Today I want to preach on behold
the tabernacle of God. But I've been thinking about
this message on he whom thou lovest is sick. Because to be
honest with you, we're all sick, aren't we? In some way or another. We're getting older. We have
these sicknesses, these illnesses, these problems. I always refer
to Romans 8 and verse 10. when I think about things like
this, which says the body is dead because of sin. And that's talking about our
physical bodies. One old preacher, I don't know
how long ago, said, I preach as a dying man to dying men.
But the body is dead because of sin. But the spirit, the Holy
Spirit, is life because of righteousness. And I thank God for that. So
I know you young people now, you're not sick. You know if
you live long enough you'll get there won't you? I never dreamed
that I'd have back problems. I never dreamed I'd be walking
with a cane. I mean you know you just don't think about those
things when you're young but then they come up on you and
you know we're stubborn. We're proud. That's what we are.
I'm too proud to use a cane you know and don't want people to
think you know that I'm losing that vim and vigor that I had
in my youth. But you do, and we just have
to accept it and leave it in the hands of the Lord. Well,
let's go to Revelation 21. This is a beautiful, beautiful
passage concerning the second coming of Christ. At this point
in time, Armageddon, the battle, the spiritual battle between
Satan and his minions that he launches against Christ and the
church that's been going on for a while. It's not a physical
battle, but it's a spiritual battle. It's not held in a place
on the map, but it's a spiritual battle. We wrestle against things
in high places, principalities, powers, but it's over now. Satan's been defeated and now
the Lord comes again to gather his church unto himself and listen
to the beautiful language. This is what we've got to look
forward to. I heard a message on this by
another gospel preacher and he entitled it, there's a new day
coming, a better day coming. And listen to what he says in
verse one, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. This is the
new creation. The new creation. And he says,
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
This first heaven and first, talking about the sky and the
earth that is plagued with sin. I thought about in Romans chapter
8 where it talks about the creation groaning for this day. And that's metaphorical language
talking about how the anticipation of this old sinful sin-cursed
world passing away. But I want you to think about
something, too. We live in this sin-cursed world, but we're not
cursed. We're not cursed. Oh, we're sick. We're getting old. We're dying.
But we're not cursed. We're not condemned. Why? Because Christ was cursed in
our place. Christ the surety, the substitute,
the redeemer, the life giver, the preserver, the glorifier
of His people. And so when this heaven, this
old, this first heaven and first earth passes away, we won't miss
it. I know we think we will with
things that, there are some good things that kind of tie us here,
but we won't miss it. And he says, it's passed away.
He says there was no more sea. Now why does he say no more sea?
In the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, the sea, the oceans,
were looked upon as the unknown, the troubled, which was to be
feared. It wasn't a, you know, we go
to the beach and, you know, we enjoy swimming in the ocean.
But back then, it was a place of unknown danger. And that's
the way they looked at it. And then also, it was also the
dwelling place of the beast. The beast that come out of the
sea. And so, here we see a new heaven and a new earth, along
with what he's going to call a new Jerusalem in verse two. And we'll see that. And this
new heaven and new earth will never pass away because this
new creation is indwelt with righteousness. Look over at 2
Peter chapter 3 with me. Peter wrote about this. And again,
it's a beautiful thing. It's going to be built upon righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ by which we are justified freely,
fully before God. Sin's forgiven. And sin's gone. Now right now we dwell in this
old creation. Our sins are forgiven, but they're
not gone. Now I've heard preachers say,
well, they don't even exist. Oh, they do exist. Just go home
and look in the mirror. They exist every day. And we
have to fight it every day within ourselves. But here they'll be
gone. And that's a beautiful thing.
Look at verse 12. He says, Well, verse 11, let's
go to 2 Peter 3, 11. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, this sin-cursed earth, this world, all the enemies
of Christ and His church, what manner of persons ought you to
be in all your holy conversation and godliness? What he's saying
is because we have the assurance of Christ and of the grace of
God, what kind of people should we be? Well, we don't throw caution
to the wind. We don't make this an excuse
for sin. We live to the glory and the
honor and the praise of God, the love of God and the love
of one another, standing fast in the truth by the grace of
God. And so he says in verse 12, looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God. That's what Revelation 21's talking
about, the day of God. Wherein the heavens, being on
fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, nevertheless we, according to his promise, look
for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."
This new heavens, this new earth, this new creation is built upon
the righteousness and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ And
it's inhabited by people who are righteous in Him. And at
this point in time, we'll be righteous within ourselves. No
sin. That old creation, beset with
sin that demands death. But the new creation will be
ruled and managed by Christ, who is the Lord our righteousness.
