That was written by Isaac Watts,
as you may have noticed. I should say written by our God,
because it's Psalm 36 paraphrased by Isaac Watts. You may have
noticed also the original music transposed or written by Ludwig
van Beethoven. One man known well by the Church
of God, Isaac Watts, unknown to the world. Another man, Beethoven,
known well by the world and insignificant to the Church of God. Psalm 36. Psalm 36 is our text. I am not, as you know, a topical
preacher taking one subject and dealing with it. I don't believe
in that kind of preaching, but nor do I preach from an outline,
a regimented outline that nearly always go verse by verse. But
there are so, so very many verses in God's Word that deserve and
need a message by themselves, not solely by themselves, but
need to be carefully considered and dealt with. This is one verse.
Verse nine is our text. This verse holds a secret of
wisdom, knowledge, salvation. It says in verse nine, "...with
thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see
light." is the psalmist here. David is
the writer of this psalm. David communed with God in nature. I didn't say he communed with
nature. He communed with God in nature. There's a difference. But David
knew God, and he liked to be outside And he walked with God
among the hills and in the mountains, out in the sunshine, through
the woods and by the streams and in the valley. If you read
the psalms that he wrote, bear witness of that. Sitting on a
mount by the ocean, I believe, as we saw in Psalm 104, he said,
there's this wide ocean. They call the ships, you know.
I believe he was sitting on a mount. Maybe Mount Carmel, one of the
writers said, the very place that Elijah stood and challenged
all those false prophets. That was on the ocean, overlooking
the ocean. David would sit under the stars
at night, wouldn't he? And creation made him think of
the Creator. Quite often he wrote of his Creator. Psalm 19, you know well. The heavens declare His glory,
and the firmament showeth His handiwork. He said, When I consider
the sun, the moon, which Thou hast ordained, the stars... Did
anybody look at the sky last night? It was brilliant, wasn't
it? Innumerable stars. That is innumerable
to us, but God has ennumbered and named. He made them. The
heavens declare His glory, the firmament showeth God's handiwork,
made it with his hand. And David wrote of his Creator,
and David wrote of God and his Christ, God's Christ. And David used
the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the streams, oceans,
light to describe God. Or rather, I should say, God
told David. to use these things to describe
them. Light and a fountain of water. Can you think of two things that
are the essentials of life on planet Earth? Two things that
other planets don't really have that we have. Water and light. They're not the right distance
from the sun. They're too close, too far away. The Earth is just right. and
there's water upon this planet, no other. They keep looking for
it, don't they? They keep imagining that, you know, there was, but
there wasn't. But here, the earth is the Lord's,
Psalm 24 says, and the fullness thereof. The earth is his place
and the habitation of his people and where he himself inhabited. But it says in verse seven, David
writes, and he says in verse seven, those who put their trust
under the shadow of God's wings, those who put their trust in
God through Christ, in Christ, those who know him, those who
love him, those who worship him, those who abide in him, and he
in them. Verse eight, he says they will
be abundantly, they shall be abundantly satisfied with the
fatness of God's We looked at that Wednesday night, didn't
we? The fatness of God's house, God's table. They'll be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of God's table, His Word, which
is meat and milk and bread and honey and so forth. And it says,
they will drink, they will drink, thou shalt make them drink of
the river of thy pleasure. At thy right hand, David wrote
in another place, Psalm 46, I believe it is, at thy right hand are
pleasures evermore. Psalm 46, there's a river whereof
the stream shall make glad the city of God. Psalm 85, I guess,
at his right hand are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16, I'll
get it in a minute. But these rivers, this river of God's
pleasures. A river, as you know, is something
that's constantly flowing, and it has a source. You remember
there in Psalm 104, it says, He watereth the hills from his
chambers. And the fresh, pure water of
this world literally comes from the snow-capped mountains. That's
where it comes, pure, crystal-clear water that waters the earth,
and God is the of these pleasures. And the river is always flowing,
always new, always new water, fresh water, the rivers of His
pleasure. Now, verse 9, He said, And with
thee, for with thee is the fountain of life. With thee. Now, we're going to talk about
God. When we mention God, we mention
Christ. You can't talk about God without
talking about Christ. He can't talk about God without
talking about his Holy Spirit. You see, these three are one. One. So, with thee, with God,
the triune God is the fountain of life. Fountain. The word here
is really spring. That's what you played on the
piano. Spring. With thee is the fountain
of life, the source of life, the origination of all life. David said in another psalm,
all my springs are in thee. Everything I have comes from
thee. All right? Turn with me to John
chapter one, the Gospel of John chapter one. And as I said, when
David writes of God, he speaks of Christ. And Christ said this. He said, No man knoweth the Father.
