Look there in verse four with
me. There is a river, the streams, whereof shall make
glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the
Most High. There's two blessed truths here,
symbols here, pictures, if you will. A river and a city. We all know what
rivers are. You take the Mississippi. You
know how many big cities are on the Mississippi? And it was
because of the Mississippi, the river, that all those cities
were built on that river. Commerce is done on that river.
Boats go up the river. Tennessee River, they got a port
in Chattanooga. Rivers serve a great function,
carry all kinds of commerce, water great cities, get their
water from them. And here's this river, this river. And wherever it goes, it makes
cities glad. And we have here a river. And
then there's a city. And wherever this river flows,
it makes this city glad. And these two things are a blessed
picture of our God, the river, and the city, His people. Don't the river make us glad? His work, and you know the river
pictures His work, and then His people, the city. And how He
meets their needs, just like a river meets the needs of cities.
And beloved, how His people rest in Him and rejoice in Him. A
river and a city. And the river makes the city
glad, and it needs gladness. Look what it says here in verse
1. And we need gladness. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. We have trouble. And when it
says he's a very present help, and he's our very present help,
that means, beloved, when you get in trouble, every believer
automatically, immediately goes to God. And he's always there.
Always present. And secondly, it says, therefore
we'll not fear though the earth be removed. Great mountains shake,
earthquakes go on. Why would we fear? And though
the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though
the most Horrible things could happen. God is our refuge. The waters roared and the beach
rumbled. Mountain shake was swelling. Oh my, so we need gladness when
these things happen. So let's look at the river here.
First of all, there is a river. There is a river. The Gladdening
River. It says, Shall make glad the
city of God. Well, first of all, we have God the Father is the
river, God the Son is the river, God the Spirit is the river,
and they all makes glad the city of God. Now look with me over
here, and I believe it's Psalm 33, or excuse me, Psalm 36. Back
to that just a little bit. Let me show you something here.
God the Father, and that's why He says He's in the midst of
her. What He said there in verse 5,
He is in the midst of her. This river is right in the midst
of this city of God, this city that makes it glad. Psalm 36
and verse 8 says this, They shall be abundantly satisfied with
the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of
the river of thy pleasures. And Isaiah says that God is a
river, and this river flows. And that's why back over in our
text, he says, God is in the midst of her, and she shall not,
that river runs right through the midst of her. And you know,
when our Ezekiel says that God showed him a river, and He took
him to this river, and He showed him this great river. And he
says, Son of man, see this river? He said, I do. He says, can you
get over it? I can't. It's too big, it's too
glorious. He said, well, he took it and
he carried it down into the river and it got up to his ankles.
Carried him a little farther and it got up to his knees. Carried
him a little farther and it got up to his loins. And what he
was saying was, this is the first city that wherever this river
goes, it produces life where there was death. You can look
that up in Ezekiel 47 if you want. But he carried him out
and that river was too great for him to get across. But where
He said, I want you to see and know that wherever this river
goes, there's life. Where there was death, it produces
life. And then, beloved, not only is God the Father of the
river, but God the Son is the river. He's the river. I mean, oh, beloved, He comes
and flows in our midst. He says there is a fountain.
Zechariah 13, verse 1. There is a fountain open for
sin and uncleanness, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And our
Lord stood. Our Lord stood, and on that great
day of the feast, and he stood and cried, and said, If any man
is thirsty, let him come unto me, and I'll give him drink. I'll give him drink. And you
remember when our Lord was with the woman at the well, and he
was sitting there, and that woman came to draw water, and he says,
Give me to drink. She said, How in the world would
you, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan, to give you water? And he turned
around and said to her, if you knew the gift of God, you would
have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water to
drink. Living water to drink. Well,
I said, how can you give me living water? She said, this well is
deep. Are you greater than our father Jacob who dug it? He said,
if you knew the gift of God, you would have asked of Him,
and He would have given you everlasting life, everlasting water, living
water. And not only that, but God the
Spirit is the river. And let me show you that over
in John chapter 7. Let me show you this a minute.
