Let us turn to God's Word in
the Psalm, Psalm 46, and I'll read verses 4 and 5. Psalm 46, verses 4 and 5. There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that
right early." It is a remarkable psalm, a wonderful psalm in many
respects. In fact, we made some reference
to it on the Lord's Day, of course. We were looking then at those
words in Exodus 14, verses 13 and 14, where Enoch says, Moses
to the people, as out there before the Red Sea,
with the armies of Pharaoh pursuing them, and locked in, it would
seem, on every side, and mightily afraid. Fear ye not. Stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you
today, says Moses. And then, at God's command, he
raises the rod and God divides the sea and makes a way of escape
for the children of Israel. Stand still and see the salvation
of God and of course we have a similar word here in this psalm
at verse 10 and I was referring to that particular verse last
Lord's Day morning. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth but as we come to look at the
psalm tonight i want to concentrate more particularly on these two
previous verses verses four and five and to take up the subject
matter of the river of gods the river of gods there is a river
the streams whereof shall make glad the city of god the holy
place of the tabernacles of the most high god is in the midst
of her she shall not be moved God shall help her, and that's
right early. This psalm was a great favorite,
as I'm sure you're aware, with, amongst others, Martin Luther. In fact, he's well-known hymn,
The Mighty Fortress Is Our God, is really based on the content
of this particular psalm. And we're told how on occasions
when things seem so dark for the Reformer and his associates,
he would turn in particular to his great friend Philip Melanchthon
and say, come Philip, let us sing Psalm 46. It was a psalm
that the Reformer found so much encouragement in. Well, looking
then tonight for a while at these words in verses 4 and 5, it speaks
of the city, it speaks of the city of God, Jerusalem, and it
speaks of the river. And though that water supply
to Jerusalem was so vital, when we come to the end of the life
of that gracious and godly man, King Hezekiah, There, in 2 Kings
chapter 20, we are told of his many acts, how he made a pool
and a conduit and brought water into the city. This is one of
the acts of Ezekiel and that's particularly recorded in scripture. He made provisions for water
to be brought into the city. When the Assyrians had come and
laid siege to Jerusalem, we're told how they stopped all the
fountains round about the city. They didn't want the enemy, of
course, to have any supply of water. Well, what was stopped
at one time, then, had to be attended to by King Hezekiah
at another time. Water, then, was so vital. It's vital, of course, to any
city. But here we read of that city
of God, Jerusalem. And, as I'm sure you're well
aware, Jerusalem, Mount Zion, the tabernacle, we have mentioned
the tabernacles of the Most High in verse 4, and then the temple. All of these are taken up time
and again in Scripture and set before us as a remarkable type
of the Church. The city of God is the Church. Remember, when we come to the
end of Holy Scripture there in Revelation 21, in the opening
Verses, the Apostle says, I, John, saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. The New Jerusalem, a type of
the church, the whole company of the election of Christ. And
again, in another psalm, in Psalm 132, we read those words, The
Lord hath chosen Zion He hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here
will I dwell, for I have desired it." And we just sang that well-known
hymn of John Newton's, glorious things of the outspoken Zion
city of our God. And in many ways, Parts of that
hymn is based on what we have in Psalm 46 before us, but also
there in the opening words we're reminded of what we read in Psalm
87 at verse 3. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God, Selah. And the Selahs, and we have three
in this particular psalm, they obviously have something to do
with the way in which the psalm was to be sung in the worship
in the tabernacle. But it's suggested that it's
not only that, they also indicate some sort of pause, something
to be considered, and I often think that when we find a sealer,
we should stop and consider just what is being written, what's
set before us. There in Psalm 87-3. Glorious
things are spoken of thee, O city of God, Selah. Well, let's look
at some of the glorious things that are spoken of this city
here in our text in verses 4 and 5 of Psalm 46. And I want really
just to speak of two things from these verses, say, something
with regards to the river, and then secondly, the streams. First of all, the river. There
is a river. The streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the
Most High. God is in the midst of her. And then in verse 7 and verse
11 we have a sort of refrain. The Lord of Hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge, Siloam. Now, that great Scottish
divine, Ralph Erskine, says that the river here is representative
of God himself. If the city is representative
of the church, the people of God, the river represents to
us God. And it's a reference to all of
the persons who are in the Godhead. It's a reference here to Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. In Scripture, that figure of
Wartus is often taken up and we find in various passages it
is applied to the three divine persons. We can think of God
the Father, and those familiar words that we find back in Jeremiah
2.13, where God is rebuking his ancient covenant people, the
children of Israel. He says, my people have committed
