Ezekiel chapter 47. The title
of the message is, The River of
the Gospel. The River of the Gospel. Scripture says, "...and afterward
he brought me again into the door of the house. And behold,
water issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward. For the fore gate of the house
stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under the
right side of the house at the south side of the altar. Now let me begin by giving you
an overview of this whole chapter. I'm going to go through several
of these verses with you, but just giving you an outline of
the whole chapter so you can have a clear picture of what
is going to happen here. The prophet here is in the house
of God. He is in the temple, the tabernacle
of God. He is in the holy place. He is
inside the house of God. And he is not in the holy of
holies, but rather in the outer room where the priests perform
their daily offerings, the showbread and the laver and the candle
were in the holy place. And the other side of that veil
was the holy of holies. And the prophet here in this
room, he sees, coming from underneath the veil, a trickle of water. He sees water flowing from the
right side of the veil, and as it comes out to the door, it
comes out of the house of God, it goes by the altar, and it
goes out toward the south, and then he meets a man on the outside
who has a measuring stick. And this man, he measures the
water a thousand cubits, which means he goes about a third of
a mile, he measures the water, And then the prophet notices
the waters at his ankles. He goes another third of a mile
and he measures again. and the water is at his waist.
He goes another third of a mile, and he measures it, and the water
is up to his chest. And then another third of a mile,
and then the water is overflowing. He said it's a river. And he
comes to the bank. He's brought out of the water,
comes to the bank, and he's looking at this river that started out
as a trickle, and now it is an exceeding great river that flows. And he notices a beautiful picture. He sees fishermen on the side
casting their nets. He sees trees along the side
with their fruits, and these fruits are so ripe and they don't
fail. In other words, there's no rotten
fruit in it at all. The leaves are for healing. And
he sees this river as it flows through the desert land, and
it comes out into a great sea. Beautiful picture. What is this? What is this vision? We know
this. This is a spiritual vision. It's
a vision of spiritual things. Every one of these things has
a spiritual application. The river is spiritual. The trees,
the water, the fish, the fishermen, and the sea, the desert, all
have their spiritual application in this vision. But the main thing, the thing
that runs through the whole vision is what? The water. It's the water is the center
of this vision. Now, we may see this water in
three different things. I've got three different things
that this water could most likely picture. And I believe every
one of them could make a case for it. The love of God. It's
not the love of God as a mighty ocean, a mighty river. It flows
from God. It flows out through the altar. It flows out to man who is in
the desert. The love of God. It is a mighty
ocean. You could make that case. The
Spirit of God. There's one. Out of their bellies
shall flow rivers of, what, living water. The Spirit of God is most
definitely a picture, could be pictured by this river. But the
last one is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I believe that it is the
Gospel of Jesus Christ most clearly pictured here because the love
of God and the Spirit of God are all included in the Gospel. They're all included. They're
all in the Gospel of Christ. And so that's how I wish to show
you that this river is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel
of Christ. The scripture says in Zechariah,
and it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out
from Jerusalem, half toward the former sea, half toward the high
under sea, the summer and winter shall it be. In other words,
it's going everywhere. This gospel, when that fountain flows, when
Christ was to come, and that's what the center of the gospel
is, when Christ was to come, that fountain, it was going to
flow, and not just in one direction, but in every direction. That's
what happened when the gospel, when Christ came, wasn't it?
The gospel went everywhere. This is the gospel. Paul says
this in Ephesians 5, 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it, his church, with the washing of the water by the Word. So what's the water? It is the
Word. The Word of God. The gospel of Christ. And so
then, seeing that this river is the gospel, I want to see
three things. Three things about this river.
First of all, the origin. What is the origin of the river?
