Meeting everybody, if you would
open your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 47. Ezekiel 47, let's read the
first couple of these verses together. And afterward, he brought
me again unto the door of the house. And behold, waters issued
out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the
forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters
came down from under the right side of the house at the south
side of the altar. And then he brought me out of
the way of the gate northward and led me about the way without
unto the outer gate by the way that lookest eastward. And behold,
there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had
the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand
cubits and he brought me through the waters and the waters were
up to the ankles. And he measured 1,000 and brought
me through the waters, and the waters were up to the knees.
And again he measured 1,000 and brought me through, and the waters
were up to the loins. And afterward he measured 1,000,
and it was a river that I could not pass over, for the waters
were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed
over. Now, we're going to examine this
passage of scripture and a few verses after it. And I think
at the outset, as I was reading this, and probably have in the
past, I think I probably just turned the page and said, I have
no idea what that means. And there's often times that
this becomes a closed book to us. They're just words. We don't see the meeting, we
don't see Christ or the work of God, the character of the
God, and the images that are given here. We don't see those
things. And I hope tonight, just as we heard this morning, we
read a passage and we realize there's a picture of Christ there.
There's a picture of the gospel and of salvation in something
I didn't see before. And if all we're here to do tonight
and even this morning is hear the words of a man that might
have a clever or unique view of these words that are in the
scripture, we're greatly misled and it will do none of us any
good. And what I hope tonight is that God will reveal himself
through his word, that you'll be able to see the gospel, you'll
be able to see Christ in the scriptures. And now this is a
vision, we're told, of a house. Now, this house is actually the
temple. So he's speaking of a vision
of the Old Testament temple. And he tells us about water coming
out of it. And there's water that comes
out a little bit, and then it comes, pools at the bottom, goes
out the door, out a gate, and it gets deeper and deeper and
deeper to the point where he has to swim in it. He can't cross
it, it's too powerful, it's too big. Now, what is all this? Is this just some obscure vision
that Ezekiel is relaying to us? What is the purpose behind what
he's saying here? And I think one of the things
that we can take away from it, just on the outset, is water
is the central theme. He talks about water throughout
this whole passage, so we know something to do with what he
has to say is concerning water. Now, as an interesting bit of
history, Jerusalem was the only great ancient city that was not
founded by the body of water. Why would that be? Every other
old city of the old ages, ancient cities, are founded by a body
of water or a river or a sea. You have to have water to live.
If there's no water, then that's how many armies of the past were
defeated because they cut off the water source or they poisoned
the water. You can only stay there so long. Our bodies have
to have water for food and to create food. So there's particular
significance to water, and water being associated with life, and
we'll see that in this passage. Now, in chapter 47, verse one,
we're told that it originated at the south side of the house,
on the south side of the altar. The source here, the water, came
out of the altar. Now you can imagine, at this
point, I'm a very poor plumber, although that doesn't keep me
from trying to work on things in my home. And one thing that
is true with me, when I work on plumbing, it always leaks.
And it's not always evident at first. I walk away, it looks
pretty good. And then I come back, and I'll
see a little bit of a pool of water. And it's just a faint
little trickle of a stream that comes out. When you look at it
initially, you don't see it. But eventually, that water will
pool up if you leave it there long enough. And in the case
that I had nine years ago, it leaked all night and dropped
the ceiling and flooded my house. So, and I was the plumber. So, but it can start very small. And so we can think of it as
a trickling stream that pooled beside the edge of the altar,
built up in the house, and eventually worked its way, it said, under
the threshold of the door. It came out the door and even
out into the courtyard through the gate. And it even went beyond
the gate. So in the water, we're told,
got deeper and deeper. It was up to his ankles. and
then up to his knees, and then up to his waist, and it was then
a great river, a river that could not be passed, he couldn't get
over, and he could only swim in it, it was so deep. It was
deep, you can't walk and swim. So we're told it's powerful,
it is moving. Now, we know, just from our understanding
of science, water is the most destructive force in nature.
