The Power of God's Word.—Last week it was shown that the Holy Scriptures, while given through men, are of God; that the words written and spoken were inbreathed by him, even as the various notes and tones are inbreathed by the musician into the flute or cornet upon which he plays; that God thus spake his word through all the various characters that he did in order to reach the various classes of men; that even as the Eternal Word was made flesh and dwelt among men, so God's written and spoken word has been manifest among the words of men. God's Power in His Word.—The word of a man is worth just as much as the ability and integrity there are behind it, and is everywhere so rated. But the integrity of God is unquestioned, for he cannot lie; he is Incarnate Truth. His power is infinite, and therefore he has ability to accomplish all he utters. In fact, the power is in the word he speaks. He utters no needless words; infinite wisdom and power and love are in them all. His power being in his word, what he says is necessarily so. He speaks and it is. He calls things that are not as though they were; and that word which so calls them in its own time makes them what they are called. The Creation.—The power of God's word was manifest in the creation. God said, "Let there be light, and light was." The Psalmist says: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. 33 : 6, 9. The same voice which called them into existence spoke the laws for their operation and continuance. All these things God did through Christ (1 Cor. 8 : 6); and Christ upholds, maintains, "all things by the word of his power." Heb. 1 : 3. See Col. 1 : 16, 17. "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth." Isa. 40 : 26. This is the power of God's word. That Power Is Life.—All power voluntarily exercised is the result of life. The manifestation of God's power is the expression of his life. Says Jesus, "The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life." John 6:63. Man may again come into possession of this life, or power, from God by receiving God's word through faith. The receiving of the word of God by faith is the reception of Christ, the Incarnate Word. Paul declares that this word "effectually worketh" in the hearts of all those who receive it by faith as the word of God. 1 Thess. 2:13. All the miracles wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ were for the same purpose. When he said to the poor, loathsome leper, "Be thou clean" (Matt. 8 : 3), the leper by faith received the words, and the life, or power, in the words made him physically a new man. When he said to the waves, "Be still," the power of the words stilled the waves. When he spoke to the sick of the palsy, "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house," the poor man received the words, and the word "effectually worked." The Lesson.—Now all that Jesus did, all that he has told us of God's power in the Holy Bible,—the creation of the world, the opening of the Red Sea, the speaking of the dead to life,—are to teach us that this same word will wash away the black record of our sin, will cleanse the inborn and inbred unrighteousness, will keep us from the power of the enemy, will make immortal the mortal body by the same power which cleanses the soul. Phil. 3 : 21. "These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." John 20 : 31. Having his life, we will have his power. As the leper by faith received the life-giving word and was cleansed from disease, so we by faith receive the life-giving word and are cleansed from sin. John 15 : 3; 1 John 1 : 9. As his word of power has kept the worlds, so is he able to keep (and will if we believe) us "from falling," and to present us "faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." Jude 24. Our part is simply to receive Christ by his word, to believe, to submit, to choose him and him alone. He must have the whole heart. Will you not yield it?