Yeah. Thank you, Joy. Good evening.
Let's open up tonight's service in the hardback hymnal number
10. Number 10. We haven't sung this in a while.
Oh God, our help in ages past. Number 10, if you could please
stand. ? O God our help in ages past ?
Our hope for years to come ? Our shelter from the stormy blast
? And our eternal home Under the shadow of thy throne, still
may we dwell secure. Sufficient is thine arm alone,
and our defense is sure. ? Before the hills in order stood
? ? O'er earth received her frame ? ? From everlasting thou art
God ? ? To endless years the same ? Time, like an ever-rolling
stream, bears all its sons away. They fly forgotten as a dream,
dies at the opening day. O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come. Be thou our guide while life
shall last and our eternal home. You may be seated. Good evening. We're going to
read from Colossians chapter one. If you'd like to turn with
me there in your Bibles, Colossians chapter one. I thought the Lord gave us the
best meeting we've ever had this past weekend. I'm so very thankful
for it. Thankful for you all and. Thankful
mostly for the Lord. Blessing us with his presence Todd and Lynn got away this morning
and Donnie and Shirley and Chris and Vicki left. Well, Chris and
Vicki left this morning also. Donnie and Shirley left this
afternoon. So they're all back home. So I wanted to get back
for services tonight. Colossians chapter one, we'll
begin reading in verse 11. Strengthened with all might,
according to his glorious power, unto all patients and long-suffering
with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light. He had to make us fit vessels in order to make us partakers
of that inheritance, which we have in the new birth. who has
delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us
into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth visible, invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things and
by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that
in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased the
father that in him should all fullness dwell and having made
peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all
things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth
or things in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works. See, we were enemies in our mind
towards God, but he was never at enmity. He was never an enemy
of ours. Loved us with an everlasting
love even when we were at enmity with him. You were alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works yet now. hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in his sight. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
We rejoice and thank you for the revelation of of thy dear son and the perfection
that is in him and that which you give us in him. Father, to
be able to come into thy presence, knowing that in Christ that we
are holy, unblameable and unreprovable in thy sight. That's a miracle
of grace that can only be performed. By him. Lord, we have nothing
in ourselves that's unblameable, nothing in ourselves that's unreprovable. But what great hope we have in
knowing that. We have an advocate Jesus Christ,
the righteous one. Seated at thy right hand, ever
living to make intercession for us. And we ask Lord that you
would. Bless your word to our hearts
and that you would cause us to set our affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand. Lord, that
you would increase our faith. Forgive us of our sins. Enable
us to find our rest, our hope and all our joy and satisfaction.
In the Lord Jesus Christ, for it's in his name we ask it. Amen. Let's take the hardback again
and turn to number 34. Number 34, if you could please
stand, number 34. Immortal, invisible, God only
wise. Enlightened, accessible, hid
from our eyes. Most blessed, most glorious,
the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we
praise. Unresting, unhasting, and silent
as light, Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might, Thy justice
like mountains high soaring above, thy clouds which are fountains
of goodness and love. To all life Thou givest, to both
great and small. In all life Thou livest, the
true life of all. We blossom and flourish as leaves
on the tree. and wither and perish, but naught
changeth thee. Great Father of glory, pure Father
of light, Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their side. All praise we would render, O
help us to see Tis only the splendor of light, bright as thee. You may be seated. I've titled this message, Provisions
for His Church. Provisions for His Church. Gracious and merciful our God
is. To provide. For his people, everything
they need. In this life and in the life
to come. And our text will be found in
Psalm 104. We looked at part of that Psalm
last Sunday. Before we do, I want to read
by way of introduction, Revelation Chapter 12. Just a couple of
verses. Revelation Chapter 12. And she. Verse five, that's the Old Testament
church. That's the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. And she brought forth a man-child,
that's Christ, who was to rule all nations with a wrought iron
and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. And that's where he is now. He
has ascended to the right hand of his father And he's taken
his rightful place. And what happened to her? What
happened to the church? We'll look at the next verse.
