Address—D. Nicolet
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good afternoon with #256.
Hymn #256 Praise the Savior. Ye who know him who can tell?
How much we owe Him gladly. Let us render to him all we have and are Him. #256 Praise the Savior.
Trust in his face forever.
He is able to change you. Never. Never.
Saw her God inside of her Lord.
What I have on my heart this afternoon, trust is from the Lord.
Is through in a way kind of continue with the two subjects that have been presented in the addresses friends?
And connecting rods.
But I'm going to present it by looking at two other objects in the word of God with the Lord's help, and perhaps with the Lord's help will be able to.
Bring them together like to look a little bit at some rivers and.
A gardener, so in the word of God.
We'll start in Genesis.
Chapter.
2.
Genesis Chapter 2.
And I'd like to start reading.
But we'll start in verse 7.
And the Lord God.
Formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils.
The breath of life and man became a living soul, and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there he put the man whom he had formed, and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads. The name of the first is Python, that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah. Where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good, there is delium and Onyx stone, and the name of the second river is Guyhan. The same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is hitacle, that is it which goeth toward the east.
Of Assyria.
The 4th river is Euphrates.
And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden.
Of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. I'd like to read that verse in Mr. Darby's translation.
00:05:06
I think it's quite striking.
And Jehovah Elohim took man and put him into the Garden of Eden, to till it and to guard it. Now I'd like you to turn with me to.
The Gospel of John.
And we'll start with, umm.
Believe it's Chapter 7.
Yes, John, Chapter 7.
Verse 37.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst.
Is there anyone here today who's thirsty?
Like us to ask our hearts before we go on. In reality, be real and ask yourself privately before God who knows the thoughts of your heart. Are you thirsty this afternoon? Have you been trying the waters? The springs?
That song we sing, I thirsted.
And tried the barren springs.
They mocked me.
Have you been trying the things that the world has presented to you? Well, sources of refreshment.
And found that you're still thirsty.
The Lord Jesus is saying something to you this afternoon. If anyone is thirsty, if you're thirsty, if you can honestly say Lord, it's true.
I've accepted you as my savior. Perhaps there's someone here who hasn't.
Well, the way to quench your thirst is to simply tell the Lord Jesus that you want.
Him as your personal savior. But perhaps you've done that.
And you find that you're still thirsty.
Why isn't he supposed to satisfy? Come to these meetings and we hear about things and we see brethren sitting with smiles on their faces and talking about things they enjoy about and enjoy that they've meditated on and they seem to be so happy. How come? Am I still thirsty? What's wrong?
Well, the problem, dear friend, isn't beloved brothers and sisters. The problem isn't the Lord Jesus.
The problem isn't his precious word. The problem isn't the water he has, whatever the problem is, and I don't know what the problem is. I don't know why you might be thirsty, but I know whoever it is, it's I don't want to say this lovingly. It's your problem. There's something wrong with you, something you've missed, something you've overlooked.
Something that somehow is keeping those living waters that the Lord Jesus has promised. Jesus is God the Creator. Would he make a promise that he didn't intend to keep?
Let God be true and every man a liar.
Would he ever promise anything that he wouldn't keep? He says here, If any man thirst, or we could say if anyone thirst, are you thirsty this afternoon? Well, here's a here's a solution for it. And that solution is not the latest professional football game, because if the team you want to win loses, you're still going to be thirsty.
And you are also already know if the team you want to win wins, you're still going to be thirsty.
No matter what happens in this world, you're going to be thirsty if you're drinking from this world.
So here's the solution, and it's the only solution. If any man thirst, let him come unto me. Where are you going this afternoon?
In your heart, where are you looking this afternoon to be satisfied?
Where are you looking to have your thirst quenched?
I can't tell you how the Lord Jesus will do that.
Because I don't know you, and I don't know your heart and you don't know mine. And I don't know the needs of your heart and you don't know the needs of my heart.
