Now we all know that whatever the scriptures have to say is important and it's worthy of all of our attention, even if it's only found one time in the scriptures. But when a phrase or a wording or a particular imagery, a description or a theme, maybe I should say a sub-theme, a supporting theme because the theme of the whole scripture is Christ and Him crucified. But when you have perhaps a supporting theme and it's repeated in different places in the scripture, we might be wise to devote a little extra time into finding why these things are repeated, what there is to glean from that concerning him whom we worship and whom we seek after.

Now that's what kind of promoted this thought process for this message in my mind. And the subject and the title of it is the God of many waters, the God of many waters. It's intended to be something of a study of how the Lord uses something throughout his word of which we're all familiar, and that is water, to help demonstrate his power, his purpose, his attributes, and the like, in such a way that we can relate to it, come to a fuller understanding, a fuller knowledge of him and his glorious person and work. especially in his redemptive glory.

So let's open with that thought in mind at Genesis 1 here, and it says in the first verse, in the beginning God. In beginning God, some would translate it, which is point one of this message. Our God is the God of the waters of eternity. Now no other one No other thing is mentioned as being in the beginning, only God.

Isaiah 57, 15 describes him as the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. Psalm 90 in verse 2, thy throne is established of old, thou art from everlasting. Romans 1 speaks of his eternal power and his Godhead. Daniel refers to him three times as the ancient of days. Now some commentators call him the self-existent one, but it kind of seems like a manufactured term to me. I'm not sure it helps us all that much. Perhaps it's wise just to use his description of himself in the scripture, I am.

Because there's no name, there's no terminology, there's no explanation that man can invent. that will assist our finite minds in grasping the reality of eternity or of the one who ever is and who operates in where there is no time. He operates in the eternal present. There's no past, there's no future, only now. Now we simply have no reference point from which to understand such things. For the temporal is all we know. The things that we see have a beginning, they have an ending. God does not.

So with these things before us, these facts before us, it becomes undeniable by any logical exercise and deductive reasoning of any thought process, it's undeniable that all knowledge and truth whether it's physical or spiritual, all right law and commandment, all righteousness, all good and perfect gifts, all matter and created things, which we'll look into momentarily, all principalities, all powers, all orderliness, which this university is well-ordered, all sustenance and maintenance of all it is, All these things must emanate and come forth from the eternal Godhead, for there is no other source for them. Now notice here in verse two that the Lord introduces the reader to his Holy Spirit. He says, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Now this Spirit we know to be the third person of the triune Godhead. Then he sends forth his light.

In 2 Corinthians 4.6 it says, he commanded the light to shine out of darkness.

Now, some of the commentators I looked at, they seemed to have some kind of a difficulty with this. Some speculate that this source and the substance of this light is an orb or some general created phenomenon because the sun and the moon weren't created according to scripture until the fourth day. postulate all these different theories about where this light came from and what it is. But I don't find much confusion here.

I believe this light to be the second person of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now let me see what I can do to support that premise. I would first ask you, why would the Almighty, in introducing himself in his glorious and eternal deity, why would he introduce the spirit? but not his darling son, in whom he is well pleased according to the scriptures. Now you as parents, grandparents, aren't you pleased or even excited to introduce your children or your grandchildren, whom you are well pleased in, to others?

Turn with me to Proverbs, Proverbs 8. I'll look at several scriptures here. Now this passage in Proverbs 8 is somewhat the personification of wisdom, but it's actually a description of our Lord Jesus. Let's look at verse starting with verse 22 of Proverbs 8.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth.

Then I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." Turn to John 1. This is quite a familiar passage to you, worthy of another reading. John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Now if you look at one more, let's go to Revelations 21. Revelation 21. Revelation 21, verse 23. And the city had no need of the sun. Now this is a description of the new heaven and the new earth according to the vision that John was given in the new Jerusalem. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it.

For the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof, Christ our Lord. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there."

Now in John 8, verse 12, Christ Jesus says of himself, I am, there's that phrase again, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. He shone forth in scripture as the light of the world, even before there was a world. In Revelation 22, 16, he says of himself, I am the bright and morning star.

Now back here in Genesis, Genesis one, and in verse four, it states, and God saw the light that it was good. Now it doesn't mean that he was just admiring his handiwork. It indicates that he looked upon the light with satisfaction, with delight, with contentment, as upon his only begotten son.

Malachi 4.2 tells of the Son of Righteousness, that's capitalized, that S-U-N is capitalized. So that's a person, that Son of Righteousness, who shall arise with healing in his wings.

