Thank you, Brother James. Let's ask God's blessings once
more upon the service. O God, we meet together in the
name of the Lord Jesus. We do desire to honor our God
and Savior this evening. We ask that your spirit would
meet with us. We know how desperately we must
have the spirit of grace to meet with us. Lord, be merciful to us needy
sinners. open now our understanding and
open thy word to us, that we would receive that which you
have for us this evening. Lord, make the hearts of your
people to rejoice in Christ. May we see him as that one who
is all of heaven's glory, the one who is the desire of your
people. We look forward to seeing him
someday face to face. So meet with us, we ask for Jesus'
sake. Amen. Go back to the book of
Genesis chapter 22, under the imagery of a garden. Our God, Revelation 22, under
the imagery of a garden, God sets forth that which is to be
our everlasting abode, that is, heaven itself, and that is the
heavenly paradise. which is, as we say, the king's
garden. We said that this morning. This
evening I want to talk to you about the river and the tree
of life. And if I may, let me read a couple
of verses to you again. In fact, I want to read three
verses here in Revelation 22, verse one. And he showed me one
of these angels, one of these messengers, Revelation 22, one. He showed me a pure river of
water of life, clear as crystal. And that which he noted was it
proceeded out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This wasn't a trickle of water. You know, if you look at the
rivers of this earth and you track them down to their origin,
usually they begin as just a little stream, a little creek. nothing
significant. We've been up in Minnesota and
we saw the beginnings of the Mississippi River. It's nothing
like it is when it gets down to New Orleans. And its origin
is very insignificant. Well, that's not the way it is
with this river of water of life. It was already a river. It was
a river proceeding out of the very throne of God. The second verse, in the midst
of the street of it, this is the street of paradise, and on
either side of the river, this river of the water of life, there
was a tree, the tree of life. I read several writers who said
that actually there were many trees of life, but that is not
right. There is one tree, the tree of
life. The scriptures are very specific
here. There was the tree of life, which
bared 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. In other words, this is a everlasting,
bountiful, nourishment that comes from this tree of life to those
who partake of it. And then he mentions the leaves
of the tree. There was something very special
about the leaves of the tree, and by leaves I think we're to
understand doctrines, the teachings. of this tree of life, who is
of course the Lord Jesus because he is the river of life and he
is the tree of life and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. And then drop down to verse 14,
blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have
right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates
into the city. Now, the idea of paradise is
certainly superimposed on the picture of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem has been set
forth in chapter 21, beginning at verse nine through the end
of chapter 21 of the book of Revelation. And here we have
a picture of all of the group of God's elect. It's a magnificent
group. This is the New Jerusalem. John
has seen it coming down from heaven prepared as a bride for
her husband. And then he immediately goes
into the nature of that wonderful place where these people will
dwell. They will dwell in the paradise
of God. In the New Testament, we do read
of the paradise of God, and though the word is not specifically
mentioned in this context, it is certainly set forth in picture. Look with me in Luke chapter
23. The word paradise is used three
times in the New Testament. And only in the New Testament
is the word paradise used, Luke chapter 23. And you will immediately
recognize this because this is where Our Lord Jesus, he's hanging
upon the cross of Calvary. He's dying for the sins of his
people. He's dying that God might be
just and justify ungodly folks like you and me. He's dying to
satisfy God's justice. He's dying in our stead as our
substitute. And as he dies there, he dies
in the midst of two thieves. By the way, did you notice when
we read there in Revelation 22, as Terry read, and then as I
read, this tree of life is in the midst, it's in the middle.
This is our Lord Jesus, He's always in the middle. In fact,
we read of our Lord dying, He died in the midst of two thieves. He's on the middle cross. That's
always significant. He is most important. And so
as he is nailed there to the cross of Calvary in between two
thieves, one of the thieves, one of the malefactors, now we're
in Luke 23, 39, One of the malefactors, which
were hanged, railed on him, blasphemed him, ridiculed him. And he was
saying this, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the
other answering rebuked him. Now at the beginning, both of
them were ridiculing the Lord Jesus. Both of them were blaspheming
the name of the man who was nailed to the middle cross. But all
of a sudden, this man has a change of heart. His heart is not changed
by himself. God gave him a new heart. God
quickened him. God regenerated him. The Lord
made a distinction. The Lord made a difference between
these two thieves. It's a difference grace made.
