I failed to announce that we
will be celebrating Sunday, October 14th, our 39th birthday anniversary. And we're going to. We're going
to have dinner here right after the morning service and Miss
Pam wants to meet with you ladies who are good at making banana
pudding and fried chicken and cornbread and those sorts of
things right after the service this morning in the Luther chapels. So if you can help us, and I
hope many of you will, we expect three or 400 here that Sunday
to celebrate with us. So we wanna make preparations
for that. In my studies this week, I was
reading Mr. Spurgeon's comments from Revelation
21. And here's what he said. Astronomers tell us that within
living memory, several starry worlds have burnt out and vanished
out of sight. The Apostle Peter has told us
that this world also will be destroyed by fire. but it will
afterwards be renewed and a new sky and a new earth will appear
after the first firmament and first earth shall have become
extinct. God means that this planet should
continue to exist after it has had a new creation and renewed
its youth. The regeneration of his people,
their new birth is a foretaste, of what is yet to happen to this
whole world of ours. And I say amen to that and the
scriptures agree with that. Joe has read to us from the 21st
chapter of the Revelation and we're going over to 2 Peter 3
this morning as well. But in the 21st the chapter of
the revelation, which is, it's not the revelations, it's the
revelation. The last book of the Bible is
the revelation of the future glory of Jesus Christ, where
every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, and the
whole world and universe will give him praise and glory. Revelation is a wonderful book
and like all the other books of the Bible it concerns itself
with Jesus Christ only in this case with the future glory of
our Lord. In Revelation 21 and verse 1,
and I saw a new heaven and a new earth For the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea, no
more division. Now let's go over to 2 Peter
3, a new heavens and a new earth. In 2 Peter 3, The apostle is dealing with those
folks who in a mocking way are saying, where is the parousia? Where is the promise being kept
that he's coming back? Where is it? You Christians count
on the return of the Redeemer, the Savior. Where is it? In other words, we don't think
it's going to take place. And so, that's what Peter is
dealing with here. I want to read some from the
third chapter of 2 Peter. This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you, verse one, in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance." Oh, I want to do that today.
I want to stir up your pure minds. I know some of you, like me,
when you read pure minds, you're going, eh, not entirely. And that's true in this sense,
that your fleshly mind is not pure. There's no good thing in
your fleshly mind. But in that new mind, in that
new nature, in that born-again part of you, it's pure. You never
have a wicked thought in that pure mind. It's true. Say amen,
will you? Amen, I know you don't hear that
much from preachers, but the truth is, in my flesh dwells
no good thing. But the truth is also this, that
I've been born again. I'm gonna talk more about that
a little later. But today I hope to stir up your
pure mind with regard to this matter of future events. that you may be mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the
commandment of us and the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers
walking after their own lusts. self-centered folks, and saying,
where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. Nothing new happening. But I
wanna say right off to you today, there's something new going to
happen. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water. In other words,
the great creator created the heavens and the earth. Whereby
the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. Now he's talking about Noah's
deluge. But the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store. are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. There's a day coming, a judgment
day for this world. God's keeping it, it's stored
up. It's in the storehouse, but on
the way. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years and a thousand years is one day. You folks who are always
saying things like, you know, the world's gone on for thousands
of years, nothing has happened. This is a vain promise. God is
not returning. Christ is not coming back again.
Just remember this, the Lord doesn't get in a hurry. He's
eternal. He's eternal. And you and I think
a thousand years is a long time, but with him, it's just a one
day kind of deal. How big is your God? Well, he's
an eternal God. He's always been. Now watch this,
verse nine. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promises. Some men count slackness, but
as long suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. I love that passage of scripture.
The Lord is, you know why this world's not on fire today? Because
God is long suffering, waiting on you. You haven't been converted
yet, but you're gonna be. That wasn't a very strong amen.
I don't think you quite understood what I just said. God has an
elect people. They're all going to be converted.
God has been law and suffering. I know you've been in a crack
house, you've been shooting up, you've been drunk, you're in
the bar, or you're churchy, or whatever, but you've never bowed
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You've never come to him in repentance
and faith. God's gonna work that out. Pray
he comes to you today in power. He's not slack concerning his
promise. No, John hasn't come to me yet. I will draw him. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. Can you imagine God in some sense,
in this sense, waiting on you? Waiting on you in this sense.
I mean, he's not waiting for you to turn over a new leaf or
to get off of heroin. God is not waiting on you in
that way. In mercy, he's waiting on you.
He looks at you, you know, he looks at you young ladies
and goes, my, my, my. I'm gonna have to do a mighty
work. I'm gonna have to do a mighty
work. They're out of their heads. They are destroying themselves. The Bible says we're like the
troubled sea, constantly casting up mire and dirt. But in me is
thy help, the Lord says. He's gonna find you and borne you again. And that's
why the world's not on fire today, because he hasn't elect people.
