truth. May we be a people of the book, shaped, guarded, and joyful in your word.

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ask all of this in the name of our great high priest, Jesus Christ. Amen.