Psalm chapter 46. And tonight
we'll be looking at verses two down through verse seven, two
through seven tonight. Last week, we looked at the first
verse of this that says God is our refuge and strength. A very
present help. In trouble. Therefore, we'll
not we fear, though the earth be removed, and 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. There is a river, the streams
whereof 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. The heathen raged and the kingdoms
were moved. He uttered his voice and the
earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. That word, Selah, in case
you're wondering, just means to pause. It means it's kind
of like in a song, how you have a rest in the middle of a song,
you pause. And that's what this is. It is
a resting note in the middle of a song that says, stop and
think about it. Stop and think about it. Well,
that's what, by God's grace, we're going to do tonight. We're
going to stop and we're going to think about what God has said.
We want to think about what God has said concerning this passage
of Scripture. Now, the title of the message
tonight is The River of Gladness. The River of Gladness. And of course, we get that from
verse 4. There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the
city of God. But before we see the river,
There's something else that God would have us to see. There's
something else besides the river in this, and it is this, the
sea. The sea. Look at that in verse
2. Therefore, will not we fear,
though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried
in the midst of the sea? The sea. So here in this psalm
we have a comparison. We have a comparison of a sea
and a river. A sea and a river. One is associated with trouble. One is associated with change. One is associated with disruption,
disunity and constant motion. constant ups and downs. That's what we think of when
we think of the sea. In a moment in the sea it could
be calm and in the next moment it could be boisterous. But when you think of a river,
You think of somebody laying back on the river bank. You think
of something that's flowing, that's peaceful. That's what
he's trying to give the picture of in this psalm. First of all,
we see the sea. There is a sea of fear. A sea of fear. This sea that is spoken of, associated
with trouble, is none other than the judgment of God. The judgment of God is as the
great sea. The great sea. And we notice
that this sea, it says, even though the mountains be carried
away in the midst of the sea. Can you imagine that the mountains
at one time when God sent the flood, that they had covered
the entire world in judgment? That's a picture of God's judgment. And who was safe? Who was in
the refuge? Only those souls who were in
the ark were safe from the storm of God's judgment. Believer in Christ. The scripture
here, if we find our refuge in Christ, God is encouraging us
to not fear. the judgment of God. If you are
in Christ, there is no fear of the judgment of God. But we know
this, all those that are outside of Christ will be swallowed up
by the judgment of God. The judgment of God is to be
feared of men. It is to be feared Because it
will shake the very foundations of men's thoughts. It'll cover
it like a flowing scourge over those men who would seek to be
self-righteous before God. God's judgment will come on all
sin and unrighteousness. Friends, there is a sea that
troubles all men who are outside of Christ, and it is the sea
of God's holy justice. I want us to see, first of all,
that everyone knows about this sea. Go to Romans chapter 1. Hold your place and go to Romans
chapter 1. Everyone that is born in this
world knows of the judgment of God. Look at verse 18. The Scripture
says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God showed it unto them. For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made,
even the eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."
You see, all men know that there's a God. All men know that there's
a God. I was talking to a man who professes
to be an agnostic. If anybody tells you they're
an agnostic, you can tell them that they're confessing to be
ignorant, because that's what the word means. Ignorance. You see, there's something that
he cannot escape. This is why he claims to be agnostic,
because he knows there is a God. He knows it. And he can't escape
it. He knows there's a God. Every
man knows there is a God. You cannot look around you in
this beautiful creation. And this, friends, is a marred
creation. And yet it is still beautiful. Trees. I was passing through
the mountains and I saw a row of trees on the mountain and
it all stayed at one level. Just beautiful purple trees.
One line of them just running across the mountain. Beautiful.
You can't tell anyone. No one can tell me there's not
a God. God made this world, and it's
foolish to think anything else. Somebody come and say, well,
I believe in science. Well, isn't science nothing more
than observation? Science is observation. It's
something we observe. And we have never observed anything
in this world that does not come from something. We know this
even as a child, that something never comes from nothing. We know that. That's observable. It always has to have a cause.
It always has to have a first cause for everything. God is
the first cause of all things. And it's foolish to say otherwise.