John chapter 7, how the Spirit is the river. In John 7, in verse 38, You know, that's what our Lord
said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And
then he says in verse 38, he that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Now, wait a minute. There ain't
going to be no rivers of living water flow out of my belly. It's
not talking about what water is going to flow out of me. And
they said, but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that
should believe on him should receive. The living water comes
from the Spirit. Out of him comes the Spirit.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Christ was not
yet glorified. So it's the Holy Spirit out of
him flows the living water. And let me show you, you've got
to see this in Revelation 22, and I'll move on. Revelation
22, look at this river here. Look at this river here. Here's
the river. Here's the eternal triune God
together. Revelations 22. The river. Now watch in verse 22 and verse
1. And He showed me a pure river
of water of life. Where is this going to be at? When we get to glory, there is
going to be a river of water, a pure river of water of life,
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and
the Lamb. And look what happened, in the
midst of the street on either side of the river was a tree
of life, and everywhere it went it yielded fruit. So you see,
beloved, that's what we've got to look forward to. That river's
flowing right now. If that river don't flow, we're
in trouble. We're in trouble. Now, let's
look back over in our text. Not only is there a river, but
look what it says here. There is a river and the streams,
as is stream and all the streams that go down from it, whereof
shall make glad the city of God. Now, what about the streams?
You know, when you have a river, there are different branches
that runs off of it, different streams that run off. You can
take a river and turn it, irrigate fields and everything else with
it, and have all different branches. But these streams, what are these
streams that flows off of this river that makes glad the city
of God? First of all, one of the most
blessed streams is the covenant of God's eternal grace. What
a stream that is, huh? You know this, you talk about
a stream that makes me glad. It's God's eternal love and election
of grace. I'm going to show you that over
here. It's 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel 23. It made David glad. 2 Samuel
23. The covenant of God's eternal
grace. And let me tell you something
about it. No son of Adam had anything to do with this. No,
no, we were only in the covenant of grace as we were in the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, he's the God of Jacob,
and that's what he said here. He's, you know, the God of Jacob
is our refuge. The God of Jacob is the God of
covenant. The God that chose Jacob and loved him before the
world began and loved him. And beloved, over in 2 Samuel
23 here, look what it says. Now these be the last words of
David, the son of Jesse, and the man who was raised up on
high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist
of Israel, saying, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and
his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, The rock
of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just,
and rule in the fear of God. And then he said, He'll be as
the light, of the morning. The sun rises even the morning
without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after the rain. Now listen, Although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation and
all my desire. Though he make it not grow."
Now, beloved, that made him glad. And that makes me glad. You know,
this covenant of God's eternal grace. And I'll tell you this
without a shadow of a doubt. No son of Adam had anything to
do with this covenant. This covenant was made with God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost before this
world was ever put into existence. If you and I had anything to
do with it, we'd mess it up. That's why this idea of freewillism
and walking isles and making a decision and joining a church
does not work. It never has worked. It never
saved a soul. And there would be no son of
Adam saved had not God, before the world began, chose to save
some. And it was an eternal election
of grace. And I'm going to tell you how
this thing run. It was between the Father and
the Son and the Spirit. If the covenant couldn't have
been made good until I put my part in it, what kind of covenant
is that? You hear of all these covenants
being made. How many people bought houses and they're foreclosing
on them? How many people buy cars and end up losing them? How many people end up covenants
of wedding and end up splitting up? So you can't trust a man
in a covenant. But you can trust God in this
covenant. Because they entered into a covenant,
and the Father's part was that He, beloved, would have a people,
and those people would all be sinners, born sinners, live sinners,
all of them in Adam, and that God the Son in His holy justice
would require that their sins be paid for, that they must suffer
death for their sins, that they must be punished for their sins.
Well, the son's part was that he would take those people, and
he would render to God that satisfaction that would satisfy his justice
and uphold his righteousness, and he would take those people
that would be given to him. You know, when Abraham went up
on that mountain, and Isaac said to him, he said, Father, we got
the wood, we got the fire. We've got everything we need
for a sacrifice. But where's the lamb? He said,
My son, God will provide himself a lamb. And God provided himself
a lamb, and His blessed Son. And when we were put on the altar
and the knifes drew back, Christ said, Father, take them up and
take your holy sword of justice and plunge it into my heart as
deep as you will. And He did. And beloved, he cried
out on the cross and says, Behold, it is finished. And that means
that the covenant was finished, salvation was finished, God's
justice was finished, God's wrath was finished, our sins were finished,
salvation was done, full and complete. And let me tell you
something else. The Holy Spirit's part is, now
how in the world are them folks going to learn about this covenant
of grace? How are they going to learn about this salvation?