And the woman, that's us, fled into the wilderness. That's where
we live. We live in the wilderness. We
live in a dry and thirsty land, a place where there is no bread,
a place where there's no meat, a place where there's no water.
And she fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared
of God. This is that place, isn't it?
This is the provision. We live in a wilderness and God
has provided for his church a place that they should feed her there. 1,203 score days, that's three
and a half years. And that's the, a prophetic reference all throughout
Revelation for this period of time in which we live between
the first and second coming of Christ. God has provided for
her a place. And in Psalm 104, the Lord tells
us what those provisions are. Now we saw Sunday that the water
of God's word in which he washes his bride is his word, that's
his word. That's the provision that he's
made. He speaks to us, he comforts us, he reveals himself to us. He shows us the benefits of his
provisions and of his grace and mercy, all in his word. And that's the water that's being
spoke of here. We see in Revelation, I mean,
in Genesis chapter one, that the spirit of God had to breathe
upon the waters. in order for this dark, void,
lifeless world to have any life, the Spirit of God breathed upon
the face of the water. And right there in Revelation
chapter, I mean in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2, we see the Word of
God being referenced to as water. And the Spirit of God, every
time we open God's Word, every time we come together, that's
our prayer. Lord, send your Spirit. Cause
your Word to be alive. Cause it to speak effectually
to my heart. Lord, don't let me, don't let
me become cold and indifferent toward your word. And the spirit
of God breathed upon, moved upon the face of the waters. And in
Psalm 46, verse four, we read, and there is a river. There is
a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God. Now you know what that river
is, that's the same river that's spoken of in the book of Revelation
that's clear as crystal that flows from the throne of God
and from the lamb. So the provision that God makes
for us is found in the water of his word. Without that, we'd
die thirst. We need that rock that was smitten
by the rod of the law to be broken open and for the water of God's
word to spill out lest we die in this wilderness. Now that's
the water that's being referenced here in, in, in Psalm 1 0 4. At Revelation chapter 22, that
river that flows clear as crystal from the throne of God and from
the lamb, and in verse two, it says, on either side of the river,
and that word either means on both, on both sides of the river
was the tree of life. So there's the provision. The
Lord Jesus Christ is on both sides of the river. We're on
one side of the river now. We're going to cross that Jordan
River and we're going to go into the promised land one day and
we're going to find him to be on the other side too. We look
through a glass darkly now, but then face to face. We see in
part now, but then we'll see even as we are seeing and the
fullness of his glory. So the message, the provision
that God makes for us is a revelation of Christ given to us in his
word, that river that flows from God, that river that was from
the very beginning that the spirit of God had to blow upon and the
river that makes glad the city of God. Another place, this Psalm 104
speaks of the flood, Noah's flood, and it's symbolic. We saw last
week that it's sort of a picture of the flood of sin and how God
recedes those floods and puts them back where they belong and
where they can't ever be found again. But tonight I want us
to understand this whole picture of water as the word of God.