God had purpose to leave one of these men just as he found
him. whereas God ordained the other
one would be saved by the grace of God." Listen, they both heard
the same words. They both saw the same man hanging
on the middle cross. They both heard him pray, Father
forgive them for they know not what they do. They both had... equal opportunity, if that's
the right word to use, to hear and then believe if they so chose
to do so on the man hanging on the middle cross. But by nature,
neither one of them would believe. But all of a sudden, There's
a difference. It's a difference really that
was made from old eternity, but was manifest right now. One of them continued to rail
and ridicule the Lord Jesus. The other one became a believer. Grace makes the difference. Isn't
that right? Grace makes the difference. So
verse 40, the other answering rebuked him saying, does not
thou fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man, this man,
he hath done nothing amiss. He never did do anything amiss. He never will do anything amiss. He's the perfect man. And he
said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily
I say unto thee, Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Literally, in a walled garden. That's exactly what the word
paradise means. A walled garden, totally enclosed
by the omnipotence of God. What is it then to be in paradise,
to be in the King's garden? It is to be with Christ Jesus.
That's what it means to be in paradise. You remember what Paul
said in Philippians 1.23, he said, for I'm in a strait betwixt
two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which
is far better. Paradise. And then look with
me in the book of 2 Corinthians, and we'll go over to chapter
12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Here the apostle Paul is speaking
of himself in the third person. And he has this to say. 2 Corinthians
chapter 12 verse 1. It is not expedient for me, it
is not profitable for me, doubtless to boast or glory. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. But he said, I need to tell you
this. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, and he's
speaking in the third person, and we know that because of verse
seven, he identifies himself, unless I should be exalted. So we know he's talking about,
he's talking about himself. Go back to verse two. I knew
a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot
tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such-and-one
was called up to the third heaven. Most people think that this happened
when he was stoned and they drug him out of the city thinking
him to be dead. And in fact, it seems that he
was dead. And his soul left his body and
went up to what he called the third heaven. He said, and I knew such a man,
whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God
knoweth how that he was caught up into, and here's the second
time the word is used in the New Testament, in the whole Bible,
in fact, he was caught up into paradise, into this walled garden,
into this royal garden. And he heard unspeakable words. You know that word unspeakable
is used three times in the New Testament. Thanks be unto God
for his unspeakable gift. And then that's in... 2 Corinthians
9, 15. Then in 1 Peter 1 in verse 8,
unspeakable joy. That's what we have. We have
unspeakable joy. And then he uses this word here,
and it's the third time, how he was caught up in the paradise
and he heard unspeakable words, which it's not lawful for a man
to utter. He saw things, but it doesn't
relate to us anything that he actually saw. He only mentions
that he heard unspeakable words. So don't put any confidence at
all into that which people say when they profess, well, I died
and I went to heaven and I saw this and I heard that. Pay no
attention to that whatsoever. Here are the words of an inspired
apostle. And he said he went to paradise. He did not mention anything about
what his eyes beheld. He only said, I heard things,
I heard unspeakable words, words that I can't convey to you because
they're so above our intellect, so above our comprehension. that which he saw was unspeakably
marvelous and wonderful and glorious, insomuch that the natural man,
even the people of God, while living on this earth, we cannot
begin to comprehend the glory of not only the conversation
going on in heaven, the language of heaven, much less could we
comprehend and appreciate what he saw. He heard unspeakable words. He heard them in paradise. Lots
of conversation going on in paradise. It's way over our heads. That
is, it's way over our heads while we are in this body flesh. And then the third time, and
I preached on this Wednesday night, this last Wednesday night,
is in Revelation chapter two, and I'll read it again to you.
