Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we are very aware this morning that this is the place where You dwell. Lord, we are very aware that Your Spirit is here, working and moving even now. Lord, we say, how wonderful and how delightful, how pleasant it is to be in Your house. Lord, how good it is to be in Your house today.
And Lord, where our hearts are not rejoicing in You now, I pray that You, by Your Spirit, would cause us to rejoice. Cause us to joy just in being in Your presence. Lord, I pray that as Your Word is read and as Your Spirit is moving, Lord, that You would awaken our hearts, that You would awaken our spirit, that we might hear what You have to say this morning.
Lord, You have already begun speaking the very words that You have laid on my heart. And indeed, Lord, it is as if we could just continue the worship and praise this morning and have already entered into what You want to speak. Well, Lord, thank You so much for Your moving, for Your presence. Lord, we bless You and honor You today. Amen.
Turn to Ezekiel Chapter 43, please. We will be looking at Ezekiel 43 and Ezekiel 47:1-12.
Today, I believe the Lord wants us to consider the river of life. Sometimes when I go to work—I live a few blocks from here—I go down by the river. Sometimes, around six or seven, depending on the season, it is a beautiful, beautiful place because the sun is coming up. You know how, sometimes in the evening or in the morning, that low sun and the sun rays are beautiful? They shine behind the leaves, and it is just a special kind of light early in the morning.
Sometimes when I go down by the river, I will just pull over to the side and marvel at the beauty of God’s creation, or the beauty of that river. Sometimes a fish will be breaking in the water, and, I mean, it sounds like a storybook. There will be turtles sunning themselves on the rocks in the early morning, the beautiful heron standing in the river looking for fish, and ducks on the side. Of course, I am getting ready to go to work, so I cannot stay there long, but it is just a beautiful, beautiful place.
Well, you know, in the Scriptures there is a river that is very beautiful—very, very beautiful, more beautiful than any river on this earth. It is a wonderful thing to consider that river. As we consider it, we are going to consider where the river came from, what it is, and where it is going.
These are three things that are connected and related in Scripture. They are related in an eternal fashion. In other words, it is not just one place in Scripture. These three things are all through Scripture: from Genesis to Revelation, the Psalms, the prophets, Acts, and the epistles. Once I started considering this, I was seeing it everywhere. It is an amazing thing, this eternal principle that I believe the Lord wants to lay on our hearts today. As we consider it, may He encourage us and bless us.
Let us first look at Revelation Chapter 22, the end of the Scriptures. I will give you the three things right up front so you know what we are talking about: Revelation 22:1-2.
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
And in the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Three things: you have the throne, you have the river, and you have trees. The relationship between those three tells us an awful lot about the way God works and the way He wants to work in our lives.
We learn from this Scripture that the throne is none other than the throne of the Lamb. The river is called the river of life. The New Testament says that holy men of God spoke as they were moved along by the Holy Spirit. They spoke of eternal principles that were eternal in nature. As we look at Ezekiel, we will understand more of the relationship between the throne of the Lamb, the river of life, and the tree.
Let us consider Ezekiel Chapter 43. Look at verses 1-7.
Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east; and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east.
And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.
And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.
This vision that we are going to consider today had such an effect on Ezekiel that he had to fall down and worship the Lord. I love this next verse. After he said, “I fell on my face,” verse 5 says, “And the Spirit lifted me up.”
This morning, I just want to pray again, because we need the Spirit to lift us up this morning to see this vision. This is something we have heard many times, but unless the Spirit of God lifts us up in the inner man, we will not be able to understand what He wants to say this morning.
As I pray, I would ask you to pray in your own heart and ask the Lord, the Spirit of God, to lift you up also so that you can see. Lord, we want to claim this morning that Your Spirit does want to lift each one of us up to see what You want us to see this morning. Lord, even as You did for the prophet Ezekiel, do to us. Lord, show us this mighty vision that You showed him. Amen.
Consider this vision in verse 7:
And He said to me, Son of man, this is the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.
Turn to Ezekiel 47:12. The vision continues on. Ezekiel sees many things, and in Chapter 47 he comes to the river. First, the vision was of the throne; then he goes through and comes to the river. We will consider Ezekiel 47:1-11 a little later, but look at verse 12 right now.
And by the river, on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food.
Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail.
They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary.
And their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.
Sounds a lot like Revelation, does it not? Here, Ezekiel shows us a relationship between the throne, the river, and the trees.