And The scripture says that God's word is a saver of life and it
is a saver of death. God's word will speak condemnation
to some and it will speak life and comfort and hope to others. What makes the difference? Faith
does. God gives you eyes to see. If
he gives you faith to believe his word, then his word is a
comfort to you. His word is that river that quenches
our thirst. And if he doesn't, if he doesn't,
then his word is a saver of death to us. It's a message of condemnation. It's a message of judgment. And
so it is in the picture that the Lord gave us here. Look at
verse six of Psalm 104. Thou cover'st it with the deep
as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains. Now that's a reference to the
flood, but I want you to see. that the same water that destroyed
the world lifted up the ark. And so it is today. God sends
the water of his word, and to some it is a word of judgment. To others who are found in Christ,
That's where Noah and his family was. They were in the ark that
had been pitched or had been atoned for, had been covered
inside and out. And the same water that destroyed
the world gave buoyancy to the ark and kept the ark above the
waters. So turn with me to 2 Corinthians
2. I was talking to Another preacher recently and
we were talking about. You know. Speaking words of comfort to
God's people and I and I and I said, you know, I wanna I wanna
preach. Compassionately and I want to I want to preach to the hearts
of God's people and if there's a lost person there Listening
in you know, you know, maybe maybe they'll hear something
but I don't want to use the pulpit to just try to just condemn and
and and and But here in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 the scriptures are
very clear about how it is that we're to preach and we ought
not to We ought not to be too concerned about whether or not
we're preaching to believers or preaching to lost people,
because preaching is honoring God with what you say. It's pleasing
the Lord with what you say. Look at, Second Corinthians chapter two,
look at verse 14. Now, thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest the
savor of his knowledge by us in every place. Now Paul's speaking
about preaching the gospel. He makes that clear in the last
verse. Look at the, look at verse 17 for we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God
in the side of God speak, we, and that little preposition in
would be better translated of speak. And it's, it changes without
the scriptures. We speak of Christ. We're not
as some who corrupt the word of God or twist the word of God.
or change the word of God, we speak of Christ. So he's talking
about preaching the gospel. He's talking about delivering
the water of God's word. And go back with me to verse
15. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ. When we preach and when we are
unto God, The saver is God's saver. In them that are saved and in
them that perish. The message is preached to the
pleasure of God. It is required of a steward that
he be found faithful. So our message is to honor God
and to please God and be faithful to the word of God and to some.
It'll be death, and to others, it'll be life. But either way,
it will go as a sweet savor to God. Look at the next verse. To the one, we are a savor of
death unto death, and to the other, a savor of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things? Who's sufficient? Who's sufficient to preach this
gospel? Who's sufficient to believe this gospel? Who's sufficient
to read about this gospel? To, to, to, to rest in this. Well, none of us are sufficient.
He had to make us meet to be partakers of the, of his nature. And we have this treasure in
an earthen vessel, don't we? So turn with me to first Thessalonians
chapter two. First Thessalonians chapter two. We want to honor God with his
word. We want to speak in a way that
honors him, that glorifies him, that's faithful to his word.
And to some, to some, it'll be life. To others, it'll be death. When the water comes, it'll destroy
some and it'll lift up others. And while the only thing that
makes the difference is if we're found in the Ark in Christ. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2 at
verse 4. But as we were allowed of God
to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing
men, but God, which trieth our hearts. See, we don't need to
be concerned, well, I wonder how this person's hearing it
or how that person's hearing it, or do we preach to, do we
try to address the needs of lost people or do we preach to God's
people? We just preach the gospel to please God, to honor God.
And the Lord will apply it one way or the other to the hearts
of men. So here's that river. That river
that flows clear as crystal. Paul said in first Corinthians
chapter four, verses one and two, we are ministers of Christ
and stewards of the mystery of God. We've been given the responsibility
of this, of this gospel message. Moreover, it is required of a
steward that he'd be found faithful and God's the one that tries
the heart. So. That's how we preach. We preach
honoring God and being faithful to God and trusting him to make
application of his truth and of his word to give to give those
who are thirsty clear water to drink. And he does, that's the
provision. She's been cast out in the wilderness.
She's brought forth the man child and he's gone on to glory. And
he said, it's expedient for you to go away, for if I go not away,
the comforter will not come. But when he comes, when he comes,
what he's gonna do, he's gonna testify of me. He's gonna take
the word of God and reveal Christ to our hearts. The place where
God has provided for us is in his word. And it's in the glory
and sufficiency and preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
a provision. The world knows nothing of this
provision. They're just feeding on the husk that the swine did
eat, and they're just drinking from the broken cisterns of man-made
freewill works religion. We've got a provision made for
us. You see, they live in the same
wilderness we live in. The unbeliever doesn't have anything to eat
or drink to satisfy this. We're talking about satisfying
the soul. We're not talking about just providing for the flesh.