Water carves the land around it. Water affects everything
that it interacts with. It is the most destructive force,
but it's also life-giving. You need water to live. If you
do not have water, you will die. 60% of your body is made up of
water. Water is a critical means for
life, but it also can be used in the form of destruction. We're
told about a gate here. The water pooled up from the
altar, out the door, and through the gate. What is the significance
of the gate? Often this is something I would
have just read by. When we consider a gate, The
gate represents justice, God's justice and God's law. So if
you consider this, this is where men met to settle matters of
the law. And there's several examples
of this throughout the scriptures. Where were those who were deemed
by the priest unclean? Where were they told to go? Outside
the gate. They were put outside the gate.
They could not come in the gate. So we know the matter of the
law, the priest had to declare this person unclean, but the
gate was part of the law. That was the standard by which
where the unclean person could not pass. If you came inside
the gate, you were in violation of the law. So the gate was the
standard by which the law was judged. You could be outside
and be unclean, but you could not be inside. During the days
of the cities of refuge, you killed someone on accident. Their
family's coming after you, because by law, they can kill you. They
can take your life for their relative's life. There were several
cities of refuge established. You could flee to one of those
to appeal for mercy to the high priest. Where were you safe? Only when you got inside the
gate. That person's family could kill you anywhere outside of
that gate. But if you got inside the gate,
the law said you can't touch him. He's safe inside of here
until the death of the high priest. So the gate was the standard
by which the law was given. So the gate says these things
about those who were inside or out. So it protected those who
were inside and it kept out others who were not supposed to be in.
The matters of law were settled here, so consider this also.
When Boaz went to claim Ruth as his own, he had to go meet
where? He met at the gate with the nearer
kinsman, because that's where he was. All these things that
happened had to be clear with the law to happen or they could
not happen. Absalom, where did he sway the people? He would
keep them from coming to see the king at the gate. He sat
there every day at the gate, which they would come to petition
the king to ask something, because that was the law. You had to
ask him a petition. And he'd say, no, no, no, let
me talk to him for you. I'll take care of it. He did
all of this at the gate. You could not pass the gate without
getting past Absalom. The Hebrew bond slave, whenever
their term was up and they were able to go free from their master
and from their family, If they wanted to say, no, I love my
master, I love my wife, I love my family, I don't want to leave,
I don't want to be a part of them, I will be a bond slave
forever. Where was that done? That was
done at the gate. That was done on the inside of the gate, at
the threshold of that door, and they would bore his ear through
with it all. The gate represents justice, the gate represents
the law. So here we see the water and
the gate are interacting. The gate is the law, the water
is the gospel. So whenever we look at this passage,
anytime water is mentioned, it's going to be in relation to a
picture of the gospel, God's word. So you consider this, the
water flowed through the gate. this is one thing that we know
and it must be repeated, the message of the gospel, salvation
from sin, your ability to live and be outside of being a sinner
before God who justly would punish you for those sins, can only
be so with relation to the law. The law has to be satisfied.
This can't just be a slide of hand and say, okay, well, you
know, you're forgiven. There has to be means by which
God accomplishes that, and it has to be just before the law. So the gate represents the law,
and the water is the gospel, the goodness of how God can be
just. How can he be just and justify
me? How can he do that? It's both
have to be true. You can't just say he's a loving
God but have no means by satisfying his justice. They both have to
be true. And to justify you, to make you
to be what you're not. without sin. Now I know in and
of my experience, I don't know what that feels like because
I'm trapped in a simple body. Every day I feel sin, every day
I feel encumbered with it. I have no way of getting around
it, but yet I'm told if I'm in Christ, I'm justified. I don't
have sin. How can that be? He had to satisfy
the law for me to have any confidence in it. My sins are forgiven and they're
forgotten. They're taken away. The good
news, and that's what the gospel means, it's translated that in
the King James, and when you look up that word, it always
translates to good news. I like that word in some ways
better. I think it's fitting for what the word actually means
to those who find it, to those who see it, to those who understand
it, to those who love it. It's good news. It's not just
words. It's not just a creedal doctrine.