What an awesome truth that is. Should have been dead sleeping
in my grave. I watched this mess on TV and I said, oh Lord, just
wipe us all out. Oh, but he's long suffering and
merciful and is not slack concerning his promise. Say, well, there
it is, pastor. You know, I don't believe exactly
what you preach. That verse says that God is not
willing that any should perish. He's talking about any of his.
And if God is not willing that any of his perish, they won't.
Isn't that good news? I wonder if you belong to him
today. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. I wonder if today, you know,
I've always kind of pictured this in my head, I don't know
that it's theologically correct exactly, but when that last elect
confesses faith in Christ, and the trump of God sounds, and
the dead in Christ come out of the grave, won't that be a glorious
day? Joe's already anxious, he said
today. Me too, even so. Come Lord Jesus,
long-suffering. But the day of the Lord, verse
10, will come as a thief in the night. I don't believe that there
are many folks who are staying up late seeing if the Lord's
going to come. He's gonna come as a thief in
the night. When things aren't looking like anything's gonna
happen, bam! I love great and good surprises. Wouldn't it be a great thing,
I usually wake up about 1.30, that's my first wake up, a.m.
It would be such a great thing for the Lord to blow the trumpet
about 1.30 in the morning. I don't know that's what it's
gonna sound like. But I find myself leaving my bed, heaven
bound. What a day that'll be when my
Jesus I shall see. I shall look upon his face, the
one who saved me by his grace. What a day, glorious day that
will be. This is the hope of the Christian
today. As we see the world getting worse, I don't see things getting
better. There's a real battle going on,
good and evil going on, this battle. Well, but the day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night, into which the
heavens shall pass away. There it is, pass away. Pass
away. This whole world as it is, is
going to pass away. He's going to set this place
on fire. It's going to be purged. This world is going to be burned
up. I like the little song the kids
sing. This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My
treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue with a great
noise. I said, I wonder why great noise?
Because noise scares people. It's going to be a scary time,
not for us, not for Christians. I know it's going to happen.
with a great noise, and the elements shall melt, and fervent heat
the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned."
Someone asked me, do you think God's going to permit men to
create all these nuclear bombs and so forth, and somebody's
going to pull the trigger? I do know this. I think he'll
do it himself, but I do know this, if you were to drop one
of our bombs now, or one of the enemies of this nation would
send over a nuclear bomb that would hit New York, it would
melt every, or hit downtown Detroit, it would melt every building
and every person all the way past Utica. Think about that. I just don't see how the world
could melt. You think about one of our bomb,
missiles. It would immediately melt everything
from downtown Detroit past Utica. Does everybody know where Utica
is? Well, it's north about 20 miles of Detroit. Burn up. Well, verse 11, seeing
then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought we to be in all holy manner of life and godliness? Because this world is not your
home. What manner of people are we
to be? Well, we're looking forward to
the coming of God. We're people of good hope, looking
for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God. We look forward
to that day wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. There it is again.
Look at verse 13 though. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. That's us. Don't you get tired
of this mess? There's so many things in this
world that I'm so tired of and weary of. Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that you
may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. And
account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. Just
because he hasn't come yet, This is the way you look at it. Well,
the sheep are not all in yet. The last of God's people are
not converted yet. God has a plan and purpose. But when that last elect is brought
in, I believe things are going to change big time. They're all
safe. Jesus is able to say to the Father
now, Lo, I am the children which thou hast given me. So I hope
this morning to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. Stir up your minds by reminding
you that you have a good hope, both steadfast and sure. I'm
not trying to scare you into Christianity. I'm just telling
all of you and reminding myself today and stirring up my mind
when I get discouraged, hey, Jesus is coming back again. Here's
the promise. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many dwelling places, and I'm going to prepare a place for
you, and if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. Wow, what a great promise that
is. The Father's house. And my friends,
I tell you this, I have this blessed assurance that there
are not going to be any empty mansions in heaven. Oh, John
didn't make it. John wasn't good enough. He didn't
step over the line. He didn't do this. He didn't
do that. He was a crack addict. No, we're saved by grace alone. And by the way, you probably
know or knew that I would put this in here. One of my favorite
passages in 2 Peter there, is this one, look at this, verse
18, verse 18, but grow in grace. While you're hanging out, while
you're waiting for the world to catch on fire and be burned
up, While you're doing that, stay concentrating on the grace
of God, that He has not appointed, I'm about to get happy here,
He has not appointed you to wrath, but to obtain salvation. So when
Pastor Clark says, the world is going to be burned up and
melt, not me. God's not angry with me. He has
not appointed me to wrath. I just wonder if I'm going to
be there in the great day of God's tribulation wrath. You
can if you'd like, but I'm not. His wrath was poured out on Jesus
Christ. There is no wrath toward me.
There's no condemnation toward me. There's nothing but good
news here. Let her burn, I say. Let her
burn! To God be the glory. Great things
He has done. You know, I love these passages.