Revelation chapter two and verse seven. This is our Lord's letter
to the church at Ephesus. And he says to them, Revelation
2.7, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst, which
is in the middle of the paradise of God. There's so much that
we don't know about the king's garden, about paradise. We know that immediately upon
the deaths of the saints of God, that's where they go, that's
where we'll go, those of us who are the objects of God's saving
grace. It will be a joyful day for us,
that will be our home going day. It will be the day in which we
meet our Savior face to face. We have looked upon Him through
the eyes of faith. We have seen Him in the Word
of God. We have read of Him. We have
preached of Him. We have talked of Him. We have
spoken of Him. We have prayed in His name to
the Heavenly Father. But there is coming a day when
we will indeed, we will see Him face to face, as the hymn writer
said, face to face with Christ my Savior. But beyond those sayings,
we know very little. And yet, we are very much aware
that our God often gives us a little foretaste of that heavenly glory
of paradise, he gives us a little foretaste of it even while we're
in this body of flesh. It's when he meets with us and
he reveals to us the majesty of his person and the wonders
of his grace. Look with me in Isaiah chapter
51. Isaiah chapter 51. This is such
a passage. This portion of scripture tells
us of those wonderful, precious times when our gracious Lord
pulls back a little bit of the curtain of the heavenly paradise,
of this joyful, delightful, walled garden and gives us just a little
token of what it's going to be like. I really think you could label
Isaiah chapter 51 as good news for days of trouble. That'd be
a good thing to write around there where it says chapter 51. Good news in days of trouble. In times of trouble and fear,
when the troubles and storms and trials of life seem to overwhelm
us, there's only one course of action. There's only one thing
we can do and we must do. In fact, it is found, and I'll
read first of all, chapter 15, verse number 10. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord? So I'm speaking to you. Who is
among us tonight who fears the Lord? You worship the Lord. You
worship Him through the sacrifice. You honor Him. You believe Him.
You rest in Him. Who is among us that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, who says, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? And you believe Him. But you're
walking in darkness. Oh, the dark storms of life. The clouds gather around you.
You can't hardly see any light. You're walking in darkness. You're
a believer, but oh, you have troubles galore. And you have
no light. Well, what must I do? Here's
the Word. Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. That's what you've got to do.
You've got to lean on your God. Lean on Him. He's the Omnipotent
One. He's the Powerful One. He's your
God. He's your Father. Christ is your
Savior. The Spirit of God is your Comforter. Lean on your God. Stay on your
God. And then he gets into chapter
51. And it's amazing how over and over
again, and I really need to preach from this chapter. And I don't
think I've ever preached from it. If I have, I don't remember.
I've certainly made reference to it from time to time, but
as you go through chapter 51, the Lord, He continually says
to us, listen to what I have to say. Remember what I have
to say, hearken unto me. And the reason those of us who
are the people of God, the reason that we have those days of doubt
and fear, is because we don't listen to what He has to say.
We don't listen to His Word. And you know that's true, and
I know it's true too. That's the reason at the beginning
of every paragraph in this passage of Scripture, there is the call
to hearken to what the Lord has to say. Watch it. Look at verse
1. God says, Hearken unto Me. Next
paragraph, verse four, hearken unto me, my people. Verse seven, hearken unto me,
ye that know righteousness. Now watch this one in verse nine.
Now the people of God are calling upon the Lord himself. Awake,
awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the
ancient days in the generations of old. Awake, O Lord, hear us
and come to our rescue. Just like you had so many victories
in days gone by when you conquered our enemies. Awake, awake, O
arm of the Lord. Who is the arm of the Lord? That's
the Son of God. And here's the cry of the people
of God. Wake up, arm of the Lord, and
come to our defense. But you know what? He's always
awake. And he's always there. And then
he says down in verse 17, awake, awake, and stand up, O Jerusalem. And then again at verse 21, therefore
hear now this, thou afflicted and drunken, but not with wine. You're not drunk with wine. Hear
what the Lord has to say to you. But let me go back, because that's
not really the main thing I want to point out to you from this
passage of scripture. That's just kind of extra right
there. So it whets your appetite for it, so you can come back
and read it again. The Lord says, hear my word,
hearken to what I have to say. You know what we need to do?
Pay attention to the word of God. That's what we need to do.