But if you're thirsty this afternoon, I do know this. The only one who can never lie because he's light and he's love is saying come.
00:10:01
An open invitation come come to me.
And drink.
Drink. What does that mean?
That means that you take.
What he gives, and I'm going to suggest it will come through the word of God.
And you make it your own. We talked a lot about faith these last couple of days.
And faith will open this book, which is a well of living water and the only one to be found in this world, and will take what's in it and read it and say that's for me. And I want to suggest that's at least one aspect of drinking.
To say Lord, I am thirsty. I am not really fully satisfied. I'm searching, I'm looking.
Be honest with yourself and I'm still not satisfied, Lord.
But you said to come and drink.
And out he that believeth on me, verse 38.
That's part of drinking to believe that the Lord Jesus is.
That he means what he says. That he is the one and only source of refreshment, of eternal life, of joy, of happiness. He that believeth on me. What are you believing on this afternoon? Some people, perhaps, and I am not finding fault with any of these things in themselves, but if they're the thing you're believing on, I would find a lot of fault with them. Some people believe on the stock market, and they've had a rough few months recently. Some people believe in their education.
And the unemployment rate in the United States is the highest it's been for years.
Some people believe in their strength.
And I just recently read when I was getting into my e-mail, a headline of that some young man, A huge giant of a man, 330 lbs, powerful man, 6 feet, I don't know how many inches tall who played in a professional sport that needed supreme strength to compete in.
Was getting ready for this season to compete in that sport. He had won honors and awards.
And in a few hours, he was dead.
Of heat stroke.
Are you trusting in your strength?
It's going to go away.
And no matter how strong you are, I'll guarantee you somewhere in the world there's somebody that's stronger.
So what are you?
Trusting in.
He that believeth on me. What are you believing in? What does the world believe in? It has everything that it believes in, all sorts of things. It's believing in coalitions today.
To bring peace, it's believing in military might to bring vengeance and justice.
And I do not in any way denigrate the powers that be, nor the military that has made it possible for us to sit here and be so comfortable. And we should speak very carefully about those things. And we certainly should spend some time as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, praying especially for those dear young men and women who are involved in this awful conflict.
But is that what you're believing on?
Are you believing on the security at the airports to keep you safe?
Are you believing in the FBI that it's going to find all the perpetrators of wickedness? We could go on, couldn't we? What are you believing on?
If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink he that believeth on me.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the one, as we have heard, who knew all about you, who knows all about you, and knowing everything there is to know about you, loves you with an infinite love, and has one desire and one desire only. And that is that you might have His joy fulfilled in your heart and life. Let him come on to me and drink he that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said.
Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Well, we talked about a garden that a river flowed into. God created that world, and then there was a place in that world called Eden, and in that place he created a garden. It must have been an incredibly beautiful garden. And it's so delighted his heart, because that's what Eden means, I believe, is delight or pleasure, that he sent a river of his blessing into that garden.
00:15:16
And from that garden, that blessing flowed out in rivers. I will say in terms of our scripture of living water, four more rivers, a universal blessing to the lands around.
And now we've come to the Lord Jesus himself who says, if you're thirsty, come to me and out of you, not out of a garden, but out of you will flow rivers of living water. You know something was broken if I can use.
Brother Henry's illusion, his illustration from yesterday. There was a connecting rod that got broken. There was a beautiful garden and everything was perfect. And he asked man to do something, he said. I'm putting you here, Adam. I want you to till the ground. I want you to take care of it so it can produce.
And I want you to guard it and keep that which would destroy it out. And the very first verse of chapter 3 tells us that he didn't guard it.
Because into that garden somehow came the serpent, the arch enemy.
Of God and of man.
Did he find his way into that garden, into that beautiful place? Well, I'm not going to push this, but I'm going to suggest that however he found his way in there in the guise of this most beautiful creature shining, glorious, innocent, harmless looking creature. The way he found his way in there is because Adam wasn't guarding as he was supposed to do. He didn't keep that garden shut and walled up.