First of all, let us consider the throne. The way the throne is established is given to us in a wonderful way in verse 7. Verse 7 says, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne.” That is number one. Second, “This is the place of the soles of My feet.” Third, “This is where I will dwell.” Fourth, this is His sanctuary.
As I have considered this, it seems that these four things are always true when the throne of God is established—whether it is in our hearts, whether it is in the church, or whether it is in Revelation. Wherever the throne is established, at least these four things need to be present.
First of all, He says, “This is the place of My throne.” Whenever Scripture mentions a throne, it is talking about a seat of government, a seat of power and authority. The Lord is saying, “Whenever My throne is established, there My authority needs to be established. It is My government. I am the One in charge.”
Brothers and sisters, when the Lord establishes His throne, whether it is in us or in His church on the earth, His authority and His government must be established. You cannot get away from that. Whenever His throne is established, His authority is established.
Second, “This is the place of the soles of My feet.” In the Old Testament, the soles of His feet denote possession, domination, and conquering. There is a really cool verse in Malachi that talks about feet being put on somebody and they turn to ashes. It is like when the Lord puts His feet on any of His enemies, they turn to ashes and dust because the Lord is so powerful.
When His throne is established, when He comes and places His feet there, it is as if all of His power—all the power of the throne and of His government—comes to bear where His feet are. It is not enough for the Lord’s throne to be merely thought of, or for the concept of His government to be held. When His feet touch a place, the authority and all that the throne means are brought to bear on that thing.
Does that make sense? There has to be an entering in of the throne wherever that throne is to be established. It is not a doctrine, it is not a thought, and it is not a wish of a government far away. When His government and throne are brought to bear, His power is brought to bear, and all of His enemies are conquered.
Third, when His throne is established, His government is established; He possesses where He is established; and it says, “Where I will dwell among the sons of Israel.” Dwelling denotes habitation—where He lives.
When His throne is established, wherever His throne is established, He lives. He dwells there. He stays. It becomes His habitation. We even praised the Lord this morning because we said, “I love Your dwelling place.” That means His throne has come in, and He stays there. It is His dwelling place.
When the throne of God is truly established, He stays. He wants to dwell. He wants to inhabit that place. Not only does His power come in, but His presence comes in. The presence of the Lamb comes in.
Fourth, Ezekiel 47:12 talks about the sanctuary. The sanctuary is a place set apart, a holy place. When the Lord’s throne is established, it is a holy place. It is a place set apart.
Brothers and sisters, you know that the throne of God is to be established in our lives. These four things need to be present. He wants to establish His government in our lives. He wants to be Boss. He is Lord. We confess Him as Lord, but when the throne of God is established in our lives, He becomes our Lord.
Not only that, when He becomes our Lord, He puts the soles of His feet in our lives. When He walks in our lives as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Satan is conquered, our enemies are defeated, your enemies are defeated, and your flesh is defeated. Everything is defeated because the soles of the feet of the King of kings are in your life. How we need that!
So many people are bound up, and they do not know the authority of the Lamb in their lives—the authority of the throne. Not only that, when the throne is established, He dwells with us. When He is established in your life, He dwells. He stays there.
Not only in a corner—not in a corner—but when He dwells somewhere, He fills it all. So the Lord wants to establish His throne in your life. He wants to fill everything. He wants to be all in all. He does not want to do it in part. He does not want to dwell in part. He wants to dwell in fullness.
He wants to dwell in power. He wants to defeat all His enemies in you, and He wants to stay with you. He wants to be there forever as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. But not only that, He wants your heart to be a sanctuary, a place set apart for Him.
If the Lord is your King and your Master, there is a place in your life that is set apart—your whole life is set apart. The New Testament speaks all through the epistles of this. It talks about your body being set apart for the Lord, an actual sanctuary. First Peter talks about you being His possession. That is Him putting His feet in your life. Where He walks in your life, you become His possession.
We all proclaim Him as our Lord. That means His government needs to be in our lives. But this also applies whenever and wherever in this universe the throne of God is established. These four things happen.
In the church, when He says, “My throne,” He wants to establish it in the church, and these things also happen in the church. It is an amazing thing. I am going to show you, when we get to the river, how that happened. But suffice it to say, the testimony of Peter in his sermon was, “This Jesus, whom you crucified, He has been proclaimed as both Lord and sovereign, sitting on the throne at the Majesty’s right hand.” And what happened? All power broke loose on that church when the throne was established in the early church.