And Luke 178 speaks of the dayspring from on high who hath visited us. When he prayed to the Father in his high priestly prayer in John 17, he asked, glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And in verse 24 of that same passage, thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.

This light, I feel like, is Christ our Lord, the second person of the Trinity. He is eternal. He is God. He is co-equal. So now, having seen something of the eternality of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, let's move on to point two. Our God is the God of the waters of creation. And we have here before us in the opening verses of Genesis the almighty creator God at work, bringing forth substance and shape, even life itself, from nothingness and void. Yet another truth akin to eternity which we can't comprehend. We have no ability in ourselves to create something from nothing. All that we create comes from something else that's already there.

Hebrews 11.3 tells us that through faith, We understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made by things which do appear.

So I'll next draw your attention to this very interesting word. We'll do a little word study on this word firmament. Now it defines as an expanse, presumably the arch of the sky as we see it from below. But it has a root meaning, a more ancient meaning, that implies that this expanse has been formed and stretched into shape by way of hammering in order to overlay it as if it were a piece of sheet metal. Now, you might recall that many of the furnishings of the tabernacle were overlaid with metal, most notably the Ark of the Covenant, which was overlaid with pure gold. Now, this brings a picture to my mind of the great metalsmith working in his forge, shaping the sky in expert fashion, so that he might overlay the earth with this brilliant firmament, so that it perfectly divides the waters below, that is, the earth and the seas, from the waters above, that which we call outer space or the heavens. Hence, we maybe get a little better sense of what the Apostle Paul meant when he was describing being taken to the third heaven.

The heaven that we see, the sky that's above us, the heaven beyond that, space, and this heaven which is beyond that even, where the Lord dwells. Turn to Colossians 1. Colossians 1, verse 15, describing our Lord. who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. So here we have the Lord Jesus described as the great creator, even as he is here in John one in verse three, which also supports the eternality of his person.

And in addition to the earth and the sky and the stars, the animals, the rest of our natural world and universe, we see in Genesis, God's most important work of creation, and that is man. made from the dust of the earth and given the gift of life. Adam, as he was created, being the first man, he was without sin. He had his own righteousness and was to be the forerunner and the representative of all humanity which should descend from him. But Adam rebelled against his benevolent creator and his lawgiver, and he plunged all of us, the whole human race, you and me into a sinful state, by nature warring against and hating our creator, refusing him the worship and the thanksgiving which are his due, arrogantly imagining ourselves to be his equal or perhaps his superior, that one who made us. Romans 8. tells us that the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not at enmity, it is enmity against God. And we know from Ephesians 2 that we're dead in trespasses and sins. So this brings me to point three.

Our God is the God of the waters of justice and judgment. Our God is perfectly holy and immaculate in all his persons. He, unlike us, is without any taint of sin. Habakkuk 113 says, thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Therefore, his law is equally holy, unerringly judging all without preference for persons, pedigrees, positions, or pronouncements. Regardless of who you are, your ancestry, you're stationed among men, or what you or others may lay claim to you on your behalf, the law bears all before God, even unto the thoughts and the motives of the heart, and it renders an impartial verdict.

And this is the verdict. Let's look at Psalm 14. Verses two and three. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one.

That's also repeated in the book of Romans in chapter three and with a little more embellishment. And also in that same chapter of Romans, it tells us that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and then all the world may become guilty before God.

So the verdict is cried out, guilty. We're all guilty before God and his law. So with guilt, there must be a sentence. What's the sentence? Ezekiel twice answers, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And Romans 6 echoes with the wages of sin is death. Let's look at Genesis 6. So the verdict is in, we're guilty and we're condemned to death. Genesis 6, we'll begin at verse 5 through 7.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And he repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. I look here at verse 17 of that same chapter.

And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven. And everything that is in the earth shall die. I turn with me to Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah 28, beginning at verse 14. Now this is the Lord speaking to those shepherds, those foolish shepherds that Jim preached about the other day that preach a false gospel. Wherefore, hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

Because you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement. And that's all of us by nature. That's our thought process. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we've made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Christ our Lord, he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. The tsunami of God's just wrath against sin will overflow even your best works, even when done in the name of religion.

Consider those in Matthew 7.23 who presented themselves as righteous before God based on their own works, saying, have we not prophesied in thy name and cast out devils and done many wonderful works in thy name?

But he rejected them, saying, I never knew you. I never chose you. I never set my love upon you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Even our best works are tainted with our sin and cannot in themselves purchase for us acceptance with God, but instead they're overflowed with the flood of his judgment.

Romans 3.20 says that therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.