To keep the enemy out.
And because of that the connecting rod was broken because before long.
Man started disbelieving.
He listened to the enemy instead of the Creator. He listened to the one who wanted to destroy instead of the one who gave the Garden.
And the connecting rod was broken. And what's the connecting rod? The connecting rod is that God? I may I say this reverently, but I believe that it was not only for the heart of man to enjoy that God put that garden there. Do you know what I think he did? Even more than that, I think he put that guard in there, that he might have something his heart wanted, fellowship with his creature. You know, it says of Adam that he couldn't find anything among the beautiful animal creation that satisfied him.
And God knew that. And God said, it's not good for man to be alone. I'm going to make a helpmate for him. And he did, may I say reverently that God could not find that which satisfied his heart in all that beautiful creation apart from man. And so he made a garden. And he was so pleased with that garden that his river of blessing flowed into it. The delight that he had in that garden flowed into it. And he wanted in that garden a place where he could come.
And he could enjoy fellowship with his creature man, enjoy thoughts, common thoughts with him, come to him in the cool of the day, and walk with him in that beautiful garden that was watered with that river and that flowed out universally, and blessing to all the land around.
And Adam sinned, Adam and Eve, and they disbelieved that God, my God, your God, they disbelieved him.
And that connecting rod was broken, and the connecting rod was the joy that God could have.
In communion and fellowship with his creature man, he could no longer have it, and he drives the man out of the garden.
How sad.
Now I want to we'll come back to this, but I want to go on now and I want to look at.
A couple other well known passages in John and then we'll turn to one other in Revelation before we continue to turn to.
John chapter.
15.
We'll just read these verses and we'll comment on them in a little bit.
But I'd like to put these into our thoughts as we're talking, Lord Jesus speaking.
Very familiar verse, verse 13 of John 15. Greater love hath no man than this.
That a man lay down his life for his friends.
00:20:04
Ye are my friends. I just want to stop there. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends.
You see, Dear Believer, in the application I'm making, a connecting rod has been broken because of sin.
And man can no longer you and I can no longer by nature enjoy the communion and fellowship and joy of walking with our God, apart from one being a friend of ours. May I say it that way, and laying down his life to restore a far more glorious connecting rod. And I want to tell you, it certainly is coated with silver, the redemption work, the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross, that you and I might be brought back into connection with God.
And enjoy communion and fellowship with God.
So that this connecting rod has been now re established through the work of Christ at the cross. And he calls you dear friend, if you know him as savior, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, trusting in His blood to wash your sins away, He calls you his friends. He's laid down his life for you, and he calls you. He calls me friends. What a wonderful thing. What a wonderful.
Joy to see that this that was lost to man because of sin in the garden.
Has been restored in a far more glorious way. And now we'll turn to Revelation and see what is going to replace that garden. Turn to Revelation.
Chapter 22.
Revelation Chapter 22.
There's some wonderful descriptions that are given here.
You and I, who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, we are in a coming day, perhaps very soon now.
Going to see the full glory and beauty and understand it in a way that we never could understand it as mere men in this world of this scene that's described. But it says here in verse one of chapter 22 of Revelation, he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal.
Proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, and in the midst, in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life.
It's wonderful, you know, in the garden. That tree of life was in the midst of the garden.
It's not my intent to ponder it today, but I don't understand why. If Adam and Eve, maybe it's because of their innocence and they didn't realize the incredible importance of it. But in the day that we live in sickness and death and sorrow and all that's going on, I just wonder over and over again, why didn't Adam as soon as he heard about that tree of life that was in the midst of the garden of which God said you can freely eat of that, that's one of the trees of the garden. You can freely. Why didn't you run straight for that tree?
And get the fruit and take a big bite.
The Tree of life, it was open to him.
There was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil there in that garden.
And he got it mixed up.
And she said to the serpent, trying to answer.