I am getting ahead of myself, but when the throne was established, you saw what happened. So, for the river and the tree to work, for all the relationship that we are going to see later between the river and the tree, the first thing that has to happen, as we see in this vision, is that the throne of God must be established. It must be established in at least these four ways. It is not good enough to have one. You need to have it all. That is what the Lord wants to do.
Now let us look at Ezekiel Chapter 47.
Before I started looking at this, I had just returned from Camp Willow Run. We had experienced a move of the Spirit that seemed to me different from anything I had ever experienced before. It seemed to me like a river, where you were just carried along by what the Lord was doing. It was an amazing thing.
When I came to this passage, and especially this verse, I said, “Man, this is what happened.” This shows us where the headwaters of the river of life are. Did you know the river of life has a headwater, a place where it starts, a place where it begins?
The water of the river flows from the sanctuary. The sanctuary is that place where the throne has been established. So, brothers and sisters, whenever the throne of God is established, there a river flows. That is where it begins. It does not begin anywhere else but at the throne.
You see that in Revelation, you see that in Genesis, you see that in Psalms, and you see it here. Everywhere the throne is established, the river of God flows. The river of life flows.
I find that an amazing thing. It has really blessed me to know that the trees are so dependent upon that river. Well, that river flows from the Lamb of God. It always has, and it always will.
Because the river flows from the throne of God—and not only the throne of God, but the throne of God and of the Lamb—that river bears all that the throne of God and the Lamb contain. Everything that the throne has, the river bears it and carries it along. It is an amazing thing.
Turn to John Chapter 7. This is the cry of our Lord.
I had so many Scriptures that I had to pare everything down, so we will just look at a few. There are many, many more. Listen to the Lord in John 7:37-38:
If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.
But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified, or enthroned. Remember what we said about the river only flowing when the throne is established?
Turn to John 16:14-15. This is the Holy Spirit being promised:
He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
So we see that this Spirit of God, which was to be poured forth on the early church and on all of us, came when Jesus was resurrected and seated at the right hand of the Father, proclaimed to be Lord and King. Then the Spirit comes, and He takes all that is from the throne, all that the Lamb of God has—His finished, completed work—and He dispenses it. He says, “I will take from the Lord, and I will pour it out on you.”
That is the river of life. The river of life is the Holy Spirit taking the finished work of the Lamb who sits upon the throne and supplying it. Does that make sense?
Brothers and sisters, it is an amazing thing when the early church stood upon that reality: that this King, this Lord, this Jesus, His life flows. They knew of that life. They knew of that power. And you can know it also.
This is the life of Christ that is in that river, and it flows from the throne. There is nothing else in this river. It all has to do with the Lord Jesus and all of His provision. It is the Word of God, because when He is King and Lord, He speaks; and all the Scriptures are His speaking to us. That is in the river.
It is all His promises. It is all the finished work of Christ. It is everything that God has in that river of life, and it flows from the throne.
It is interesting to me: it is not the river, then the throne in the middle, and then the trees. It is not the trees, the river, and the throne. No, it is the throne, the river, and then the tree. It is always that way.
So many times we want to reverse the order. But the river only flows when the throne of God is established. You must keep that in mind as we continue. The river only flows when the throne of God is established, and all that is in the river comes from the throne. It comes with the force, the power, and the supply of the throne.
Because it starts there, all the authority of the throne flows through that river. The soles of His feet—His conquering, His possession, His power, and His strength to come in wherever that river flows and possess and take what is His—is in that river.
His dwelling, His wanting to indwell and inhabit His people, to inhabit the earth and the whole universe, is in that river. Do you see that the throne is the headwaters of the river?
Let us consider this river in Ezekiel Chapter 47. It is very interesting in Ezekiel 47:1-11. It talks about this river.
In verse 1, it says the water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east. The water was flowing. In verse 2, behold, the water was trickling from the south side. In verse 3, he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. In verse 4, again he measured a thousand and led me through the water reaching the loins.
In verse 5, the water had risen—enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. And he said, “Son of man, have you seen this?”
As I was reading this and meditating, I always stopped at this verse because it is like the Lord saying, “Roger, have you seen this?” Now, guys—I mean, brothers and sisters—do you see this? This river flowing from the sanctuary is flowing out from the sanctuary, and the farther it gets, the bigger it gets. It becomes an unfordable river.
This river of life is not a small thing. It is a big thing. The supply is big and huge, and it is sufficient for whatever God has for this river to do.
Go on a little further, to verse 9:
And it came about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes will live.