What is the origin of the gospel? Secondly, I want to see the outpouring
of the gospel. How does this gospel flow? We
know it comes from God, but how does it outpour to man? How does
it come to man? And thirdly, the operation of
the water. What is the work of the gospel? What is the result of the preaching
of the gospel of Christ? So first, the origin. The origin. He said he was in the house and
the waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward. As you can see him in that holy
place, he sees the water coming out from the Holy of Holies,
from underneath that veil. That's where the water originated
was in the veil. And we know this, that was a
place where God dwelt. When God said He would meet with
Israel and make an atonement for sin, it was there in the
Holy of Holies that the Shekinah glory descended over the Ark
of the Covenant. It was the presence of God. Now
this river, I love this. This river is the same one that's
pictured in Revelation. It says, and he showed me a pure
river of water of life, clear as crystal. Listen, where it
came from. Proceeding out of the throne of God. So what's
the origin of this river? It comes from God. It comes from
God. And what comes from God? The
river, which is the gospel. It is the gospel. And listen,
the gospel is a covenant. The Gospel can be described most
clearly as a covenant. As God covenanted with Himself
for the people of Israel. For His people. He says in Jeremiah
32, I will make an everlasting covenant. An everlasting covenant. with them I will not turn away
from them to do them good I will put my fear in their hearts and
they shall not depart from me yea I will rejoice over them
to do them good and I will plant them in this land assuredly with
my whole heart and my whole soul you listen this this gospel originated
with God it is a everlasting covenant an eternal covenant and it came from God it came
out from God This gospel, when did it begin? It began an everlasting covenant
of grace. The gospel of God's grace in
Christ, God before the world, planned this gospel. as though
he had an architect. You don't build something without
some design, without some plan. And God, my friend, had a plan.
He had a plan, a covenant that He would make. He planned and
purposed all things concerning this gospel and agreed with Himself
to accomplish and fulfill all that He purposed to do for His
people. And this is an eternal covenant. This river is an eternal
river. Its source is God. It's eternal. It's a covenant. And it's a covenant
of free grace. This covenant was one of grace.
He said, I will make. Now who determined to make this
covenant? God did. Why would he determine to do
such a thing? He said, I will do them good. I will love them. I will save
them. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. mighty gulf that God did span
at Calvary. This was always the plan, isn't
it? Now, the false gospel, they got an idea that God made some
mistake, that, look, Adam wasn't supposed to sin, that he had
to come up with a secondary plan. No! My God always purposed to
save by Christ. Never by Adam. Never by works. Always by grace. It's a covenant
of grace. And you listen, this covenant,
this river, was only for the elect. It was only for the elect
of God. He said, I will make with them
an everlasting covenant. This covenant is very specific. It is for a specific and a particular
people. God says when He sent Christ,
He said this, that He shall save His people, very particular,
His people, no one else, His people, from their sin. This
was the covenant of grace. And there was nothing but the
love of God that motivated him to make such a covenant. There
was nothing that he saw or ever would see in us that would move
him. But in free grace, he purposed
to save his people. And this covenant that is for
the elect, this covenant of grace, this eternal covenant, was for
their good. He said, I will do them, listen,
good. good. What will God do for His
elect? I will do them good. That's what
I purpose to do. This covenant of grace is good. Praise to be to God for His goodness
toward men. Now I want you to pay attention,
if God had never covenanted to save His elect, then there would
be no salvation. There would be no water flowing
from the throne of God. There would be no love of God
displayed to man if God had not purposed to give it. God had
not ordained it before the world was. And so then we who are saved
by this goodness, we know this, that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to Him. And the center of this covenant, what's the center of
this covenant? It's an eternal covenant. It comes from God.
It's a covenant of grace and mercy for the elect. And what
is the center and theme of the covenant? The gospel. The river. What is the center of the river
of this gospel? It is What was the center of the room
from which this water flowed? What was in the center? The Ark
of the Covenant. You remember that box that was
made of wood, uncorruptible wood, overlaid with gold, and the gold
lid over the top, and inside were the rod that budded, and
then you had the manna, and then you had that unbroken law. This all pictures Christ. Wood
and gold, God and man. He is the mercy seat on which
the blood was sprinkled. In His flesh He shed His blood,
and it was the deity of Christ that upheld Him under the wrath
of God for our sins. Inside was the unbroken law of
God. He kept that law and in Him budded. He is the manna. He is the bread
of life. You see how all that pictures
Christ. And so what is the center of this river? We know it flows
from God. We know it's of the grace of God. We know the gospel
flows from the eternal covenant of God. But what is the center
and sum and source of this gospel? It is Christ. He centered everything
about this covenant in Christ. Everything. The whole covenant
of grace is dependent upon Christ. Everything! The accomplishment,
the salvation, the good that He would do, is all dependent
upon the work and completion of this covenant by the Son of
God for the elect. Everything. I like that in Isaiah 9. He says, unto us a child is born,
humanity. Unto us a son is given, deity. And the government, his church,
the salvation of his church shall be upon his shoulders. And what
does he call wonderful counselor? By the church, he's called wonderful
counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince
of peace. Of the increase of his kingdom there shall be no
end. this is the one in whom the covenant and listen the movement
of this water this gospel moves only by the impulse of the holy
spirit the holy spirit Just as the Father chose to save a people