The tree that's in the midst of the garden. We're not to eat of it nor touch it. How can you till a garden if you can't touch what's in it?
And what was in the midst of the garden? I'm going to suggest, if you read it carefully, and I think the original Hebrew supports it, that the tree that's being referred to as the tree of life that's in the midst of the garden. And it doesn't say where the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was. It's just in the garden.
And I want to suggest to you that had they believed God and acted on the blessing he wanted them to have, they would have run straight for that tree of life.
And eaten the fruit, and they didn't.
And the Lord has a connecting rod broken. Something is taken away from him. He can't have communion and fellowship that he wants with you. Dear friend, beloved brother, sister, young, old, in this room today. He wants, he values. He looks for communion and fellowship with you and with me. Now if President Bush were in the city of Saint Louis.
I'm pretty sure at least one person in this room would not be invited to see him because he would have no need of Maine.
I'm not important, and perhaps this whole room is filled with people that he really would have no need of having, except if it were voting time.
00:25:04
He wouldn't have any specific need of having you come and sit down and talk with him. It wouldn't mean anything to him.
But this is the creator God of the universe, the one who hung the sun and the moon and the stars with a word of his power, who brought everything that you can see into being. And he not only has time for you, he desires your company. He's not saying. Well, if you. I'm pretty busy this afternoon, but I'll try to work in between 4:00 and 5:00. He's saying come and drink. I want to walk with you because a connecting rod was broken in Eden.
And I can't enjoy fellowship on that basis anymore. And so I died on the cross.
So that I could have you.
You would come to me and drink, and I could give you such joy and blessing that rivers would flow out of you because they can't flow out of the garden anymore.
Rivers of living water.
But in this new creation, in this new, in this new city.
It talks about a river, that the Tree of Life is on either side of the river. You don't have to go to the midst of the garden. Wherever you're standing, there's the Tree of Life. I don't understand that. But I know it's fully, perfectly forever available for you and for me. And we're going to enjoy it. But then it says this.
There shall be no more curse. Well, we could go on with that, but I just want to tell you.
That a garden, because of sin was lost. And I say reverently to God, first of all, the connecting rod was broken. And through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, he's going to bring a place much more beautiful than that garden. And it's going to have a river in it, and it's going to have the tree of life in it, and it's going to have so much more in it, so much greater blessing than would have ever been realized had Adam and Eve never sinned.
So much more wonderful joy and blessing for you and me.
And I want to tell you that bringing you and me there, those who were born in sin, those who practiced sin, those who, if we were to refer to ourselves as trees, would have to say the root is bad and the fruit is bad.
The root, my nature is born in sin. I am not fit.
For the presence of God, I cannot stand in his presence because of my nature.
And I prove it because of what I do, what I say, what I think.
I bear fruit that is obnoxious to God every bit, and more obnoxious than the fruit that Cain brought to him to seek to worship him.
And so I want to submit that the most wonderful, if I can say it this way, friend.
That you could ever have has provided the way to bring you into this scene in Revelation 22. You know, in Hebrews 11, it says they look for a city whose builder and maker is God. They look for a city which have foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Are you looking for that city or are you looking for a garden? Here, the 11 young people I'm going to finish up this afternoon by making some specific references that I want specially to talk to you about.
You can try to find a garden here. You can try to make a garden here.
In this world, and the world has its rivers, there's the abandoned and the far par rivers.
That are better than the River Jordan for healing.
And those rivers refresh this world. But I want to tell you what that river means to you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want you to listen carefully to this. It means the river. It means the place, the source, where Satan intends to cast you, that you might die even as he wanted to cast the baby Moses.
There was a river in Egypt.
And that river meant life to those in Egypt, but it meant death to the people of God, to those little babies.
And there's a river that refreshes this world, which man is ever trying to make into a garden.
And that river means death to you. The link the connecting rod has been broken because of sin.
