Tony Evans - Water in God's House
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In this sermon, Dr. Tony Evans uses Ezekiel's vision of water flowing from the temple to explain that the church is now God's house. He teaches that God's transformative power in society starts with believers experiencing His deep, overwhelming presence personally and corporately, which then flows out to bring life to a dead culture.
God's House: Then and Now
God has a house. In the Old Testament, that house was called the temple. The temple was the representative abode of the presence of God among His people. When He wanted to show His presence in history among His people, He had them build Him a house.
That's why throughout this passage and throughout Scripture, the temple is called God's house. Not because He limits Himself there, but that is His specifically designated location for His experiential presence among His people. It's where His concentrated presence would be made manifest to His people.
So He had them build Him a house. It started with the Tabernacle, a roving tent through the wilderness, and then when they got their own homeland, David's son Solomon built God a house. There was a problem: God left the house. The Bible says that the glory of the Lord departed from Israel.
So they had the building without the resident. They had the property without the person. Now watch this: when God left the house, even though they still had the building standing, the country of Israel fell apart. When God left His house, the temple, the nation was in trouble.
In fact, the Book of Ezekiel, written by the prophet Ezekiel, is written to Israel during the time they're under discipline by God in Babylon. God had to judge them because of their idolatry, because of their rebellion against God, and they are in Babylon.
But in the second portion of the Book of Ezekiel, he comes with some good news. And the good news is God is coming back home. God's going to return to the house. Beginning in chapter 40 all the way to the end of the book, it is discussing God's return to His house.
Now the reason that's good news is because when He left the house, not only did the religious element of the nation fall apart, the political fell apart, the social fell apart, families were disconnected. In other words, there was national calamity when God left the house.
But now that God was coming back to the house, the good news is He was going to restore the nation. So in the Old Testament, in the Book of Ezekiel, it's about why God left the house and God coming back to the house. In chapter 43, the first five verses, he talks about the return of the glory of the Lord to the temple.
That is the return of God's presence in the midst of His people, 'cause He's coming back to the house. God is coming back home. Well, in the New Testament, God has a house. In fact, the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 22, says that the Church of Jesus Christ is the temple of God.
What the temple was in the Old Testament to God, the church is in the New Testament to Jesus Christ. God still has a house. In fact, He's got a whole bunch of houses. Wherever there is a church that is fulfilling the divine mandate, it's God's house.
Now let's get this straight: you are God's house. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3 that if you've accepted Jesus Christ, God lives in you. So you are a private, personal temple. You're where God lives; He lives in you if you're a Christian.
But He's not talking about your private life; He's talking about your collective, corporate life when He talks about the church being a temple in Ephesians chapter 3. God has a place He wants to hang out. Yes, He wants to hang out with you, but He also wants to hang out with y'all, with us.
He wants to have a collective presence whereby the person of Jesus Christ, the head of the church—"I will build my church; the gates of hell will not prevail against it," Matthew 16 says—God has a collective place. Watch this: where His personal presence is to be experienced.
The Purpose of the House: Experiencing God
Here's the point: the purpose of the house is not simply where you come; it is the place where God lives. And as the place where God lives, when you come, He wants you to experience His reality, not just come to His building.
For far too many Christians, a two-hour church service is like going to a two-hour movie. Far too many people come to God's house to be entertained. The purpose of God's house is for you to experience Him, not simply show up to see what He can do to make you feel better.
When God returned His glory to the temple—His glory to the temple—meant He wanted His people to experience His reality. The church in the New Testament is the temple. Here's the key: how things were going to work out in the society—stay with me—would be determined by how things were going on in the temple.
How things would be working out out there would be determined by what was happening in here. So if God wasn't free to do anything in here, it would never show up out there. If God had to leave the temple, the problem would show up in the streets. If God had to leave the temple, the problems would show up in the culture.
What God is simply saying is that the temple—and the temple was beautiful, the temple was ornate; they put a lot into making God's temple; I mean, they spared nothing—but what good was the temple when the glory of God left it? All it was was beautiful emptiness.
And the great tragedy of our church, or any church, is you can have a beautiful sanctuary where God doesn't attend. Ezekiel is being led by an angel through the temple, and he's being led there with a discussion about water. Why water? Because in Scripture, water is tied to life and tied to the work of the Holy Spirit.
In John chapter 7, speaking about the individual person, it says that there is a water, a well of water in every believer, that wants to bubble up and bubble out as your life is being expressed and expanded within you. And John 7 says, "and of this He spoke of the Holy Spirit."
Even here in chapter 43, it says that the Spirit came when the glory of God came, bringing life to the temple. So the water refers to the work of the Spirit bringing life. Just why you drink water, it brings life to you. So he's talking about life, just as water gives life. And he will say that in this passage.