It's good news. Good news comes to those things
that are hard, too great for me to deal with. How do I deal
with the expanse and the weight of my sin? I don't know. I can't
even begin to deal with it. It really upsets me and confounds
me when I really start to consider how deep does it go and how long
has it been going on. And what's even worse is when
God gives you the eyes to see your sin and you realize it's
been that way all along and I just didn't have any idea and this
is the first time I'm seeing it and God has seen me this way
all along. It makes you aware and ashamed.
There's so many things that we could say here. Each one of us
has something that God has put us through individually, whether
it be a trial, a weight, or, you know, we all have something
in our life that we're burdened with. And, you know, the Lord
sends these things in our life for different reasons. But for
the child of God, we know that all those things are working
together for good. God has a purpose for those,
and that purpose is for us to come to an understanding of his
son, an appreciation of his son, and to ask for forgiveness for
our sins. All those things are brought
through to give us a greater view of him. Now, wouldn't you
love and appreciate some good news? Because you only love and
appreciate it if you're someone who needs to be healed because
you're sick. You're someone who has a burden
that needs to be lifted because it's too heavy. I don't know
how I'm gonna carry it on every day. I need to hear the good
news of the gospel. Now, the water, as an illustration,
there's water beside me here in this glass. Everyone can see
it. Now, anyone, and I mean anyone,
who wants it, come take it. It's free. No one will stop you. No one will tell you that you
can't have it. If you want it, come and get it. Now, what can
I conclude if no one gets up to come to take the water? You're
not thirsty. And it may be you're not thirsty
because you just don't know how good water tastes. It might be
that you drank water before you came in here and you're full.
And it might be that you have a bottle of water sitting beside
you in your seat and you don't need one. And it might just be
that you're like me and I really just don't like drinking water.
I'd about drink anything else. So something else is more flavorful
to me than water. But what we can conclude is that
you're not thirsty enough to where you actually need it. We
certainly wouldn't call my open invitation for anyone to come
and take this water as good news, would we? No. I've been in the
desert before. Out in Arizona, it was very hot,
it was dry, but it wasn't overly uncomfortable, even though it's
hotter out there, at first. You see, you spend some time
out there, and you start to get a little thirsty, but you don't
realize how thirsty. Your lips get dry. Your tongue
kind of sticks to the roof of your mouth. Your skin gets dry.
You start to get a headache. It comes on slowly, and then
you realize, I'm really thirsty. There's nothing that I need more
right now than a bottle of water. And as you realize you're out
there a couple days just being in that climate, you're drinking
water all day long because that's all the only thing that satisfies
your need. It makes you uncomfortable. You need something to take care
of that thirst. How about a glass of water now?
If you're that person that's in the desert and dry and out
there with a headache and you're uncomfortable, that offer for
a glass of water sounds very different right now. something
you're interested in. There's nothing that you want
more. It's the only thing that will
satisfy. Now this mundane glass of water in here is nothing more
than that. It's a mundane glass of water
that I would look at and look away, not think anything of it.
But in the desert, it's life-giving. It satisfies your need. It's
the only thing that you're focused on. It's good news if somebody
came to you with a glass of water. Now if God ever shows you who
he is and what it takes for you to actually be welcome in his
presence, you'll see why this word is good news. Now have people
ever said to you, why do you all go to church so much? You went this morning, why are
you going tonight? Why are you going on Wednesday? Why do you
go so much, I don't understand. They've never seen the gospel
as good news. It's something that they go through
the process of for a lot of reasons, but it doesn't mean that it's
good news to them. They don't see why you love it. They don't
see why it is necessary for your day-to-day life, that I must
have a relationship with Christ. I want to see him exalted. I
know what's in me, and I know what I bear every day, and I
need to be told it's all right, that there's a means by which
I can approach unto God, I need the good news. I know that God
Almighty looks down on me every second of every day. He sees
my actions. He sees my thoughts. He knows
the intentions of my heart and I'm ashamed and I'm fearful because
I know who he is. I know that he is utterly intolerant
of someone like me. He will not allow someone like
me to be in his presence, let alone to have my prayers even
heard. That's how much he hates me for who I am. And I need to
be told that there's good news for somebody like me. I need
to be told that it's okay to come. I need to be told that
it's okay to pray that he hears my prayers for his son's sake.