We're talking about satisfying the needs of our immortal soul
to be right with God. And, um, they're, they're eating
dust and drinking poison. And God says, I provided for
my bride of place. These waters that overflowed
the hills, go back with me to Psalm 104. These waters that
overflowed the hills. Look at verse 3, he layeth the
beams of his chambers in the waters. What are the beams? His chambers
is his church. That's his place of residence.
That's where he manifests himself. And he lays the very beams of
his church in the waters. Where is that? In the water of
his word. That's where we find out that he's the foundation
stone. He's the stone that became the
head of the corner. He's the pillar and the ground
of the truth. He's laid his beams for his church
and for his bride. He's provided them a house. And he's made of each of them
living stones stacked one on top of the other, all built on
that one foundation stone. And it's all in the water, in
the water of his word. You see without God's where we
would, we would not known anything of these things. We would, we
would look at creation and we would know that there is a God
and we'd go about worshiping the creature. If God had not
given us the special revelation of his word, look at, um, look at verse seven at thy rebuke,
they fled. And the voice of thy thunder,
they hastened away. The floodwaters of judgment went
away. And they go up by the mountains. They go down by the valleys into
the place which thou hast founded for them. The water of God's
word, the Lord has found a place in the hearts of his people.
It's the only place where God's word is made alive. The only
place where Christ is revealed in the word of God. Men can study
the Bible. And they can learn the history
of it and they can learn some doctrine and they can memorize
some verses. But without the spirit of God
blowing upon the waters, the face of the Lord Jesus Christ
is not going to be revealed. That's the place that God has
provided. Christ in you is your hope of
glory. He is your hope of glory. And
he's made known to us by his word. Of his own will, begat he us
with the word of truth. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God for they that come to him must believe that he is.
He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And faith
comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. So
these are the waters. It's the water of his word. It's
it's as Todd said, it's bath time. Every time we come to God's
word in it. and how oftentimes we need to
have our feet cleaned. We walk out there in that dirty
world. And Peter said, wash me all over. And what'd the Lord
say? No, you're clean. Water, my words made you clean,
but you got your feet dirty because you've been back out there in
the world again. And, you know, there are religious groups that
practice foot washing. You know, and they think that
they're doing something spiritual. They think there's doing something
religious when they get together and wash each other's feet. They
don't know that that's exactly what we're doing right now. We're
washing each other's feet with the water of God's word. Every
time we preach the gospel, we don't have to practice some physical
act in order to see that accomplished. It's a spiritual work, isn't
it? It's a spiritual work. Look at verse nine, thou has
set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not
again to cover the earth. Now, you know, he's talking about
Noah's flood, but here's the water. God's, God's word is made
effectual by God's power and by God's will where God wants
it. He sets a bound. He makes it, he makes it, he
doesn't just throw it out there willy nilly to see where it's
going to stick and who's going to believe it. No, he, He shoots
arrows, doesn't he? He's like that time when that
arrow was shot and it just happened, you know, just right between
the shoulder blades. That's where God does. He shoots
the arrow of his word and he's got a target for it every time,
doesn't he? He's not just throwing it out
there to see who's gonna believe it. He has bounds to it. He sendeth the springs into the
valleys which run among the hills. Here's the, here's the spring.
Here's the river that's in the city of God, whose streams make
glad the city of God. She made glad when you hear what
God has to say and you, and you see the glory of Christ and his
word and, and your hearts are, are moved. And he goes on to
say, look at, uh, look at verse 11. They give drink to every
beast of the field and wild asses quench their thirst. There we
are. Lord, I'm a beast before you. I'm just a wild ass. And Lord, I'm so thankful for
those streams that you send that I can quench my thirst and have
life. I am the water of life. Isn't
that what the Lord said? By them shall the fowls of heaven
have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He water
at the hills from his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the
fruit of thy works. God's people are satisfied with
the fruit of his works. Now what is the fruit of his
life? That was his work. To live a
life of sinlessness before God. To be obedient even unto death. To fulfill all righteousness. Is that what his life is about?