You know it. You don't have to argue or debate
men about this. They know this. And so then because they know
this. They're without excuse. All men
are without excuse. It's the most absurd and unreasonable
thought to believe there is no God, the scripture says, the
fool has said in his heart, there is no God, the fool. The fool
has said that. But even if men were to admit
this knowledge that there is a God, there is no way that they
are able to know God or to know how He is worshipped. You can
know there is a God, but all the searching, all the education,
all of your... You can put your whole life into
searching God, but you by human nature cannot know God. No one can know God. Not by what
they see or what they feel. God must reveal Himself to them. They cannot, by searching, know
how God is to be worshipped. They know there is a God. We
can see this in every civilization that has ever been. There's always
been some deity. A philosopher said you would
rather find a city without schools, without buildings, without walls,
as you would find them without temples and sacrifices. He said
you'll never find one. that has not had a temple or
a sacrifice. Some place of worship. Because
all men know there is a God and they know they must offer something
to that God. They just don't know what it
is or who He is. And every civilization has some
form of religious worship. But this type of worship of God
always leads to the collapse of moral and social structures,
always. I was thinking about our own
generation. This last hundred and twelve years from the 1900s
on, just that one period of history, there was a great time in the
late 1800s when God had revealed His Word and there were great
preachers of the gospel. But in the early 1900s they started
preaching another gospel. And from that time forward we
can see how religion has progressed, but so has immorality. So has atheism and evolution
and all of these wicked things have come right along with that
religion of free will works religion. It's come right along with it.
You see, religion that is not true religion will find its end
in atheism. And that's what we're seeing
today. Paul said this, the first signs of reprobation is homosexuality. He said they are vile affections. What he calls them in Romans
chapter 1. Let's see that. Romans chapter 1 verse 26. For this cause, because they
knew not God or how to worship God, they worshipped Him as a
creature, as something like themselves. For this cause, God gave them
up to vile affections. For even the women did change
their natural use into that which is against nature. Likewise,
the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned and
lost one for another, men with men, working that which is unseemly."
Can we not see that? I mean, is that not clear in
our age? Is that not when they're marching
down the streets as though it is a badge of pride? when it
is nothing in the world but an abomination to God? What brought that about in this
country? It used to be, at least, where
that was a shame, right? What happened? The end of all
false religion is atheism and immorality. God turns them over,
gives them over. But friends, this does not excuse
any one of them. The only reason they do this
is because they hate God and they want to do what they want
to do. They want to sin without consequences. Why do you think
people are trying so hard to get rid of God? Because they
want to sin without judgment. They don't want to face the fact
of what's in their own heart. God will judge all sin. God will. And I'll tell you, they stand
firm, don't they? They seem firm. They seem adamant
about this. I was watching the news the other
day and a man was holding up a flag that said, God is dead.
He's holding it up like he really found out. He must have saw the
corpse or something. He was really proud of himself.
He held that up. But friends, God is not dead.
God is alive, and God must punish all sin, and He will. And sometimes
they seem so firm, and it shakes our faith. Sometimes they come
with their intellectual questions and arguments and reasons, and
they come and they start asking us things that we don't have
an answer to. Well, don't worry, they don't have an answer either.
Any fool can ask a question that ten wise men can't answer. Asaph had that problem. Psalm
73, he said, these men, they're not
like other men. He said, they're proud. They
have no bands in their death. In other words, they say, God
is dead, and when I die, nothing's gonna happen to me. That's what
they say. And they stand firm on it. Man,
you won't be able to move them off of it. They've got everything
all marked out. They seem so sure. And sometimes
our faith wavers under these things, as Asaph's faith did. But when we come to the Word
of God, we must remember this. God will judge all men. No matter how firm they seem
to stand, when they stand before God, they will fall. God will cast them in hell, whether
they want to or not, if they don't have a refuge. Do you imagine
what those people thought when God shut the door of the ark
and it started to rain? When the waters began to rise,
and they couldn't get in, and they banged on the door. Let
us in! What could Noah do? Nothing. He didn't shut the door. God
did. Friends, when the time comes
and men die, no matter how big a mountain they seem, no matter
how high their thoughts, no matter how well they've reasoned, God's
judgment will overflow them if they're not in Christ. They're
not in Christ. Babylon the Great is fallen,
is fallen. But we who have fled to Christ, we who are in the ark of Christ,
we have no cause to fear God's wrath. We have no cause, no reason
God says, I'm your refuge. Fear not. I know this is said
before, but the scripture says that there, someone said that
there were 365 references to fear not or be not afraid, one
for every day of the year. Fear not! Be not afraid! Fear not. It is I. Be not afraid. We're not to fear the storm because
of the refuge, because of the refuge. Jesus Christ is our refuge. God has sent Christ to be our
shelter. So when that scourge does come
and make no mistake about it, friends, when we all stand, we
will all stand before Christ and be judged. But praise God,
when we stand before Christ, we will not be judged in our
works, we'll be judged in His. Praise God, we'll not be judged
by our merits, but we'll be judged by the merits of Christ and the
righteousness of Christ. who are on the right hand of
God in that day, He shall say, Come, you blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation
of the world. It's yours, and I freely give
it. It's yours. This scourge won't
touch you. Oh, praise God that we have no
more fear, because Christ has come and taken all the justice
and judgment of God in our place. You see, He was the strong mountain,
the righteous Son of God, and God's overflowing scourge of
wrath came on His Son. He bore our guilt and our shame
on the cross, and God came at Him with His wrath. and overflowed
his soul. He said, My soul, I sink in the
deep mire where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Can you imagine the Son of God
saying that? Friends, He didn't bear just
my sin. He bore all the sins. of all
of God's people at one time. He bore all the wrath of God
for them all. And so then God looks at us who
find our refuge in Christ and He says, I will remember your
sins no more. I will remember them no more.