in the covenant, the Son agreed to be their surety. It is in
the covenant of God's mercy that the Holy Spirit agreed to make
this manifest to the elect. God the Holy Spirit promised
that He would cause life to come into all of those Christ redeemed. But how? What is this means of
the Holy Spirit to make manifest? By the river. By the gospel of God. By the revelation. Now then,
if that water stayed behind that veil, Ezekiel would have never
known there was a river back there. But because it flowed,
he was able then to see. This is what the Spirit of God
does, is He moves men and old to declare the gospel. Peter said this, For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but by holy men of God,
as they spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So now then
we see where the origin of the gospel comes from. It's a covenant
of God. It's a covenant made by the Father
for an elect people. It is a covenant centered in
the work and person of Jesus Christ to save them. It is the
covenant of the Spirit of God to come in time and reveal the
gospel of Jesus Christ to all the elect. Now then, let's deal
with the outpouring of it. Now with this outpouring of the
water, the prophet sees the water issuing from the threshold. Look
at this in verse Verse one again, after he brought me to the door
of the house and behold waters issued out from under the threshold. This is none other than the Holy
Spirit issuing forth the word of God's eternal counsel. Now friends, how could men know
the eternal counsel of God unless God pour it out to you? Unless
God make it known to you. And this was always God's purpose,
to make it known to man what He would do. This prophet saw the water coming
from the sanctuary, but I want you to see this. It's important
to know that this, it didn't first come out gushing. It came
out as a trickle. small, slow stream came out. Very little. Very little it started
issuing out, then all of a sudden they come out, and then you see
the man with the measuring stick, and he goes out and he measures
a thousand cubits, and he comes to the ankles, then he comes
to the knees, he comes to the waist, he comes to the chest,
and then it's overflowing. I want you to see that this is
the progression of the gospel. The progressive revelation of
the gospel as it is revealed by the Holy Spirit. What was
the first prophecy? The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent, and he shall bruise his heels." Does
that sound very clear? Does that sound like a gushing wail of
information? No. It's very little. They had
very little. But what they had, they believed.
They trusted what God had given them concerning Christ. That
He should come as the seed of the woman. That's why she said
when she had Cain, I'll be old, I'll have a man-child. She thought
that was Him. Now was it? But they trusted
that Christ should come. They believed the Word that they
had. Then you go along a little bit further and you see the Lamb,
the Passover Lamb and how it was slain. You see them going
through the Red Sea. You see them fighting in the
land of Canaan. You see all of this as pictures
and types and shadows. Then the Law is given. All of
this are pictures of Christ. Remember, He said, search the
Scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life, but they are they that testify of And so you see that
as a progression, right? The gospel gets bigger and bigger
and bigger. And so, as it went along, so
it progresses over time. Even so, when Jesus Christ came
into the world, now then what do you have? You have an exceeding
great river. You have an exceeding great river. When he died and rose again,
remember that there was only 120 in that upper room. How many
believe since then? You not see the expansion of
this gospel, how it has expanded? Remember, he said, when that
fountain shall be opened, it shall go toward the north, it
shall go toward the south. It's gonna go everywhere! And
that's what happened, didn't it? That's exactly what happened. But I want you to notice the
path of this outpouring. Where did it go? Where is this
gospel going? Look at verse 8. And he said unto me, These waters
issue out toward the east country, and go down to the desert. They go into the sea, and bring
forth into the sea, and the waters shall be healed. and it came to pass that everything
that liveth and moveth whithersoever the river shall come shall live
and there shall be a very great multitude of fish because of
the water shall come thither and they shall be healed and
everything shall live whither the river cometh whither the
river cometh where is this river going? it's going to the desert
It's going to the desert. The river flowed down to the
desert into the sea. This signifies the gospel of
God's grace as it moves through the wastelands of the Gentiles. Remember, that's exactly where
God had intended long ago that it not only be kept in that little
family of the Jewish nation, but that God would break forth
this gospel, and the Gentiles should believe, and there should
be multitudes that come in and live. But even more than this
outpouring to the Gentiles, this speaks spiritually to the heart
of man. What is your heart but a desert? What do you think of when you
think of a desert? A barren, lifeless place of death, where
there is no water. This is what man is. He is a barren desert in his
heart, and he cannot produce life. He cannot produce life. Not until this river of grace
flows to his heart. God says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. Come buy wine and milk without
money, without price. What is he talking about? Forgiveness
of sins. Pardon and peace with God. Where
is this found? Life. Where is life found? It's
found in the water. It's found in Christ. Faith in
Christ. Have you not seen the barrenness
of your own soul? Have you not looked around and
seen the barrenness of this life? Have you not had your dreams
and desires crushed? Every time you think something
is well, everything is going to be well, and all of a sudden
it's not. You found that in this life,
there's vanity and vexation of spirit. You think that one thing
is going to please you and it never does. It's a barren wilderness. And so is your heart. Do you need forgiveness? Are you thirsty after God? to be accepted of Him, then you must come without money
and without price. Look at verse 11. But, now wherever
this river flows, it brought life. But, the miry places thereof
and the marshes thereof shall not be healed. They shall be given to salt. What does this mean? This is
religion. Religion has a little water.