Nobody knows God save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. So no one, no human being can
know the living and true God, the God of Scripture, except
by knowing Jesus Christ. No matter what men and women
may say, or what they think about God, or what they feel that God
is, nobody knows God except Jesus Christ. Reveal Him. OK. John 1. Look at this. In
the beginning was the Word. Who's the Word? That is the expression
of God. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. Verse fourteen says the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God. Many people today say
that Christ is not God. He's just the Son of God. Clearly
revealing they don't know God, they don't know Christ, they
don't know God's word. Scriptures clearly tell us who
Christ will be, doesn't it? Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. A
son is given. A child is born. A son is given.
What do you call his name? What's his name? Wonderful Counselor.
The mighty God. The everlasting Father. Thomas bowed before Him that
day and said, My Lord and my God. And Christ did not correct
him. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and he only shalt thou worship and serve. And Thomas worshipped
him, and all his disciples worshipped him." Why? Because he's God.
God manifests. It's a mystery, but God was manifest
in the flesh. He is the Word made flesh. He's
God. He was in the beginning with
God. Now, this is a mystery. No man can explain. I'm not trying
to. Just declaring it. All things,
verse 3, were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. In Him was life. The source of life is life. John said it again in another
place. I John 1, he said, We beheld
Him. Life. That life. The Word of
life. Life. Life. He's the fountain
of life. said, Creator, the living and
true God, God of Scripture, He's the fountain of life. Now, two
things this is speaking of, physical life and spiritual life. He's the sword. He's the sword. Physical life. Paul was preaching
over there at the Mars Hill, and he said, God, in Him we live
and move and have our being. You hear people say all the time,
things like this, God is a big part of my life. They reveal their utter ignorance
of God. We don't have a life and then
God has his life and we have a life, we have separate lives.
He's part of my life. We don't live without him. In
him we live and move and have our being. He gives us breath.
In him we live because he lived. Christ said, because I live. All things live. He's a creator.
He's a giver, sustainer of life. He says live. We saw that in
the Psalm 104. He says live. And they live. Puny little man tries to consider
when life begins. It begins when God says it begins.
Listen to this verse very closely, okay, very carefully. He said
to Jeremiah, before I formed thee in the belly. Who formed in the belly? Who? There's children born to
our women, originally. And God Almighty is the one that
gave them life. God Almighty is the one that
determined the very second in which that conception happened.
God Almighty. Not the husband, not the wife.
God did. Before they were formed, before
Mama knew that there was a baby in her, God knew. And everything
about that child was ordained by God. How many hairs would
be on its head? That's right. That's the God
of the Bible. And men and women say, I don't understand, I can't
understand. Of course not. He's God. If we could understand
him, he'd be like us. But he's not. He's God. And he is the one who gives life,
all life. He says, I make a life, didn't
he? And I kill. He said, I kill. There are means,
there are circumstances, there are things, events, and so forth,
whatever it may be, wars or bullets and so forth. But who's the one? All souls are mine. And who takes
that life at the moment? Who determines? Scripture says
that bounds are set. Days are with the Lord. They're
months. They're years. They're days. They're determined
by the Lord. They cannot pass. Nobody's life is cut short. It's completely fulfilled according
to God's purpose. Now, that's the God Bible. And
here, he's the source of life. He's the fountain of life. And Psalm 104 said, He takes
away their breath. It doesn't matter if it's a bird
in the forest, a sparrow. Not a sparrow falls to the ground
that God didn't say, That's why David says, these
things are too wonderful for me. And I just spoke things too
wonderful for me, but never the less. That's our God. That's
why David keeps writing, Oh, you're great. God is great. How great thou art, when I consider
the heavens and so forth, the works of thy finger. And this
is the next thing. God is the source of physical
life, and God is the source of all spiritual life. Go to John
chapter 3. John 3, with me. We talked about
physical life. We talked about these children
being born of these women that God determined, that God purposed
it, each one of them. You didn't name those children.
