Our text this morning is Ezekiel chapter 47 verses 1 through 12. This is a vision of the prophet Ezekiel of the holy waters that flowed from the temple. 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, the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without to the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward. And behold, there ran out waters on the right side. When the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and a cubit is about eighteen inches. He measured a thousand cubits and he brought me through the waters. The waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and brought me through the waters. The waters were to my knees. And again he measured a thousand and brought me through. The waters were to the loins. And afterward he measured a thousand 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. And he said to me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? 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 were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he to me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go 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 liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the river shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither, for they shall be healed, and everything shall live, whether the river cometh. It shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand upon it from and Getty, even unto Angolain. They shall be a place to spread forth nets. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea exceeding many. The miry places thereof shall be marishes thereof, and the marishes thereof shall not be healed. They shall be given to salt. And by the rivers, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaves shall not fade. neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed, it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because they are waters they issued out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. I want us to pay attention. I'm going to use this as an illustration today for God's spirit and God's grace. I think that was a picture for us. But I want us to see the picture that Ezekiel saw that everywhere that this river went, it brought life. There were trees on the one side and on the other. There were fish in the waters. The leaves of the fruit of the tree was good for food. and for medicine. I also want to read just a few verses from the 22nd chapter of the book of Revelation. The very last chapter of the Bible. Revelation chapter 22, verse 1. And this is John writing what he saw in his vision. 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 bared twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." For time's sake today, I want to just read verse 17. 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. I want to speak this morning about living water and about God's grace and God's spirit that's available to us as people. We can tell by creation, by the way that this world is made, that water is not a luxury. Water is a necessity. Without water, there is no life. This morning on our drive into church, we saw a rain. a welcomed rain that brought water to our land. Our land needs water. It's not just nice to have, it must be. We have been moved by the pictures of our fellow Americans in the western part of our United States, in California, where their land has burned up. and their houses have burned up. And it goes to show what life is like when there is no water. A fire hits, catastrophe occurs. Destruction in the midst. Whenever I was in between my last pastorate in Oregon, And coming here, I preached a revival. And at this revival meeting, it was in Idaho. And in Idaho, western Idaho, they have some of the most fertile soil in all of the United States. It really is something to see how that things grow so amazingly in western Idaho and eastern Oregon. It's where Ore-Ida comes from. Oregon and Idaho on the border is these great vast fields of fertile land. And that's where our revival was. That's where I went to preach in a little place called Parma, Idaho. And as I was there and preaching, I stayed with a brother from the church and in the mornings I didn't have to go to work. So I was spending it meditating and I would go for a run to kind of clear my mind. And I noted how the soil was so dusty. They almost never got a rain. And actually they didn't want it to rain. because they store up the water from the winter in the mountains and they get enough moisture and they pipe it down from the mountains and they put it on that soil and when the water hits it, it just sprouts forth beautifully with life. But I was moved by the fact that whenever I was on my run and dust was in, I'd pick the soil up and I could just crumble it in my fingers. It wasn't able to do anything but be dust for the road. But when the water was piped down from the mountains and they got just the right amount of water on it, it could produce hundreds of fold, what was planned. the power of water upon the land. Without it, it's lifeless, but with it, it brings forth fruit." We see this naturally. I think the things that we see in our world naturally are to show us something about God. Our bodies need water. In fact, I believe it's something like 75% of our bodies when we're brought into the world as babies are water. And even as adult men, 60% of our bodies are water. And you can't go very long in this life without water. You can go several weeks without food, but you can only go a few days without water. If you didn't have water for three days, most of us would die. Most civilizations were built up upon riverbanks because that was what they needed more than anything else. They needed water. And so our bodies are dependent upon water, but our souls are dependent upon spiritual water. and we need it. It's not that it's a luxury. It's something that our souls need or otherwise they wither up and die and become like a desert. The psalmist in the 42nd Psalm, he said, as the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after thee, O God. That psalmist, he's linking the picture between a deer that