God says, I will forgive your sins, your iniquities, and your
trespasses. All three of them. I like that. All three of them are mentioned. For Christ has removed our sins
as far as the east is from the west. How far is that? I don't know. But however far
that is, that's how far my sins have been removed from me. So
that God's justice and judgment will not come over my soul. And it will not come over yours.
We have a refuge. We have a refuge. Let me ask you, are you weary
and troubled? And I'll tell you this, if I
were to say that sometimes when I read of the justice and judgment
of God, that I don't fear any time I'd be lying to you. I'll
tell you what, my faith at times is so weak, and I feel as though
God would overwhelm me at any moment with His wrath. I feel
the guilt of my sin. My conscience bears on me because
of my sin. And I'll tell you, I get weary.
I get weak. And my faith and grace seem to
be low. But that doesn't affect my shelter.
That doesn't affect my refuge. Because my faith is not my refuge. Christ is. My goodness is not
my refuge. Christ is. My hope is not in
how I feel. My hope is in what Christ has
accomplished. That's my hope, and I've got
a good hope. And you who believe have a good
hope, and I'll tell you what God. God is a great God of comfort
to His people. He says to His pastors, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. This is what God says,
and it's not something that we should never neglect to do, is
to comfort you who are God's saints. Comfort you and give
you great peace and refreshment. And that's what this text does
tonight. Look at this in verse 4. There is a river. There is a river, the streams
whereof make glad the city of God. There is a sea, but we are in a refuge. We don't
need to fear the sea, we have a river. We have a river. And this river makes us glad. This river makes us glad. This
river is none other than Christ. He is the river of gladness. Now, in Revelation, it talks
about the judgment of God and how there would be a great white
throne, and that all the people would be raised and stand before
that throne, and there would be books that were opened. Now, I caught this just a minute
ago. It was just refreshing to me.
Books! The Scripture says that the books
were opened. And another book. You see, there
were many books opened and then there was one book. Singular. That was the book of life. Now
what is in all these books? Sins. How many books would it
take to fill just our sins? How many volumes would it take
if we were to see God writing down all of our thoughts, all
of our motives, all of our intentions, all of our wicked deeds? It would
take volumes to fill. We could fill this room with
just mine. And I'm being nice to myself,
I guess. But the books were open. And everyone was judged according
to their works. Friend, you and I will be judged
according to our works. That's right. What God said,
judge every man according to his works. You see, that's what's
in the books. The works of men. And everyone who was judged out
of those books, and whose name was not written
in the book of life, were cast into hell. But those who were
written in the book, they were entered into the kingdom of heaven. You see, in those books are not written my sins, because God has blotted them
out. And you know what took its place? All of Christ's righteousness
took its place. So when God opens the books and
I'm judged according to my work, guess what? My works will read,
He was righteous. He was righteous! And the only reason it reads
that is because I'm in the book. I'm in the book of God's eternal
purpose and salvation. I'm in the book of Christ, in
the refuge of Christ. But all who are in the refuge,
what happens next after that judgment? Go to Revelation chapter
21. Revelation chapter 21. What does
John see immediately after the judgment? He said, I saw a new
heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away. What's the first thing he noticed?
There was no more sea. I love it! No more C! No more judgment. No more separation from God. No more change and decay. No more being tossed about. No
more staggering to and fro. No more C. Flip over to the next chapter,
look at the first verse. He saw that there was no more sea, but
what did he see? And he showed me a pure river,
water of life. No more sea, but there's a river. There's a river. Clear as crystal. proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the lamb. This is the river
in our text. This is the river that makes
the Children of God glad. It is a river of gladness because
it is Christ. It is Christ. It is his gospel
of peace. And all who drink of this water
have spiritual life and shall never hunger or thirst for righteousness."
Isn't that what the woman at the well found? Jesus said, he
that drinketh of this water shall never thirst again. He's not talking about a physical
water. It's a spiritual water. It is faith in Christ. That's what it is to drink of
the water of life. It is to believe on the Son of
God. And to believe that we are saved
not because of our merit, but because of His. We're not justified
because of our works, but because of His blood and righteousness
alone. It is to believe that we are right now as He is. How is he? How is Christ? Is he not on the throne of God? Is he not righteous and without
sin? As he is, so are we in this present
world. We who drink of this water of
life, we have righteousness, we have holiness. And how can
the law come on anyone who is holy? It can't. No more sea,
just a river. And the river is a river of life
and righteousness. Second of all, the river of Christ,
we should be glad because this river is all of God. Look at
that in Revelation 22. Where did this river come from?