We need to read the word of God, pray over the word of God, and
ask God to put his word in our hearts. David said, thy word
have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. But who
is this for? Look at verse one. He says, hearken
unto me. Well, Lord, who are you talking
to? Those that follow after righteousness. You follow after righteousness,
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. ye that seek the
Lord." Is that you? You follow after righteousness?
Are you a seeker? Look into the rock from whence
you were hewn, to the hole of the pit where you were dig. Look
into Abraham your father, unto Sarah that bear you. For I called
him alone and blessed him and increased him. Remember, the
Lord is saying, remember where you were when I found you. You
were nobody going nowhere and you knew nothing. He was wrapped
up in ideology. You didn't seek me, I sought
you just like I went after Abraham and Ur of the Chaldees and I
called him and I bypassed others. Now look at verse three. For
the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste
places. And he will make her wilderness
like Eden. Oh, Eden. We've been talking
about Eden. The garden, the lushness of it,
the pleasantness of it, the beauty of it. The Lord says that he
will make her wilderness, the wilderness of his people, like
Eden. and her desert, like the garden
of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found
therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. I'll tell you
what this is. This is our gracious God giving
us times of spiritual refreshment, even here on earth, giving us
just a little glimpse of that heavenly Eden, of that heavenly
garden. Even here on earth, it's like
a preview, a little sample, a little token. Where is it that you, as it were, flee to,
to escape the desert and the wilderness out there. It's in the place of worship.
That's where it is. This is like an oasis. And it's a little brief glimpse
of paradise because the world is a wilderness. The world is
a desert. And we come in here and we meet
with God and for a little while we try to lose ourselves in the
Word of God and in the adoration of God. And we try to put out
of our minds the wilderness that's out there. You say, preacher,
but you know all the stuff that's going on now in the world, what
do you expect from a wilderness? Do you expect the desert out
there where there's evil and hatred and malice and meanness? Do you expect it to be a welcoming
place for the people of God? It's a desert. I heard one man
say the other day, and people don't understand, all of this
that's going on is a revelation of the natural evil of men. That's what it is. It's a revelation. And I heard a man say the other
day, why do we teach people hatred? Hatred doesn't have to be taught. We're evil within. We have to
be taught to love. But just telling somebody, stop
hating people and start loving somebody. Well, that'll get it
done, won't it? No. The world is evil. The wilderness is dry. The desert
is barren. Don't be surprised what goes
on in the world. It's an ungodly world. It's an
evil world. God has put us here as lights
in the midst of darkness. But thank God we can come into
the house of worship and escape it a little bit. And we get caught
up in the things of God. And we get to thinking about
our Lord Jesus and his substitutionary death and the grace of God and
the mercy of God that flows so freely to us. And for a little
bit, we escape. And for a little bit, we see
a little glimpse of what the heavenly paradise
is going to be like. I say that the nearest thing
to heaven on this earth is when the saints of God gather
together to worship and honor our king and he blesses us with
his presence. And all is sweet and lovely and
delightful for a little bit. One of these days, we're gonna
leave this wilderness of this world and we're going to the
Royal Garden. Where do the saints of God go
when we die? We go to the Royal Garden. I
called it a Royal Garden this morning. Royal is, it's kingly. It's where the king is. Did not
our Lord say to his disciples in John chapter 14, I quoted
this yesterday or read it from the scriptures yesterday in the
funeral, John 14, in my father's house. That's paradise. A walled city, a walled enclosure. We're going to the kingdom of
heaven. We're going to the kingdom of God. We're going to the king's
house. Well, do you have a right to
go to the king's house, to go to the king's paradise? Yes,
I do. Because through the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, I've been made a king and a priest. And
so have you. Can you possibly imagine what
that royal garden will be like? Well, the answer is no. You can't,
except as you get just a little glimpse of it. when we're involved
in worship. You know, at the judgment, there's
gonna be a manifestation of the sheep and the goats. The division
that was made before the world began will be made known when
time shall be no more. You see, throughout time, the
gospel finds the sheep. The sheep don't just kind of
accidentally stumble on the gospel. The gospel finds the sheep. The
Savior said, my sheep, hear my voice. His voice is the gospel. It's the gospel of redeeming
grace. It's the gospel of free grace. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me. And in that day, in that final
