Psalm 46, and I've entitled this
message, A Sea of Fear, but a River of Gladness. A Sea of Fear, but
a River of Gladness. Now, the Scripture says, God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear. Though
the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried in the
midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. The first point is this, a sea
of fear. The apostle says we shall not
fear. We shall not fear what? He says
though the earth be removed. Though the mountains be carried,"
where? "...in the midst of the sea, though the waters of the
sea roar and are troubled." Now, the sea in Scripture pictures
trouble. Usually it pictures trouble. It could either picture the trouble
of this mutable, changeable world, the trouble of our enemies, The
sea is often in Revelation pictured as nations, anti-Christian nations. And so we know this, that the
world is set against God, it's set against us, and it is troubling
to God's people. Sometimes providence seems like
a sea of trouble. I believe over in Psalm, You
don't turn there and just read Psalm 93. It says, the floods
have lifted up. Oh Lord, the floods have lifted
up their voice. The floods have lifted up their
waves. The providence, circumstance
often seems like a flood of trouble, like the waves of the sea overwhelming
us. And yet the apostle says we should
not fear, though the trouble be so great as to remove the
whole world. As though the trouble should
take the mountains and carry them in the sea. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. But there's
a greater trouble than providence. There's a greater trouble than
the world. There's a greater trouble that men face. It is
the sea of God's justice. the sea of God's holiness. We know this, that the sea in
Scripture is likened unto God's wrath. You remember our Lord
Jesus Christ said, the waters are come into my soul. What was
that? It was the justice of God. It was the wrath of God that
had come in like a flood on Him. He said, I am overwhelmed. I sing in the deep mire. When he had our sins imputed
to him, it was the sea of God's wrath that flooded his soul. But yet we are encouraged, whether
it's a sea of trouble Whether it's the sea of humanity, whether
it's the sea of our enemies, the sea of our sin, whatever
it is, God has here given you a comforting word. Don't fear. Why? God is our refuge. God is our refuge. No matter how dreadful, No matter
how horrible the things may appear, God says this, I am thy refuge. Thy refuge. I'll tell you this,
the sea of God's justice is a fearful thing. It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of a living God. And I'll tell you this, every
one of you, anyone who is outside of Christ, if you do not have
a refuge in Christ, you will face the full measure of God's
wrath. You will face the full measure
of deceit. If you were to go to Romans,
I'm not going to tell you to go there, I'm just going to give you a brief
synopsis of this. In Romans chapter 1, the apostle
Paul, he says that the wrath of God is revealed. from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness." He said the wrath of God is revealed. How?
By the things that are seen. They know that God is. They know that God is just. They know that judgment is coming. Men by nature know this. And
yet, what did they do? They did not worship God as God,
but worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. They refused
even to acknowledge His existence. They fight against their own
nature, their own conscience, knowing there is a God. They
say within themselves, there is no God. The fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. That's a fool. And later on in that chapter,
Paul said, knowing the judgment of God. Knowing the judgment
of God, and yet they still commit sin. They still do that which
is evil. They still commit such things
that are worthy of death. Therefore, you know what Paul
said in chapter 2, verse 1, he said, Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, All men know there's a God, and they know the justice of
God is coming. They know this in themselves. The law of God is written in
the heart of every man. They know evil, they know sin,
and yet they still, in rebellion, mock at this sea of God's wrath,
the sea of His justice. The sea of God's justice is against
all unrighteousness. It is against all sin, and God
must and will punish all sin. Yet men, natural man, he stands
like a high mountain against God. He stands firm. He seems so firm. Is it that
you look at the lost and they mock at the justice of God? This text is written to God's
people. We have a refuge. But yet I'll
tell you this, when I think of the justice of God, I fear. I
fear. Paul said this, knowing therefore
the terror of God. What do we do? We persuade men. We persuade men. Come to Christ. Come to the refuge. If we really
believe in the justice of God, if we really believe the wrath
of God, would we not be more zealous concerning this? We would. I mean, friends, our family,
our friends are falling off into hell. What is our purpose here? Our
purpose is to compel them to come in. Now, we know this, we
can't save one of them. But that's not our business,
is it? Our business is to declare the gospel to them. Our business
is to call them in. Why? Because the justice of God
is coming, friends. It will consume them for eternity. And yet, what do they do? They
stand firm. They don't even move. They don't have any... Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, O Asaph, he was jealous
of this. God's people are often jealous
of the wicked because they're firm, aren't they? They're sure
of themselves. We're not so sure of ourselves.