So friends, we're in a most perilous condition. We're found guilty, the sentence has been passed. Seeing that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Indeed, we're in a deadly condition. We've all become debtors before God's law and offended the most high. And if we have any concept of what that means, we cry it with those at Pentecost, men and brethren, what shall we do?

Paul said, who shall deliver me from this body of death? But thank God that he's not only the God of the waters of justice and judgment, but in point four, He's the God of the waters of salvation. Psalm 1816. He sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. That is, as I said before, great waters. We've been drawn out of great waters by his salvation. Turn to Exodus 15. Exodus 15, verse 23. This is the children of Israel on their wilderness journey.

And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord, And the Lord showed him a tree, which, when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet." Brothers and sisters, this is a great picture of the Lord's salvation for sinners.

And I'm sure if Jim continues in his study of Exodus, he'll get to this portion in the next few months. And there's a lot here that I'm sure he'll get into that I can't because of the context of this message. There's too much there to cover. But we have here our hopeless natural condition. We're far from safety and any hope of rescue. We're surrounded by wilderness. We're dying of thirst, only to find that the waters before us are bitter and deadly, and we cannot save ourselves. These waters symbolize not only our lost estate, but God's wrath against sin and the condemnation we must drink of by sentence of law.

Now, let's do another little word study here on this word bitter. It indicates a provoking, a discontentment, and choler, that is C-H-O-L-E-R, that is anger. Sin sorely provokes and grieves God, and he moves against it with great choler, with great anger. Now, you might recognize this word to be the root of a disease cholera, and it's an intestinal disease, and it's often contracted by drinking contaminated water.

And in the case of this Asiatic form of the disease, it's usually fatal. Now, this represents us all by nature. Having drunk of the bitter waters of sin, we've contracted deep within us a deadly and an incurable disease. And there's no help for our condition to be found with men. There is no earthly cure.

But here in this passage, Moses cried out for help from the Lord, from the only possible source of help. And miraculously, the Lord showed him a tree, which made the bitter water sweet. It brought life from an inevitable situation of inevitable death. And it was the salvation of the Lord's chosen nation.

Now note first that it was the Lord himself who led the people to these waters. He led them by the fiery pillar and the cloudy pillar by night and by day. So it's ridiculous to think that the Lord who made the waters didn't know that these waters were bitter and that he couldn't have taken them someplace else. But he took them there that they might find themselves to be helpless and perishing. that they should come to the end of themselves and cry out for water.

So it is with each sinner the Lord has elected unto salvation. He brings us into the wilderness, into a great thirst and a fear for our lives, after we've tasted of the bitter waters of our state before a holy God, until in distress we cry out for help from the only source of help, God himself.

And miraculously, here again, the Lord shows us a tree. And maybe more accurately, he shows us the cross and him who died upon it. And he shows us this through his voice of many waters, the gospel message. And through that message, the spirit moves upon the sinner's heart as he moves upon the waters there in Genesis, moves upon our hearts which are void by nature, without life. He does this with all his chosen spiritual Israel.

He teaches us that his beloved son, Christ Jesus our Lord, came to this wilderness on a mission, a particular mission, to save his sheep, the sheep that were given to him by the Father out of Adam's fallen race, chosen from before the foundation of the world. given to him to represent and to redeem, to by himself pay for our sin and debtedness. There was only one way that this could be accomplished. First, the Lord had to leave his home, his abode of glory, take on himself, our flesh, to be a merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, says Hebrews. And through his life, his walk upon this earth, and all his deeds, all his thoughts, he proved himself to be that spotless lamb which is required to be sacrificed.

Therefore, he was capable, he was able to take upon himself all of our sin as our substitute, to cast himself as it were into the waters of Mara, to endure in our place all of the bitterness of God's just wrath against sin, which we deserve, to take upon himself all the body and all the soul suffering which was due his sheep. And having done so through his death of agony on the tree of Calvary, he's taken away all the bitterness from the waters.

For God's anger is spent. His law has been adhered to. The fullness of the sentence has been carried out. death has been meted out, inflexible justice has been satisfied, and the wages of sin have been paid to the last farthing for those for whom Christ was made surety, so that there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. These once bitter waters of sin and wrath, they're now the wonderful, eternally sweet waters of grace to the redeemed. Four, in point five, our God is the God of the waters of grace and mercy. Turn to the book of Hosea. Hosea six. Hosea six in verse one. Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn and he will heal us. He hath smitten and he will bind us up.