day, in that judgment day, when time shall be no more, the Lord
Jesus is going to be the one who separates the sheep and the
goats. And he'll say to the sheep, he'll
say, come ye blessed of my father, enter the kingdom. That's what
he said. enter the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world. You see, that which made
Eden's garden a paradise wasn't so much the flowers and the plants
and the trees and the natural beauty. It was that place where
the Lord manifested himself to Adam and to his wife. and heaven's
unending glory will be the Son of God manifesting himself to
us. That's gonna be heaven's glory
right there. Now go back to Revelation with
me, 22. And I feel like I need to just
make a comment or two on this. And that is the fact that everybody
is not going to paradise. And not everybody's going. And
I make no apologies for God, but everybody's not going. You see, though hell is as real
as heaven, and damnation is as real as salvation, you've got
to remember that the Lord leaves a group of people as he found
them. Dead, dead, dead. And just leaves them to their
own desires. Whereas those who come to believe
the gospel, they believe because the Lord doesn't leave them as
he found them. He does something for them because
he purposed to do something for them from the foundation of the
world. Look at Revelation, look at 21, 27. And there shall in
no wise enter into it, into this wonderful paradise. There shall
no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination or maketh A lot? Well, who's going in? Those whose names are written
in the Lamb Book of Life. He could have said those who
believe, that'd been true. He could have said those who've
repented, that'd been true. He could have said, but those
who follow the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, that'd be true. But
he's magnifying the pure grace of God here, and he takes you
back to the very origin of your salvation. It's when God in free
and sovereign grace, He put your name in the Lamb's book of life.
And there it will stay forever. And if your name's not in there,
you're gonna perish. You're gonna perish. Here's another verse that warns
us. Look at verse 11 of chapter 22. He that is unjust, let him
be unjust still. You live unjustified, you live
not righteous in God's sight, not right with God, you die not
right with God. He which is filthy, filthy in
his self-righteousness, filthy in his sinfulness, let him be
filthy still. You're gonna be filthy after
you die. And you can't go into paradise. No filthy person's
going into paradise. Only ones who are gonna go into
paradise are these. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. That's who's going in, people
who are righteous and holy. Well, how do we become righteous
and holy? Through the Lord Jesus, who of
God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and holiness or
sanctification and redemption. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. And then he says this in verse
15, for without, outside of this walled enclosure are dogs, That's a word Paul used to describe
false prophets. He said they're dogs. And sorcerers,
and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever
loveth and maketh a lie. I know it's typical with most
funerals. Not with funerals conducted by
men of God, but by men who don't know God. They'll preach the
deceased one right into heaven. But everybody's not going. That's
just a fact. The only ones who are going are
righteous people. That's right. Ain't nobody else
going. And holy people. And that holiness
is not something you do. He's your holiness and he's your
righteousness. Now, turn with me. Let me give you, I got a few
more scriptures I wanna give you. I want you to look at Isaiah
57. So when the unbeliever dies, he perishes. He's gone. It's a sad thing. It's a reason that we say if
a person isn't a believer, we accurately say anything this
side of hell is mercy, anything. A person may be in agony on their
bed of affliction. That's a horrible condition in
which to be. But when they die, their agony
is then just going to begin. They don't know anything about
agony yet because they're gonna be without God, without Christ,
without hope, without light, without life. The absence of
God is hell. Our Lord Jesus suffered that
upon the cross of Calvary. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? The agony of his soul comes out
in his cry. That's what hell is. It's to
be forsaken, abandoned, deserted by God. Oh my. God is light,
you're left in darkness. God is life, you're left in death. Forever and ever. I don't want anything to do with
that. Do you? And I'm not going to have anything
to do with it because Christ is my life and Christ is my hope. His bloody death, that's my hope. What right do I have to go to
heaven? I don't have any rights at all.
I'm going by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. That's the
route I'm going. He's the one I'm hanging on to,
and really, even though I hold on to him, he's got the hold
on me. That's for sure. It's like when
you're walking your kids, when your kids were little. I'd walk
David or walk Susanna, sometimes walk them both, holding their
hand, and they're walking. Susanna just learning to walk,
David doing a fairly good job. I got them both by the hand.