Think about it. Populated eternally by people
made righteous in and by Christ, who is our life. who gives life
to all his people and his creation. All who inhabit this creation
will be sinless. Now we don't even know what that'll
be like. You realize that? You can't even
imagine what that'll be like. To have no sinful thoughts, no
sinful motives, no sinful ideas, no selfishness. Perfectly conformed
to Christ. in our resurrected spiritual
bodies. You know, I've often told people,
I say, we don't know a whole lot about what it's going to
be like. We're told some things, especially
in passages like 1 Corinthians 15. You can read that. In the
book that I wrote, What is Salvation?, the last chapter is called the
glorified realm, the glorified state. And I tell people, I said,
before you begin reading this chapter, I know you have a lot
of questions about what's it going to be like in heaven? And
you've heard people do this. You know, they talk about going
to heaven and coming back. That's false. I'm telling you,
it's false. Only thing we know is what God's
Word tells us. When you're through reading that
chapter, through reading 1 Corinthians 15, you'll still have more questions
than you have answers. But I know this, it will be eternally,
eternal union, unbreakable union with Christ in glory. And God's people will spend eternity
in resurrected, glorified bodies, dwelling in the new heaven and
the new earth in the presence of God, fulfilling the end for
which we were created. To do what? To glorify and worship,
serve and honor the Lord God. Now as I said, it says there
was no more sea. Throughout the Old Testament
and throughout the book of Revelation, the sea has been described as
the abode of the dragon. That's Satan. The dead. the center of commerce used by
unbelieving nations and dominated by Babylon the Great, that's
false religion, who sits on many waters. You remember that's what
Revelation said about Babylon. The sea is the place of a storm,
a tempest, cold, dark, frightening to all of John's first century
readers. But look at verse two. He says,
and I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Holy, the holy city. Do you realize there is absolutely
no holy cities on this earth now? Now people talk about the
holy land. There's no holy land on earth
now. There was a place separated by God where Christ was born,
but that's gone. All that's over. You go to the
holy land, all you're gonna see over there is dead, dry, and
war, and all kinds of, there's no holy land now. But here's
the holy city. It identifies this city with
the holy God, and a city populated with people made holy, in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's called the New Jerusalem.
Turn over to Hebrews chapter 12 with me. New Jerusalem is the collective
name of the people of God in Christ. You can read about that
in Psalm 48. But it's the city of peace. And
it's founded upon the Prince of Peace. and His redemptive
work on the cross to establish peace forever and ever between
God and sinners. And look here in verse 22 of
Hebrews chapter 12, talking about the people of God as to oppose
to unbelieving legalists who come to the law for salvation. If you come to the law for salvation,
you'll remain lost in your sins. But he says, but you are come,
verse 22, unto Mount Sion, that's the church, that's the people
of God, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, not a physical Jerusalem, but a heavenly Jerusalem, to
an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, that's Christ and his church, which are written
in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, that's the saints who have gone on before
us, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
That's the new Jerusalem. Again, coming down from heaven,
that's what Revelation 21.2 says, coming down from God out of heaven. The church is always portrayed
in the Bible as being saved by God above, born from above by
God, and coming down from above by God. It says here that in
verse two, she's prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Now who did the preparation here? God did. He prepares his people. by His grace, prepared by the
God of all grace, who chose her in sovereign grace before the
foundation of the world, who redeemed her by the blood of
His Son, who called her unto Himself by the power of the Spirit,
and she's washed in the blood of the land." That she's adorned,
it says here. Adorned for her husband. Washed
clean from all her sins by the blood of Christ, the Lamb of
God. Adorned with the garments of salvation. Isaiah spoke of
that in prophecy. The Lamb and His wife, the church,
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. That's what Revelation
19, 7-8 says. And what is that? Well, that's
His righteousness imputed. We're adorned with it. And that's
a metaphor. It doesn't mean it's on the outside
of us. It means in the account books of Almighty God, the Judge
of all, our sins are put away, not held against us, paid for,
and we stand before Him righteous. Now look at verse 3. I heard
a great voice out of heaven. Behold the tabernacle of God.
That's the title of the message. You know what the tabernacle
is? That's the dwelling place of God. The old Jewish rabbis
used to talk about the shekinah. You may have heard that term.