And so the fruit of his life is righteousness and we're satisfied
with his righteousness knowing that we have no righteousness
of our own. We're completely dependent upon his righteousness.
So the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, the fruit of his life
was to produce a righteousness that would be pleasing to God.
And he did just that. And those that are in the earth
are satisfied with the fruit of his work. Now what's, what
else, what other work did he perform? Not just his life of
obedience and perfection and holiness, but his death and his
resurrection. What's the fruit of that? What's
the fruit of that? It's justification. It's redemption. It's sanctification. It's holiness. It's it's salvation in every
way. That's the fruit of his work.
The work that he did on Calvary's cross, the fruit of which is
our justification before God, our sanctification before God,
our redemption before God. And all the hope of our salvation
is the fruit of his work. And so this is the work that's
revealed in his word. The water of his word reveals
his work and reveals the fruit of his work. We don't just believe
that he lived a sinless life. That's not where our satisfaction
is. Our satisfaction is in what that sinless life produced, what
fruit came from it. We don't just believe that he
died on Calvary's cross, but we're satisfied with what that
produced, what came of that, that when he said, it's finished,
that the father was satisfied and we're satisfied. And then
his ascension is his work, his life, death, resurrection, and
ascension back into glory. What's the fruit of that? Our
redemption, I mean, our glorification. All the blessings are in the
heavens in Christ right now. And we're in Christ right now.
So when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended back into glory, he
took with him the names of those for whom he lived. Not just their
names, he took them. He took them. So the fruit of
his ascension is glorification. But the fruit of his ascension
also is the Holy Spirit. He, I've already quoted this
passage. He said, I, I must go to my father and it's good for
you. It's expedient for you that I
go away. For if I go not away, the comfort of when I come, when
he comes, he would convict the world of sin of righteousness
and of judgment of sin, because They believe not only of righteousness
because I go to my father and of judgment because the prince
of this world is judged. That's the fruit of his ascension.
It's the Holy Spirit and we're satisfied with the Holy Spirit
revealing to us what we're ready to have revealed
to us. So look at verse 13 again. He watereth the hills from his
chambers. So we're those little hills and
he's watering us with his word from his chamber. He's opening
the windows of heaven and he's letting the showers of blessings
come through his word and through the preaching of the gospel.
And the earth is satisfied. with the fruit of his work. He causes the grass to grow for
the cattle and herb for the service of man that he may bring forth
food out of the earth. Here's his provision. He causes
us to lie down in green pastures. He causes, you know, what did
Isaiah say and what did the Lord say in Isaiah 4? Tell them they're
grass. Tell them they're grass. But grass grows, doesn't it?
Grass grows. How do we grow? How do we grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? By
his word. The more God speaks to us by
his word, the more we grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ.
And he feeds us. He feeds us. This is his provision. This is the provision that the
unbeliever knows nothing about. This is what he provides for
his church, for his bride, who has been cast out in the wilderness
and the Lord has prepared a place for her. The world knows nothing
about this. Look at verse 15. and wine that maketh glad the
heart of man and oil to make his face to shine and bread which
strengtheneth man's heart. This all comes as our food from
the water that comes down from heaven. He causes the rain to come and
he gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. And we know
what bread and wine and oil is. The Lord said, I am the bread
of life, if you eat not of my body and drink not of my blood,
it's because there's no life in you. When we celebrate the
Lord's table, what are we doing? The life and the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All our righteousness being in
his unleavened, holy life, so that we, as we read in Colossians,
are un-reprovable. Holy in his sight. And that's because of the bread,
this bread of life. I'm the bread that came down
from heaven. That manna that your fathers ate in the wilderness,
Moses didn't give it to them. I'm that bread of life that was
given every single day. And the wine, the wine's his
work of redemption on Calvary's cross. This is what comes. You
see, every time we go to God's word, we see something of the
life and death and the fruit of the life and death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he gives us bread and wine and oil. You know what oil is. The anointing of oil that was
placed on Aaron's head and went down his beard and dripped off
his robe. And the scripture says that the
Lord Jesus Christ is the anointed one, he's our high priest. You remember when in Genesis
chapter 14, when Abraham came back from the battle of the Kings
and he met Melchizedek, Melchizedek, the King of Salem. and the high
priest of God. And we know from Hebrews that
that was a pre-incarnate revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
You remember what Melchizedek brought to Abraham? Bread and
wine. That's what he brought. And Abraham
paid tithes and Melchizedek blessed Abraham. He blessed him. And
God blesses us, the Lord Jesus Christ as our high priest, as
our king, he brings his body and his death and feeds his children
by the water of his word. This is the provision that God,
that he promises for his people. We have no food outside of this.