bows down at the river and takes a drink of water. He said, as that deer who pants after water is thirsty, So is my soul thirsty for God. Now, a physical thirst is something that we've experienced and we know that when we're thirsty, the only thing that we can think about is finding a drink. We put water out for our animals. My dog is a puppy and is goofy. and I'm having to pin him up in the garage during the day. At night, he stays at the house beautifully, guards the house, he'll sit in the front porch, everything's good. Sun comes up, he goes out looking for other dogs. So we had to stop that. And so we had to pin him up during the day or he'll get out in the field and chase cattle or, you know, disturb other dogs. We've got to take care of that. But anyway, so he goes out and we'll put water in with him in the garage and food and he won't touch it. As long as he's pinned up, he won't touch it. He won't go to the bathroom, he won't eat, he won't drink, nothing while he's pinned up. The other night, he'd been in the garage most of the day, and I pulled him out, and I put food and water outside for him, the same food and water that was sitting inside the garage, and he came out of the garage, and he went straight to that bowl, and he began lapping up the water. He was so thirsty. And I looked at that, and I thought, you can't go very long without water. He was disciplined enough, for whatever reason, something in his mind said it's not appropriate while he's pinned up. But as soon as he got the opportunity, he went straight for that bowl. Not the food. He went straight for the water. He needed that. Friend, our souls need God. Our hearts become a desert place without God. Our lives become empty wastelands from the inside unless God's grace pours down on us. If you don't have God in your life, what you'll find is immorality, and sin, brokenness, and emptiness, and eventually you'll begin wondering, why do I even live? That's what people do in this life as they get older without God. They begin saying, you know, I just wake up in the morning and I go to work. And I finish my day and I go home and I go to bed and I do it over again. People retire because they're so tired of the weariness of work and then they find the weariness of play. And they play golf and they say, you know, I thought this was going to be more fulfilling than it was. And so they just do that day after day and people begin to wonder what is life even about? You can't answer that apart from eternity. Why do I just go day after day the same thing over and again and then I die, my body goes back to the dust and then what? You see, our souls were created with a hunger and a thirst for eternity. God has hidden eternity in man's heart and he can't understand it or he can't figure it out without the gospel, without God helping him. But you see that inner part of us that's empty, that's broken, that's got a hole there. Meaninglessness and purposelessness can only be filled up by God. Without it, we are like a desert or like a dry land, a thirsty deer or a dog waiting for the opportunity to be able to take a drink. But once we take a drink, there's only one thing that satisfies, and it's God. Now in this vision, Ezekiel, he saw this miraculous water flowing from the temple. And it started out as a trickle, but then it began to flow until the point that it was water that he could swim in. And he saw this and God was showing him a vision. And he said, did you see what was going on here? This water that flowed from the temple and the trees on this side and that about how they were flourishing, that they were growing fruit and about how that in them was life and he saw it. Did you see it? What's the meaning? Well, the meaning is that God abundantly pours out His grace and it comes from the temple and it's for us to partake in, if we'll but experience Him and seek after Him. I want to speak this morning, if God would help me, just a few things about God's grace and God's presence. The grace of God and the presence of God is symbolized in the Scriptures by water. Oftentimes, the Holy Spirit is pictured by the picture of water, or God's grace by the picture of water. Now, let's look at this illustration this morning. First of all, what is the source of water? The source of water was the temple. That's where the water flowed from. And surely today, we see that the temple was a picture in itself. The picture of the temple was a picture of Jesus Christ. that all of God's grace and presence flows from Jesus. It comes from Him. If you want to know where to get the answers for your weary soul, the answer is Jesus. It's in Him. If you'll seek Him, and you'll feel after Him, and you'll go to Him, when you find Him, you'll find water that satisfies your soul. We were talking in Sunday school this morning about how that God told the woman at the well, and I love that story of the woman at the well in John chapter four, about how that the day was coming, Jesus said, and already is here. where it's not in the mountain that the Samaritans worshipped in or the temple that the Jews worshipped in that people would find God, but they would find Him when they would worship Him in spirit and in truth. And we spoke about how that, you know, for many years that God had the temple as the place where people would come for worship. That they would go first to the tabernacle and then to the temple. And that God was, you know, kind of establishing Jerusalem as the place in which people would go to be able to experience the manifest presence of God. But when Jesus came, there was no more need for the temple. The temple was fulfilled in Christ. He even said one time, he said, you destroyed this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days. And they sought to stone him saying he was going to tear the temple down. They said, I wasn't talking about the building I was talking about. my body. You see, Jesus was the fulfillment of the temple, and that temple was broken down, and the temple was rebuilt in the resurrection, and Jesus is now where you find the manifest presence of God. Before, you went to the temple, and they