And there will be many fish.
Everything where the river goes will live.
So this is the river of life. Even in Ezekiel’s time, this was a river of life. The fish in it are just amazing. Later on, it says that it even goes into the Salt Sea and turns the Salt Sea fresh. It never happens that way. It is always the salt that makes things salty. But this is fresh, clear water from the throne, and wherever that river goes, there is life.
There is never a place where the river of God flows that it does not bring life. I am telling you, the enemy will lie to you and tell you the opposite, but no: wherever the river of God flows, there is life. It is an amazing, abundant life.
Wherever the river goes, there is life. It is the life of Christ. It is the life of the throne that is abundant in supply, and it is a great place to be.
Now let us consider the trees. For the trees, I want you to turn to Jeremiah Chapter 17.
I am telling you, almost each one of these sections could be preached as a couple of messages. I just want to get a general, overall, big picture.
First of all, I am going to quote some of Psalm 1. Whoever knows the King James Version, say it with me:
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
And in His law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
That bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
His leaf also shall not wither;
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Sounds a lot like Revelation 22 and Ezekiel, does it not? A lot like it. In fact, it is the same river.
Now look at Jeremiah 17:7-8:
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose trust is the Lord.
For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream,
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought,
Nor cease to yield fruit.
What do you see about this tree? First of all, probably the most important thing is where it is planted. Is this thing planted in a backyard somewhere, or just out in the desert? No. It is planted by the rivers of water.
Of course, you know this tree is you, right? He wants you planted by the rivers of water that we have just discussed—that river that starts with the throne of God and flows for you. He has planted you beside that river.
You are a tree planted. What other things do you see about this tree? Its roots are extended down into this river. That is where it draws its nourishment from. It is not troubled by drought because of that. Its leaves are green, which denotes health, and it is fruitful.
We have had a lot of drought lately around here. What happens when a tree gets weak? It starts drooping. It is not green anymore, and eventually it will die. A green, fruitful tree is a tree, brothers and sisters, that is planted by the rivers of water and whose roots draw from that river, spiritually speaking.
You need to be—indeed, you are—a tree planted by this river of water. You are to be healthy. I am not talking about physical health necessarily. I am talking about your whole being.
Picture in your mind the most beautiful tree you can think of. When I was down by the river, there were some beautiful trees—big trees that were just beautiful because they were planted by the river. They have water whenever they need it, and they are vibrant. They are exactly the way God made them to be because they have all the nourishment they need to be what they should be.
When you are planted by the rivers of water, you have all the nourishment, all that you need, to be a green, fruitful tree.
You would say, “Where else is there to be planted?” But look at Jeremiah 17:5-6:
Thus saith the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the Lord.
For he will be like a bush in the desert,
And he will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt without habitation.
What a picture. What a contrast. On the one hand, you have a tree planted by the rivers of water, nourished from the very throne of God. Then you have another person who is like a bush, an old, withered-up bush in the desert, in the wilderness.
What is the difference between these two? You can see it. If you went up by a tree and saw how beautifully green it was and how wonderful the fruit was, you could see the difference. But why is this bush so withered up?
It is because its source of supply is what? Its own strength—the flesh. Do you know that alongside the river there is another river? I do not really know if it is a river. It is probably more like a swamp or a cesspool, where you can plant yourself and draw what little nourishment you can from it.
But when you do, there is no fruit, there is no greenness, you are barren, and you are in a wilderness. You get where I am going. Brothers and sisters, so many of God’s people have chosen the wrong river to be planted in. They have, in almost a sense, denied the Lord Himself.
We find ourselves often as withered-up bushes with no life. That is why they are withered up: they do not have the water.
We like to excuse so much of the way we are—the way we look. I am not talking about physical appearance, but spiritual appearance. We say, “It is just too tough. I cannot draw the way I should from this. Look, the heat is too much for me.”
Look at verse 8:
For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream,
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought.
Now wait a minute. You mean if I am planted by the rivers of water, there is going to be heat and drought? Yes. Yes, there will be heat and drought, like there is for anybody else. But what is the difference between the tree and the bush in the desert? The bush has nowhere to draw, nothing from which to get water.
Brothers and sisters, we all are in heat and drought. But does that mean we cannot be fruitful and green in the middle of drought and heat? No. Why is that? It is because the water, the river of life, flows from the throne of God.
It is an eternal, ever-flowing river. It never stops. No matter what your circumstance is, no matter what your life is like, it never stops flowing. It is a simple thing, but it never, never stops flowing.
