I'm going to read from the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, Revelation 22 in verse one. of the nations. Here is the holy city, the new Jerusalem. It's a garden city. It's a new Eden. And of course, it's the bride of Christ. It's the church. And flowing through the city is the river of the water of life. Now a river flowed through the first Eden and out into the world to water the earth. But that Eden was lost and the earth was cursed. But here, flowing through the heart of the new Jerusalem, this garden city, this centerpiece of the renewed creation, is the river of the water of life. And it's bright and clear and unpolluted and inexhaustible and life-giving. And it's accessible to all. liquid life. And the source? Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The river is a picture of the Holy Spirit flowing, proceeding from the Father and the Son. When you think about a river, a river is water, and it brings water to us. And the Spirit, he is God, and he brings all of God to us. In fact, when you look at scripture, it's not that the Spirit is like a river, but every river is a picture of the Holy Spirit. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. So think of it, all the fullness of God, all the pleasures of God, are by His Spirit pouring unceasingly into the city, into the bride, into the church, and then out into God's new world. All of God is known. All of God is felt. Father and Son experienced and enjoyed through the Spirit. The glories of His love pouring into the church in a never-ending river of life. and all one for us at the cross. But is this river all future? Well, the answer is no. John 7, for example, and the many other scriptures tell us that the spirit is poured out now. Jesus says, we read on the last day of the feast that the great day Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, As the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. For as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Well, Jesus is glorified. The spirit has been poured out. And so this river of the water of life, this resurrection life, it begins now. but of course will reach its fullness in the new Eden. In Ezekiel 47, we have a preview of the coming of the Holy Spirit, but it's spoken of in Old Testament imagery. And there's a river flowing from the temple out into the world. And two things are emphasized. As the river flows from the temple, so it gets deeper and deeper. It starts off ankle deep, then knee deep, then waist deep. And then if you're standing in the river, you find that you're out of your depth. As it flows, so it becomes deeper. And the second thing that we read in that chapter is that wherever the river flows, it brings life. It even turns the Dead Sea to life. So we read the water flows towards the Eastern region and goes down into the Araba and enters the sea, that's the Dead Sea. When the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live. And there'll be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh. So everything will live where the river goes. Two things, the river gets deeper and deeper, and wherever the river goes, it heals the waters, it brings life, even dead seas are turned to life. So the river is God the Holy Spirit, bringing all of God to us. How much we need the Spirit. We need the Spirit today. We're sinners, great sinners. In my heart is the seed of every known sin. I'm capable of anything. We're sinners in a cursed world. We need cleansing, healing, renewing, life. We need resurrection. The dead seas of our life need transforming. And what we would pray for ourselves, we would pray for our families, our children, our grandchildren. And we want the river to get deeper. How much more of God there is to know. An inexhaustible fullness. We want to be out of our depth. And we want the river to flow through our churches. More and more of Jesus. To be a holy people. a praying people filled with the spirit of God and therefore filled with a spirit of prayer. We want to be a broken people, a humble people who die to self, a people who glory in the cross, who live in its rugged shadow, whose boast is a saviour slain. We want to be a people saturated with God. And we want the river to flow out into the world, for his kingdom to come with power, for sinners to be saved, for Christ to ride out in the chariot of his word, to conquer and to save, for more believers in more nations, your kingdom come. Unstoppable, invincible, glorious, So what shall we pray? Lord, more of your spirit. Jesus said, if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?