could see when God's presence was there in the tabernacle, you know, when they would see the cloud, they would say, God's there. But now you can find God wherever you are. Isn't that a wonderful picture this morning that you, even though you weren't raised in anything like the Jewish culture that centered around temple worship, yet you can still find God where you are when you reach out for Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth? So, we talked and we said, you know, God's always been about reaching out to the people of the whole world. We see that in the story of Jonah and about how God offered the people of Nineveh an opportunity to repent. And Jonah was so upset by that. And the reason he was upset was because he knew if he went and preached to those people that they would repent. And it made him mad. He knew God's character and he knew that if those people repented and he had a feeling they would, that God would grant them mercy. And he hated those people. He couldn't stand the thought about them coming back to God. Jonah's heart was that way. God's heart was something different. God wanted those people to repent. Those people that were his enemies. He wanted them to come back. And it tells us something about the nature of God this morning. That God wanted them to come back. That God is about restoring those that are broken. He's about saving those that are lost. He's about bringing life to those that are in a desert place. You see, God's a God of grace this morning. And whenever we seek after Him, I went by my spot the other day. Most of you probably wouldn't know where it was. My spot, I can't find the house anymore where I've got my spot. My spot was on a bunk bed in an old farmhouse on a dairy farm. Whenever I was just a boy, I called upon God, and God saved my soul, and I went by that place, and it's all grown up, and the barn's still there, the house isn't there anymore, but it welled up in me that that night whenever I sought God, and I asked Him for mercy, that He poured down upon me His grace, and I thought, you know, I'm forever thankful for that spot. Where's your spot? Some of you will say, well, you know, I don't have a spot. I've just always believed in God. You know, it doesn't work that way. Those of us that have been saved know we weren't always saved. There was a time where we came to God as a lost sinner. When I was just a boy, just a little older than my Son of Israel, I began calling upon God, and God saved me, and He poured out His water, and I want you to know I was thirsty. And the reason I was thirsty is because my heart longed for God with a spiritual longing that could only come by the grace of God, that He began to make known to me my condition before God. And I called upon Him, and even though that place wasn't holy, it doesn't look like a temple, it doesn't look like a place where God would ordain worship, but yet in that little farmhouse, when I called upon God, I found that He met me there, He came into my heart there, And I'm thankful that God can, wherever you go before God, and you meet His conditions. And what are His conditions? That you come to Him broken, you come to Him thirsty, and you come to Him repentant and humble. When you come to God that way, He'll meet you there. I've heard people getting saved in pickup trucks, in showers, in the bathroom. You know, you say, well, would God lower Himself? That's what you might say. I know the world's like, it needs to be in a holy place. Well, you know, the manger was just an old stinky manger until Jesus got there. And once Jesus got there, we look at that manger as a holy place. It's not the place that was so holy. It was the presence of God that was so holy. So where did that water come from? It came from the temple. Where does water come from now? It comes from Jesus. You want to find life? You seek after Jesus. And you say, well, Jesus died a long time ago. Yes, He did, but He rose again on the third day. And He's at the right hand of God, making intercession for all those penitent sinners that come and call upon God's name. You know, whenever a person gets broken. And you'll just never get saved sitting and doing nothing. When you get broken and you start calling out for God, He says, I don't even know if He can hear me. Do you know that God, that Jesus is making intercession on your behalf before God? And look at what this looks like. This is so amazing. Jesus knows our frame. He knows our flesh. He knows we're just but men. He knows the temptations that we go through. Jesus does. And He comes down and He relates to us that way. And we say, thankfully Jesus understands. I mean, He was tempted in every way such as I was. And so what Jesus does, He comes down in your lowest state, and He hears you, and He cares about you, and He turns around, and He goes in the presence of God. We wouldn't dare to go in the presence of God, because He would consume us, but Jesus can. Because He was fully obedient. He was perfectly holy. And He stands on our behalf and He makes our case. When we trust in Jesus, when our heart just gives up, as Sister Wilma said in her testimony, when we finally say, I can't anymore. I'm tired of trying. I just give up, God. When you give up and you let Jesus take you before the Father, I want you to know He looks at Jesus and He accepts you because of Him. You can't get saved any other way. You go before God right now the way you are, He will judge you as a sinner, but you go with Jesus at your side. Trusting in the cross, seeing that Jesus died on your behalf, saying, not in myself do I trust, in Christ do I trust. So the water was flowing from the temple. Grace flows from Jesus. It wasn't just a little water. I love that. You know, he said, I went out amongst the water and I saw the water flowing from the south side of the altar coming from the temple. And I went out and it was ankle deep. And then he measured some more and I went out a little farther. It was up to my knees. So he measured out a little farther and I went a little farther and it was up to my waist. We got a little farther and I couldn't swim for the rushing of the water