Oh, no. I quoted to you, you saw the
proverb, Sixteen the last verse a lot of cash in the lab. You
know different than than John and Elizabeth not John but it
was John's father's name. I forget his name John the Baptist's
father's name. Somebody help me. Zachariah no that's not his name
anyway John Look it up. John's father and not now later. John's father, Zachariah, maybe
that is his name, and mother were trying to decide what to
name their boy. Well, the angel, God told the angel what to tell
them to name it in the first place. And I think it was his
father said, here's a good name. We'll call him John. And God
had already determined that. And same with you. Well, let's
pull a name out of the hat. And especially that child is
named, known by God, foreloved by God before the world began.
That name's been written on the palm of his hand. May it be in
God's purpose that Kelly Grace Park. engraved on the palm of
his hand, Abigail Hudson, on the palms of Jesus Christ's hand
in his heart, on his breastplate and on his shoulder. Could be. May be. We hope to
that end. All his people are known by him. And this is spiritual life. He's a source of it. John 3,
our Lord was speaking to a master teacher in Israel. A doctor of
divinity. A master of divinity. A teacher. One of the spiritual rulers and
leaders of his day. And didn't even know God. Didn't know Christ. Christ was
standing in front of him. Didn't even know him. And our
Lord said to him in verse 3, You must accept a man, be born
again, and cannot see the kingdom of God. The Word is born from above,
except a man be born of God. God is life. God is life unless He gives us
life, we'll not be born the first time. Well, how much more, how
much less will we have life, spiritual life, unless God gives
it? It's very plain to you that understand
it. It's not plain until God gives you that understanding
It's not playing till God gives you life. People actually think that they
can get born again. That's what this this master
in Israel said. How can that happen? Shall I
enter into my mother's womb again and get born again? And our Lord
said to him, Are you a master of Israel? You don't know these
things? You're teaching people. A blind leader of the blind. He says here in verse, look at
verse 5. He says, Verily, verily, our Lord says, Verily, truly,
truly, I say unto thee, Except the man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Born
of God. Babies, the first time, are born
in water, aren't they? They're conceived and they're
formed in water. They live their first nine months
in water, encapsulated in water. Their whole beings are complete,
are formed in a water, in a womb of water. What is that water in which we're,
which we're born by? Peter said it, the Word of God. The Word of God. Paul said it
in Ephesians 5, I believe. The water of His Word. Water. The Word of Life. The Water of
Life. And these babies, what's the first sign when they're finally,
the first sign that they're coming out? The water breaks forth. My water broke, honey. Oh. And
that's when the water of God's Word breaks forth. And someday
we'll issue forth from this life, and we're being formed, being
transformed, we're being conformed to the image of Christ right
now. How? By the Word. And someday we'll
break forth. Break forth. And he tells this
to Nicodemus. And the Spirit, you see, the
Spirit of God is the one who gives this life and gives this
birth. That which is born of the flesh,
verse six, he said, is flesh. That's all it'll ever be. But
now, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Is there a new man in his people? Jesus Christ said so, didn't he? That which is born
of the Spirit is spiritual man, born a new life, a new creature. Now he says, don't marvel. Marvel
not that I said unto you, you must be born again. And now the
wind bloweth where it listeth. Holy Spirit, Spirit is air, breath. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
You hear the sound. You cannot tell whence it cometh,
where it cometh from, or whither it goeth. So is everyone that's
born of the Spirit. Except the Spirit of God gives
life to whom He will, to whom God chose when He will. And Nicodemus didn't understand
that, nor does anyone, until God reveals it. Well, spiritual
life, He's the source. God is a fountain of life. He's
the source. He's the giver of all physical
life and all spiritual life. And no one has this life except
He gives it. No one has it. He's the source. He's the fountain. But when he