It said it proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. This river of salvation is to make us glad because it's
none of us. We had no part in making it.
No part in planning it. No part in accomplishing it.
It's no part in actually receiving it. Christ did it all. He gave
us the faith to believe it. And if we believe it tonight,
it's because He's still giving us faith. Grace. All of grace. All of grace. None of ourselves. That makes
it sure, doesn't it? If it comes from God, how sure
is it? Oh, it's sure. It's as sure as the throne of
God. All we are given. Comes from
him. And friends, all that God gave
Christ He'll in no wise cast out. If you've come to Christ
by faith and you've drank of this river, He'll never cast
you out. Never, no never, no never, no never. This river never
ceases because it comes from an eternal God. And He will never cease. This
river will never cease to give life and peace and comfort. Christ said to him that it's
a thirst. Come and drink of the fountain of the water of life
freely. Freely. Next, this river makes the church
of God glad because it comes from the mercy seat. Look at
that back in your text. Flip over back there and look
it with me. It says that there's a river the streams aware of
make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles
of the most God is in the midst of her. Now where did God say
He would meet with the children of Israel? There was only one
place in all the world that God would meet with men during that
time and it was above the mercy seat. It was the only place where
the blood would be applied for the atonement to be given. It was a picture of Christ who
is the mercy seat. And friends, God will meet with
man nowhere else but in Christ. He'll meet with no one, no man
in mercy, but at the mercy seat. Well, guess what? That's where
this river comes from. It comes from the mercy seat. I hope you'll
read it later, but in Ezekiel chapter 47, it speaks of the
river throughout that whole chapter. It talks about how Ezekiel was
seen in the vision, how he saw the water coming out of the Holy
of Holies, and he saw it coming trickling down out of there,
and all of a sudden it was a great river full of life that flowed. Guess where it flowed? It flowed
into the sea and healed the waters, that's what he said. Friends,
what calm the justice of God for us but Christ and His river
of blood. God's justice has been satisfied
by the river of Christ. And wherever this river goes,
you see, I don't know where it goes. I know where it's been. It's been here. It's here. It's here. It's here. I know
where it's been. I know where it is. I don't know
where it's going. But I know this, everywhere the
river went, there was life. There was life. And in Ezekiel, as well as in
Revelation, you'll notice the same thing. When he saw this
river, he also noticed along the banks of this river were
trees planted. I like that, planted by the rivers
of water, bringing forth fruit whose leaves
were for the healing of the nation. Friends, we who are God's church
are trees planted by the river of the gospel. We're trees planted
of God. The scripture says in our text,
it says God is in the midst of her and she shall not be moved. God shall help her in that right
early. In a storm, you may see the trees dancing at the top. You may see them swaying at the
top. But if they're rooted, they're not going anywhere. They're not
going anywhere. And you know the strongest trees,
you know where they're planted? By the river. They receive a
lot of nourishment. And we are like trees planted
of God that will not be moved. Isn't that a comfort to know
this, that God's saints will not ever lose their salvation? You see, we didn't save ourselves
and we can't keep ourselves. God saved us and he'll keep us.
We're planted. If you're rooted in Christ, you'll
go nowhere. Now, you may sway from time to
time. And I'll tell you what, sometimes
our branches may even break off. But I'll tell you this, the tree
will stay planted in the river of the gospel and not be moved. Let me ask you this. Have you
seen some come in? Seem real firm and then leave.
Never to return. I have. I have. They weren't
planted. They weren't planted. Not of God. John says they went
out from us because they were not of us. If they were of us,
they no doubt would have continued with us. Where else are we going to go? Isn't that what the disciples
said? Lord, I don't understand. But I know this, I ain't going
nowhere else. You have the words of eternal life. God's people
won't be moved from this river. And lastly, we should be glad
at this, that the river is meant for our
comfort no matter how men rage against us. Look at that in verse
6, the heathen rage, the kingdoms were moved. God uttered his voice
and the earth melted. Even when the kingdoms of this
earth are moved, even when God destroys this world by fire,
we can still be glad. Now, that's the worst case scenario,
isn't it? Didn't he put out the worst case
scenario? that if the ground underneath our feet gives way
and this world blows up, we can still be glad. You can still
be glad. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what happens
on the outside. It doesn't matter what men do.
It doesn't matter what men say. It doesn't matter if the kingdoms
rage. Because when my God speaks, His
voice melts the earth. And what if He does? It is well
with my soul. It is well. It is well with my
soul. If we are rooted in Christ, we
will stand and not be moved. And friends, our God is our refuge
and our help. Do you need help being glad?
Because I'll tell you what, sometimes I just need help being glad. Because I'll tell you, I can
have everything and still be miserable. But by God's grace, if you'll give us hearts to see
it, We can be glad all the time. We can be glad all the time.
I pray that God blesses to you. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.