We're often skittish and fearful and troubled, and you look at
the world and they seem so sure. He said this, he said, I was
envious at the foolish and the prosperity of the wicked. Why?
There's no bands in their death. They don't fear like other men,
like God's people. They're not troubled. They're
not troubled by matters of eternity. Are you troubled by matters of
eternity? You are believers, you are. The apostle said, make your calling
an election. Sure. And every believer does
that. We desire to know that we know
we are in Christ, because I must be in Him. He's the refuge. I desire not to be found in my
own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Christ. I don't
want to be cast away. And yet the world stands like
a mountain. They're not troubled. Believers
are at times greatly troubled at the circumstances of life.
I know at times we see the wicked stand so firm and our faith is
so weak. We have the truth, and yet, what?
We're so fickle. God's people like sheep. God
used sheep, and that's a good illustration of dumb animals. They're just dumb. You ever see
a sheep jump through a hoop? You just don't. I mean, they're just incapable
of taking care of themselves. They have to have the shepherd. Our faith is so weak, and we
are at times troubled. But when we come to the gospel
of Jesus Christ, it's only then you see their end. And only then
does that envy go away. No matter how firm they stand,
the world No matter how firm they seem in this world, soon
death and hell will swallow them up. Soon the earth will be removed. Peter said that it shall be burned
up. God's wrath will burn this world
up, not to destroy it, but to purify it. And this world will be consumed.
And yet what do men do? They mock, they scoff. They make
for themselves a refuge of lies. They say, ìThe overflowing skirt
shall not come nigh to me.î God says, ìSoon youíll see the
bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself out on the covers
too narrow.î The sea of God's judgment will
cast down the mountains of man's reason. The high mountains of
this religious world will be cast under the sea of God's justice. Soon the angels shall cry, Babylon
the great is fallen, is fallen. Soon it will fall, and the justice
of God, like a sea, will cover men. He will consume them in
His wrath soon. But my text gives me a comforting
hope, even against the wrath of God. God is our refuge. God is our refuge. You that have fled to Christ,
you have fled to Him for what? A refuge. A refuge. Christ is our refuge because
the Son of God has come to save His people. He come and fulfilled
everything that God required of His people. Everything the
Word of God said He would do, He did. The seed of the woman
shall crush the head of the serpent. Guess what He did? He crushed
the head of the serpent. How? By bruising his heel. God
promised He would, and He did. He should be born of a virgin.
He should be born in Bethlehem. He should be of the seed of David.
All of that's done. All of that's accomplished. He
was promised to fulfill righteousness. In Isaiah chapter 42, He said,
He shall magnify the law and make it honorable. Isn't that
what He did? He magnified the law and made
it honorable. The Word of God said that He
should come and offer Himself a sacrifice for sin. Scripture says it pleased the
Lord to bruise him, Isaiah 53. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, to put his soul to grief. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. He was crucified. And then He
was what? Raised from the dead according
to the Scriptures. What does that mean? That all
Christ accomplished as our refuge, all the salvation that He accomplished,
righteousness, redemption, justification, everything. How do I know He
did that? How do I know God accepted it? Because God raised Him from
the dead. God raised Him from the dead.
and set him on the right hand of the majesty on high, and gave
him all dominion and power. Even as he promised, the Lord
said unto my Lord, What? Sit thou at my right hand, till
I make thine enemies thy footstool. See, God had already purposed
him to be our refuge, to accomplish everything for us. So then you
who believe on him, you that believe on him, We believe on Him by the power
of the Holy Spirit in the resurrection of our souls. You've experienced
the power of God. Do you believe on Christ? That's
the evidence of the power of God in the resurrection of your
soul. The new birth is your faith. You believe on Him and He is
your refuge. What is He your refuge from?
