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Okay, we're there in Ezekiel chapter 47, look down into your Bibles at verse 21. It says, afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house and behold the 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 from the right side of the house at the south side of the altar. And the title of this sermon this morning is Christians in Deep Water, Christians in Deep Water. Now here in chapter 47 of the book of Ezekiel we're actually dealing with the description of the temple of God and the temple of God more specifically the temple of God that we see in Revelation chapter 21 through 22 and this is actually a description that spans from chapters 40 to 48 in the book of Ezekiel and this is basically the latter end of that description with the river of life issuing forth out of the temple and go to Revelation chapter 21 if you would hold your place here in Ezekiel because we're going to come back to that we're just going to look at some parallels there but what we see here in chapter 47 is actually a foreshadowing of that tabernacle that temple that new Jerusalem that we're going to see in the new heaven and the new earth. Now let me explain something briefly before we read Revelation 21 and 22. The book of Ezekiel is very cryptic and when you read it it's very cryptic it can be very enigmatic so let me just break down what the book of Ezekiel is all about into three simple sections for you to understand okay. Section number one of the book of Ezekiel can be described as the indictment against Israel. It's basically God explaining to Ezekiel how to preach to Israel because of their sins their abominations etc. and chapters 1 through 11 basically deal with that the indictment against Israel. Section number two of the book of Ezekiel is dealing with the judgment that's going to come upon Israel and not just upon Israel but also all the nations and then ultimately the fulfillment of that judgment upon Israel so section one is the indictment against Israel. Section two can be described as the judgment that's going to come upon Israel and all the other nations and the fulfillment of that judgment to Israel and then section number three is simply the restoration of Israel the restoration of all nations and ultimately the restoration of the earth okay because of the fact that he's given this promise that one day there's going to be a king who arises the government shall be upon his shoulders and of course that restoration is not referring to you know when Israel became a state okay. The restoration is referring to the new heaven the new earth and of course the beginning with the millennial reign and the new heaven and the new earth so those are the three sections of the book of Ezekiel so whenever you read it just keep your eyes on that and keep your mind on that recognizing that it's just dealing with those specific topics there okay. Now this morning I want to break down the meaning of the vision that we see in Ezekiel chapter 47 and explain in practical terms how we can apply it to our lives as Christians and as I mentioned in chapter 47 we see this vivid imagery of the river of life issuing forth from the house of God now look at Revelation 21 and verse number one it says and I saw new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea and I John saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God skip down to verse number 21 it says in verse 21 and the 12 gates were 12 pearls every several gate was of one pearl and the street of the city was pure gold and it was transparent glass as it were excuse me as it were transparent glass and I saw no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it so in Ezekiel chapter 47 we see a physical temple and that physical tabernacle also described as the house of God in Revelation 21 is described as a tabernacle it's described as a temple but it's no longer that physical building now the building or that tabernacle that temple is Jesus Christ himself it's God okay look at chapter 22 if you would verse number one of 22 it says and he showed me a pure river of water of life which is exactly what we see in Ezekiel 47 a river of life issuing forth from the house of God 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 bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations and there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him so this is actually a parallel passage to what we see in Ezekiel 47 because of the fact that in Ezekiel 47 you see the river of life issuing forth from the house of God and we see that it comes to the ankles to the knees to the loins ultimately encapsulating the entire body going forth and there are trees on either side of the brink of the river it's going forth to the east country it's going into the desert it's going to all the earth and it's bringing life to everything that basically it touches everything it touches brings forth it's it's basically bringing it to life and so we see that parallel there in the foreshadowing is the fact that the river of life that we're looking at in Ezekiel 47 and Revelation 21 22 is the Holy Spirit because Jesus said this the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life now go back to Ezekiel 47 if you would Ezekiel 47 now when we think of the tabernacle when we think of the temple or the house of God in the New Testament this is described as our body right we are the temple of the Holy Ghost you know we're bought with a price we are not our own the Bible often describes our physical body as being the tabernacle the temple we are the the house of God so to speak that houses the Holy Spirit because when we get saved the Bible says that