Well, the Holy Ghost is going to come in the preaching of the
gospel. And His part was that He would
ensure Guaranteed, all for whom the Father gave, all for whom
Christ died, all for whom were in the eternal covenant of grace,
that Christ the Holy Spirit would ensure that every one of those
people would be brought to believe on His blessed Son. Now, I mean
brought to faith, brought to rest, brought to rejoice in the
Son of God and His complete salvation. Huh? Oh, he stood out there to
hear. said, My sheep shall hear my
voice. How are they going to hear it?
Through the preaching of the gospel? He didn't say they might
hear it. I hope they hear it. I'm going
to try my best to get them to hear it. He didn't say all the
time. He said, God's trying to tell them something. God's trying
to do this. God don't try to do anything. Oh, he tried to
make a world What kind of sheep would be Him?
Beloved, I'm telling you, if He's got a sheep, He's going
to find that sheep, they're going to hear His voice, and they're
going to come to Him, because He died for those sheep, and
He says, Oh, let the Father give it to me. What are they going
to do? They're going to come to Me. And why is that? Because God
so loved. When did He love us? I have loved
thee with an everlasting love and with cords of loving kindness.
Have I drawn thee? Let me tell you another story.
The blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, this
is the poorest people in this room. What do we need blood for?
That blood that was shed? His blood cleanses us. Cleanses us from how many of
our sins? All of them. Oh, my, what if
God left us with one sin to deal with all our lives? Ooh, it'd
be awful, wouldn't it? And you know, that's why people
that's trying to be saved by what they do, they never find
any rest, they never find any peace, they never find any satisfaction.
Because they can never satisfy God, they can't satisfy their
own conscience. And now listen to me, what it
takes to satisfy God, that blood of Christ, that death of Christ,
that's the same thing that it takes to satisfy mine and yours
conscience. When we find and understand that
Christ entered once into the holy place with His own blood,
And God says there's sins and iniquities, I will remember against
them no more. Why? Because Christ's blood answered
for all of our sins. It washed us from all of our
sins. And God said I won't remember them against them anymore. Why
won't He remember them? Because there's none there. Can't
remember something that don't exist. So we have His blood that
cleanses us from all sin. All sin. And you know when Christ
died on the cross, Rick, I didn't even exist, I hadn't committed
my first sin yet. But when Christ died, as far
as God was concerned, all my sins were gone. And me believing
never made my sins gone, my sins were gone, and when I heard that,
I believed that, and my soul went to rest, because my sins
were already gone. And not only is His blood that
cleanses from all sins, but His righteousness. We got to have
the righteousness of God. Got to be as good as God. Got
to be as holy as God. And the only way you can have
the righteousness of God is to have Christ. And His righteousness
covers our nakedness and gives us a perfect standing before
God. You are complete in Him. to preach
in Him who's the head of all principalities and powers. God
made Christ unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And that's a standing before God that cannot never change.
And I'm telling you something. I've said this so many times
before. When we get to glory, our righteousness will be exactly
there as it is right now. We'll not be more nor more righteous
when we get into glory than we are at this minute. Because you've
got to be righteous to get in there. You know, dying ain't
going to make us no more righteous than we are right now. Oh, you're talking about when
you go to sleep at night, if you don't wake up the next morning,
what's there to go on? What's in there? Oh, and I tell
you, this is not just a pardon, not a reprieve, not a commuting
of the sins. This, beloved, It's sins gone
and a righteousness given. You say, boy, you don't look
righteous. You don't see me like God sees me. Oh, my. You know, it's not what
we think about or what we say. It's what God sees. It's how
God sees us. It's what God says about us.
Ain't that right? God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And let me tell you something
else, another stream, not only this covenant of grace, and not
only the blood and righteousness of Christ, but the promises of
the gospel. Look back over here in our text again in Psalm 46.
The promises of the gospel. Oh, the gospel makes glorious
promises. It says in verse 1, God is our
refuge and strength. That's a promise. You know the
best place to hide from God is hide in God. And a very present help in trouble.
When you get in trouble, and when you have trouble, the first
place you go is you go to where you can get away from that trouble.
And where's the best place to get away from trouble? Then go
to God. And He's right there, and He
says, We'll not fear the earth. It seems like the whole earth
is shaking under us. It seems like our world is coming
down around us. Where do we go? Are we afraid? No. And the mountains, all the
things that seem like mountains to us, and all these great trials
that we have seem like great mountains, and they just boom
and boom, and we think they're going to fall all around us.
