How far will you go?
Text: Ezekiel 47:1-5
1 Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.
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.
3 And 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.
4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
5 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.
This river went from ankle deep, to knee deep, to waist deep, to a river that you could not cross over, waters you had to swim in.
There is a game that we played as kids and the game is called “Truth or Dare”. And so now I want to dare you to go deeper in your walk with God!!
There is no doubt these waters speak of the spirit and the growth of the believer in life in the spirit.
I would like to ask you a question. How many of you can honestly raise you hands today and tell me that beyond any shadow of a doubt, you know that you are exactly in the center of God’s will and that you are right where God wants you to be in your spiritual growth?
The truth of the matter is we all have plenty of room for improvement!
I want to share with you today about becoming more of what God wants each of us to be. It’s about leaving the shore of shallow Christianity and wading out into the deep Spiritual waters of a greater blessing!
I believe that there are some here today that are afraid of getting in over their heads.
But for this RIVER to do you any good, you have to get into it!
Ezekiel saw the water as it flowed and it became a mighty river that brought life, healing and deliverance to a dry and thirsty land. This land was to be the home of God’s chosen people, Israel. God had such great things in store for His people.
There are many today who hear the Gospel and they see what the Spirit can and is doing in the lives of others, yet that is as far as they get! They never really get in. They never seem to get where they really want to be in Christ because of either fear or no desire.
WATERS TO THE ANKLES. (v. 3)
I will speak of the “Waters to the Ankles” as when we first got saved and started living for God.
This is where there was only a LITTLE BIT of the man of God covered by the waters. More of the man was sticking out of the waters than was covered by the waters.
This is WADING water, shallow water, you are just beginning in your walk with God and you need more and more each day.
At this point we just got our feet wet. We still behave the way we want to, and we think we can behave according to our own ways. There is very little “resistance” to our steps because we have not yet learned to recognize the Voice of God as He gently leads us into a deeper relationship with Him.
II. WATERS TO THE KNEES. (v.4)
Here is where you roll up your pants and go in a bit deeper…you actually start to sing during worship instead of looking around…you begin to get involved in the church and the work of God.
And it is comfortable here and it appears that you are satisfied and you don’t seem to want to go any further!
You are afraid of what people may think or say and maybe what your friends and relatives might say.
You are still too close to shore. You come to church, you’re in the water a little, having a good time…but tomorrow you could be on the shore again in the world.
Now tell someone, we had better take another step!
III. WATER TO THE LOINS. (v. 4)
Here is where the waters are covering about ½ of the man. We now see much less of the man. You see the deeper you go in the river, the less flesh you see.
The deeper you go in the river, the less control you have over yourself and that allows the Lord more control over your flesh!!
The deeper you get in the river the less pull and influence the things of this world has on you.
This is where it really starts to get somewhat uncomfortable…you see the water starts hitting some very sensitive areas and we’re not sure if we really like it here or not.
Now tell someone I’m going deeper, you can stay here if you want but I’m going deeper.
IV. WATERS TO SWIM IN. (v. 5)
This is where you are so deep with God that your feet can’t touch the ground. This is where faith and works intersect and you have faith in what God is doing.
Yes there will be times when things challenge your beliefs, and your spiritual progress will largely be determined by your ability and your willingness to let go of things and move into a deeper relationship with God!
You see real swimmers move past how they feel and worship anyway, swimmers move past how they look to others and take a stand for righteousness.
Swimmers move past what they want and fulfill God’s commands to reach everyone they can with the message of Christ.
But there are some who are stuck in the ankle deep waters.
They can’t seem to worship God unless they sing out of a songbook.
Some are stuck in knee deep waters because they believe that dancing in the church is worldly and ungodly.
Still others have the idea that dancing in Church may only be allowed when the Holy Spirit makes you do it.
Tell somebody, you can splash around if you want to but I’m going swimming.
CONCLUSION: Too many Christians allow themselves to just sit on the edge of the river and watch someone else do the SWIMMING!
Where are you in your experience with God? What is the depth of where you are today?
For somebody today this next step is going to break you out of some old traditions that have robbed you and limited your experience and held you back.
I am talking to somebody today and you are feeling the pull of the current of the spirit to go deeper.
Somebody is feeling a rushing around you, and you know you can’t stay at that level anymore.
I know there is someone here who is satisfied in ankle deep waters, and others who have progressed to their knees and they’re satisfied there.
Still others have got up to their waist, and they’re satisfied there.
But there is someone today who wants everything God has for them, they are the ones who have already decided, and I’m going deeper in the river no matter what!!