that was there. He had to get out. It was too much, so much that he could swim in it. And I want you to know that the grace that comes from God is abundant. And the more that you seek it out, the farther you go and experience it, the more that you realize there was more in it there than you ever could have imagined. It's like you can swim in the grace. It's so much. You see, Paul wrote in the book of Romans. He said where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. You know, how much sin do you have? If you want to come to God, you've got to come as a sinner. And you say, if He knew half the things I've done, He'd never receive me. Well, He knows all the things that you've done. And He's made a way for you to come back. And when you come back to God, you just say, all I've got is my sin and empty pockets. But you see, that's what He wants you to bring. When you start bringing your things, it cheapens the whole thing. He just wants you to come broken and to find out how much grace that He has. Where there's a sin in your life, He's got grace to overcome it. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. And that doesn't give you a license to sin, but what it does say is it gives you some encouragement to say that even though you've made a mess out of things so far, that He'll receive you. Why? Because His grace is more than you thought. You know, you go a little ways and say, oh, God's got quite a bit of grace. But the further out you go, the more that you see that there is One of the lies of the devil is you may not be saved. You can't come because you're too bad. He would never accept you if he knew all the things that you did. The other lie is kind of like it but opposite. You don't need to come because you're as good as the next guy. See, both of them are the enemy. What's his desire? Here's his desire. His desire is that you don't come. He doesn't care why you don't come, just that you don't make a move toward God. And make no mistake, there's a spiritual warfare going on right now for your soul. And you're on the side of the enemy right now. You need to come over, come to God. Abundance of water, and the water was life-giving. Everything that touched the water, it shall come to pass, that everything that lives which moves, whithersoever the river shall come. Wherever the river touched, life came. 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." You see, everything that touches God lives. Everything that touches Christ when He's extending His grace, it lives, even though it might have been dead. You know, sometimes Jesus would go and He would heal, and nearly every time, not every time, but nearly every time he would come in contact with the person when he healed them. Now a few times, maybe just to show that he could, he spoke the word and from afar they were healed. But most of the time, most of the time he would lay his hands on them What this tells me is that even though God's grace is abundant, and even though there's a lot out there for you and for anybody else that would come, you have to come into contact with it for it to do you any good. Make that a little simpler. You need to experience it for yourself. In order for healing to come in your life, for the grace of God to do a work inside of you, for life to start, you have to experience it for yourself. We were talking about that woman at the well and she went away and after she talked to Jesus, she said, there's something special about this man. She said, come see a man that told me everything that I ever did, which wasn't really pleasant for her, by the way. It was a little bit humbling and kind of convicting. But after she realized what he was doing, she was excited about it. She said, come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. And they believed because of her word. But then, they came and they heard Jesus for themselves. And when they heard Jesus for themselves, and they heard His words, and it sunk down inside their heart, they made this comment. They said, now we believe, not because of the woman's testimony, but because we ourselves have heard and know that this is the Messiah, the Christ of God. And I thought, you know, it's one thing to kind of take somebody else's word for it. And that might get you going in the right direction. You know, I've heard people's testimonies and I thought, I believe God's real. I believe they're being honest about that. And so I believe that God is real. But you need to do more than that. You need to believe it for yourself because you've experienced it. And, you know, when you come into contact with the water or as the scripture says, whenever you drink of it. How much more personal can you get than drinking of the water? It comes into you, and it becomes a part of you. You see, that's what it is when God's grace comes into our life. It's not just that God has grace over here, and we're over here, and thankfully He's merciful over here. No, when God deals with our hearts, He deals directly with our hearts, and He comes into us. Even becoming part of who we are, He makes such a change in us and a new birth, and He calls us children of God that are born again. I was telling the Bible study the other night, I said, my son, I look at him and I look at his eyes. You know what I see? Well, I see my eyes. People say, he's got your eyes. Yeah, he does. He's a good boy, but sometimes he has my attitude. Why? Because we have the same DNA. We share something that makes us who we are. You know, when God's spirit comes into us and it bears witness with our spirit and we become children of God, we have something inside of us of God that changes who we are. You see, that's what God will do for you. You say, I want to be saved. I want to know what they know. Then what you've got to do is you've got to drink the water for yourself. You've got to trust in God for yourself. You've got to take God in to you. He said, if you eat of me, and Jesus said this, if you eat of me and you drink of me, you'll have everlasting life. He wasn't talking about the communion table. He was talking about trusting God. He was talking about believing upon Him