It's not their hold on me that keeps them steady. It's my hold on them. And it's
not my hold on the Lord Jesus Christ that keeps me steady,
even though I do hold on to him for dear life. But my grip is
so weak and feeble, it's his almighty grip on me. And he ain't
never gonna let me go. Well, bad things happen when
the ungodly die. Demons of hell don't come up
and take them. You see that kind of foolishness
in movies. These black ghosts come up and
take them and away they go. No, God comes and gets you. It's not the devil's hell, it's
God's hell. And that's where he puts men
and women who are disobedient to the gospel. Don't you be disobedient
to God's gospel. You bow to his way of saving
sinners and give up all hopes of saving yourself and flee to
Christ Jesus. Only hope for a poor old sinner
like you and me. Well, what about the righteous?
Look at Isaiah 57. I thought about this. especially
with Pat's death and other believers as well. The righteous perisheth,
you there, Isaiah 57 one, the righteous perisheth. And no man
lays it to heart. And merciful men and women are
taken away, none considering. that the righteous is taken away
from the evil to come. Well, what happens to them? They
enter into peace. That's what happened to Pat Tollard. She entered into peace, a peaceful
place, restful place. She entered into the presence
of the king. She entered into peace. She rests
upon her bed, her body. Her body now deceased, awaits
the resurrection, but in her soul, she's walking in her uprightness
in that righteousness freely imputed to Christ Jesus, which
he calls the righteousness of the saints. That's what happens
to the people of God. Our souls rest in the arms of
Christ Jesus. Now, I want you to go back to
Revelation 22, and I'm going to try to give you this, the
river, to speak to you on the river of the water of life, and
then the tree of life. When I read this verse, Revelation
22, one, he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God. And then I
read in the second verse of the tree of life. When I read this, I immediately think of my Lord
Jesus, and you should too. This is who it's about. Now,
gotta give you several verses here. First of all, I'm gonna
start with Psalm 46. Look at Psalm 46. I don't wanna
weary you by turning to too many scriptures. Preachers can do
that. And people lose track. We'll
stay on focus here. I wanna talk first of all about
the river of the water of life. And I'm gonna go to this passage,
Psalm 46, verse four. There is a river. There is a
river. We read about it right there
in Revelation 22 in verse one. The river that comes out of the
throne of God. There is a river, the streams
thereof make glad the city of God. So here is a river that
has, It has streams, okay? Got the picture? A river that
has, it branches off as it were into four streams. It makes glad
the city of God. Now, go back to Genesis chapter
two. Stay with me and let me see if
I can show you something that would be a blessing to you. It
was to me. Genesis chapter two. We're gonna
go right back here to the paradise, this original paradise of God. And we're thinking about this
river now. This river and its branches as
it streams off. All right, Genesis chapter two,
look at verse 10. It's talking about Eden's garden.
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. Now, every
word's important. I took the time to look up, went
out. I thought, well, surely I know
what that means. But it means to go forth with
purpose. I'll write that down somewhere.
Write down in your memory. It means to go forth with purpose. Not at random, not without intention,
but to go forth with purpose. And then it branches off into
four rivers. Look at it. Verse 11, the name
of the first river is Pison. And you can look these up just
like I did. The word Pison means to increase,
to spread about, to flow freely, and unhindered, that's what it
means. Doesn't that make you think of
the free and sovereign grace of God that flows freely and
unhindered? Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption of his in Christ Jesus. Doesn't
that make you think of the purpose of God that can't be hindered? It's free. The name of the first one is
Pisan. Now look at verse 13. And the
name of the second river is Gihon, which means bursting forth. To
break forth in a manner, watch it, that cannot be stopped. Ain't that interesting? To break
forth in a manner that cannot be stopped. Well, that certainly
sets forth the grace of God. bursting like a mighty river
of life, unstoppable. But now remember, it all comes
from this main river, this main river that goes forth with purpose. And then look at verse 14, and
the name of the third river is Hadekel, Hadekel. which means rapid, not stagnant,
moving, ever progressing. That certainly sets forth the
grace of God, always effectual and always moving, accomplishing
God's purpose because the purpose of God's grace can't be hindered
or stopped. It's ever moving, always accomplishing
the divine purpose. And then the fourth one, is at
the end of verse 14, Euphrates. And that means fruitfulness. Fruitfulness. It's called the
great river. And it bears fruit to the glory
of God. Now, as we think about that passage
of scripture in Revelation chapter 22, you have this main river. It's a river gushing forth from
the throne of God. Now, when it comes forth from
the throne of God, you immediately know this is coming forth from
the God of absolute authority, because it's from his throne.