The word shekinah means dwelling or dwelling place. And that's
what tabernacle means. I read that passage in John 1
14 that the word was made flesh and dwelt, tabernacled literally
among us. And you know about the old tabernacle
that God gave Moses the plans for, where the sacrifice was
to be made by the high priest, the altar. That was the place
that God appointed where He said this, He said, I will meet with
and commune with my people on the basis of the blood of reconciliation. Now all that was, that physical
tabernacle back in the Old Testament was a type, a picture, of the
Shekinah, it was the place on earth where the glory of God
shone forth in its height. No greater revelation of God's
glory. Well, where do we find that today?
We find it in the glorious person and the finished work of Christ.
It's called the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
our Emmanuel, God with us. Speaking of the incarnation of
Christ, John wrote, he was made flesh and dwelt among us. Christ
in the glory of his person as God and man in one person. Almighty God, very God of very
God, and man without sin in himself. The dwelling place of Almighty
God. Christ is our tabernacle. That's why we don't need physical
tabernacles. This church building is a building.
And that's all it is. And when the old creation passes
away and gets burned up, this building's going to go with it
if it's not gone before then. But the church, which is the
people of God, will last forever. We'll never die. We'll die physically
maybe, but we will not die spiritually and eternally. We'll live forever. So here's Christ. Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men. Verse three, and he will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall
be with them and be their God. Back in the Old Testament, whenever
the prophets, especially Jeremiah, remember, in Jeremiah 31, whenever
they spoke of the relationship between God and his true people,
It always went something like this. God said, I will be their
God and they shall be my people. And most commentators agree that
that was the language of a marriage union. God marrying his people. And that fits right with this.
Here's the bride adorned for her husband. And it's a marriage
union. And guess what? There'll be no
divorce. Not even a possibility of divorce.
Christ is God's tabernacle. He is the dwelling place of God. The Scripture says, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in
Him. Can we exaggerate or overemphasize
the glory of the person and work of Christ in our preaching? Absolutely
not. I would say at best our words
are kind of inadequate. Preaching Christ crucified and
risen from the dead. Christ in the power of his finished
work to redeem his people by his blood is the greatest manifestation
of every attribute of Almighty God. Working together to do what? To save a sinner. Can you believe
that? Yes we can because God has given
us the gift of faith. It's upon the basis of his righteousness
alone. And it says, they shall be my
people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.
That's eternal communion with God in Christ. No possibility
of divorce or separation. It's there, look at verse four.
And God shall, listen to this. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, Neither shall there be any more pain." Oh boy, wouldn't
you like that? No more pain. For the former
things are passed away. You know, you read things like
that and you know the natural man looks at that and he says,
well that's just myth, that's just fantasy, that's just a pipe
dream. Oh no brother. This is reality. The reality of being forever
with God in Christ. as opposed to the reality of
being separated from God and His Christ forever and ever.
No more sorrow. Our Lord on this earth, as I
was telling you about the message that Brother Jim Byrd preached
on John 11, you know the Bible says that
our Savior in His humanity suffered just like we suffer, except with
one huge exception. And that exception was He did
it without sin. He was tempted, tested, just
like we are, yet without sin. But never forget that He did
sorrow. You know what the shortest verse
in the Bible is, don't you? Somebody tell me. Jesus wept. Have you ever wept? Cry like
a baby. He felt pain. You know, when
he went to that cross, I know a lot of the issues that have
been brought down in the last 20 years about sin imputed to
Christ. And our sins were imputed to
Him. That means our sin debt was laid
to His charge. And some people will go against
that using this kind of logic. They'll say, well, what Christ
went through is more than imputation. Well, yes, it was more than imputation.
But he was made sin only by imputation. But because of our sins, our
debt imputed to him, he suffered, he sorrowed, he wept, he cried
out in pain. He cried out in despair, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Think about that. He experienced physical death
just like you and me, Will. But you know what? In his death,
there is the death of death. Oh death, where is thy sting?
Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is gone. because
of the death of Christ. Sorrow and crying, no more pain. The former things are passed
away. That's everything associated as a consequence and result of
sin, passed away. Verse five. And he that sat upon
the throne said, behold, I will make all things new. Oh my goodness. And he said unto me, write, for
these are the words, these words are true in faith. You can bank
on these words. I've told you many times about
the sign that I saw outside of a religious organization. And it said, God said it, I believe
it, that settles it. Oh no. God said it, that settles
it. Whether you believe it or not.