People like to say, well, I believe in Jesus. And, you know, they
think he's some kind of grandfather just gives out gifts like money
and houses and cars and things like that. No, I believe on Christ
for refuge, a refuge from what? Trouble in this world? No, no,
we have trouble in this world. He even told you you'd have trouble
in this world. a refuge from God. He saved you from the wrath of
God. That's what He saved us from.
Remember Noah's ark. It's a perfect picture of a refuge.
They were in the ark. The wrath of God was poured out
like a flood on the whole world. And I'll tell you, Noah Noah
survived the wrath of God. Why? Because the ark was his
refuge. The ark took the brunt of the
wrath of God for them. I've often used the illustration.
You're in a building. If it's raining outside, what is the
building doing? It's taking the rain. You're not getting wet.
Noah didn't get wet. No, the ark did. We didn't suffer
the wrath of God, Christ did. Christ endured the wrath of God
in our stead. He is our refuge. Christ is our refuge from all
judgment. Consider this, He has quenched
the wrath of God. has silenced the wrath of God
against us. Christ by His blood has satisfied
the wrath of God forever for all His people. So then, Paul
says this, if God be for us, who can be against us? If God
is your refuge, What could be against you? What could be against
you? Therefore, God says, we will
not fear. We will not fear the justice
of God, for Christ has satisfied all the justice of God for the
guilt of our sin. He was the highest and strongest
of men, the holiest and righteous of men. And yet God hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. In his body he bore our sin. In his body he suffered the wrath
of God for us. Over in Psalm 69, he said this,
he said, the waters are coming to my soul. Psalm 69, the waters
are coming to my soul. I sink in the deep mire where
there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying, my throat
is dried, my eyes fail while I wait for my God." You see,
even then he had faith. Even then he trusted God. Even
then, when the wrath of God was consuming in his soul, he still
looked to God. He said, "...they that hate me
without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. They
that would destroy me or mine enemies wrongfully are mighty."
Then I restored. I restored that which I took
not away. He reconciled us to God. That's what his death did. It
reconciled us to God. It atoned for all our sins. Now then, what? He hath made
peace with God by the blood of His cross. Why then should we fear the justice
of God? Why should we fear? Though He
take away the whole world with it, though He consume all men
by His justice, we will not fear. Christ is our refuge. He bore our sins away. Therefore
God says, I will, this is a sovereign determination, I will remember
their sins and iniquities no more. I will not remember your sins
anymore. Not one. Not one. In fact, I will forgive your
iniquities. I will forgive your transgression.
I will forgive your sin. This is God's willful determination,
and He is able to do that because Christ bore them a weapon. You
know, I love the picture of the scapegoat. What a wonderful sight
it was to watch that man bear that scapegoat away. All of my
sins were confessed on it. Figure the picture. All of Israel
was watching. All of the sins were being confessed
on that goat. The other goat was killed. They
put it on that strong man and he just kept walking. And as
he was walking, he was going further and further and further
away until he couldn't be seen anymore. What a picture. What
a picture! All my sins, God Himself cannot
see them anymore. He bore them away. We sing that hymn, O soul, are you
weary and troubled? Are you weary and troubled by
your sin, as I am? I am troubled by myself. I am
troubled by my unbelief. I am troubled by my spiritual
indifference. I'm convicted often about my
sin. O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see? Listen, there's light for
a look at the Savior. and life more abundant and free. Free from what? Free from sin.
Free from the wrath of God. Christ bore away our sin. You see this by faith that He
is our shelter. He is our refuge. Now then, I want you to see conversely,
there is instead of a sea of justice, there is a river of
gladness. Look at this in verse 4. He said, ìInstead of fearing
the sea, there is a river, the streams whereof make glad the
city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.î Tonight, if God, by His grace,
would give you two things, I want these, that you donít but rather,
I want you to be glad. I want you to see the gladness,
the joy that is yours. And this joy is pictured in this
river. There is a river that gives the
children of God refreshment. There is a river that supplies
strength, encouragement, It is a river of life. Go to
the book of Revelation. Go to the book of Revelation
and look at chapter 22. Chapter 22. Now in the book of Revelation,
John in chapter 20 deals with the judgment of God. He says
that all men will be standing before this great throne of the
sea of God's justice. They'll be standing before the
great white throne. All men that have ever lived,
they'll be raised up and the books will be opened. And in
those books are written all of the works of man. And God said,
I'll judge you out of those books. Every man should be judged according
to his work. But see, my hope is in the other
book. There's another book open, he says, which is the book of
life. That's the book of refuge. That's the ones who are named
in the book of refuge. That's the one that that book
that Christ took from the hand of God with the seven seals.