we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession so the presence of God the Holy Spirit of God actually lives within this physical tabernacle in a spiritual sense okay look at verse number one again it says afterward he brought me again into the door of the house and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward for the forefront of the house stood toward the east and the waters came down from under the right side of the house at the south side of the altar now when Ezekiel is looking at this vision a man is guiding him to look upon these things right he's guiding him he has a reed he's measuring the waters and he's showing them these things and before he even gets to the depth of the river okay before he gets to that he sees that the water is issuing forth from the house of God from where from the altar right and as I mentioned I believe that the water represents the Holy Spirit because of the fact that over and over again you see the Bible often synonymously talking about the Spirit as water okay let me give you some examples Isaiah 44 verse 3 says this for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy offspring first Corinthians 12 13 says for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body John 6 63 says this it is a spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life so what I actually believe that Ezekiel 47 is referring to here is the believer in the ministration of the Spirit okay and even though we're indwelt by the Spirit we obviously understand that the Bible commands us to what to be filled with the Spirit right actually commands us to be in deep waters it actually commands us to be filled with the Spirit to be empowered by the Holy Spirit of God in order to not just do great exploits but just please God you understand and here I believe in Ezekiel 47 that Ezekiel represents the believer okay and the goal of every believer should be to be filled with the Spirit you know in order for you to succeed in the Christian life in order for you to lead people to Christ to lead your home to be a good employee to submit to your husband to obey the commandments of God it requires for you to be filled with the Spirit now often we think well you know being filled with the Spirit is just this great thing this great exploit you know that just requires so much work well not necessarily it just requires for you to just be filled with the Spirit you see the source of your power already dwells within you right because we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit you say what's required for me to be filled with the Spirit what is it that impedes me from being filled with the Spirit well we have the flesh okay the barrier that impedes us from doing that which is pleasing unto God is the flesh the Bible says for in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing we have the flesh constantly warring in our in our members it's constantly you know fighting against us when we want to read the Bible when we want to pray when we want to preach the gospel you know the inward man delights in the law of God the inward man wants to do that which is pleasing unto the Lord but then you have the flesh who often quenches the Spirit right now what's the solution to that what's the solution to the flesh well the Bible tells us we have to put the flesh to death right we have to mortify therefore the members of our body which are upon the earth the Bible says fornication uncleanness inordinate affection idolatry which is covetousness I mean over and over again we see the command to die to self okay the Bible says in Romans 6 in verse number 12 let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies that you should obey in the lustre of neither yield you your what members as instruments of unrighteousness unto death but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead for sin shall not have dominion over you for you're not under the law but under grace so over and over again we see this command to walk in the Spirit but in order to do that you have to put to death the flesh you have to mortify the deeds of the body you have to make sure that you don't allow the members of your body to have dominion over you he said why are you preaching this well because it's it's a it's a friendly reminder to us all of the importance of not giving into the flesh starve the flesh amen in order for us to be filled with the Spirit something has to die now think about this the river of life is issuing forth from the house of God and where's it coming from the altar what is the altar for the animal sacrifices now in the New Testament we don't have animal sacrifices but you know what we do sacrifice humans like what well the Bible says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice gotcha wholly acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service so even though we're not putting animals sacrifices on the altar we're not killing animals and and and doing that to atone for the sins of the body in the New Testament what is commanded of us to do to be a living sacrifice okay now what's the problem with the living sacrifice well the problem is this is it keeps coming off the altar you put yourself on the altar one day you're like man I'm gonna commit to God today I'm gonna read my Bible today I'm gonna pray today I'm gonna do that which is pleasing today and then tomorrow you're off the altar you come back to life okay that's why the Bible says you have to be a living sacrifice what does that mean you have to die say with me now daily you have to die every single day you have to mortify the deeds of the body every single day today cannot be lived based upon the successes the spiritual successes