Make me to drink of the river of thy pleasures

Preached at Glen Aros Christian Fellowship, Scotland on
Sunday 24th September 2006

It is said of the wicked

Psalm 36:3

‘The words of His mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise and to do good’.

Psalm 36:8

‘They [the children of men] shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.’

I spoke in August about the tree that trusts in God, (Jeremiah 17:8)

Jer 17:8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

The man of God is compared to a tree, and one of his characteristics is that he spreads out his roots by the river.

Now this river is full of His pleasures and is the Holy Spirit.

It is the river from which all Christians drink.

The river where your roots spread out

We read in John’s Gospel:

John 7:37 on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will Flow Rivers of living water."
39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.


• Your roots, as a Christian, spread out in this river
• they flow out of your heart like rivers of living water

But Jeremiah says:

Jer 2:13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can hold no water.

• My people have committed two evils
• They have forsaken me
• The fountain of living waters
• Hewn out for themselves broken cisterns
• That can hold no water

Drinking from the Holy Spirit or drinking from a broken cistern!

Psalm 27:4 ‘one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple’

• One thing have I desired of the Lord
• That will I seek after
• That I may dwell in the house of the lord
• All the days of my life
• That I may behold the beauty of the lord
• And enquire in his temple


Psalm 46:4 ‘there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city
Of God, the Holy place


• there is a river that makes glad the city of God
• there is a river that makes glad the Holy place

The river makes the city, the Holy Place, the temple glad.


Psalm 16:11 ‘thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures of ever more’

Fullness of joy is found in his presence.

If the city and the temple is to be glad, and full of joy, then He must be present, in the form of the river of life flowing through the city, temple and people.

• The Holy spirit flows through the City
• The Holy spirit flows through the temple
• The Holy spirit flows through the Christian believer

Psalm 37:3 ‘Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.’

V4 ‘Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart’.

V5 ‘Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in him and He shall bring it to pass’.

V6 ‘He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noon day’.

V7 ‘Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath, do not fret it only comes to harm.’

V19 ‘…in the days of famine they shall be satisfied…’

I started today with Psalm 36:8

Psalm 36:8

‘They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.’

• Satisfied with the fullness of your house
• Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of they pleasures

Psalm 37:34 ‘Wait on the Lord and keep His way and He shall exalt you to inherit the Land’.

My other opening verse Psalm 36:3 said of the wicked man:

‘The words of His mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise and to do good’.

• The words of his mouth were iniquity and deceit
• why?
• Because he had left off to be wise
• And to do good

Continue to be wise by drinking from the river of his delights, and continue to do good.


Let’s look at something completely different.


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Ezekiel 2:1 ‘And He said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.’

Ezekiel 2:2 ‘and the Spirit entered into me…’

It is interesting that, the Spirit came and fulfilled what was required in the first verse

You can try to bring about what God wants by standing up, and trying to hear him speak to you

But notice that God speaks, stand up and I will speak unto you – and then the Holy Spirit performed it

Eze 2:2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.

• The spirit entered me when he spoke to me
• The spirit set me on my feet
• I heard him who spoke to me



Ezekiel 3:10 ‘Moreover He said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears’.

Ezekiel 3:24 ‘Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me…’

• The spirit entered into me
• And set me upon my feet
• And spake with me

Hallelujah!

Lets look at something completely different.



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Ro 9:16 so then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

• God who shows mercy
• What is his mercy like?


• God defines His mercy:
• In the life of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.
• Elizabeth is known as ‘she who is barren’!
• She is an old woman
• And every one knows it.
• the Lord shows great mercy by taking
• that which is barren,
• unproductive,
• and lifeless:
• which has now become old,
• yes, to take ‘her that is barren’
• And bring forth life!
• The reaction of her neighbours and her cousins was rejoicing, because they recognised that the Lord had showed her great mercy.


Hallelujah!

All Elizabeth’s desires, hoping, and living, have come to nothing; even by an act of the will she could not bring fourth what was required. She desired a child, but she could not bring life to her womb! It was only when the Lord had mercy, great mercy upon her that she brought fourth!

What did she bring fourth?

Just a baby boy called John.

No – much more than that!

The great mercy of God was upon her and brought fourth a fore runner.

A man who would make the way clear for the coming of the lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus is coming again!

All that you can will, and all that you can run, will not get you ready for that great event.

You need the River of God’s mercy flowing through you.

God is now about to show you great mercy and the life that is coming fourth in you will prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in all his glory.

Lu 1:58 and her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.

1Ki 8:23 and he said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

• There is no God in heaven above or on earth below like you,
• Who keeps your covenant and mercy with your servants who walk before you with all their hearts.
• Walking before God with all their hearts!
• There is no other God in heaven or on the earth who keeps mercy with that person!
• And just to make sure you get the message it is repeated in 2Ch 6:14
• "LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

Ezra 9:9 “For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

• God did not forsake us in our bondage!
• Wow,
• When his people were in bondage, he did not forsake them!
• Not only did he not forsake his people,
• he extended mercy to them right in the sight of their oppressors
• Those who had brought them into bondage!
• His mercy has a number of effects:

• They were revived
• The house of God was revived
• Its ruins were rebuilt
• It gave a wall in the land and in the place where they lived

Hallelujah!!

Nehemiah 9:31 Nevertheless in Your great mercy you did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; for you are God, gracious and merciful.

• Does God change?
• No-
• He was gracious and merciful then in Nehemiah’s day,
• He is merciful today,
• He will be merciful tomorrow
• He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Do you need mercy today?

King David had committed

• Adultery
• Murder
• deception
• and at last cried out and said:

Ps 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your loving kindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
Do you need to cry out to God?

• Make me to drink of the river of they pleasures
• Make me satisfied with the abundance of they house
• Show me thy Tender mercies
• Have great mercy upon me Oh Lord

Have you willed and run, and failed and ended up in a greater bondage. He has mercy on you today!

Lets bow before him:

Ps 66:20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!


Ps 123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He has mercy on us.


• As servants look to the hand of their masters
• As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress
• So our eyes look to the Lord our God
• Until He has mercy on us


Ps 136:2 Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever.


Ps 136:26 Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.

Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Isaiah 55:7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

Eze 39:25 "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name-

Here’s the blessed part:

Daniel 9:9 "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.

• Though we have rebelled against Him
• To the lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness!


Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?


Micah 7:18 who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy.


1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,


1Pe 2:10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy

• we were without mercy
• we were not the people of God
• we had not obtained mercy
• but now hallelujah we have obtained mercy

My responsibility is to say what God says about you:

2Jo 1:3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Your responsibility is to:

Jude 1:21 keep yourselves in the stream of the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

You are to look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

And the eternal life which it brings

God bless you.