That's that book. And he opened that book. I'm
glad he opened that book because there's hope for those in that
book. And he says, those who were not
found in that book were cast into what? The lake of fire,
the sea of God's justice. Who are those in that other book?
They are the elect of God. They are the ones in Christ.
Did they not sin? Yes, they sinned. Were they not
guilty? Yes, they were guilty. But you
know what happened is that Christ was their refuge. Christ had
blotted out their transgressions in those other books. All our
transgressions in those other books, you know what it's covered?
It's covered in red blood. He blotted them out. And in their
stead of our works of sin, what is written are the works of Christ. All of His righteousness is imputed
and charged to our account in that day. And what John saw after that,
he saw in chapter 21. Look at that in chapter 21, verse
20, it says, "...saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away." And what's the
first thing he saw? There was no more what? There's no more sea. There's no more sea. You think
that's accidental? There's no more sea. What does that mean?
No more sea? No more justice. No more judgment. The wrath of God is gone. It's past. No more separation. Isn't that what the seed did? It separated John from everyone
else. He's on that little island by himself. It separated him
from... No more separation from God.
No more separation from His people. No more decay. No more change. No more curse. No more sin. God will dwell in the midst of
them. And then he noticed this other thing in chapter 22. Look
at this. And he said, instead of a sea,
what did he see? He showed me a pure river of water of life. It's a river of water of life. It's pure. It's clear as crystal. Notice its source. Proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And notice its course. In the midst of the street of
it, there's on either side of the river a tree of life that
bear twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month.
You know what that is? This is a perpetual, constant,
life-giving river. Constantly yielding its fruit. Every season. And notice this,
there's healing in this river. The leaves of the tree were for
the healing of the nations. This river is the same river
of gladness in our text. It's the same river. In our text
it says there's a river wherever it makes us glad. The city of
God. This river that John is talking
about. Who's that going to benefit?
It only benefits the elect, doesn't it? In our text it says it only
benefits the city of God. Only those who have God as their
refuge have this river of gladness given to them. And the source
is the same. John in Revelation said it came
out of the throne of God. In our text it says the holy
place of the tabernacles of the Most High. What is that? That's
the place where God dwelt. You see, the source of this river
is God Himself. He's the source. So I want to
say a few things that will make us glad about this river. First
of all, this should make you glad. It is a river of life.
It is a river of life. The river of life and refreshment
to the children of God. Notice in John's account, it
is a pure river. It is clear as crystal. It is
pure. It is a holy river. It is a river
of life. It is a river of great joy and
gladness to the city of God. That's because this river is
Christ. He is the water of life. He is the river of life. Is He
not the source of all spiritual life? John says, "...in him was life, and he was the light of men."
Everyone who drinks of Christ has what? Life. Spiritual, eternal life. Go to John 4. John chapter 4. Our Lord speaks of this. He's
the one that gives this water of life. You remember, He's talking
to that woman at the well. He's talking to that woman at
the well, and He said, Give me something to drink. And she said, You don't
have anything to take water? And He said this in verse 10,
He said, If you knew the gift of God and who it was that said
to thee, Give me drink, you would ask of Him, and He would have
given you living water. She said, you ain't got nothing
to draw from. I'm not talking about I'm not talking about this
whale. He tells her what it is. He said in verse 14, who so drinketh
of this water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up onto everlasting life. And in John chapter 7, he even
clarifies this. John chapter 7 and verse 37. He said, In the last day of the
great feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me, and what? Drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow what? Rivers
of living water, this spake he of the Spirit. The Spirit of
God. You that believe, you have this
river of water of life flowing in you. In you. You have the Spirit of God given
to you. You are born of the Spirit of
God. And listen, you didn't have to
merit this. You didn't have to earn this.