of yesterday just because you had a good spiritual day yesterday doesn't mean you're gonna have a good spiritual day today why because today is a new day and the Bible tells us if any man come after me let him deny himself and what take up his cross and follow me well look folks Jesus said that to his disciples prior to his crucifixion right and he's telling them hey you need to take up your cross what does that mean you need to go die go die pastor tells congregation to go die hey you need to die you need to die you need to take up your cross right deny yourself and follow the Lord and requires your death now don't take me out of context you say well I'm gonna go commit suicide now you know what I'm saying is you have to be a living sacrifice and before Ezekiel can go through the waters before the the unnamed individual in Ezekiel 47 who's showing them the description of the house of God before he can take him through the waters the waters are issuing forth from what the altar which is where your sacrifice in order for you to be filled with the Spirit in order for you to walk in the Spirit in order for you to be you know empowered by the Holy Spirit of God you have to die it requires your death okay and that's not an easy truth for a lot of people today you know because why because we like living right you know we unfortunately we live in our flesh and we have ideologies that have been embedded into our flesh we have preconceived ideas that have been embedded to our flesh we have sinful habits that are embedded into our flesh and it requires for us on a daily basis to put that to death but you know what the Bible says in Matthew 16 24 then said Jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me oh I already read that John 12 24 says this verily verily I say unto you except the corn of wheat fall to the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit you see if you're gonna produce fruit which ultimately is actually produced by who the Holy Spirit in order for you to reach the brink of that water that we're gonna look at in just a bit where trees are growing on either side and there's fruit growing on either side it requires for the corn of wheat to fall to the ground and die and you my friend are the corn of wheat that needs to die okay I'm not threatening you I'm just explaining from a spiritual perspective the importance of dying to self understand and partly part of the reason why sometimes Christians struggle in the Christian life is because of the fact that they're just not walking in the spirit they're not being led of the spirit they're just constantly feeding their flesh they're feeding their flesh they're feeding the old man and the old man is strong and therefore they often are discouraged or defeated etc now look at verse number one again let's let's read it again it says afterward he brought me again into the door of the house and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward for the forefront of the house stood toward the east and the waters came down from under the right side of the house at the south side of the altar verse 2 then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward and behold there ran out waters on the right side so notice that it says that the man is leading Ezekiel right now I believe this is a picture of the Holy Spirit as well so just as we're gonna see Ezekiel in the water we also have the Holy Spirit out of the water leading Ezekiel through the water so what's the significance of that well just in like manner we're in dwelt by the Holy Spirit we're also supposed to follow the Holy Spirit as well right he's supposed to lead us on a day-to-day basis look at verse number three and when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward he measured a thousand cubits and look what it says and he brought me through the waters the waters were to the ankles so he's walking through this in his vision he's walking through this path where there's water and now the water is coming up to his ankles okay he's walking through it's not very deep it's a little shallow it's coming up to his ankles now if the water represents the Holy Spirit Ezekiel represents the believer and the waters are coming up to his ankles what is Ezekiel doing he's walking in the spirit which is where everything starts in order for us to live a Christian life where does it start you walking in the spirit go to Galatians if you would chapter 5 hold your place here in Ezekiel I'm gonna reach you from Romans chapter number 8 it says for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the Spirit verse 13 tells us for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die oh what if you know I'm already saved what if I just don't go to church I don't read the Bible I don't pray I don't serve God I don't do any of those things I just kind of fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of the mind you will die so it's better for you to die to self on a daily basis mortified the deeds of the body than you to literally die physically because your mind of the things of the flesh for if you live after the flesh ye shall die but if you through the Spirit do mortified the deeds of the body you shall live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God just as the Son of Man Ezekiel was being led by the unnamed individual there verse 15 for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father look at Romans are scuba Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 so the man is leading Ezekiel the Son of Man through the waters the waters are to his ankles he's walking in the Spirit what is the spiritual significance to that verse 16 this I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would