two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters. I knew them out, cisterns, broken
cisterns that can hold no water. God, God the Father is very much
the fountain of living waters and they'd forsaken God and they
were pursuing their idols. They wanted to be like the nations
round about Israel and of course it was in the days of Jeremiah
that God visited that terrible judgment upon them. when they
were taken into exile, when Jerusalem did eventually fall, when the
temple was destroyed and the godly remnants removed far, far
away. And what was the particular sin
that they were guilty of? It was the sin of idolatry, departing
from God, following the nations round about them. or they committed
then two evils, forsaking the fountain of living waters and
ewing them out those broken cisterns. But then also we see waters spoken
of in terms of the work of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of those words that we
have at the beginning of Zechariah chapter 13 in that day There
shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness." He's the father of the fountain
of living waters. Here is a fountain that has been
opened. And it says there, in that day. And the reference is
to the day of Christ, the last days, the gospel dispensation. Then the fountain is opened to
the house of David, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Or David could
say, though my house be not so with God. Yet there's provision,
you see, even for that family that was full of many who were
ungodly. The fountain is open for the
house of David and for all manner of sinners. And then again, we
read in Isaiah chapter 12, of the wells of salvation. Isaiah
12, 2, Behold, says the prophet, God is my salvation, I will trust
and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my
song, he also is become my salvation, therefore with joy ye shall draw
water out of the wells of salvation. Isn't that in many ways a name
of the Lord Jesus? He is not just a well, we have
the plural there, the wells of salvation. There is such an abundance
of salvation, such an abundance of grace where sin abounds, grace
that's so much more abound. And think of the words that the
Lord Jesus himself speaks to the Samaritan The woman at the
well at Sychar there in John 4, "...whosoever drinketh of
the water that I shall give him, says Christ, shall never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a fountain,
or a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The
Lord Jesus, He also is one whose ministry is associated with waters. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. And again, it's the words of
the Lord Jesus, there in John 7, 38 and 39. He says, He that
believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow fountains of living water. And then John makes that remark,
that he is speaking there of the Holy Spirit. because the
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Oh, the Lord then, speaking of
the coming of the Spirit, and He came, of course, in great
glory on the day of Pentecost. But how the Lord speaks there
of His coming. He that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers. rivers of water, it's the Spirit,
it's the ministry of the Spirit and we will presently sing that
lovely hymn of Samuel Medley 996 and it has that verse, this
river is his heavenly love proceeding from the throne above and all
its streams which here are found with comfort, joy, and peace
abound. This is the river then. The source
is in God himself, God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. But then, as we have the river,
so we have the streams. And I want to turn in the second
place to say something more particular with regards to the streams or
the riverlets that flow from this great river. The streams
whereof, it says, shall make Lad the city of God, the holy
place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst
of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that's
right early. The streams remind us, in a sense,
of the outworking of God's sovereign purpose. The free grace of God
flows as he comes to sinners in the gospel. And again, it's
a Trinitarian salvation. It is by means of these streams,
the outworking of his eternal purpose of salvation, that God
is in the midst of his people, and that God is there to help
her. But think of how all of the persons in the Godhead are
again involved in this outworking of salvation. There is, of course, the eternal
purpose of the Father. There is a river, or the source
from whence that river springs. Is it not the sovereign love
of God the Father? Look at how the psalm opens,
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though
the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains
shake with the swelling thereof. There is a contrast here. in
these verses, these three verses at the beginning of the psalm,
which speak of the raging of the sea, and then what we come
to at the beginning of verse 4, there is a river. The contrast
between the raging of the sea and this stately river that flows
so sweetly and so gently. Now, in Revelation Chapter 17
and verse 15, we are told quite explicitly what the waters are.
There in Revelation 17, 15, the waters we are told are peoples,
multitudes, nations, tongues. And that's what we're reading
of in these opening three verses. Again, think of the language
of Isaiah 57, 20, the wicked are like the troubled sea. when
it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There
is no rest, says my God, to the wicked. Here we have, you see,
the waters roaring, troubled, even mountains shaking. All is commotion, all is confusion. And yet then we have this river.