I mean, we eat physically and we, you know, we enjoy the things
that the Lord provides for us in this life as best we can,
but none of that can feed the soul. None of that can give us
hope of salvation. None of that can comfort us and
reveal God to us. It's only done through the bread
and the wine and the oil, which is the spirit of God. He's been
given the oil of gladness above his fellows. at pouring out of
the oil, that anointing of the oil. And if the spirit of God
doesn't blow and the oil of God's glad, then there's no shine to
our music. The countenance. Look at, look
at this verse again. Uh, verse 15 and wine that make
us glad the heart of man. He's not talking about getting
drunk. He's talking about, he's talking about drinking this,
this wine of the blood of the Lord, Jesus Christ, seeing what
his death, what the fruit of his labor was on Calvary's cross. When he bowed his mighty head
and said in his finish and satisfied everything that God required
for us, it makes glad the heart of man, doesn't it? And the oil,
look what he, look what he says. an oil that makes the face to
shine. Oh, you, you know the difference
in your own countenance and you see it in others, don't you?
When the oil of gladness blesses your heart with a revelation
of Christ and all of a sudden, all my troubles, all my troubles
are gone. When, when the Lord speaks to
our hearts and makes it clear to us by the oil of his spirit,
that all is well, all's on schedule, and that he has actually accomplished
our salvation once and for all. Counting his changes, doesn't
it? And look at the last part, and bread which strengtheneth
man's heart. Oh, we're strengthened by the
bread of life. When that bread is broken, And
you know, when in Luke chapter 24, when the Lord is revealing
himself to those disciples on the road to Emmaus and they get
to their house and they convince him, they plead with him to stay.
They convince him, we don't convince God of anything, but it plead
with him to say, well, please stay with us, stay for dinner.
We've enjoyed our conversation with you, we wanna carry it on.
And in the breaking of bread, their eyes were opened. And that's
always the case in the breaking of bread. That's what we're doing
right now. Every time you go to God's word and every time
the spirit of God brings God's word to your mind and to your
heart, you, you breaking God's bread and our eyes are open when
the bread of life is broken. My body. That's the bread, is
meat indeed. And my blood, that's the wine,
is meat indeed. First time oil is mentioned in
the scriptures is in Genesis chapter 28. You remember Jacob
is running from Esau and he stops in a place that he later calls
Bethel, the house of God, and that's where He makes for himself
a pillow out of a rock. I always had a hard time, I thought,
I mean, why don't you just roll up some grass or something? Why
would you use a rock for a pillow? How uncomfortable is that? But
you see the picture. He's resting his hope on Christ,
who is that rock? And he gets a big, the Lord gives
him a vision of a ladder. And, and, and the Lord ascending
and descending on that ladder, being the Lord Jesus Christ coming
down and going back into glory. And when he wakes up, you know
what he does? He pours oil out on that rock. And then he leaves and goes to
Laban and Rachel and Leah and all that that happens. And just
a few chapters in Genesis later, Genesis chapter 35, I think it
is, he comes back to Bethel and he anoints that pillar again
with oil. Now I'm not calling a pillow
a pillar. The scripture says that it was, that he stacked
up some rocks there and he poured oil on them. He anointed that
place and he called it Bethel, the house of God. What a picture of the anointing
of the spirit of God. on Christ revealing to us our
rest in God's house. He set his beams in the water. He reveals himself in the water
of his word all for the purpose of providing for his bride. He's provided a place for her. Her child, her man child has
ascended back into glory. We saw that in Revelation and
in the very next verse. And she was cast out into the
wilderness. And in the wilderness, she's
got to contend with all the things that take place in this wilderness.