but if ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the law pastor me here how do I know at this moment if I'm walking in the Spirit where you're in church aren't you the Spirit led you to the church so actually no my husband led me here my parents led me here yeah but your obedience is you being in the Spirit as you walking in the Spirit you know in the more that's why it's important folks that in the morning the first thing you do is read the Bible to put yourself in a frame of mind of walking in the Spirit throughout the day right and what happens when you walk in the Spirit you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh you know there's there's Christian groups out there that say well once you get saved you will never desire to sin ever again you know you'll conquer your sin you will never do those things ever again and batteries come included and you'll never desire to do wrong and wrong because what we see here is that there's actually a war taking place within your members the Bible says that the flesh lusteth with the Spirit no against the Spirit the Spirit against the flesh these are contrary the ones of the other so you cannot do the things that you would this is why Christians often are frustrated amen I mean this is why the apostle Paul was frustrated in Romans chapter number seven because he said it would in me that is in my flesh God no good thing he said oh wretched man that I am who shall be able to deliver me from this body of death amen but here's the thing the more you walk in the Spirit the less likely you are to fulfill the lust of the flesh okay and if the Spirit is leading you through the waters that come up to the ankles you're going in the right direction right if you're going away from the waters and you no longer feel the waters under your feet you're no longer in church it's no longer taking you to the house of God it's no longer taking you to the word of God it's no longer taking you to the saved of the unsaved the house of the unsaved individual to give them the gospel then you're probably going in the wrong direction you need to go east right so being in shallow waters just shows you you're in the right you're going in the right direction well I'm just not where I where I would like to be yeah but are you are the waters up to the ankles though I feel like I'm not where I need to be I feel like I'm not where I need to be spiritually I feel like I'm just kind of I'm a little discouraged I'm not where I need to be but hold on a second are your ankles wet if your ankles are wet you're going in the right direction it's when you're dry then you're facing the problem it's when your feet are dry it's when you know you're no longer in that shallow end walking in the water walking in the spirit then you're probably in dangerous quarters because that probably means you're fulfilling the lust of the flesh not the spirit you're not being led of the spirit and what's the outcome of that death death to you death to uh God's purpose for your life death to your marriage death to your children death to God's will for your life death death death is what the result is of walking away from the east country okay so we see that you have the house of God issuing forth from the house of God is the river of life that comes from the altar where you're supposed to die and when you put the put the debt the members of the body and you're going in the right direction once you start feeling that water hit the ankles then you know okay this is the right way this is the right direction hey if this sermon is bothering you right now you're going in the right direction if you're like i feel like you're talking about me good you're going in the right direction now if this doesn't bother you at all if you're just kind of completely just eh i guess yeah whatever yeah what am i going to eat after this who's going to be a part of that smoothie contest are we all going to be able to have smoothies is lucille's really that worth it folks your mind of the things of the flesh literally right but you know what if you in if you're in church and in the message of God is is causing you to be uncomfortable if you feel like i'm stepping on your toes it's a good thing because that means i'm in the water with you and i'm close enough to step on your toes amen amen and you're walking in the spirit you see walking in the spirit is not just oh it just feels so great it's just lifting up your holy hands and you know often walking in the spirit is actually very uncomfortable right it's very uncomfortable because the word of God pierces through you it's a sword it's not a butter knife it's not a feather that's coming to tickle your ears what is it it's a sword it's a double-edged sword and the word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword it pierces even to the dividing of sunder of soul and spirit joints in the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts of the intent of the heart the word of God is piercing through your mind telling you this is for you oh this is uncomfortable but hold on a second you're barely at the ankles though so what picture do we see there go back to ezekiel chapter 47 if you would ezekiel 47 this is a good place to start in the shallow end walking in the spirit in the river of water where it comes up to the ankles splash around a little bit look at verse number four well let's let's read again for verse number three it says when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward he measured a thousand cubits and he brought me through the waters the waters were to the ankles first number four again he measured a thousand and brought me through the waters the waters