There is a river. Oh, it reminds us of God and
the purpose of God, and that purpose can never be overturned,
never be frustrated. The wise man tells us in Proverbs
19, there are many devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless,
the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. And God's purpose
is to stand. As we see here, verse 8, Come,
behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made
in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow, and gutteth
the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. Be still, and know that I am
God. O God is sovereign. And isn't
that really to be our comfort at all times? If we really do
believe in God, we must acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and we
can rest there. We can rest there. Our God is
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. And there is then, you see, great
consolation in the doctrine of God's eternal purpose, that He
has predestinated, he is foreordained, he is the one who is in absolute
control, that nothing ever takes him by surprise. We're to look
beyond circumstances, we're to be those who look to God, we're
to walk by faith and not by sight, says the Apostle. There is then
here the purpose of God, the outworking of that eternal purpose
of grace, the river, the streams whereof, make glad the city of
God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. But then also
here, are we not to think of the Son of God, are we not to
think of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all that fullness of grace
that is found in Him? And here I think of waters again,
and the streams. Think of what we are told in
that remarkable passage at the beginning of Ezekiel 47, where
we have waters proceeding from the temple. And the Prophet speaks
of these waters as they come forth from the temple. and initially
the waters reach to the ankles and then the waters become ever
deeper and they reach to the knees and then to the loins and
then all of a sudden there are waters to swim in I would commend
the passage to you just read through it I don't intend to
read it through now but just to direct you to a couple of
verses there in Ezekiel 47. Look at the language
that we have in verse 9 concerning these waters. It shall come to
pass that everything that liveth which moveth with us, whoever
the rivers shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very
great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither
for they shall be healed, and everything shall live whither
the river cometh. And then again at verse 12, And
by the river, it says, upon the bank thereof, on this side and
on that side shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaves shall
not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall
bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their
waters they issued out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof
shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine." And it's
a wonderful picture of the gracious outspreading of the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, we can think in terms
of the language that we have in the book of the Revelation. And there, right at the end of
that book, In Revelation chapter 22 John says, And he showed me a
pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of
the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there
the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded a fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations." Clearly there, there's a reference
back to the verses I just read in Ezekiel 47. And it comes out, it comes out
in the hymns, so many of them. I did wonder whether we might
tonight have sung that 932nd hymn, one of Thomas Calley's
hymns. Sea from Zion's sacred mountain,
streams of living water flow. God has opened there a fountain
that supplies the plains below. They are blessed, who its sovereign
virtues know. Trees of life, the banks adorning,
yield their fruit to all around. Those who eat are saved from
mourning. Pleasure comes, and hopes abound. fare their portion, endless life,
with glory crowned." Oh, the glorious fullness of the grace
of God that we have in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. It says the Apostle writing to
the Church of the of the Colossians all that fullness of grace in
and it's represented here you see the outworking of God's purpose
of salvation the streams of the river making glad the city of
God the tabernacles of the most high God in the midst of her
or she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right
early and then also here when we think of the outworking of
the of the covenant of grace, we have to think in terms of
its application, and that's the blessed ministry of God, the
Holy Spirit, those sovereign operations of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord says in that discourse with Nicodemus, John 3, 5, verily,
verily, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. born of water and
of the Spirit. The water is associated with
the Holy Spirit as the water is associated with the Father
and the Son. Titus 3.5 He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Or when the Spirit comes and
there is that renewing, that new birth, that regeneration,
there's a washing, there's the application. of all that Christ
has accomplished, that precious blood, that fountain opened for
sin and uncleanness. Oh, it was the Holy Spirit, of
course, who inspired the Scriptures. Those holy men of God, they spake
as they were moved by the Spirit of God. All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God. and the Spirit, does he not use
the Scriptures? Does he not make use of the words
when he comes to the gracious application of the truth? How
Peter reminds us at the end of that opening chapter of the first
epistle, he speaks of those who are born again, being born again,
he says, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible. by the
word of God which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh
is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. All faith comes with
our hearing the word of God. And again, it's interesting how
in his paraphrase of Psalm 46, which you're going to sing just
now, 1141, here in Gadsby's selection. But in that paraphrase, Isaac
once interprets the river in terms of the scriptures. That
verse, that sacred stream, thine holy word, that all our raging
fear controls, sweet peace thy promises afford, and give new
strength to fainting souls. Oh, that God would grant that
we might draw much comfort then from these verses tonight, that
we might, by the grace of God, be able to feed on his words,
that we might be refreshed as we come to partake of this fountain
of the waters of life. There is a river. The streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that,
write early." Oh, the Lord then bless his word to us and help
us to turn to him and to pray over his word and to plead all
his exceeding great and precious promises. Amen. Well, let us
sing that paraphrase of the psalm by Watt. It's 1141 in the book
of Gatsby's Selection. And the tune tonight, 285. God is the refuge of his saints.
When storms of sharp distress invade, we can offer our complaints. Behold him present with his aid,
let mountains from their seeds be hurled. Down to the deep and
buried there, convulsions shake the solid world. Our faith shall
never yield to fear. We sing 1141, the tune 285.