You read about the throne of God, that's just not wasting
words. It says forth God in his kingly
reign, in his royal sovereignty. It comes forth from the throne
of God and of the lamp, a gushing mighty river that waters all
of the heavenly paradise. And this is of course in symbolism. Now, what is that main river? I'll tell you what I think it
is. I think it's the everlasting covenant love of God for his
people because love is behind it all. Do you know that? Love is behind it all. God's
love for his covenant people. Now go with me to Romans chapter
eight and let me see if I can connect a few dots for you. Romans
chapter 8. Let me see if I can show you
this mighty river and the four branches which flow out of it. These streams make glad the city
of God. There's one main river. That's
the love of God. The love of God in Christ Jesus.
and it leads to four other rivers, but they're not creeks and they're
not just branches as we think of a branch, a small running
stream, but they're mighty rivers too. Romans chapter eight, verse
29, for whom he did foreknow. What is the foreknowledge of
God? Well, we understand this. The Bible doesn't talk about
what God foreknew. It talks about who God foreknows. What is the foreknowledge of
God? It is God's loving foreordination of a people unto salvation. That's what foreknowledge is.
He knew us in love. He loved us before the world
began. Love's behind it all. Here's
the river. Here's the river that flows from
the throne of God and of the Lamb. Indeed, there are many
ways in which Christ is the water of life and the river of life,
but there are other ways in which the river of life is the love
of God in Christ for all of His people. This is behind it all. In Ephesians chapter one, Paul
talks about that the Lord chose us from before the foundation
of the world. And then in love, he predestinated
us. Everything was done in love.
People think that God's sovereign choice of a people unto salvation
was without any affection, without any love on God's part. That's not the way it was. He
chose us in love. He chose you because He loved
you. Love's behind it all. That's why He said to Jeremiah,
Jeremiah, I've loved you with an everlasting love. That's why
in loving kindness I called you. So here's the mighty river of
the love of God in Christ Jesus. A love for his people. I'm not
talking about a silly, sentimental emotion that
God has. When people think today about
the love of God, that's all they think about. Well, that's an
emotion of God. He has good intentions toward
us. Listen, the love of God is mighty. It's glorious. It's sovereign. And always, he
always saves those whom he loves. Always. There's nobody in hell
God loves. You got it? There's nobody in
hell Christ died for. Got it? There's nobody in hell
the Spirit of God has regenerated. Got it? That's the way it is.
Everybody God loves gonna wind up in glory. Everybody Christ
died for gonna wind up in glory. Everybody's spirit of God regenerates
gonna wind up in glory. They got to. Or the purpose of
God will have been frustrated and that can't ever happen. So the foreknowledge of God,
the loving knowledge of God, foreordination, of God of his
people. There's the river coming forth
from the throne of God. Now let's look at these other
rivers. There's the river of predestination, which like the
river Pison flows freely and unhindered. You think you can
hinder the predestinated purpose of God? You're nobody. God will do his will. God has
graciously marked out the paths of all of his people. He's predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, and
nothing can ever stop it. That river flows freely. Secondly,
the river of calling. And like Gihon in Genesis chapter
two, this river suddenly breaks forth. In the heart of one of
the elect of God, those are redeemed. It breaks forth in a manner that
can't be stopped. It can't be stopped. Thy people,
they shall be willing in the day of thy power. It's a mighty
river of effectual life. Thirdly, there's the river of
justification. And like the river of Hadekel,
rapid, ever moving, ever progressing to all of the elect. Those who are justified by grace,
justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus will be justified
by faith. The river of justification is
always moving, ever progressing, reaching the elect of God in
all ages. And then the fourth river is
the river of glorification. And like the river Euphrates,
the purpose of God is always fruitful. It always bears fruit
to the glory of God. for all of the chosen ones, all
of the ransomed ones, all of the called ones, all of the justified
ones will receive the inheritance ordained for them from the foundation
of the world. And remember this, all of this
marvelous grace proceeds out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. It proceeds, it cannot be stopped. Ain't that wonderful? It cannot
be stopped. It's pure, pure and clear as
crystal. It's the gospel of purity. The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, It cleanses us. Well, you know about that. It
cleanses us. It washes us from all sins. And furthermore, it promotes
purity in life as well. It purifies us spiritually and
it leads us to seek purity before the Lord. But remember, it all
flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. which means
it wasn't caused by us. There's a wonderful verse of
scripture. Let me give it to you and I'll tell you because
I preached a long time already. I'll talk about the tree of life
Wednesday night. I'll hold on to the rest of this.