were to the knees now this is interesting so now he's going a little deeper right it's going a little deeper you know it's getting a little deep there and it's coming up to his knees now what is the spiritual significance to this well go to ephesians chapter three hold your place there in ezekiel 47 because we're going to keep coming back to that portion of scripture that's our text for the morning but we're going to compare with other scriptures in the bible so go to ephesians chapter number three if you would well i want you to notice that prior to the water coming to his knees the bible says that he's leading him through the waters and if you've read the bible from cover to cover especially in the book of psalms you often see that term being described leading through the waters as meaning leading through trials being put through the fire and through water because why because water is often also a picture of being overwhelmed right the bible says in psalm 66 you're in ephesians chapter 3 psalm 66 and verse 12 says in whom we have boldness oh this is the wrong one isaiah 43 excuse me isaiah 43 verse 2 says when thou passes through the waters i will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through fire thou shall not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee now here's the interesting thing is that when you walk in the spirit you're not fulfilling the lust of the flesh right you're walking in the spirit and when you do it long enough eventually you know where the spirit leads you into the wilderness you eventually go through some tough times i mean think about this you know ezekiel is known as the what son of which represents also jesus and the unknown individual who's leading ezekiel can be referred to as a spirit just as the spirit led jesus through the what wilderness to be tempted of the devil you understand everyone following so when you walk in the spirit eventually you're going to go through waters you see this is not a prosperity gospel health and wealth gospel is like well just give your life to christ and you're going to be rich and wealthy and prosperous you're going to have a six-pack you're going to everything is just going to go great you're going to be fit you're going to be happy you're going to have find the spouse do you want your business is going to succeed that's not always the case sometimes you actually die physically for serving god sometimes you actually go through difficult times why because now that you're walking in the spirit the spirit leads you into the wilderness to fight against who satan himself right now you have a target on your back so as you walk through the waters the deeper you go the longer you stay walking in the spirit the more likely it is it's going to bring you to your knees because when you go through tribulation that often does what it brings you to your knees and what is the significance significance of that prayer look at ephsians chapter 3 and verse 12 it says in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by faith of him wherefore i desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you which is your glory for this cause what does it say i bow my knees into the father of our lord jesus christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by what his spirit in the inner man so look folks the longer you're in the christian life the longer you walk in the spirit eventually you're going to go so deep that it's going to come to your knees and those trials are going to bring you to your knees you're going to pray and how do we receive the strength to go through the waters and the trials and the fires and the difficulties of this life on our knees in prayer the bible says in luke chapter 18 verse number one men aren't always to pray and not to faint see people think in the world oh yeah you're going to bring that person to their knees that's a sign of weakness no actually in the bible getting on your knees is a sign of strength because praying is a quality of strength when you go through a difficult time and you pray it shows that you are walking in the spirit when you go through a difficult time you don't hit the bottle you don't drink alcohol you don't smoke weed you don't get out of church you don't go do you know fill in the blank but rather you pray it's showing that you're walking in the spirit because now the spirit as you're walking in the spirit the spirit now leads you into the wilderness sometimes so why would god lead me into a wilderness to make you stronger that's why right look folks if the bible says we have access to this power how can you even know what the power is like if not if you're not put through some sort of trial or tribulation just to have access to it right it's like you have all this power it's just like well when are you going to need it when when you go through a tribulation when you go through a trial or difficult time go back to ezekiel if you would so it'll bring you to your knees the bible says the second corinthians 12 verse 7 and lest i should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelation there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to buffet me lest i should be exalted above measure for this thing i besought the lord thrice that it might depart for me and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made for thee my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will i glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me therefore i take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for christ's sake for when i am weak then am i strong so what do we see here so far what we see is the temple the house of god the river of life issuing forth from that temple from