And if you're going to try to find a garden in this world and use the world's source of refreshment to make that garden bloom, I want to tell you, beloved young people, you're going to have nothing but agony and dissatisfaction and unhappiness for the rest of your life. It's not a matter of what the brethren teach or what do I have to go to meeting or this or that. It's a matter of your happiness and who is going to be the source of it, this world that spit in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:30:18
Or your savior Jesus Christ.
Which one is going to give you the satisfaction you're looking for? You're not wrong to look for satisfaction. We all want that and we're not denied that the Lord wants us to have. That's why he said come on to me and drink. He wants you to be happy. But are you trying to build a world to find your happiness, a garden rather to find your happiness here.
And you're trying to use the methods and the principles that the world that spit in my.
To spit in the blessed face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are those the principles that you're going to pick up and use to find happiness now that you've bought, belonged to Him, and been washed in His precious blood? You're going to pick up with a Waze and the habits of a world that that thought that the best they could give the Son of God the Creator was a cross, and then sit down and laugh at Him and be entertained by His death?
You know, no one was entertained by the Twin Towers.
No one sat there and was entertained by that sight. Many people have visited it. I have yet to hear. Perhaps there were some hardened fools that thought it was a funny thing, but I have yet to hear of any who have visited that and thought that was an entertaining thing. I have yet to see a photograph of people watching. There are photographs of people caught as they watch that Twin Towers collapse. They're not laughing, they're screaming in horror.
That the heart of man could sit and laugh and be entertained.
By these by the crucifixion agony of the Son of God.
Is that the world you're looking at to find satisfaction?
Is that where you're going to build a garden?
Turn with me quickly to Song of Solomon.
There. This book never ceases to amaze me, and it's well, I guess I would have to say every book in the word of God. I just feel like a.
Fish out of water. I guess the word is so incredible in its depth, but it's such a beautiful book. I just want to make a simple application. I want you to think now of the bridegroom speaking to the one that he loves, that he's going to make one with himself.
In Chapter 4 of Song of Solomon, here's what he says to her. And I would like you to think of these words in this way as I read them. Allow your thoughts to think of the Lord Jesus saying these words to you this afternoon. If you know him as your personal savior, allow him to use these very words to speak to your heart this afternoon.
Verse 9 Thou hast ravaged my heart, My sister, my spouse.
Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse, How much better is thy love than wine, and the smell of thy ointments than all spices? You know, this morning we had a most precious time.
Thinking about the love of Christ for us and we could have turned to the first chapter, the Song of Solomon. And early in that first chapter it says we will remember thy love more than wine.
And I think earlier it says Thy love is better than wine. And then a little later it says we will remember thy love more than wine. That's the bride speaking to the bridegroom. That's what we did this morning, you might say. We said, Lord Jesus, we're remembering thy love.
And it's better than every joy this earth can afford. But that's not the end of the story. There's His side of it, and his side of it is Your love to me is much better than wine. No matter how we value his love for us, never forget how infinitely more He values those little displays of your love and mind for himself. You've ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse.
00:35:10
What words are those?
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God in type, if I may say it that way, speaking to you and to me, you've ravished my heart. Your love for me is much better than wine. And then he goes on and I went to read down in verse 12. Now a garden enclosed. He's still speaking. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. My plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits. Campfire with spikenard.
Spiked dirt and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes with all the chief spices. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon. I don't have the time, and more than that, I don't have the ability to give any kind of an exposition on the beautiful meanings that must no doubt be involved in this description. But I do want you to know something.
This is what the Lord Jesus sees in you if you know him as savior.
What he could no longer enjoy, may I say reverently, reverently in Eden, because the connecting rod was broken. And he says he looks at you and you and you and you and each one of us here who know him as savior. And he says, you've ravished my heart.
You have a garden that I was denied in Eden, and it's a beautiful garden.
And it's full of things that delight my heart.
And I want to come into that garden and I want to enjoy that garden.