It doesn't have a river. It has a little water. But what
do you put with a little water and dirt? What do you get? Mud. Mud. I remember when someone told
me this, that the head of the Southern Baptist was once asked,
when do you think the Southern Baptist is going to split? He
said, sir, you can't split mud. What do they got? They got mud.
That's all he got. God said mud won't be healed. Religion deals in half-truths. But all they are is a marsh,
a puddle of confusion, and that's what free will works religion
is. But God will not heal them. But rather the gospel goes not
to those who have little water, but those who have none. Isn't that good? Desert don't
have any water. Who among us has righteousness?
No, not one. No, not one. Well, good! This
is where the river goes. It goes to those who have no
righteousness. To those of us who know the barrenness
of our own heart. And wherever this river goes,
life is given. And wherever this river goes,
it reveals Christ, doesn't it? It reveals Christ. Christ is
the river. Christ is the river, isn't He?
There is a river that flows from God above. There is a fountain
that frees the soul from sin. Christ is the river. Christ is the river. He says,
there is none other name given among men whereby we must be
saved. The gospel preaches to us Christ. The gospel heals dead, dry sinners. And so we see then the origin
of it. We see the outpouring of it. That this Gospel is intended
to save sinners. That this Gospel is sin of God
to heal the desert lands. This Gospel is Christ and you
should believe on Him. You should trust in Him. You
should lean your soul on Him. And you shall be refreshed. You
shall be refreshed. You'll be healed. forgiven of
sin. And so then, let's see the operation
of this water. It says in verse 9, "...it shall
come to pass that everything that liveth with moveth, whithersoever
the rivers come, shall live. And there shall be a great multitude
of fish, And these waters shall come, and they shall be healed,
and everything shall live, whither the river cometh. And it shall
come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi,
even from Ignalum, shall they be a place to spread forth nets. Their fish shall be according
to their kinds, as the fish of a great sea exceeding many. Listen,
this water gives life wherever it goes. You listen wherever
the Spirit of God takes this gospel and applies it to the
heart you can be sure of this There will be life. That's what
he's telling us Wherever the gospel goes there's life You know that in Getty you know
what that is The Dead Sea You know how many fish are in
the Dead Sea? None. But God says, when this river
flows through in Gedi, there shall be many fish. There'll
be life. Life where there was death. There's
life where this sea was obnoxious to all around it. The sea, when
it comes to it, will be life, full of life and useful. And
so it is with the Gospel of Christ when it comes in power to the
dead sinner. Matthew Henry says it animates. I mean, this intimates the wonderful
and blessed change that the Gospel would make, wheresoever it came
in its power. as great a change in respect
to both character and condition, as a turning of the dead sea
into the fountain of gardens, when children of wrath become
the children of love, and those that were dead in trespasses
and sin are made alive, and then this is fulfilled." See, Christ
came that we might have life. And whomsoever this gospel of
Christ comes in power will have life. will have life. And what
is the evidence of this life? Faith. Faith is the evidence
of life. The Spirit of God moves upon
the dead sinner and gives life. Conviction of sin floods our
souls. And the cleansing stream of the
blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. This is the river, the
gospel of Jesus Christ. It flows, the blood of Christ
flows to sweep away our sins. This is the result of this river.
And listen, this river provides fishermen. Jesus told his disciples, I will
make you fishers of men. You see, God sends preachers
to declare his gospel, to preach his gospel, which is our net.
We cast the net. Fishing isn't like it was when
we do it. I try to do it specifically for one little fish. Those fishermen
didn't do that. They would never make any money.
They have to cast nets for trying to get many fish. The gospel
is a net. We cast it out. We draw it in. We cast it out, and we draw it
in. We cast it out, we draw it in.