The Flow of the Water: From Trickle to River
Here's what I want you to notice. I want you to notice how the water flowed. He says he says that when he got started, verse two, the water was trickling from the south side. So we started at the end of verse two with a little trickle: drip, drip, drip, drip, drip.
He's getting a little; he's just getting a little bit of water. He's getting his pinky toe wet, okay? He's just got a little bit of water when he gets started. When he gets going, there is just a little bit of water. He's just getting a little; he's getting enough to know that there is water.
So the first thing you want to ask the question when you visit the house is, "Is there any water at all? Is there any presence of God in this place? Can I just risk this house? Is there enough of God that I'll even get a little wet, or is all this just fluff?" He saw a trickle coming out, but a trickle coming out means that there's something in there.
So he starts out with knowing he has something to work with. So the angel takes him a little bit further. Watch this, because he responds to the little he can get; he can get a little bit more water. Let me tell you the way the New Testament put it in Jesus's words: He says, "to him that has, more will be given, but to him who does not have, that which he has will be taken away."
Translation: if you do something with the little God gives you, He'll give you more. But if you don't do anything with the little He gives you, don't bother asking Him for more, 'cause if you're wasting His grace at this level, He's not going to let you waste His grace at another level.
You've got to respond to what He does give you. Some people say, "Why won't God give me more?" The same reason you don't give your kid $10 worth of allowance if they're losing $1 worth of allowance, because they haven't been responsible with one; you don't give them ten times as much to mess up, too.
So he starts out with a little trickle; he gets his pinky toe wet. But watch this now. It says that "he led me"—see, the man's moving—"he led me," verse three, "through the water." This is a trickle of water, and the water was now reaching his ankles.
So he starts out with a little trickle; his toes can touch a little water. Remember, the water is the experience of God's life. Water is life, so he's touched some life. He knows God is in the place. But because he now goes deeper and further, it's now going up to his ankles.
In other words, he's getting a higher experience of water, and water is life, so he is experiencing more of the life of God the further he goes into the sanctuary.
There's a famous nursery rhyme that simply goes: "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, and Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, and all the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again."
Mr. Dumpty's world had become shattered, and he needed it fixed. But he didn't go to his friends or his family or even his church; he went to the White House. Now we know he went to the White House because the king got involved. The king was sympathetic to Mr. Dumpty's dilemma, so he called a meeting of Congress.
We know Congress got involved because all the king's men got involved. The tragedy of the nursery rhyme is when it was all said and done, all the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
It is unfortunate today that far too many believers are expecting the solutions to our problems to land on Air Force One. I'm taking you to Joshua chapter 5. Joshua is doing reconnaissance around the walls of Jericho. He looks over and he sees the captain of another large army dressed in battle array.
Now Joshua's mama didn't raise a dummy. He wanted to know, "Whose side are you on? 'Cause if you're on our side, then we got help against Jericho, but if you're on their side, we've got double trouble. So before I go out here and make a fool of myself, whose side are you on?"
That's when the captain says to him, "I think you are confused. I'm neither on your side, nor am I on their side. I'm captain of the Lord's army. I did not come to take sides; I come to take over." You and I have to understand: God does not take the backs of donkeys or elephants.
That if you're a Democrat, the best you can do is vote Democrat light-lite, or Republican light-lite, because your job is to bring to either one the light. Your job is to represent another king in another kingdom. You and I belong to another kingdom. Let's represent the King.
We now return to today's message. But it doesn't end there, because he goes on to say in verse four, the end of the verse: "He led me through the water, and the water was reaching his loins," that is his waist.
So let's watch this now: the man has gone from the bottom of his feet, a trickle; he's now gone to his ankle; it is now on his waist. In other words, he's getting deeper into this thing. The further he goes, the deeper he gets.
One of the reasons we're not experiencing more of God is we're not going further with Him. If there is not a growing relationship with the Holy Spirit—since the job of the Holy Spirit is to bring the life of God and make God's reality experiential in your life—if you're not walking with the Spirit like he was walking with the angel, then you're going to stay on a trickle, if that much.
People say, "Why am I not experiencing more of God?" The Holy Spirit says, "Why are you not moving more with me?" It says He led him, and he cooperated with the movement. You can't stay still and experience more of God. He says it reached his waist, his loins. Okay, he's not finished yet.
Verse five: "Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded." Watch this now. Watch this: my man's going swimming. He couldn't walk it anymore. He started walking, he was good; it reached his ankles, he was good; it reached his waist, he was good.