I want to have communion and fellowship with you. I have restored the connecting rod. I've died on the cross. I said this before. It's been covered with silver, the redemption found in Christ. You know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold received by tradition from the vain conversation of your Father's, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without spot and without blemish. Oh, what beautiful silver on this connecting rod.
And he says, now I have a garden. And that garden is so precious, beloved young people hear me.
He says that garden is enclosed. It's not open to the world. I don't want the world to come in and defile it.
It's enclosed, and the springs of water, the refreshment that is in that garden, are shut up from the world because if they're uncovered, they're going to get defiled.
You sometimes hear about how legal brethren are. We'll try this instead.
Try thinking this, that you are so precious to the heart of Christ and he is so jealous for your affection that he doesn't want one spot from this world to defile the garden that he wants to come into and enjoy in your company and in your presence.
And so he says, I want a really strong wall built around that garden because it's not open to the world. He's going to do something that the first Adam didn't do. The first Adam was going was supposed to till and guard the garden, and the Lord Jesus says, as it were, he didn't and the enemy got in. But I'm the second, I'm the last Adam, the 2nd man, and I'm going to guard this garden. I'm going to put a wall around it and guard it.
So that the world can't come in and defile it.
We fail.
And I suppose there are aspects we don't have time to go into as to our position in our, as some say, our standing in our state here. And maybe this is more the aspect of our standing, but it ought to be our our desire for our state too, that practically daily we enjoy this, the realization that so precious am I. Is that possible if you knew me?
If you could.
Make any noise at all? You'd laugh to think that I would say I'm so precious.
To the heart of Christ, that he has enclosed me as a garden full of delights. But that's what he's done for each one of us.
Well.
I wanted to talk about those four rivers for the young people I'm going to stop. They want to close now, but let me just say this in very quick summary and then I'll leave it to you to study it out.
00:40:07
If any man thirst, let him come on to me and drink.
He that believeth on me as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
What's flowing out of your life? To those around today, we have heard some solemn gospel messages.
And it's very clear that this world is well aware whether it wants to be or not.
That something is badly amiss.
And it has some great needs that it can't fulfill.
Do you know you can fulfill those in that sense, if out of your life is flowing rivers of living water, the garden and clothes that he dwells in, which he was denied in Eden, that had four gardens and four rivers flowing out of it. Those four, four rivers, if I can say it this way, beloved young people, dear brethren, those four rivers can flow out of our lives now. So the rivers that would refresh the world don't need to be shut up.
Now I, as I said, I'm going to close, but I'm going to read the verse I believe in the New Testament that has, as our brother said yesterday, the doctrine of this.
And what, at least in the application I'm making answers to those four rivers 3:00.
Thank you. So I can go a little longer. I'd like you to turn with me to 1St Corinthians.
First Corinthians chapter One.
And I'd like to suggest that these are the four rivers that the Lord as a connecting rod now.
To this world would like to see flowing out of the garden that he has made in each of our lives.
Verse 30. But of him, that's God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who from God that could read is made unto us Wisdom river one, Righteousness river 2 Sanctification river three, and redemption river 4.
What do I mean by that? No man can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God or ransom for him. How can I be used in redemption? Oh, are you redeemed in the precious blood of Christ? Well, let that river flow. Let that be one of the rivers that's flowing out of the garden. The message of the joy and the satisfaction of redemption. And not only what it means to be saved, to know him as your personal savior, but the fact that this isn't the end. You know, there are so many people in this world today who This is the end. This is it. This is as good as it gets.
And it's not very good.
It starts out by wisdom we speak.
I'm sorry, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus? I'm going to read that in the New translation. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who has been made to us wisdom from God, two kinds of wisdom in this world. I want to speak. I appreciate what I think was Brother Jim talked about that we we not overuse or or overemphasize these things that that happened on September 11Th. I think that's a very important thing to remember.
But you know, men are desperately seeking for wisdom right now, for a lot of things. To make this world a peaceful place, free of terrorists and on and on and on, free of certain diseases. I thank God for wisdom. We're enjoying a pretty wonderful place because of a lot of man's ingenuity and wisdom that God by his grace has allowed man to have. And we shouldn't look down on that.