And the waters of flood seem like it's going to drown us.
And the mountains shake. We think our world's going to
fall all apart. He said, He's our refuge. That's a promise. Now look over
here at verse 10. Here's another one of them promises. Be still and know that I am God. And now listen, I'll be exalted
among the heathen. here he is being exalted among
all these heathens this morning. That's what we are. We're heathens.
We're the heathens. The Jews wasn't heathens. We're
the heathens. And here he is. He's exalted among us, but the
heathens this morning. He said, I'm not a heathen. The heathen were given him for
an inheritance. And I'll tell you, I'll be a
heathen if you'll take me for his inheritance. And not only that, but O Beloved,
and I'll be exalted in the earth. And O Beloved, and it says there,
you know, in verse 5, that God is in the midst of her. This
is a promise. And she shall not be moved. This
city of God shall not be moved. How long have you believed? How long will you believe? How
long will you last? You know how long you'll last?
Until God takes you to glory. That's why you're in this world. And all these promises are in
God, are in Christ. All the promises of God in Him
are yea and amen. Now listen, let me tell you something.
God promised a Savior. Did He give us one? In Genesis
3.15, He promised a Savior, the seed of the woman. And He promised
His sheep that He'd be born not only of the seed of the woman,
but that He'd come through a virgin, and that He'd be the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. Well, when He
came, what did the angels say to Joseph? Behold, thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. And thus
was born this day in the city of David a Savior. Oh, and the
Savior promised to save all who come to Him and believed on Him.
Did He do it? Huh? Oh, Simeon, he is an old,
old man, and God told him that he was not going to die until
he saw the consolation of Israel. And Christ is our consolation. He's the consolation of Israel.
And one day he was in the temple, and there was a little Forty-day-old
baby. He picked up that baby and looked
at him. That baby's all over the place. He picked up that
baby and said, oh, and looked into his face and said, oh, Lord,
my eyes! My eyes, me, me myself, have
seen thy salvation! Oh, now! Handed him back to his
mom and said, let me go. And they departed in peace. That's what we just sung, and
I know why I believed it. I know in whom I believe. And
I tell you, Paul said this, I know and I'm persuaded. I know whom
I have believed and I'm persuaded that He, He, He is able to keep
that that I've committed unto Him against that day. And I tell
you, He promised never to leave us alone. He said He'd be right
in the midst of us and we'd not be moved. He'd never forsake
us and that He would come again to get us. Has he ever failed
us yet? Huh? No. Now let's talk about this city.
We've seen the river. We've seen the streams. Let's
look at the city. Verse 4, There is a river, the
streams, whereof shall make glad the city of God. The holy place
of the tabernacles of the Most High. What is this city? It's the city of God. The holy
place is the place where God Himself dwells. He calls it the
tabernacle. Now, individually, us individually,
and you turn with me over to Ephesians 2, just a moment, and
I'll show you this. Us individually, we're the temple of the Holy
Ghost. All of us, the Spirit of God
dwells in us individually. Look in Ephesians 2. And then
collectively, as the body of Christ, as the believers, We're
the temple, the tabernacle of God on this earth. This is where
God dwells. Just like He dwelt in that tabernacle in the wilderness,
and that's where His glory dwelt, now we're in the tabernacle of
God. God's church is, God's people is, and He dwells in His church,
in His tabernacle. Look what it says here in verse
19, Ephesians 2. Now therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, But fellow citizens, with the saints,
and of the household of God, and watch it now, and are built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together grow unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom
ye also are built together for a habitation of God through the
Spirit." God lives in us as a body. How do you think we live? Where
do you think we see the glory of God? We see it in Christ.
And let me tell you something, beloved, God built this city.
And His Son is the chief cornerstone. He's the foundation of this city.
You know, it talked about, it talked about, you know, those
dear saints in Hebrews, they was looking for a city whose
builder and maker was God. Well, we're in that city. God
built this city. God built this city. God built
it. And they looked for that city. And they all died in faith,
having not received the promises. But we've received the promises.
And God didn't. He built this. And Christ is
the chief cornerstone. There's no other foundation can
be laid than Christ. And it was built by His power.