This was given to you. Freely given. In that last part of Revelation,
that's the message of Christ and His church. Come, drink of
the water of life. How? Freely. Freely. We didn't earn this,
we didn't merit this. And so it is with this river
of water of life, it makes us glad. He is the water of all spiritual
life, and all who drink Him by faith drink His blood, and righteousness
shall never thirst of righteousness again. We shall never be tried
again for our sins. You see, the justice of God is
not something to fear, it's something to be glad about. I'm very glad that God is just,
aren't you? You know why? Because He cannot
demand twice payment for sin. He cannot demand twice payment. God hath received of Christ's
hand double for all our sins. So then, believer, get this.
Because of this water of life, God has given us the very righteousness
of Christ in us. When He's given you a new nature,
He gave you a holy nature. You know what John says? He says
in 1 John 1 and 4 and verse 17, he says, As He is. Because of
this river, because this river has cleansed you, because the
river of His blood has washed away your sins. Listen to this.
As He is. How is He? How is Christ tonight? Is He holy? Is He righteous? As He is, so are we in this present world. I definitely
wouldn't say that if it wasn't written in Holy Scripture. I
wouldn't dare tell you that. But as He is, so are we in this
present world. Because of the river of water
of life, because of His righteousness, we are made righteous. He has created us a holy nature
without sin. Believer, let us not be tossed
about by every wind of doctrine, but rather rejoice in the stream
of God's salvation, this river of water of life that He has
given to us. Second, this river of Christ
makes us glad because it's all of God. Aren't you glad this river's
of God? Aren't you glad life and salvation are of God? Isn't
that what John said? This river flowed from the throne
of God and of the Lamb. Paul says, but of God are you
in the refuge, in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. God made Him
all of those things for us. This river is of God. Therefore it's pure. It's holy. It proceeded from the throne
of God and of the Lamb. It was God who purposed and decreed
our salvation in Christ. It was the sovereign will of
God to set His love on us. It was God's good pleasure to
send His Son into the world to redeem us from the curse of the
law. It was God who was with Christ. It was God who upheld Him. It was
Christ who came and accomplished our redemption, wasn't it? He came to accomplish the will
of God and ratify the covenant by His blood. He then sent His
Holy Spirit, after He'd finished His work, He sent His Holy Spirit
into the world. God raised Him from the dead,
set Him on the throne, glorified Him, and He said, Father, glorify
Me with the glory I had with Thee from the beginning. Well, for what purpose? He said
in John 17, He said He had given Him power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given Him. Therefore, what? This river of
water of life, it flowed to you. You and I were dead. We were
dead. We could not come to this river. We would not have come to this
river. But thank God this river came
to you. One day you were lying in the
mush pit of your sins. You were lying in the dead sea.
No lie. And this river flowed into your
heart and gave you life. Gave you faith in Christ. And what do we say? We say, praise
God. Thanks be unto God. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly place and in Christ.
We give thanks and we give glory to God. Therefore, this river flows from
God. Listen to this. We can be glad
of this because it flows from God. We know this. It will never
cease. It will never cease. It will
never end. This river is an eternal, constant
river. Christ said, I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the beginning and the end. And I give unto Him
that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
I give unto Him. And I give unto Him. And I give
unto Him. You thirsty? You thirsty? Do you need forgiveness
of sins? How often do you need forgiveness? With me, it is a constant, perpetual
need of cleansing. That's good, because I give unto
Him that is a thirst of the water of life freely. Do you realize
every time you ask for forgiveness, He gives it freely? You understand that? Every time
you ask. Matter of fact, it's preemptive
forgiveness. It's forgiven before you even
ask for forgiveness. John says, His blood cleanseth
us from all our sin. Constant, perpetual. That's why it's called a river
and not a pond. That's why it's not called a
lake. It's called a river because a
river by nature constantly, what? Flow. This river of water of
life that flowed to us is constantly flowing to us. Constantly refreshing. Constantly cleansing. It is forever. Be glad. God will never send the sea of
His wrath. He will always send the river
of mercy to you. Always. Always. I don't feel like I deserve it.