But that's not the river of wisdom that needs to flow out of your garden and mine. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Is that river flowing out of your life, beloved young people? Is your life reflecting?
A walk that is walked in the fear of God, that is, walked in respect to what God thinks. That first and foremost takes into account what your Creator Savior.
Desires.
It's not fair to be scared of him.
It's fear to do anything that would displease or dishonor him, or to forget to take him into my every thought and action.
I don't need to fear one who has already given me peace. Let me turn quickly to that, because I want to tell you, I I to this day, I have a problem with this. This is something Satan really smacks me with, I suppose. He finds our weaknesses, each one of us, and he he knows how to, in each case, work on our weaknesses. One of my many, many is a lot of fear.
00:45:08
Romans 5 I think this was read earlier today.
I'm going to misread the first verse because this is how I always think about it instead of just reading God's word.
Verse one of chapter 5 being misread now, therefore being justified by faith. We feel peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm always forever wanting to feel something. That's not the point. The Lord Jesus has been the connecting rod at the cross and I've accepted him as a savior and he says it's not a matter of feelings. You have it.
Now I admit there's a whole side of this as to enjoyment that is connected with my walk.
But I don't feel peace with God.
It was up to my feelings. I wouldn't be up here. I wouldn't. I would hide from you, brother. If my salvation and my Christian life and my blessings were based on my feelings, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
Is your life showing this?
Is the wisdom the fear of God? That's why I say that verse about peace.
And it's not the thought of fear as being scared of God, scared of what he's going to do to me or how he's going to get me. I'm real good at that, I'm afraid.
But to let my life be a river that flows out.
To a land.
That is full of treasures.
And this river, if I understand right the the meaning of the name is overflowing or a flood over flooding water. I don't want to get imaginary or or or so on in my thoughts, but I just thought of it this way. The world has its treasures of gold and jewels and things that it treasures.
But the river of the fear of God flowing out of your life and mine can flood it.
So that those can see there's someone who isn't living their life in the fear of gold.
Or the fear of riches or wealth. Or fame. Will they get it or will they lose it? There's one who's living in the fear of God.
Well, we don't. I just want to suggest that each of those rivers answers to one of these. The next one is righteousness.
I could never ever be or find righteousness in myself, or have a basis to stand before God on my righteousness.
There is none. Righteous. No, not one. That's it. Final. There are no arguing with God. You may want to, but it's not going to work. God has already said there's none. Righteous. No, not one. All of man's righteousnesses are as filthy rags. That doesn't. That even takes in the organizations that are collecting money for the victims of 911.
If it's being done as a way to get into the good graces of God and merit God's favor, God says it's filthy rags. It doesn't count.
So is there a river flowing out of your life that shows that Christ is my righteousness? That I'm righteous in him? That He's given me that robe of righteousness? You can take that on and on, dear young person.
Have you gone to the Lord Jesus, thirsty and drunk, and the river of wisdom and the river of righteousness and the river of sanctification, holiness, separation? Why? Because you have to be a do gooder. Because you can't do this. You can't do that. You can't think this. You can't go there. No, because you've been satisfied and you don't need those things.
They're not going to supply, you know what they what this world, it doesn't look like a famine in our land. This world is in such a moral famine. You know what they ate in the history of Israel when the famine really got bad? It says that an *** has had a donkey's head sold for a vast quantity of silver and a little measure of doves done sold for a big quantity of silver too. And you know what?
00:50:03
That's what's important in this world today, Phil, and foolishness.
What is it that Hollywood, movies, entertainment. What do they dwell on? What do they give you to feed on filth, moral corruption and foolishness. And people are hungry for it because it's a horrible famine and they pay a great price for it. These movie stars, these entertainment figures, they're incredibly wealthy people. How have they made their wealth? By providing you a donkey's head and a cab of calves done of pigeons dung.