So when heat and drought come in your life, what do you do? A healthy tree simply extends its roots down deep into the water and gets all of its needs met. They are all met in the Lord, in the heat and the drought.
Turn back to Ezekiel Chapter 43. Verse 7—I stopped reading because the rest of it was not so pleasant.
Son of man, this is the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.
And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die,
By setting their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost beside My doorpost, with only the wall between Me and them.
They have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed.
Look at verse 12:
This is the law of the house: its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy.
Behold, this is the law of the house.
Brothers and sisters, when the throne of God is established and He comes into your life, the law of the house applies, and that law of the house is holiness. So often, when you experience drought and want in your life, it is not the heat that is the problem. It is that you have placed someone else as lord in your life.
The river is flowing, but for you it has stopped because you are drawing from something else. You have placed someone else at His threshold. You have placed something of yourself right beside His. Remember, when His throne is established, He wants it all. He does not want it in part, and He wants you to be holy.
Why? Because He is there. He is dwelling there. His presence is there. When you take away His lordship and, by rebellion or a hard heart or whatever, step in and say, “No, I think I will rule in this area,” the water stops for you in that area.
Those of you who are married, you know that marriage is an area where the Lord wants to reign. When He reigns, all those four things need to happen, even in your marriage. There will be humility. There will be kindness. All the fruit of the Spirit will be evident when the Lord reigns, the river flows, and you are the tree beside the river. Then all the fruit of the Spirit comes out, and your marriage will prosper.
When you put yourself on the throne, your marriage will eventually fall apart. Why? Because you become barren. In whatever area of life the Lord wants to come in and be Lord and King, when He actually becomes that, a river of life flows and the tree blossoms and flourishes in that area.
Does that make sense? So often, brothers and sisters, we do not know the life of the Lord because we are on the throne and not the Lord.
Now, Isaiah 41. We are going to stop with Isaiah 41 and Revelation 7:17.
Isaiah 41:17-18:
The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none;
Their tongue is parched with thirst.
I, the Lord, will answer them Myself;
As the God of Israel I will not forsake them.
I will open rivers on the bare heights
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water
And the dry land fountains of water.
Would a brother please turn to Revelation 7:17 and read it right after this for me?
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their Shepherd,
And will guide them to springs of the water of life;
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Now, I know this is at the end, brothers and sisters, but the principle still applies. It is as if you have lost your way sometimes. You say, “Lord, where is this water? I know I should be there, but I am not. My life in so many areas is barren. I am like I am in a wilderness.”
The enemy will tell you that is where you belong. He will tell you that you cannot make it any other way, that you have to be barren in this area, dry and shriveled up in this area, and that you cannot experience victory. It is a lie from the enemy.
He wants you to think that you have to live in the wilderness, that you have to be barren. But you do not. It is as if, in Revelation, the very Lamb of God who sits on the throne becomes a Shepherd. He comes down among His people, and He guides His people to the river of life.
It is like He guides you to Himself. He says, “This is where it is. You have lost your way. Come back. This is where it is.” The Lord will do that. If you ask Him, He will lead you back.
In Isaiah, the afflicted and needy are seeking water. If there are some people here who really do not know the Lord Jesus and you are afflicted and needy, you need that water. The Lamb of God can show you where that water is. The Lamb of God can show you where the water is.
We have not even talked about the fruit. A tree whose roots are extended in the water produces fruit, and those are the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. That fruit is kingdom fruit. It is throne fruit. Why? Because the water comes from the throne of God.
What you produce is none other than the finished work of Christ in your own life. It comes out in humility, godliness, and self-control. That is the fruit of the Spirit, which is none other than the water of life that comes from the throne. The finished work of Christ is the life of Christ expressed in the tree, is it not?
When you do not have the fruit, it is not because you did not know enough. It is because you put somebody else as lord in your life. Whenever He is Lord, you will be fruitful. You will abound. You will be a green tree.
What is so encouraging to me is that each one of us, God has made to be a tree—to be like a tree. It is our joy and privilege to be a green, fruitful tree in heat and in drought. No matter what the circumstance, God wants you to be green and fruitful.
No matter what the enemy says, you can declare, “I will draw from the river of water, from the life of Christ today. This is what God wants of me. I will meditate in His Word. I will let Him feed me.”
Sometimes, when you feel like you are in a barren place, just let the Lord lead you to Himself and become Lord. Do not worry about the fruit. Do not worry about being green, because the tree that has its roots in this river has no other choice. It will be green, and it will be fruitful.