does give it, our Lord called it true life, the life of God. Adam was different from animals. How? God breathed into him. He had a body like animals. But
when God breathed into him. He became a living soul, different
than animals. In the image of God created he
them, male and female. And man fell, didn't he? Man lost that image. Man is not
born with the life of God, naturally. He's dead. He's born dead, stillborn. He doesn't have eyes to see,
ears to hear, but can't see God. The average man, the natural
man, comes out of the womb and will go all his life looking
at the stars or looking at the sun or looking at all these things
and just think it just happened by chance. He does not give God
one thought. that know God and seek God doesn't
see God. The heavens declared glory, the
firmament showeth his handiwork, day and day others speech, night
and the night knowledge. The things created by God, invisible
things, clearly revealed his eternal power in God, so that
all men are without excuse. But when they knew God, they
didn't glorify God, nor were thankful. Romans 1. A man doesn't see God in anything. until God gives an eye. And the way He does that is right
here. He gives eyes to see. And what's the first thing out
of God's Word? What's the first thing that God
reveals to a human being from His Word? The first Word. What's
the first Word in God's Word? In the beginning, God created. Creator. You know, right there
you can establish all truth from that right there. And God does. He's the Creator. And He says all the way through,
cannot I do with my own what I will. If you make something,
it belongs to you, doesn't it? If you make it, you made it.
You determine how it's going to be. If you make it, you can do what
you want to with it, can't you? And you do. And that's God, the
Creator, the Creator. Well, I've got to hurry. And see, until God Almighty gives
us life, His life, we are nothing more than beasts and animals.
That's right. Animals think about three things. eating, drinking, and sex. And that's all men and women
and young people think about until God gives them life, spiritual
life. And the life of God is holiness, holiness which we don't have
by nature. The life of God is mercy, love,
grace, peace, joy, God, knowledge of God, truth. We come forth
from the womb speaking lives until God puts truth in us, truth
in us. And we're beasts and animals
thinking about three things until God Almighty breathes upon us
the Spirit of God. And then we begin to see God
in all things, a fountain of life. enjoying God in Christ,
especially in creation and especially in the Word. And then he says
in our text, he says, "...in thee, with thee is the fountain
of life, and in thy light shall we see light." All right, I said
from the beginning that nobody knows God except through Jesus
Christ. He said, because in thy light
we see light. Nobody knows God. There are sincere
people all over the planet who seem to be seeking after God, who profess to be worshipping
God, seeking God. But Jesus Christ said, No man
knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will
reveal him. And I quoted to you, we read
it together, John 1, 1 John 1, it says God is light. God is light. Well, it says Christ
is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He's the light. If anybody has
any light, they see it in Christ. Any knowledge. Without a knowledge
of Christ, we're in the dark about all things. Some things, all things. All
sight. I'll give you an illustration.
If we could turn out all lights, I mean all lights, if there was
not even a glimmer of light, we couldn't see anything. Anything. All sight, no matter how dim
it is, depends on light. Right? You can't see without
light. You go in a dark room in a little
while, your eyes get a little bit accustomed, and you might
see something. That means there's some light
coming from somewhere. Right? And men and women have
a little light. Have a little light. Now, we've
looked before how the pagan civilizations down through the years have felt
the need to appease God, and how they do it is by sacrificing
something innocent, by shedding its blood. Now, where'd they
get that? Where did they get that? They
just make it up. No, no. From the beginning, God
showed that to Adam and Eve, the first creatures on earth.
He killed a lamb and told them about his son. He's the source
of all knowledge and light. In him is light. In thy light
we see light. In light of God's word, the entrance
of thy word giveth light, Scripture says. The Word is a lamp unto
my feet, a light unto my path, and Christ is called the light.