But the Lord has provided a place for her. Verse 16, the trees of the Lord
are full. Now you see where of sap is written
in italics, trees of the Lord are full. Now you, how many times
trees are mentioned in the scripture? The first time is the tree of
life. It was in the garden. And that tree is mentioned all
the way at the end. And we know who that tree singular, not trees,
tree singular is Christ. And he bears his fruit in 12
seasons, and he's always providing for his children. And then the
church is called the trees of righteousness, which are the
plantings of the Lord. And so we're likened to trees,
and here he likens us to the cedars of Lebanon. And the cedars
of Lebanon were, were beautiful and majestic and strong and,
and profitable for wood and, and, and, and aromatic and all
the things about the cedars of Lebanon. And he's calling them.
They, he said, the trees are full. They're full. They're full
of mercy and they're full of grace. Why? Because I provided
for them. I didn't leave them out there to, to, to burn up
in the sun and to know I've given them. The trees of Lebanon require
water to live and he plants us by rivers of living water. This
is the water that's coming down. This is his provision for his
church. Making known the wine and the
oil and the bread and the trees of the Lord are full and the
cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted. He planted them. He grew them from seed. You're planting a tree from,
we've got several trees in our yard that I've planted over the
years from seed. Some fruit bearing trees and
some maple trees, but we planted them from seed. And it's a beautiful
thing to watch that tree come up and become a big tree from
a little tiny seed. But, We have a seed in us, not corruptible
seed, but incorruptible, which is the word of God. So these
trees are the planting of the Lord. You're a tree of a cedar
of Lebanon, you're full and God planted you. And he planted you
from the seed of his word. And he watered it with the water
of his word. And he revealed the wine through the oil and
the bread. This is his provision for his
bride. This is the woman that was cast
out into the wilderness. The unbeliever lives in the same
wilderness we live in. And they don't have, they don't
know anything about these provisions. They're trying to satisfy their
need with all sorts of temporal worldly provisions. And, uh,
God's people can't get any comfort from those things. What did Job
say? Job said, the root of the matter. He's talking about a tree, the
tree of righteousness. He said, the root of the matter
is in me. That's the tree that's full.
And what did John the Baptist say when he came preaching the
gospel? He said, the ax is laid to the root of the tree. He's
talking about Israel, a self-righteous, pharisaical, law-mongering Israel. He said, God's about to cut that
tree down. But out of that tree is gonna come the stem of Jesse.