Now, I really think and sense that many times when we meet as a body of Christ, I am not going to say we are barren, but we seem a little dry. We seem like we are asleep.
I am not going to say we are bushes in a desert, but sometimes we do not seem to be very fruitful, green, and joyful in the house of God. Sometimes I wonder if we have brought another king into the very house of God, where He is not really reigning in our lives in so many areas.
Brothers, in the house of God He wants to be Lord. He wants to be King. Where He is, where the throne is established in our presence and in our midst, the river flows.
So many times we pray for the river of God to flow. We want the Holy Spirit to move among us. Do you know why sometimes He does not? It is because we have not humbly been before Him and allowed His throne to reign in our midst.
Our own personalities get too strong. We are trusting in our own strength and our own flesh. But the Lord wants the river to flow here, and it will flow when He is Lord and He is King. It will flow.
Brothers, that is why it is so important on Sunday morning to declare that this is the place where the Lord dwells. It is so important for you, when you come, to say, “Lord, this is Your dwelling place. This is Your sanctuary. This is the place of Your throne. Manifest Yourself today.” And He will.
One last thing: we talk a lot about evangelism. That is becoming a burden. Do you know that in that river there are fish? Who goes there to fish? It is not the trees that go there to fish. It is ungodly people.
Did you notice that there are fishermen who fish out of that river? Wait a minute. How can somebody else get the river? Let me tell you a little story.
There are two men walking along in a desert. One of them is George. George is talking to the other person, and they come around this big rocky outcrop. They see this beautiful green tree.
George says, “Wait a minute. Everything around us is desert, and there is this beautiful green tree.” Johnny tells George, “Let us go up and see what this tree is about.”
So they walk up to the tree, and they say, “This tree has the most beautiful leaves and the most tasty fruit.” They reach up and grab the fruit. In this case, it will be okay to grab the fruit.
Another thing about the tree that God wants you to be is that it is okay for people to grab the fruit and taste it. Matter of fact, if people are not taking the fruit off your tree—the fruit that is from the throne of God—then it will rot. God wants you to minister.
George takes the fruit and says, “Man, this tastes good. Where did you get this fruit from? This is great stuff.” The tree points down to the river.
George says, “Oh, I did not see that river.” So George goes down by the river. He sees these big fish. He says, “Johnny, I mean, we are hungry.” So they fish and pull out some fish from that river. They ask the river, “River, where did you get this fish? This is fantastic.” The river points where? To the very throne.
So that ungodly person saw the tree, tasted the fruit, somehow walked by the river, and the river pointed to Jesus on the throne. George and Johnny go to the throne and say, “Lamb of God, do You have some for me to drink?” And He says, “Yes, I have what you need.”
That is sort of the way we are. If you feel dry and barren, go to the throne of God, and He will supply.
Brothers and sisters, before I pray, I want to ask that everyone just keep their heads bowed. If you have sensed a barrenness in your life, you can declare this morning that the Lord is good, that He has a place for you by the river, and that He wants you to be a tree planted by the river.
If there is sin in your life that is keeping you from knowing the lordship of Christ in your life, He wants you to deal with it this morning. So, as I pray, I just ask you to do dealings with the Lord today.
Lord Jesus, I thank You so much for this great, wonderful work that You have done. Lamb of God upon the throne, supplying the river of life for us freely. With joy You supply this, Lord. You said You have come to do this. This is what You want: for us to be trees that give praise and honor and glory to You.
Lord, I pray that for those who have lost their way, You would, as Your Word says, be the Good Shepherd who leads us beside the quiet, still waters. Lord, where we are so barren and not being fruitful for You, may we once again extend our roots deep down into the life of the Lord.
Lord, where there are people who are really struggling and having a hard time in the heat and the drought, I pray that Your mercy and Your blessing would be upon them. May they declare with their mouths this morning and in the coming weeks, “I am a tree planted by the rivers of water,” and not listen to the enemy any longer, who tells them that they are barren bushes cut off from that river.
Lord, we are not cut off from the river of life. Lord, You have planted us there. We are Your planting. We are Your doing. The river is Your doing. The throne of God is Your doing. Lord, it is all You.
I pray that today we would respond and that You would do a mighty work even in our assembly, Lord. May we know Your presence. May we know Your dwelling. May we know the soles of Your feet. Lord, may we know this place as a sanctuary where the river of God freely flows.
We bless You, Lord.