And the light shined in darkness, Scripture says, but the darkness
comprehended it not. For men love darkness rather
than light. I told you Wednesday night there's
a secret over in love. of the heart. Two words that
are mysterious. Anybody look them up. Durham
and Bummer. And I don't know what men have
said about that today or what men come up with that. Surely
some false prophet has a real handle on it. But I'll tell you
what it It literally translates light and perfection. Where is all light and perfection? That's in the breastplate of
the high priest, Jesus Christ. Light and perfection. And he said, God said, that God,
when he causes that light, The shine in our hearts? What does
He give? What does He make us to understand?
The light of the knowledge of the glory of God. That His whole
world exists for the glory of God's Son. The glory of God in
Jesus Christ. The face of Jesus Christ. And Christ came and John and
the rest of them said, we beheld His glory. He beheld his glory,
his light, his life. John tried to describe it, and
all he could do, Stan, was repeat what David said. His life, his
light, word of life. He beheld his glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace. Mary wasn't full
of grace. He doesn't say that. Many have
twisted that. Angels said, Hail Mary, thou
are highly favored. That is, you've found grace.
You've been graciously accepted. You're not full of grace. There's
one who's full of grace. Jesus Christ, all grace comes
from him. He's the fountain. All light
comes from him. In his light, we see light. All
right, what is God like? And I'm going to quit. I promise. In his light, we see light. In
light of Christ, we see light. We understand. What is God like? What is God like? And people
make up all sorts of things, don't they? And we would, too,
unless God had come here. David prayed, O that thou wouldest
rend the heavens and come down. He did. He did, David. He answered your prayer. He came.
Isaiah said, we're waiting on him. When he comes, we'll say,
this is our God. We've waited on him. He'll save
us. Christ stood on this earth one day and said, I am. I'm here. What is God like, Dan? Well, he's not like things, you
know, inanimate objects. He's not like a cow. The Hindus
were. He's not like a this or that
and the other. And we're creating the image
of God, and God, the express image of God came. A man. Someday we're going to see God.
Job said, I'm going to see God in my flesh with these eyes.
I'm going to see God. Who are you going to see, Job?
Jesus Christ. God is spirit. No man can see,
hath seen, and will see. He's the robe, he's the veil,
that flesh that he wears is the veil, the image which God took
upon himself. What's God like? He's holy. Holiness is different from what
we think, isn't it? Men, holy men, didn't recognize holiness
when they saw it, did they? He's just. He that ruleth over
men must be just. He is love. And greater love
hath no man than this. He's mercy. He's mercy. What is God like? He's merciful
to the worst of chief of sinners. The fumb guilty goes scot-free. That's our God. That's how you
know that Muslim's God isn't God. He's not merciful. He's not merciful. He's not love. Our God is love. How do we know? Jesus Christ.
Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Let's decide
this issue. Who can tell us? Jesus Christ. He came from there. He said,
I came from the father. He said, I'm from above. Came
from heaven. Is there a heaven? I came from
there. Is there a hell? Yes, I have the keys. And I determine who goes where.
You got any keys in your pocket? They're keys to your house, aren't
they? They're keys to your garage. They're keys to whatever. Nobody
can get in unless you open and Christ said, I have the keys
of hell and death. Is there a hell? Yes, Christ
told us about it. Is there a heaven? Yes. He said,
I go to prepare a place for you. Well, who goes there? How do
we know who goes there? Christ said, all that cometh
unto the Father by name. I'll take from there. I take
them there. Yes, with thee is the fountain
of life, source of life, physical, spiritual, and in thy light,
in light of Christ, we see light. We understand who God is in all
things to a degree. Oh, we preach in part, we know
in part, we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect
is come, then we'll know, even as we've been known. We'll dwell
in light. as he is in the light. Oh, my. Now, I've just tried
to do, I've tried a 40 minute, it wasn't even that long, 38
minutes on life. I've tried to describe lights,
which no man naturally can even look into for a brief second
without being But that's the reason that verse,
though, deserves a message by itself. And verses like this,
of Him, through Him, to Him, to whom be glory, both now and
forever. Amen.