I need to be told that. This is the good news of the
gospel. God made a way. God made a way for it to be okay
for you. The water is the good news of
the gospel. Well, how can we say this? Well,
where did it originate from? If you look back in the first
verse, they tell us it originated in the altar. It came out of
the south side of the altar. And what's the significance of
this? Well, the altar is where the sacrifice was offered. The
sacrifice is the only means by which sins can be forgiven. There is no other way. There
must be a sacrifice. That's what we heard this morning
when Aaron told us this. When Adam and Eve sinned, there
had to be bloodshed. That's the only way that there
was a means for Adam and Eve to even have a covering. They
had to be covered. There had to be bloodshed. There
had to be death because of sin. Cain brought the fruit of the
ground. What he did, what he thought would work, what he said,
well, there's gotta be a different way. Surely he'll be pleased
with this. My intentions were good. And he was rejected. Salvation by works. And so will
you and I be if we bring anything other than the blood of the Lamb.
If we approach by any means other than the blood of Christ. Abel
brought the lamb, innocent, pure, spotless. It had no idea what
was going on, and then he slit his throat. It's bloody, it's
messy, it's ugly. But this is the means by which
the living God will forgive sins. The law was satisfied by the
death of another. This is substitution. This is
the message of the gospel. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. He was born to die. And when
we consider that, many of us have children. Our children are
born to live. We have our children and we have
hopes and dreams and education and experiences and want them
to be loved and we do all these things to nurture them to live.
This man was born to die. The culmination of my children's
lives is these highlights that we talked about here. The highlight
of his life was death. Because in death, he had an accomplishment. It's his death and what it accomplished
for his people. Anyone that he died for, they
have no sin before God. Because of his sacrifice, the
scripture tells us that many were brought into glory. It didn't
say no one, it didn't say if you did this that you're brought
into glory, it's a finished, completed work that he did. Many
were brought into glory. And the entirety of the gospel
originates from the altar. Jesus Christ died for sinful
men and women like you and I. you are called by God to believe
the good news. The altar is the source and the
sacrifice is the means by which sin can be removed and you can
be saved. And if the message is not how
that Christ died for our sins according to the Old Testament
scriptures, then it's a false message and we're to flee from
it. The gospel is the only remedy for sin. and the reason that
we can even approach unto God. Now to the guilty, this is good
news. This means that I can approach
and that I won't be condemned. It's how can I know? And this is the key I think that
we all have to ask in our own mind. How can I know if this
is for me? You've told me that Christ died for his people. I
have confidence in who Christ is. I don't have any confidence
in me. How can I know that this is for
me, that I'm one of those people? How can I know truly? Because
I don't want to be laying claim to somebody else's promises because
I opened somebody else's mail. You can open somebody else's
mail and see something addressed to them, and there's something
in there that's promised to them. But if you open it, it doesn't
mean it's for you. How can I know if this is for me? Well, you
can know by the same means as when I asked you, does anybody
want this glass of water? Is this good news to you? Do
you thirst for it? Do you need it? The entirety of the gospel originates
here. It is the only means by which
anyone can be saved. It's free to anyone who will
come. And I have to ask my session this question, will I come? Anyone
who will can take this glass of water. It's the same with
the gospel. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever is anyone, there is
no one excluded. If you call upon the name of
the Lord, you will be saved. It's as simple as that. Well,
in verse five, what do we know about this great river? There's
a few things mentioned here. First, he says he couldn't pass
over it because it was vast and it was mighty and it was great.
And God speaks, the gospel speaks of a covering for sin. That's
the picture that this river is displaying here. Where sin did
abound, grace did much more abound. There's nothing mightier than
this river and the gospel is the same. You can't be too far
gone. You can't be too lost. You can't
be too unbelieving. You can't be too sinful. You
can't know too little. The gospel has the power to save
despite you, despite yourselves. And I'm thankful for that because
I've got a lot of reasons in me as to why I can find reasons
why God can't save me. But he tells us it's not that
way. He tells us it's not that way at all. You can't be too
sinful to be saved by the blood of Christ. There's nothing that
this covering does not cover. So anything you bring, there's
a covering, but only under the blood. And secondly, he tells
us that the waters were risen, this great river. This gospel
stream started out as a trickle though, didn't it? A trickle
just coming down from the altar. Came out the gate and out the
door. This is our experience of the gospel in this world.