That's how they've gotten so wealthy. Are you feeding on that, or is a river flowing out of you to refresh your world? But that's all it has to feed on, and it's coming from a separated holy life. Does that mean you can't enjoy anything? Has nothing to do with that at all. It means that you will, first of all, walk in enjoyment with your savior God.
And that you will keep yourself by His strength. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. You'll keep yourself through His strength from those things that bring corruption and defilement and filth into your life. And you'll be sanctified and redemption. The last river, you know I want to say. I want to say it very carefully, because I want to tell you I consider myself a worse failure than you're ever, than anyone here will ever know when it comes to.
Preaching the gospel or giving the gospel to others. God grant that we be 100 times more faithful and giving out and living the gospel before those around us, but that's the last thing here in this list. That's the last of the rivers mentioned. And if you want to tie it in with a little extra study you'll find it's also has no characteristics mentioned in Genesis. It just says the river Euphrates. So I'm I'm telling you then by saying this that if you want to study this, you can connect.
Each of these four things with those four rivers in the order that they're mentioned, and then see what the spirit of God gives you from that. But I just want to tell you that it doesn't do a whole lot of good for you to talk about knowing Christ, that you're as your savior if you haven't walked in the fear of God, in the wisdom of His Word, in a sense of your righteous standing through the work of Christ, and as separate from all the filth and foolishness in this world.
If you haven't lived and walked like that, I want to say carefully, what good does it do then to tell someone else about Jesus?
What good did he do for you if there's no change in your life? I want to be very careful. I mean this very reverently.
But what use is it to talk about something that I don't put to use myself?
Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I want to close with the story because Bob said I could go to three.
I.
Some of you probably have heard this or read it, but I want to tell you how simple it can be to be that garden with waters flowing out of it.
That the Lord Jesus can have his place, that he was denied in the Garden of Eden.
That now you and I can give that to him and the waters can flow out to others who are in need. I want to tell you how simple it is. This is a true story. I don't know if the facts are accurate. I know the event happened. We'll call her Susie because I don't know what her name was. A six year old girl.
Who, when she was three, had a stroke and was partially paralyzed.
When she was 5, her parents were killed in an auto accident and she was orphaned.
When she was six, she started going blind and they thought that she probably had a brain tumor.
And they took her into the hospital to give her.
I don't know, Ralph. I guess you know what it was an MRI or something like that, some kind of a test, a scan to pick out this tumor that was causing this blindness.
And here's this paralyzed little girl orphan now going blind. And they they are on a busy schedule in the room testing the testing room. And so they tell her, Susie, you must remember to lay very still when we put you in the tube and we do the scan.
Don't move, don't talk, just be very still. And so they slide her into the tube and they close the door and as they begin the scan immediately the image becomes blurred.
And they realize that Susie is whispering or talking or doing something. She's moving. So they stop and they're getting a little frustrated. They've got a heavy schedule of a lot of tests to run that day, and they pull her out and they say, Susie, remember what we said. You must be quiet. You can't move, You can't say anything because that'll make the image blurry. And they put her back in, slide her into the tube, and they start to scan, and they can hear some mumbling. And sure enough, the image starts blurring.
00:55:24
And this time rather frustrated the head radiologist or whoever it was doing this as they got Suzy I, said Susie.
We said no talking. You've got to be quiet. You can't move. No talking. And Susie and her partially paralyzed condition, twisted words, said I wasn't talking. Susie, you were talking. No, I wasn't talking. I was singing. Susie, you were you were singing. What were you singing?
I was singing Jesus loves me. I always sing Jesus loves me when I'm happy.
Got a river like that flowing out of your life?
There's a world that needs to be happy.
And you're a garden that's making the Lord Jesus happy because of what he did on the cross.
How about letting those rivers flow now?
Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out crater. Love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends.
Now he says, come and drink and let the waters flow. But you got a drink first.