It doesn't matter. You didn't deserve it to begin
with. Yet He still gives it. He still
gives it. If you were to read this, and
I don't have time, but if you were to read this in Ezekiel
47, Ezekiel 47 talks about this river Ezekiel the prophet, he goes
to the tabernacle, and he sees a trickle of water coming out
of the tabernacle. And as he follows it along, it
gets bigger and wider, and pretty soon the water comes up to his
ankles, and then the water comes up to his knees, and he measures
some more, and it comes up to his waist, and measures some
more, and then all of a sudden it overflows him. The river is
massive, it's wide. When the Word of God began to
speak of Christ, it came out as a little trickle, didn't it?
The seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent. Then
He gave that sacrifice to cover their nakedness. And then you
come a little down the river, down the path a little ways,
and the river gets a little deeper to the ankles and you see the
Passover. It gets a little deeper, and you see David, and you see
the type of Christ when He slays Goliath, and you see the prophecies
getting more and more. And when Christ came, what? It's
a river. I understand all now of the Old
Testament types and shadows by seeing Christ. He's the fulfillment. He's the fullness of the river. In Ezekiel 47, in verse 8, He
said unto me, These waters that issue toward the east country
and go down to the desert, listen, they go into the sea, which being brought forth into
the sea, listen, the waters shall be healed. The waters shall be healed. When
this river flowed into the justice of God, when Christ came and
satisfied the justice of God, the waters were healed. I think
of the waters of Marah. Remember that? Those bitter waters.
They could not taste. They could not drink. They would
die. If we were to go to God, what would we receive? Bitter
waters. But what happened? He put through
the tree in the water. And the waters were made sweet
when Christ was crucified." Guess what now? The justice of God
is sweet. We can drink. John, when he sees
the sea in Revelation 4, he says, "...the sea like unto glass."
No ripple. Why? Because a river healed it.
Christ healed it. And listen, wherever this river
flowed, there was life. In verse 9, He said, And it shall
come to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever
the river cometh, it shall live. And there shall be a great multitude
of fish, because the waters shall come thither. And they shall
be healed, and everything shall live whither the river cometh.
And it shall come to pass that the fishers shall come upon it
from En Gedi even unto Iglam. And they shall be a place to
spread forth nets, and the fish shall be according to their kind,
the fish of the great sea exceeding many." You know, in Getty and
Inglium, you know what that is? It's a dead sea. From the beginning of the dead
sea to the end of the dead sea, what? There's going to be life.
Why? The river flowed into it. When
Christ comes into the heart of man, what? And I'm sure of this. And I'm glad that this river,
because it shall never be taken away. It shall never be moved
from us. If God has given you life, He'll
never take it away. If God has given you faith, He'll
only increase it. It will endure if it is God-given
faith. And I'm sure, and I'm glad of
this too, that God, wherever this river goes, there's life.
And I know this, that everyone that God has purposed to save,
He will save. I don't know where this river's
going. Wherever it goes, there'll be life. Whoever God intends
to save, He will save. And they'll come in, and drink
with us. We who enjoy this river, they'll
come in and enjoy it with us. They'll be glad for it, too. I'm so thankful God has removed
our fear, the fear of the wrath of God. How? By Christ being
our refuge. And conversely, he has given
us not a sea of fear, but a river of gladness. Christ is the river. Christ is the river, the river
of life, the river of righteousness, the river of God's peace, our hope, our joy. And this river of life, it's
of God. It's of God. And because it's
of God, it'll never cease. Constant, perpetual cleansing
and forgiveness are given to all God's people. And I know
that God will save His people. This river will continue until
the end. Until all of His people are brought
in. And then guess what? We'll enjoy
this river for eternity. That's what John saw. He saw
it after everything was done. He saw the river was still there.
The river was still there yielding its fruit. I pray God will give you peace
and joy and gladness. Our Father, I pray that you'd
bless your word. I pray that you would give us joy
and peace in Christ, that we should constantly look to him,
depend upon him, honor him, Thank You for this river of life
that You've caused to flow into our hearts to give us faith and
love for Thee. And Father, I pray that You'd
give us grace to constantly drink of Christ. I'm so thankful that
it'll never run dry. Forgive us our sins and lead
us as we go. Bring us back again to worship
You. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.