the altar where you're supposed to die be a living sacrifice as you begin to walk and follow the man also known as the holy spirit he's going to take you through the rivers of water to come to your ankles you're going to be walking in the spirit the further you go it's going to take you to your knees because eventually you will suffer persecution doesn't the bible say yea all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution right and it's going to bring you to your knees but you have power in prayer amen look at verse number four again he measured a thousand and brought me through the waters and the waters are to the knees and again he measured a thousand and brought me through by the way anytime you go through a difficult time he always will bring you through he will always bring you through the waters were to the loins now this is where it gets a little uncomfortable you can deal with the waters to your ankles you deal with it to your knees when it starts coming to your loins now you're just like okay now we're getting really deep into this so he's bringing up through the waters and it's to his his his belly his loins okay now what's the significance of this well the bible tells us go to uh uh ephesians again chapter six the bible says in john 738 he that believeth on me as the scripture had said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water so as you walk in the spirits come into your ankles it's going to lead you to your knees and as you go deeper after the knees it's going to come to your loins walking in the spirit you're going to pray when you go through tribulation after you pray you go through tribulation then you know tribulation work with patience and patience hope and hope maketh not ashamed the bible says and it and it comes to the loins now your loins are filled with the spirit okay now out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water what does that mean look what the bible says in ephesians 6 14 stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness what i believe this is referring to is the fact that now that you're going through some trials now that you've been on your knees now that you've read the word of god now you're capable to actually preach to other people whether it be the gospel or whether it be your family now out of the abundance of the heart the mouth the mouth can speak out of your mouth shall flow rivers of living water okay the bible says in luke 6 45 a good man out of good treasure of his heart bring it forth that which is good okay and the bible says in proverbs 4 23 keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the what issues of life so once the the water reaches the loins what happens now now you're filled with the spirit now you're it's to your loins and now you can preach the word of god you can talk about the word of god god gives you knowledge god gives you wisdom god gives you prudence you can lead your wife you can be a blessing to your children you can be a blessing at your work you can win souls to christ's wife because out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water death and life the bible says are in the power of the tongue and when you allow the waters to reach your loins now your loins are gird about with the truth now you can talk about the bible the bible says this that if any man speak let him speak as the what oracles of god this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shall meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shall make the way prosperous and then now shall have good success over and over again it refers to the fact that we need to allow the word of god to come out of our mouth paul the apostle said pray for me that i may have utterance that i may boldly speak the gospel right open my mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel that can only happen if the waters are to your loins because at that point now your loins are gird about with truth now out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water okay go back to ezekiel so i said the loins was pretty uncomfortable and it is but actually this is the the most uncomfortable one it's one thing when you're waiting you know in your ankles you know it's one thing when it comes to your knees it's one thing when it comes to your loins it's another thing when you can no longer feel the ground under you right right it's another thing when you're actually swimming in the water verse number five says 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 wow what is he saying he's saying this river extended as far as the eye can see there's there there wasn't an end to it go back to uh ephesians chapter three if you wouldn't what do we see here what is this a picture of now he's filled with the spirit now he's encompassed with the spirit now he's just swimming in this river and the bible says that he could not pass over it doesn't matter how far he swam he could swim as far as the eye can see he would never see the end of that river never because he says i could not pass over it the waters were risen waters to swim in a river that could not be passed over there's no end to this kind of reminds me of when i almost died before i the day before i got saved uh my friends and i were like let's go to the ocean and this is late at night like let's swim out to the ocean let's see how far we can go you know when you're young you're just stupid right you're just dumb and you're just like because here's the thing is like all right let's let's see how far we can swim out into the ocean and basically what we're saying like let's see how far we can go until we get tired but here's the thing what about the swim back right idiots and we're