You know, people talk about, you know, they talk about these
preachers built these great churches and all these big... There ain't
never been a preacher ever built a church. And if it is His church,
and He built it, I don't want no part of it. Do you? I don't
want no part of no church, no preacher built. Boy, he's got
a great congregation. He knows how to organize and
he can put together the greatest. Oh, it's amazing what a church
that guy built. Started out with 40 members,
now he's got 40,000. Got a budget of 15 million a
year, and they just go on and on about it. I don't want to
be nowhere near nothing like that. That's wood, hay, straw,
and stubble. But boy, when God builds a building. You know, the devil, the world,
and governments have tried to do away with this building of
God ever since he first built it. And it's as strong today
and as established today as it ever was. Oh, beloved, listen,
it's built by His power, built by His promise, upheld by His
faithfulness. And over it, and I can't think
of where it's at right now, but I do remember this, that when
they was building the temple, it says that no stone, no stone
was to have a hand, was not to be chiseled or nothing. No hand
was to be put to it. And that's the way it is. That's
the way it is. No hand was put to it. No hand
was going to be put to it. And, beloved, that's the way
this business of God building His church. There ain't no hand
put to it but the hand of God and the hand of Christ. Huh?
Oh, my, we ain't put no chisel to this stone. And He said, I
lay in Zion. And, beloved, by His Son, His
glorious substitution, that's how He built this city. And it's
called the City of God. The City of God. And oh, and
watch what it says, that this is a refuge, this city is a refuge. God is our refuge. God is in
the midst of her. And over here in verse 7, it
says this, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob
is our refuge. This city is a city of refuge.
And oh, beloved, ain't this a refuge when we gather with the people?
Isn't it a refuge to be in the body of Christ? Isn't it a refuge?
And when you have a refuge, it's a place of security. Watch what
God said there in verse 5. God is in the midst of her, and
she shall not be moved. Oh, that's security. When God
says she won't be moved, that means she's not going to be moved.
Now, if I say don't move back, that don't mean nothing. Folks
will do what they want to about it. Don't you touch that! Oh, won't that move? That went
right where it's at. You leave the house, next thing you know,
they've moved it. But not God. When He says you shall not be
moved, it won't be moved. Huh? Lots of things try to move
us. That's why we don't fear. And
not only is it a place of society, a place of security, it's a place
of society. Look what it says there. God
is in the midst of her. You know, people talk about high
society, and they got the society pages and all that. I get the
Wall Street Journal, and you go back and you get in the last
section of it, and they show all these multi-multi-million
dollar homes. And as you're going on about,
you know, and they go through them and tell how much they're
for sale for and all that. Millions and millions of dollars. And
high society! Name all these people's names
and all that stuff. Well, I tell you, you talk about
high society. We're in a high society on the
face of the earth. Wherever God's at, you can't
get no higher than that. And listen, and what about you? You're sons of God, children
of God, elect of God, kings and priests of God. I'm in high society
right here, right now. Can't get no better. I'd have
to come down, I'd have to go down to meet with a bunch of
senators and congressmen. They're in high society. They're
a bunch of thieves and crooks. I'm in high society right here.
They talk about high cotton. Boy, he's in high cotton. You
know why they call it high cotton? Walter Gruber told me why they
call it high cotton. He used to pick cotton in Alabama
as a boy. The low cotton, you had to get way down there to
drag your bag. He said, high cotton, when you
walked through it, you just picked it right off the top. Didn't
have to bend to get it. And that's the way it is. We're
in high cotton. There ain't no bending here. High society. Oh, beloved, the best people
in the world is God's children, no matter where you go, no matter
where you meet them, no matter where you worship with them.
They're the best people in the world. And then it's a place
of unity. Huh? It's His work. It's His work. We've seen His
work. You know it says there, it said, He makes wars to cease. There in verse 9, He makes wars
to cease. This is a place of unity and
peace and harmony. His work made the world, made
us cease from war. We was at war with God. Oh my, you know, we're born with
both fists raised up, the sparks begin to fly. But He made us,
swore us to cease with us. He put peace in our hearts, established
peace through the blood of Christ, and He made us have peace one
with another. That's peace and harmony. Is it perfect being here? No, no, no, it's not perfect
because you've got human beings. But I tell you what is the peacefulest
place I've ever found on earth is being with God's people. I
can come here in a turmoil. I can come here with the greatest
burdens. I can come here vexed. I can
come here worried. I can come here sick at heart.