I hope you believe it. I hope I believe it. Oh, you
can bank on these words. He makes all things new. Can
you imagine what that will be like? The Bible says that Christ Himself
is faithful and true, in that He by Himself fulfilled all the
conditions, all the requirements, all the stipulations of the covenant
of grace to completely ensure the salvation of His people. He didn't miss a lick, they'd
say, in the country. Everything that he agreed to
do, he did to save us from our sins. They say that in order
to save us from our sins, there had to be three qualifications
in the person who could do this. Number one, he had to be appointed
of God. Well, Christ is the only one
who was appointed of the Father to do this work. Number two,
he had to be able to do the work. Christ, in his deity and humanity,
God manifest in the flesh, is able, more than able, to put
away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. And then thirdly,
he had to be willing to do so. And Christ said, no man takes
my life from me, I lay it down of myself. Why? For the love of his Father and
the love of his people. He meets all those qualifications.
And then look at verse 6. He said unto me, it's done. It's
over. Everything that we're looking
forward to, at this time it will be accomplished. Kind of reminds
you when He said that on the cross, doesn't it? It is finished. John 19.30. Oh, He meant that His suffering
unto death was finished. But He also meant that sin was
finished. Because, as I said, the death
of death and the death of Christ. He finished it all. Well, here
it's done. It's over. It's finished. And He says, I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. That's what that
means. the author and the finisher of our faith, the beginning and
the end, I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain
of the water of life freely, unconditionally, without a cause.
Him that is a thirst. You know, even the natural man,
I preached on this Wednesday night up in Ashland, where I
talked about in Ecclesiastes chapter three and verse 10, where
it talks about God has set eternity in the hearts of people. That's
that void. Even the natural man has a thirst
for religion. Eternal life. Even the natural
man wonders, is there life after death? If there is, how can I
get there? You say, well, what about the
atheist? Well, he spends his life denying that which he naturally
thinks. And my point in that message
is may God fill our void. And how does He fill our void?
The void of His people about these longings for life, spirituality,
salvation. He fills them with Christ and
His gospel. The natural man tries to fill
it with religion, works, materials, and it won't work. It has to
be filled by God. with the grace of His work in
Christ. But the thirst that He's talking
about here in verse 6 is that thirst and hunger for righteousness
which the Spirit gives every one of His people that can only
be filled with Christ and His righteousness alone. Remember
Matthew 5 and verse 6, blessed are they who hunger and thirst
after righteousness, they shall be filled. How are we going to
be filled? Well, I'm going to do my best.
I'm going to get baptized. I'm going to go to church. That
won't fill that thirst if it's the Holy Spirit who's given you
that thirst and that hunger. If it's the Holy Spirit through
the Word of God that has given you that hunger, it can only
be filled with the bread of life, Christ. It can only be filled
with the water of life, Christ. His righteousness alone. Look
at verse 7. He, and it's freely. Don't miss
that word freely. It's without a cause. You realize
that? If you're saved by the grace
of God, blessed, and bound for this eternal glory, there is
absolutely nothing in you done by you that God considered in
giving you all of this great blessing. In fact, it was in
spite of you and in spite of me. God justifies the ungodly. Gives us a righteousness that
we have no part in producing. Gives us the blessings of grace
that we cannot earn. It's all freely given. Verse
seven, he that overcometh shall inherit all things, these things,
and I will be his God and he shall be my people. You know, there's a lot said
in false religion about being an overcomer. You heard that? And what they're talking about
is people resolving within themselves to do right. But that's not how
we overcome. Think about the enemies that
we have. We have Satan, we have sin, we
have death in the grave, and we have ourselves. How do we
overcome those enemies? It's not by our works. It's not
by our resolve. Should we do good works? Of course
we should. Should we resolve to follow Christ?
Yes, but that's not how we overcome. We overcome by looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. Because He's the one who
defeated Satan. He's the one who defeated death
and the grave. He's the one who defeats the
flesh. He's the one who brings us unto
glory. That's those who overcome. Those
who trust Christ for all salvation. And they'll inherit all things.
They don't earn it, notice that. They'll inherit all things. How
do you get an inheritance? Somebody else earns it and bequeaths
it to you. You don't earn it, he earned
it. And I'll be his God and he shall be my people, my son. That's
talking about the people of God married to Christ. in that eternal
union. And then lastly, he describes
those who die or who are on earth when Christ comes again, but
they are without Christ. They're not washed in his blood.
They're not clothed in his righteousness. And he gives several descriptions,
the fearful, not meaning fearful as far as worship and reverence,
but afraid, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, Whoremongers, sorcerers,
idolaters, and all liars, even preachers who tell lies, I'm
talking about preaching a false gospel, shall have their part
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, and that's
the second death. You remember back in Revelation
we read about that second death, how we who are in Christ will
not take part in the second death. That's eternal condemnation,
eternal separation from God. That will not come upon all those
who look to Christ and rest in him for all salvation. May the Lord bless us in his
word.