But now there was so much God and so much life, he had to go. He had to stroke, 'cause now it was over his head. See, if you've never experienced God over your head, if you've never experienced what Ephesians 3 says—"Him doing exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think"—if He has not yet blown your mind, if He has not yet shaken your world, if He has not yet overwhelmed you 'cause you can't walk anymore, the only way you're going to get somewhere is you've got to swim there, 'cause His glory has overtaken you, then you and I and we collectively have not seen what God can do.
From Swimming to Transforming the Culture
And I don't know about you, but I want to see some more. I want to see some more water. I don't want just my foot wet; I don't want just my ankle wet; I don't just want to see enough God to reach my loins. I want God to overwhelm me so He makes me have to swim, that the only way I can go is I've got to stroke there because the glory of His presence has overwhelmed me.
Let me put it this way: you come to this house to get a greater experience of God, not to go to the movies. The problem is when the church becomes Showtime at the Apollo, then it really has become amateur night. When the church becomes Showtime at the Apollo, that's low-time church.
I don't care how many folk are sitting in the crowd, because in God's house, God is the audience. When you come to God's house, you don't come first and foremost for God to make you happy; you come first and foremost to make Him happy, and then He gives you some water to swim in.
The greatness of our church moving forward is not buildings and furniture and programs and personalities—nothing wrong with them; they have their place—but the greatness lies in whether we are recognizing the presence, experiencing the presence, acknowledging the presence of almighty God. It's about God. He says he had to swim in it. The glory, the presence, the work of the Spirit was so thick, a river that could not be walked over.
He says in verse six, "Son of man, you see this?" Notice verse number eight: He says, "As it kept flowing, it went toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea became fresh." Watch this now. We started in the sanctuary; we started in the house where God hangs out—the church, in the New Testament, is the house.
It says that the water flowed to the sea, the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on planet Earth. You can't go any lower on Earth and still be on the ground other than the Dead Sea. It's the lowest point on planet Earth. The Dead Sea is, guess what, dead.
The reason they call it the Dead Sea is you can't live in it. So it's at the Dead Sea. But He says, "Watch this now, I'm going somewhere." When the water flowed out of the sanctuary, it flowed to the sea. Watch this: and when it got to the sea, the water became fresh.
He goes on to say, and fish started to swarm in a place where there was no life. The water didn't get better because there was a cleanup the water program. I'm going somewhere. The water didn't get better because a committee gathered together and said, "How are we going to make something live in this mess?"
The water got better because there was something happening in the sanctuary that got so big, it flowed out of the sanctuary and rolled to where death was located. So I have a question: how can we have all these churches on all these corners, with all these members, led by all these preachers, with all these choirs, all these buildings, all these programs, all this money, and still have all this mess? There's a dead monkey on the line somewhere.
You know why? The culture is dead 'cause there's no water coming out of the sanctuary. He said the Dead Sea lived because of the water flowing out of the sanctuary. Our problem is not that house; our problem is this house. If God could ever get His folk straight and treat this house like it's His house, it'll make the things better in that house.
How in the world can we get water flowing down the street if it can't flow down the aisle? If God's presence can't even show up in His own house, how are we going to get it showing up in the communities and neighborhoods and in the nation and in the world?
If God's light can't flow down in His own home, how is this glory going to fix other homes that don't even know Him, don't even recognize Him, don't even follow Him? That's because we've been anesthetized by religion.
The River of Life for a Dead World
Now the good news is that God's glory is coming back. That means He will return; He'll come back. He just needs to know He's welcome. He's waiting on you to worship. He's waiting on you to make a big deal about Him. Worship is making a big deal about God. See, God is looking for worshippers, not spectators.
The water is flowing now. The water is flowing. The water is making its way to the great sea. And now look at this as we come to a conclusion: "They become fresh." He says in verse nine, "It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes will live, and there will be very many fish, for these waters will go there and the others become fresh; so that everything will live where the river goes."
Guess what the river does? It brings life. It brings life. God is looking for some folk who He can infiltrate, who He can so fill with Himself—see, folks who are swimming with God, folks who are full of His life. Those folk, you don't have to beg to talk about Jesus.
See, you have to have a program for people who are not swimming, people who are dealing with trickles, 'cause folk who are dealing with trickles, you've got to make them say something. But folk who are swimming, they're going to tell you about Jesus 'cause they know how they learned to swim; they know where the glory comes from.
So they're not ashamed of the gospel; they're not ashamed of association with Jesus Christ. Why? 'Cause when God has been that good, done that much, showing you that much glory, you don't mind talking about your relationship with Him and your commitment to Jesus Christ because you become a disciple of His.
The culture is not in the building, but we should be so hyped up about what took place in the building that we are effective outside of the building, that people know something is going on there. But I'm not talking about something that the secular world recognizes; I'm talking about a Holy Ghost fire that's been lit by the Spirit of God that is transforming the church. And so the water is flowing out into the culture.