The church is gonna grow out of that tree and I'm gonna provide
for her. And what do these trees do? They
provide a place for birds to make their nests. Fir tree, we're the birds of
God. We nest in this tree that God
has planted, don't we? In the church, the hill, the
high hills are refuge for the wild goats and the rocks for
the coneys or the badgers, some kind of rock badger. I understand
that word means. And these are the wild goats. What do they do? They don't know
anything about the water that's down in the valley. They don't
know anything about the stream that makes glad the city of God. They don't know anything about
the word of God. So what are they doing? They're hiding out
in the rocks. They're up in the hills scavenging and living among
the rocks and hiding in the rocks. And when the wrath of God comes,
they're going to cry for those rocks to fall on them. Well,
God's people are living in the valley. That's where he's provided
for them. He appointed the moon for seasons
and the sun knoweth is going down Lord. This is the son of
righteousness who's come with healing in his wings. According
to Malachi chapter four, this is the son of God. And he knows
when he's going down. And in the meantime, I mean,
in, in the, in the, in the same world is the light of the moon,
isn't it? The moon reflects the light of
the sun. There's the picture of the church
to that woman over there in revelation is pictured as standing on the
moon and that's the church all around. They'll make us darkness verse
20. And it is night where in all
the beast of the forest do creep forth and the young lions roar
after their prey and seek their meat from God. Oh, and the sun
goes down and it gets dark. That's when the, that's when
the lions come out to eat. And what does the, what does
the Lord like in that line too? He's the, he's the accuser of
the brethren. He's roaring about to seek who
he may devour. That's Satan. But brethren, Satan
is God's Satan. He's God's Satan. And he may
roam around in the night. And when the light of God's word
grows dim in our hearts, we may find ourselves well, Job's a
perfect picture that Satan cannot do anything to God's people without
God's permission. And he can only go so far. You
know, Satan had to go ask God's permission every single time
he did something against Job. And so it is with me and you
and the Lord is not going to let him have any more of us than. then we'll be for our good. Be
for our good. It's testing. He uses this roaring
line during the dark, which times when it's dark and the light
goes dim, and Lord allows Satan to try our faith during that
time of darkness. Why? To chase us back to the
light, because look what happens. Look what happens. Verse 22,
the sun ariseth and they gather themselves together and lay them
down in their dens. Oh, Satan goes away when the
sun comes up, doesn't it? Those lions hide out in a den
when the sun's shining. Man goeth forth unto his work
and to his labor until evening. The Lord said, work while it's
day, for the night's coming when no man can work. He wasn't talking
about day and night physically, he was talking about the light
of the gospel shining through God's word. And God's people
work when the gospel's being lit. And when the night comes, Work ceases. Oh Lord, verse 24. How manifold
are thy works. In wisdom hast thou made them
all. The earth is full of thy riches. Only God could have worked
out a way to save sinners. while preserving his holiness
and his justice. Only God could have worked that
out. And he had to do it all, didn't he? How manifold are the
wisdom of thy works. Lord, who would have figured
out something so glorious to glorify God, to preserve and
protect his holy character and his justice and have mercy on
sinners all at the same time through the sacrifice of his
son. So is this great and wide sea
verse 25. What is the sea? So it's this
word. You take, you go down here to the ocean and take one drop
of water out of that ocean and you have diminished the ocean
by one drop. And you say, well, you can't
tell. Maybe not, but you have diminished it by one drop. The
ocean of God's word cannot be diminished. It, it, it remains
exactly as infinitely glorious all the time, regardless how
much we drink from it. We keep drinking and it just
stays the same heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will
never pass away. His word remains full and infinite
and glorious. And so is this great and wide
sea, wherein all things creeping, innumerable, both small and great
beast." Lord, all the people of God, whether they be small
or great, whether they be young or old, whether they be wherever
they are in the growth of grace, they're swimming in the sea.
of God's Word. And this is his provision for
his church. In his world. And this world
knows nothing about it. Our Heavenly Father. We are humbled. Of your abundant
grace and mercy towards your children and towards your people.
Providing us a revelation of thy dear son. And the truth of
thy word. Lord, how we pray that you would
make it alive and effectual once again to our hearts. For we prayed
in Christ's name, amen. 186, let's stand together, 186. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her and for her life he died. Elect from every nation, yet
one o'er all the earth, her charter of salvation ? One Lord, one
faith, one birth ? ? One holy name she blesses ? ? Partakes
one holy food ? ? And to one hope she presses ? ? With every
grace and due ? Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her
war, she waits the consummation. ? Of peace forevermore ? ? Till
with the vision glorious ? ? Her longing eyes are blessed ? ?
And the great church victorious ? ? Shall be the church at rest
? ? Yet she on earth has union ? ? With God the three in one
? ? And mystic sweet communion ? ? With those whose rest is
won ? ? O happy ones and holy ? ? Lord give us grace that we
? Like them, the meek and lonely on high may dwell with me. Thank you, Joey.