like swimming we're going we're going and then my friends pass me up and i remember looking behind me the lights were really small and i'm like this is a really bad idea and i'm tired my lungs are burning so i'm like you know i need to rest so i went underwater you know just trying to touch the ground no ground i'm like well let me go a little further to see if i can just shove myself back up i'm going under nothing i'm like great now i just expended more energy looking for the floor and i couldn't find it and finally i i swam back obviously because i'm here right i made it guys but i was like my vehicle is i don't know how many miles away and i literally crawled onto the beach my lungs burning there's my mouth is filled with salt and water and everything but this reminds me of this because he's he's he's in the waters and he's swimming in the river and he's like i couldn't even pass over it extends so far it goes into all the world the bible says be not drunk with wine wearing his excess but be filled with the spirit how much can you be filled with the spirit really there's no limit but let me say this is that because of our flesh it places a cap on us there's always a limit look at ephesians chapter 3 verse 17 notice the wording okay could not pass over it says in verse 17 that christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of christ which what passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of god so this is what we see in ezekiel 47 he says this couldn't be even passed over and ephesians 3 it tells us it's a love that passeth knowledge it goes beyond our comprehension he's in deep water go back to ezekiel 6 now this is interesting because in verse 6 it says and he said unto me son of man hast thou seen this then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink of the river so he's like you know you're only going to go so far why don't you come on back now when it comes to jesus the bible says that god gives the spirit to jesus without measure you understand because he's obviously the son of god but we have you know limits we have limitations we have the flesh that impedes us from going further sometimes until obviously we've received the redemptions of our body then we no longer have those limitations so what do we see here we see basically the ministration of the spirit in our lives how does it work well sometimes people are just to the ankles they're walking in the spirit but if you're walking in the spirit you're going in the right direction and eventually it'll lead you into the wilderness because it's going to bring you to your knees and if you surpass that it's going to come to your loins you're going to have your loins gird about with truth and then when you surpass that eventually you're going to be in the waters you're going to be in deep water swimming swimming in the spirit okay minus the charismatic thing but you know it's in the bible and it's basically the imagery that god wants to give to us to say hey this is where i want christians to be i want it to be in deep waters you know i want i want you to be in deep waters where you no longer feel the floor right it's a little scary i want you to be in deep water i want you to be filled with the spirit of god i want you to be in deep waters in order for you to fulfill god's will for your life okay now let me give you some practical application i want to share that with you i was thinking about this yesterday but i think i think i was watching a video on deep sea diving and this is this story came to mind and i was reading through the story i saw those all those parallels there but let me give you some a really really brief uh practical application to this and the application that i'm going to give you doesn't necessarily stem from the doctrinal teaching that we just went over but you can find this teaching anywhere else in the bible okay because when you think about this a third application a layer to this would be this you know this can really picture how deep a christian wants to go into the christian life right i mean think about this when you have a pool party there's all these different levels of people aren't there there's people that don't even care how cold or how hot the water is they're not feeling it they're just cannonball right into it they just dive right in they don't even care they can go in with all clothes if they want to they don't care others are just kind of like you know they put their feet in the water a little bit just like you know and it's too cold so they kind of sit and they put their feet in a little bit others what they do they'll get in but they'll just come in you know on the on the uh the shallow and let it come up to their loins a little bit right no one's laughing because it's you i'm not preaching against you i'm preaching about the spiritual application to you okay so you have christians who sometimes they go they go and they just want to you know paddle their feet in the water take off their socks and they're not going to put on their swim trunks on they're just going to you know do this in the water a little bit but then you have others they're like you know they'll put their legs in you have others that will get into the the the three-footer okay let it come to their loins a little bit but then there's others who just go all in they just dive right in and i want to encourage you to be that last one amen too many christians today not necessarily in our church i'm just talking in in general they're basically how much are they involved in the christian life just to the ankles they're only to the ankles some even surpass that and get to the knees a little bit some may even get to the loins but rarely we see