God operates on the heart. He gives you a new one. And one
day, you hear something. You know, I can recall in my
own experience, being 18 before I went off to college, somewhere
before I went off to college, I had all these facts in my head.
I knew all this stuff forward and backward. I'd been taught
as a kid. But one day I remember sitting there and I heard, Henry
Mahan was my pastor, and I remember he gave a Sunday school lesson.
I left there thinking like, actually like what he said. I entered
into the message in a different way where it wasn't just facts
that I knew, I actually found some hope in it. I found some
comfort for me because I knew, had some idea what was inside
of me. And it gave me some hope. And he planted a seed in me.
I had to go my own way. And in time, he germinated that
seed. and he grew fruit out of it. But the point is, is that
the gospel started to trickle. I didn't know much other than
that one little moment. I had some hope, and that was
it. But in terms of our experience, grace grows. How much more does
it mean to you today, your love for Christ, than when you first
heard him? You loved him when you first heard him, but not
like you do today. I know more of him. I know more,
I appreciate more of him. How many things has he brought
me through in my life I never thought I'd get through? And
here I am. All these things that the Lord's
done for me, ordered things that I never saw, grace grows. It's living, it's alive, it's
not static. The rising symbolizes our ability
to know, to love, to discern, to grow in grace. We love much
more today than we ever have. and hopefully we'll feel even
more tomorrow, and the day after, and 10 years from then. Grace
grows. And thirdly, we're told about
this river. It was deep enough to get in
and swim it was so deep. Now, you consider this, who can
comprehend the depth of the message of the gospel? It's deep. There's
much here. How many times did I say, or
when I opened this, I said, you know, you've read this, and then
you just flip the page. And then you read another time
and you see something you never thought you'd see. The Holy Spirit
revealed that to you. It's Christ in the scriptures.
He revealed something to you about earth deep. Something I
didn't see before. Christ died for us while we were
ungodly, sinners, enemies. How can that be? How could he
look at me knowing he hates sin and then find love for me and
die for me? How can those things be? How
I reconcile this in terms of my experience here, I believe
it. I don't have to fully understand and comprehend it. We can't.
He's outside of time. We're in it. How can those things
be? I don't know. It's deep. How
did the just die for the unjust? And how did that justify the
law? That's deep. How do we understand that? There's
so many why questions that we have. Why did this happen? Why did this happen in my life?
I don't know. Why, and we spend all this time trying to figure
it out. One day we'll know. How can there be one God with
three distinct persons in the same person? I don't know. So
many why questions. The gospel is deep. The purposes
and decrees of God in this world, so many things, it's deep. That's
what this river symbolizes. Well, let's read on now. Pick
up towards the end here. Verse six. He said unto me, son
of man, Hast thou seen this? And then he brought me and caused
me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned,
behold, at the bank of the river there were very many trees on
one side and on the other. Now the trees are immovable. The trees are solid. And what
we're told here is that they grew near the river. Now, where
did we, why do they grow near the river? They grow near the
river because that's where life is given. The trees are the promises
and precepts of the gospel. God's decrees, God's covenant,
the things that we read in and we know that are sure that'll
never change. If Christ died for my sins, there's
no way that I can be punished for them. If I am called and
regenerated and given a new nature, that'll never go away. It can't
be taken from me. There's not anything that I can
do to not be saved. We know these are the trees,
these are the promises and the precepts of the gospel that'll
never change. They are the outgrowth because
of the water, but I don't see it. We see the tree there, I
don't see the river, but I see the tree beside the river. It's
in the ground next to the river. the water is. That's where it's
receiving its life. So even though I don't see it,
it's still receiving its life from the river. I can't see it,
but what I can see is the results, and I can see the evidence of
the water that it is there by what lives on its banks. This,
my friends, is faith. Faith is what we trust in, but
we can't see. what we have hope in, but we
can't fully see it. I know that if the trees grow
in beside the river, it's pulling water up out of the ground. That
river is underneath the ground. Underneath there, that's the
only way the tree could live. The trees don't move, and neither
does faith. I can't see my sin taken away,
but I believe that it is because of the promises of the word.