to the point that it's more than just believing that He is. It's believing in Him. And Him coming in. I remember the first time I was ever made to be able to believe. And you know, I started for the very first time when God gave me faith. I didn't just believe that He was the Savior of the world. I believed from my heart that He was mine. And it came upon me kind of surprisingly, I didn't believe that before He poured out His grace upon me. But after He did, I felt like I could say He was my Savior and I was being honest. My heart didn't convict me about saying that. It was real. How did I know that? Well, I knew that because that awful burden of sin that I'd felt and the debt and the barrenness that I had inside my heart went away and peace came in. And I felt Him. And I knew that He was there. In order to receive the grace of God, we've got to come into contact with Him. And we've got to come thirsty. I think I want to close with this thought. And I want you to, if you've fallen asleep, wake up. Because I want to close with this. This is where it all comes together for you. Because if you've got a word that God wants to give you, you need to hear it. In John chapter 7, And verse 37, he said, let's see if I can find that here. John 7, 37. He said, in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. He said, if any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, and that's what it means to come to Him, he that trusts in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And then Revelation chapter 22, it says, and the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is Thirsty, come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. When it comes to receiving into ourselves the grace of God, we have to come thirsty, first of all. If we come saturated by what this world gives us to drink, we'll not desire the water of life. And we do that, by the way. You know, we think about an athlete. If he was thirsty, we would say, drink water. If he went and drank a Coke, we'd say, where's Thomas? How would that go for you if you were thirsty? I know for me how it goes. I can't imagine a person that runs as an athlete, you know, substituted with something that's sugary and doesn't work. You'd get more thirsty. But yet you'd think that you were satisfying that craving. That's what we do when we get this world into us and we think that it satisfies us. And you don't think that the devil will substitute water for something else that we think is going to work for us, and it works for a little while, and then we're worse off than we were before? Just look at your life. He'll replace a good job, a healthy family, etc., etc. He'll put all kinds of good things in your life, and that'll make you feel better. Give you some money, give you some power. You know, if you just kind of stay passive about this thing, we'll kind of get you through. But in your heart, you're still thirsty. And Jesus said, if you're thirsty, you can come to me. Friend, in order for us to find God, listen to me. If you've not found God in your life, it's because you've never come to Him thirsty. If you came to Him craving Him, He would fill your heart to where rivers of water would go into you, flowing out, and you'd realize that it's a wonderful well of water that springs up to everlasting life that'll never go dry. You see, the reason people miss Jesus is because they substitute Him with all kinds of other things, including religion, including morals is even good things, but certainly sin, you know, maybe sin will get me through. I want you to know all those things will lead you to destruction. But the water of life will lead you to salvation. And how you take it in, you got to be thirsty. And who can take it in? Whoever is thirsty. And whosoever will may come. You know that Jesus died for you, I'm so thankful he died for me. They died for you too. Sometimes the devil will say, well, it's for brother so-and-so. It's for sister so-and-so. You know, they kind of went to church their whole life. It's just the way it goes. You go to church your whole life, you know, you get saved. You come in from the outside. There's just no hope for you. I want you to know the devil is saying that, not God. What God is saying is, are you thirsty? You may come. Do you desire whosoever will? In other words, whoever has a desire may come. If you come to God hungry, if you come to God thirsty, He will fill you up and give you enough that will let it last for all of eternity. You know, I still get thirsty for God. I still have a thirst and a hunger for God. It doesn't kind of go away. But the difference is that whenever I get hungry for God, I just eat the daily bread that He provides me. When I get thirsty for God, I just take a dip out of the well that He put down inside of my heart. I don't have to go and bear this anymore. I used to. A lot of people around here used to. Just wandering around, wishing that something would change. But then the grace of God came. What He put in there was a river of water. Out of your bellies shall flow rivers of water. What he's saying is that God will bless you abundantly with grace. How do you find it? You gotta come. You gotta come humble. You gotta come broken. You gotta come thirsty. And if you come that way, he'll fill you up. I wonder if there's anybody this morning that feels like they haven't eaten. Let's get a song and as we sing together, is there anyone here that hasn't eaten today? You're unsaved. You never even admitted to anybody that you're unsaved, but in your heart the Holy Spirit has told you that you are. You're unsaved. Never have you experienced the grace of God. And you want it, but do you want it enough to kind of forsake everything and come? That's what it's got to get down to in your life. If you feel the need and you want to come, you can pray at this altar. We'll pray with you, but you've got to take a step toward God. You sit back and do nothing, you'll get what you've always gotten. You step out and you come to God and you pray to Him, He'll give you salvation and the water of life as we all stand in the sand. 41 in the Greek book. Stand in place.