After two days will he revive us. In the third day he will raise us up. When Christ was raised up on the third day, we being in him, him being our representative, we were raised up with him. He'll raise us up and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, that which we're doing this evening, tell them the same old story, the gospel truths of salvation in Christ Jesus. If we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Those life-saving rains that feed us and nurture us. Turn to Ephesians 2. I quoted part of this a minute ago. Ephesians 2 verse 4.

But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. and he's raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Now it's vital to understand from the passage in Exodus that Israel did not and could not save itself. Their physical salvation was completely a product of the Lord's doing. Not as though they were deserving of it, for they murmured they were rebellious and a stiff-necked people. But he'd save them because he would, in order to manifest the greatness of his mercy and his grace, that he might have the glory. Salvation is of the Lord.

Likewise, by his grace and his mercy, he saves every sinner who, being altogether as impotent to in any way assist in the work, and being as rebellious and stiff-necked as any of those in Israel, and being without any personal merit before God, he saves them because it seems good in his sight. But only through the merits of the person and the finished work of Christ Jesus the Lord on behalf of that sinner. His work on behalf of that sinner. And why? It's to the praise of the glory of his grace. Which brings me to point six. Our God is the God of the waters of all blessings.

Turn with me to Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 verse 22 the Lord speaking here therefore will I save my flock and they shall no more be a prey and I will judge between cattle and cattle I will I will select those from among men I will choose I will separate I have a people And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, Christ our shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it.

And I will make with them a covenant of peace, that everlasting covenant of grace. And I will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, no more false shepherds. And they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them, make them and the places round about my hill, that hill of Zion, I will make them a blessing.

And I will cause the shower to come down in his season and then there shall be showers of blessing. We sang about showers of blessings. Now we know from Ephesians 1, 3 that in Christ, the redeemed of God have all spiritual blessings. In him, we have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, repentance, faith, hope, love, peace, rest, knowledge, understanding, and a host of other blessings, both those daily blessings to carry us through this life and into the next, and eternal blessings, which I'm sure we can't even imagine, the greatest of which will be to see the Lord who gave himself for us face to face, which point brings us back to where we started this message. Our God is the God of the waters of eternity with whom we shall dwell. Turn back to Revelation once again. I should have had you stick a bookmark there. First time. Revelation 22. Revelation 22 in verse 1.

This is John's vision of the new heaven and new earth. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. And his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun. For the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

Now skip down to verse 13. This is the Lord Jesus speaking. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first And the last, in verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. The gospel preaching that's found in this place and many others is that message that we testify of Christ and him crucified and salvation by grace in him alone. And he says, I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say, come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Now, I was going to originally end my message here, maybe with a few other comments. But I had some thoughts afterwards, which I'll give to you now. It occurred to me after completing all of this, that these same waters of salvation to some might also be the waters of judgment and destruction to another. Consider the waters that were parted at the Red Sea when the children of Israel were escaping, fleeing a pursuing pharaoh, an insurmountable enemy in his army. These same waters that were made to be Israel's salvation and their means of escape, being parted, were transformed into the Egyptians' complete demise and their destruction, from which they could not escape.

Likewise, the gospel of God's saving grace to sinners, only through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and his accomplished righteousness, freely imputed to them. It's the waters of salvation to those whom God has given ears to hear the message of it and a new heart to receive it. But that same gospel of life, that savor of life unto life to the elect, will be the savor of death unto death to all those who refuse to hear it or who, having heard it, refuse to believe it. God's gospel testimony of his son, both written and preached, will be the accuser of all those who refuse to believe on Christ, which will ultimately result in the unleashing of the waters of judgment against them.

One last scripture, let's turn to John 5. John 5. In verse 39, this is our Lord speaking to the Pharisees, the unbelieving religionists of the day. In verse 39, he says to them, search the scriptures, or you do search the scriptures. For in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they which testify of me. Of course, in these days, there was not a New Testament. These are the Old Testament scriptures, the ones that we've been looking at.

And you will not come to me that you might have life. I receive not honor from men. He did not receive honor from men in that day and he still does not, for the most part, receive honor from men in this day. He says in verse 42, but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my father's name and you receive me not.

If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. Look at all the TV evangelists. How can you believe? which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me." The Old Testament is full of Christ, just as it is in the New. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?"

So I'll finish with this. Come to Christ today. Come to him while he may be found. Seek him while he may be found. Don't be as these here in the scripture who looked into the Old Testament scriptures, didn't see Christ, weren't interested, or interested in their own works getting them to heaven. But now we have a more complete word of prophecy, the scriptures say. We have the New Testament. It's in the Old Testament, Christ concealed in types and pictures and shadows, but we have him revealed in the New Testament. The word is complete, his work is complete. Come to him while he may be found. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Joe, come and lead us.