I can't see Christ's righteousness being made mine, but I have faith
that it is because the word said so. The trees don't move and
neither does our faith. Our faith is grounded in Christ. The trees are faith in immovable
promises. Pick up in verse eight here.
And then he said unto me, these waters issued out toward the
east country, down into the desert, and go into the sea, which being
brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it
shall come to pass that everything that lives, which moves, wherever
the river shall come, shall live, and there shall be a very great
multitude of fish, because these waters shall come there, for
they shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river
comes." What we see here, the river, is life-giving to all
who find it. If you find this river, if you
find the gospel, if you find the message of the gospel and
the one that it points to, you will live. That's a promise. The fish here, spoken of, these
are God's people. There's all different kinds,
we're all different, and I'm thankful that we are. We all
look different, we all act different, but we have one thing in common,
we're all fish. If we're all fish and we all
live in the river, and outside of the river, what do you do? I remember as a kid, you'd catch
bluegill, we'd throw them on the side because they didn't
want to catch them again, you'd die. We live, we move, we have
our being in the river. The river is life in Christ. This is what the gospel speaks
of. The healing speaks of healing the scars of sin, the things
that we carry around with us. It has healing, the gospel heals,
but it's also the giving of spiritual life. And in living and moving
and breathing in this river, I have life just like these fish.
Now look down in verse 10, it shall come to pass that the fishers,
so now we're talking about fishers, that stand upon it from Engedi
and to Engelum, they shall be a place to spread forth their
nets, and the fish shall be great according to their kinds, and
the fish of the great sea exceeding many. The fishers here spoken
of, who are they? Fishers are the pastors. The
pastors call out the message of the gospel in order to pull
the fish out. In that, we heard about that
this morning. What were the disciples before they became followers
of Christ? They were fishers. He said, you
follow me and I'll make you fishers and men. That's what this passage
is speaking to. Look lastly down in verse 12.
And by the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and that,
shall grow all trees for meat whose leaf shall not fade, and
neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth
new fruit according to its months, because the waters they issued
out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be for meat,
and the leaf thereof for medicine." So we're told here there are
plenty of trees for food. These are God's promises. We're
told they don't get old. They don't get consumed, they're
not gonna go away, they're not here for a little bit and then
they're consumed and gone. We're told they're firm, they're
here, this is your meat, this is your food. All these things,
God's precepts and promises are outgrows of the gospel. There's
no shortage of supply. Why? Why is there no shortage
of supply? It's because these issued were
issued from the sanctuary. The sacrifice, not the blood
of bulls and goats, but by the death of Christ, one man forever
has put away sins. There's no end to this sacrifice.
There is no end. This is where the promises of
the gospel come out of, and we're told there's no end to it. It
won't be consumed. It won't be used up. It won't
be old. It'll always be new, because
the sacrifice is always new. The altar, uplifts the brokenhearted,
it heals the sick, it raises the dead, you're given life.
Forgiveness, healing, food, comfort, all these things are found in
the gospel, found in this river. The Lord said, in closing, you
remember the woman at the well, he said to her, give me a drink
of water. And he said, if you knew who
it was that's asking you for a drink of water, you'd ask him
for a drink. He said, because whosoever drinks
of this water, you're gonna thirst again. It's not gonna satisfy. You will have a need that'll
not be quenched by this well. But he said, if you ask a drink
from me, he said, it will be a well of water springing up
in you, this same river, is a well of water that springs up in you.
Once you've drank of this river, of the gospel, it's the only
thing that satisfies your thirst, it will give you life, and it's
the means by which we live and move and have hope. This is all
found in the gospel. So the title of this message
was The River of God. And you can see, even in what
appears in some ways to be It's an obscure passage, it's a vision,
but in this vision, we see the gospel sphere.