people who actually go all in to the christian life and my encouragement to you this morning is this go all in oh but it's cold don't worry about it because once you jump in uh it's actually colder outside than it is inside isn't that true when you get in the water and it's freezing cold if you're in there and you're swimming you know it's freezing it actually warms up right the christian life warms up folks amen you know when you when you jump on in it's just like oh man church sunday morning sunday night thursday and bible reading and reprobates and oh man this is like so much water it's just overwhelming but then the more you do it the more you're like actually this is this is actually i don't want to get out it's actually colder outside you know people they come and they're like this place is crazy that pastor's crazy this place is nuts out there is normal but once you come in and you're in here for a little bit then you're like actually out there is crazy those people out there are nuts you know they come in here and they're like you guys are so cold-hearted all those things you say about those people about the lgbtq you guys are so cold but then you're in here and you see how warm we really are and then you actually recognize actually out there is pretty cold actually people are cold-hearted out there actually people are cold-blooded they're cold blooded right out there but what does it require it requires for you to go in deep and stay in a little bit now look a lot of times people that go in to the water it gets all nice and warm and then they hop out and then they just can't take it out there and they're just like i need to jump back in because it's too cold right well you know sometimes that happens with christians as well when sometimes they backslide they get out of church and they go out there and they realize how terrible it is out there and you're like you know i need to get back into church i need to get back into my bible i need to get back into prayer i need to get back into just a christian life that's where i want to be that's where i need to be so here here's my encouragement to you just come back in the water's fine come back in go down deep well maybe i should just start slow a little bit just kind of you know look folks at our church we just shove you in sometimes i'm just not ready for it then get the little floaties get the little ducky around you if that's what you need okay like i can't swim you know the best way to learn how to swim is just going in that's literally how i learned how to swim i was like seven maybe six or seven years old and uh we took classes on how to swim this is the class that my brother gave me he grabbed me just threw me in the deep water and my will to live taught me how to swim that's abuse i'm i mean i'm fine a little bit you know i remember he threw me in and you know i'm just like terrified and there there's there's a person right in front of me and i'm just like i got to get to that person because they can swim and i'm like and i bring my head out i'm like and they're like you're fine you're fine and you know i realized hey i can swim start doggy paddle a little bit i'm like you know what i am fine and then i just started swimming you know and then i'm almost died in the ocean and stuff and you know but what i'm saying is this is that sometimes the best way to do is just jump all in just come to church just read get get a bible read it learn how to pray learn how to go soul win and let me just say this regarding soul winning okay i know that's a daunting task sometimes and people hear about it like soul oh man going out there and preaching the gospel well let me just make let me just explain something to you okay if this is your first time going out you don't go knock on the door in your first day or your second day you didn't even go knock on the door for like a month or two months right so don't think like hey come sony what does it like oh man i don't want to talk to anybody i don't even feel comfortable doing that i don't even know if i'm gonna like be able to nod what am i gonna say i don't know my bible well don't worry you are a silent partner right you go with someone who is experienced and you see how they do it you see how they get cussed out how they get the door slammed on their face you see the answers that they give you get to enjoy but just watching but you know what you are you also receive rewards because of that and so what's the message today well i wanted to show you ezekiel 47 because it's such a great chapter with a lot of great symbolism and layers of doctrine there but i also want to give you this practical application as well okay if you're at the ankles time to move up to the knees folks if you're at the knees it's time to move up to the loins and if you're at the loins i mean you're halfway there just and go all in amen inspire has another word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for ezekiel great man of god who just was led of the unnamed individual here and just went all the way and what a great example that was i pray that you'd help us lord to swim in the rivers of life in the spirit so we can do great exploits for you and that great exploit doesn't necessarily mean see hundreds of people saved sometimes it just means fulfilling our biblical roles reading our bibles learning doctrine having joy in our life having peace repenting of sin and i pray lord that you'd help us lord to do so and it's not bad if someone comes out of the water as long as they remain as long as they keep the waters to their ankles to their knees to their loins and don't get out completely and i pray lord that you'd help us to do so in jesus name we pray amen