But let me give you this passage of scripture and then I'll send
you home. Hosea chapter 14. Hosea chapter
14. So this mighty river that comes
forth from the throne of God, from the sovereign God, his throne
stands for his sovereign authority. God loves people because he will. We don't merit it, you can't
earn it. He either loves you or he doesn't.
That's right. He either loves you or he doesn't.
Like I say, I'm not going to apologize for God, but not love
everybody. I'm not going to apologize for
the Lord Jesus, but not die for everybody. The Lord saves whom
He will. That's His business. I'm just
thankful He showed grace to me, Larry. I don't think that's selfish
on my part. I'm just so grateful. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.
He could have left me in false religion where he found me and
I'd have been just, I'd just keep on going the route I was
going with big goals ahead of me and big churches and great
things accomplished and then die and go to hell. But he ordained
it otherwise. and all because of that river
coming forth from his throne. He loved me. He loved me. Look what he says here. There's
several verses, and I'll just highlight them for you. First
of all, chapter 13 of Hosea. I might as well give you this.
Look at verse nine. Oh Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself. Boy, that's true of us, isn't
it? You've destroyed yourself, but
in me is thine help. He says in verse 10, I will be
thy king. He didn't say, will you let me be
your king? Will you make me Lord? Will you let me be the Lord?
No, he says, I will be your king. I love his I wills. And look at verse 14. I will
ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them
from death. O death, I'll be your plagues. O grave, I'll be thy destruction. Repentance shall be hid from
mine eyes. And then chapter 14, verse four. I will heal their backsliding.
I will love them freely. freely. Why did the Lord love
me? I don't know, He just loved you
freely, but I can tell you that. It wasn't because of anything
in you to attract His love. My dear wife, I saw her walking down by the
horseshoe pits in camp back in the 60s. I fell in love then
because she was beautiful. or something that attracted me
to her. But there wasn't anything in
me to attract me to God. He had to love me freely. He says, for mine anger is turned
away from him. That's what he says. That anger
was turned toward Christ. Anger against our sins. And he says in verse five, I
will be as the dew unto Israel and he shall grow as the lily
and cast forth his roots as leaven. All the grace of God, the love
of God in Christ, truly magnificent. Well, Wednesday night, I'll try
to wind this up and talk about the tree of life. Our Father,
take the things that have been spoken this evening. Lord, I
hope they be clear to us, making us to rejoice even more in the
free and sovereign grace of our God and your everlasting loving
kindness to your people. This marvelous river that gushes
forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb, that love that
you have for your people. Oh God, it's so deep. These are
waters to swim in. Waters in which we refresh ourselves to think and to know you love
us. Because you loved us, you predestinated
our paths. You called us unto yourself.
You justified us through the blood and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you're gonna glorify us.
In fact, in Romans 8, it just says we're glorified at the past
tense. You've mapped it all out, you've
purposed it all out, all to the praise of the glory of your grace,
and we thank you. We bless you. We look forward
to seeing our great Savior face to face in that walled garden,
that walled enclosure, in the King's garden, the royal garden. We bless the name of our God.
We thank you for all things for Jesus' sake. Amen.