And I can meet with the people of God and I'll leave here just
as calm and joyful and as happy Because this is the place where
we put everything away, and God blesses us for a little while
to leave it alone. Oh my, wouldn't it be awful not
to have something like this? And then not only that, but it's
a place of trade. Wherever you find a river, you'll
find a place of trade and commerce. And where this place is, it's
the marketplace of free grace. Come you first divinity! But without money and without
price. This is the marketplace of free grace. Well, what do
I need to do, preacher? Nothing. What do I need to do
to get God to own my soul? Nothing. What do you do? You rest in Christ. You believe
on Christ. You sit down. Just ease yourself. Lay down and repose your soul
in Christ. And it's a place of freedom and
liberty wherever this city of God is. It's a place of freedom
and liberty. Freedom from the guilt of sin.
There can't be any guilt where there is no sin. And that's why
our guilt is gone. Huh? We're saying it's all, Jesus
paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it. Wherever there ain't no sin,
there can't be any guilt. That's what the Holy Ghost does.
He takes away that guilt. And oh, it's a place of freedom
and liberty from the wrath of God. I'm not afraid of the wrath
of God anymore. I used to be scared to death
of it. I'm free from the curse of the law. And I'm also free and have liberty
from this present evil world. And it's a place of order. a
place of order, of boundaries. You know, wherever God's city
is, you know He's the governor of it. He's the one who sets
the... He sets the government. He sets
the boundaries. He sets the ordinance. And you
know what the government of God is? And you know what His law
is? You know the only law He has?
It's the law of love. That royal law, the law of love.
And this city here, you don't need no law. Don't need no law
in this city. Don't bring no law. All it's
going to do is make people fight and fuss and argue. Run around
saying, well, he's breaking the law. I heard him say that. We can't
have that around here. But this place, if you're free
from the law, don't need no law. You know what the law is? Love. By love, serve one another. Yeah, that's all the government
there is in this world. That's all the government is
in this city. Don't need nothing else. Do we? What else do you
need? Do you need me to tell you how
to live, tell you how to dress, where you can go and where you
can't? What kind of dogs you can have? How you spend your
money? You need me to do that? Teach
you how to talk? How not to talk? What's saying
what not to say? Do I need to teach you how to
treat your wife, your husband, your children? No. God teaches. That's His city.
It's His government. I'm not the governess out there.
I'm just another fellow in the city. Not only that, but it's a place
of rest. Oh, in this city here, you know, this is a wonderful
place to live in. It's a wonderful place to live
in. One fellow said, boy, I wish we lived, you know, I'd love
to live like Mayberry. I'd love to live in a town like
Mayberry. Well, this ain't Mayberry, I'll
tell you that. This is better than Mayberry.
This is a wonderful place of rest. Oh, no, we don't have We've got some characters in
this city, but you know, it's a wonderful place to live in. And it's a place of privileges.
Oh, what a place of privileges. Privileges of the gospel, privileges
of the Word, privileges of one another. Privileges of being
able to love and be kind and tender and gracious and share. Oh, and a place of splendor. We'll see when we get, you know,
in this city, we see the king and his beauty in this city.
That's why we come here to see about that king. The king and
his city. And then last of all, this rivers
and streams shall make glad the city of God. How does it make
us glad? Well, nothing can harm us because
God is our refuge. And oh, in verse 8 it says, look
here, we've seen his works. Come behold the works of the
Lord. We've seen the works of God. We've seen His works. And we know who He is. Look what
it says there in verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. We know who He is. And we've seen His works. We
know who He is. And He's our refuge. And nothing
can harm us. Oh, may our covenant God make
this place, Make this place right here a well-watered plain. You know, they talk about the
Mississippi Delta. I mean, you can go down the Mississippi Delta
on both sides for miles and miles and miles. That ground is so
rich, it just grows everything. And that, oh my, just, you know,
you go to these rivers and you get in those well-watered plains
and all the corn and all that stuff that grows so good. May
God make this a river. May He make all these streams
go out and make this a well-watered plain and fruitful and bring
forth plenty to His glory and the glory of His blessed Son.
Amen. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious
name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that glorious King, Our
King of Kings, our Lord of Lords, our Redeemer. Thank You, Lord
God, that You loved us, called us, redeemed us, washed us in
Your blood, cleansed us from all sin, removed all our guilt,
and gave us a righteousness where we can stand before You, complete,
complete in Him, perfect in Him. God, please make this gospel
real, alive, effectual. May it bring forth fruit to your
glory. In Christ's holy name we pray.
Amen. Amen. 2222. Stand with me. We'll sing this together. Sing
a couple of verses and you'll be at liberty to go.