What for? God says there's fish. God says,
I have an elect people. I think of those disciples, they
were out there toiling all night, casting and pulling in, casting
and pulling in. And they did it all night. They
were just tired. They were rolling up their nets. They're fixing
to be done. The Lord comes to them. He said, what are you doing?
He said, Lord, we... We've told all night and taken
nothing. He said, no, I'll put your net on the other side. He's a professional fisherman.
What did they do with their understanding of fishery? Cast it aside and
they did as the master commanded and they pulled in a great load
of fish. The one thing about preaching is we don't know who
God's going to pull in. That's not our business. Our
business is only to declare the gospel. And where does my net,
do I cast my net? Do I cast it on the land or in
the sea? Do I cast it in the water or
on the dry land? This is where we get our message
from the Word of God. We cast it into the sea, into
the book. This is where we come for the
Word of God to find about Christ, about ourselves, about life and
forgiveness of sins. And we do this over and over
and over again. Why? Because our Master bids
us to. Now listen, I wouldn't do this if I didn't believe God
didn't have fish. If God didn't have an elect people,
I wouldn't do this. Now people say, they say, why preach if
there's an elect, why preach? No, I preach because there is
an elect. I preach because God does have a people and I don't
know who they are. So I just preach. And we're to be faithful
to preach, and God gives the increase. And so you see then
at this big river of the gospel, you see fissures, you see fish.
But you also see something else. Trees. Trees. Friends, that's
you. You are the trees planted of
God by the rivers of living water. Trees. Full of what? Fruit. Incorruptible fruit. What
is that? The righteousness of Christ.
Where do you receive your nourishment from? The river. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Apostle said that we should
be rooted and grounded in the Gospel as trees planted of God. Now,
I'll tell you, the winds of life blow these trees. They blow on
us and we are shaken from the top. We are shaken. by the wind. But one thing that doesn't move
in a tree is the foundation. We're not moved. We're not moved. And listen, the fruit that we
bear is of the Word of God, is of the Spirit of God. And it
doesn't fade. It doesn't rot. Peter said that we have an inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you. You are the trees planted by
the river of water. That's the church, the church
of God, supplied by this river. Now let me ask you this. Do you desire to go away from
this Word? Is there anything more valuable
in this world than the Word? Not to a tree planted by the
rivers of water, it's not. I'll tell you, there are some
who come in and they sprout out. They look like they're going
to be a big tree full of fruit and pretty soon they wither and
dry and they go away. Those are weeds. Those aren't
trees. Trees continue to abide by the
water. Remember what John said, they
went out from us. Why, John? Because they were
not of us. If they were of us, they would
have no doubt continued with us. But that they may be manifest,
that they were not of us, they went out. What's the evidence
of an apostate? They leave. What's the evidence
of one who is truly God's? They stay. That's it. They have no place that they
want to be besides to hear the preaching of the gospel. Therefore the just shall live,
how? By faith. By faith in the Word
of God. We abide Therefore, God commands
us, his preachers, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. How shall
we comfort? Speak comfortably unto Jerusalem. Cry unto her. What? The warfare
is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned, for
she hath received double, double of the Lord's hand for all her
sins. Christ's payment was doubly good. I tell you, it was twice as what
was necessary. He put away our sins. He washed us thoroughly. He gave us His righteousness. He imparted to us life. How? By the Word. By the Word. Just to illustrate it, remember
that woman that came to the well. What was she looking for? Water. What kind? Earthly. What kind of woman was she? She
was a sinner. Not looking for Christ. But the water came to her. And he said, if you knew who
it was that asked you, give me to drink, you would ask of him
to give you living water. And you would never thirst again. but never thirst again. My friends, Christ is the river
of living water. So where does this gospel originate?
From God. Eternal counsel and covenant
of God. How is it manifest? By the Holy
Spirit. Through the preaching of the
gospel is how God gathers His elect. And who is it that plant
themselves by this river It is the people of God, the elect
who believe on the Son of God. Have you drank of this water? Friends, God says you're healed. Now what the desert said to you,
you're healed. And I also want you to see that this river flows
out into an ocean. What does that mean? There's
no end. I know you think in terms of
limits. I do too. How often do you suppose God
will forgive me of my sins? How much mercy is available to
me? It is an ocean of mercy that
never runs dry. That's the gospel river. May
God help us to drink from it by faith and believe on the Son
of God. Be refreshed. I pray God will bless this to
you. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.