I always read them when I'm at the gravesite of loved ones who
have departed. 1 Thessalonians 4. What a comfort 1 Thessalonians
4 is. Let's turn there and read these
scriptures. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. You sorrow
not even as others who have no hope. Anybody here have any loved
ones who were believers in Christ who've already passed away? All
of us in here. Don't sorrow as if you had no
hope. Act like you believe the Word
of God. Live out the Word of God. I don't
mean, you know, and the Bible's very clear about this, that we
sorrow not as others. It doesn't say you're not supposed
to sorrow. I'd cry every August 14th because I've got a son,
48 years old, that's with the Lord. I cried. That was his birthday. He was
with the Lord. But not as one who has no hope. I'm going to see Stuart Ward
Clark one day. I can't bring him back, but I
can go to him. So while I cry, I also rejoice.
There's a great getting up morning. There's a great homecoming. the
resurrection of the dead. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words." Isn't that awesome? And the scripture says in Revelation
21, 3, 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. Now get this. and God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. I see some of you weeping today.
God'll take care of that one day. God's gonna wipe all those
tears from your eyes. Think about that, God's gonna
do it. Whatever God does is good. He's gonna wipe all tears, and
there shall be no more death. Boy, over these 55, 56 years, I've gone to the graveyard so
many times. One day, those believers in Christ
are going to get up out of that grave. Oh, I know, some of you
may be doubtful about that person, but I can tell you this, if that
person believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, there's
a getting up morning. Say, yeah, but he was such a
runaround, yeah, but she was such a, you know, yeah, but she,
oh no. What you need to do is go back
and grow in grace, because you don't have it yet. Grow in grace. Grace doesn't grow. You grow
in grace. Say, well, you know, I know the
five points of Calvinism. You don't have it yet. Grace,
so amazing, so divine. Amazing grace, how sweet to sound,
that saved a wretch like me. Some of you in doubt of people
who have already left this world. Say, well, I don't know, their
faith seems so weak. Oh, and yours is so strong, is
it? No more death, neither sorrow. You ever get depressed? I mean,
nobody raised their hand. One, two of you, the rest of
you are lying through your teeth. We all get depressed. We have
times of depression. No more sorrow. Stir up your
pure minds. There's a day coming when there'll
be no more sorrow. Somebody quite often in these
50 some years has said to me, could you tell me about heaven? And you know, I read in the Bible
it's gonna be streets of gold Well, that's because you're greedy
you think about streets of gold. What are you gonna do in heaven
with gold? That's not such a great thing. I like this. There'll
be no more death. God's gonna wipe away tears from
our eyes There'll be no more sorrow. There'll be no crying
neither. Shall there be any more pain?
Oh pain Just wait till you get 74 Pain I get up in the morning and my
right leg said, you want me to do what? Get out of bed. Because the former things are
passed away. Can you think about it? The former things are passed
away. Some of you still don't have the blessed assurance that
you ought to have. You're always thinking about
what you did. And yet the scripture says, forgetting
those things which are behind, We're moving this way. Forgetting
those things which are behind. Why do you want to remember all
the ugliness? How about you think about this?
In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, absent from the body,
present with the Lord, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more
funerals, no more cancer, no more babies dying, no more death. What a day that'll be. Amen. New. You know, I think about Moreland
Street and Fairgrove and Seneca and Stevens Court, some of the
other streets where we're taking these hundred-year-old houses
and we're making them look like new. There's a reason for that. Because I believe this, if any
man be in Christ, he's a new creation. A new creation. What does Seneca Street, what
does Little Grace Village? Is it just about rehabbing old
houses? No, it's kind of a prophesying
type thing. That the people who live in those
houses that have been restored are new, new creatures in Christ
Jesus. Living in what looks like new
houses. I know they still have some blemish,
but picturing what's going to happen, your future is just so
great. There is no reason for you or
a believer to be down. It's going to be okay, because
for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, and whom
he predestinated, them he also called, and whom he called, them
he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified,
and we know that all things work together for good to them that
love the Lord, them who are the called according to his purpose.
I know you may seem, and I may think that this world is a runaway
and out of control, but he holds the reins because he's King Jesus. He's Lord of lords and King of
kings, a new nature. So real quickly here, at 12 minutes after two, or two
minutes after 12, Dyslexia or something, I don't
know what that is. Just some new things. First of
all, God gives us a new nature. It's called regeneration. See,
some of you that God has regenerated, you know, it's been such a wonderful
week in other ways, marriages, people getting their driver's
license, people getting a house, people getting their life back.
There's so many God things that happen around here. But regeneration,
you've been born again. You were born the first time,
And you look at those sweet little babies that some of you are holding
and talk goo goo, ga ga, this is my little angel. Just wait. Just wait. You're going to see
that you gave them a nature that is totally depraved. They came
out of you too. You can't say my little angel,
you could say my little demon. I love my little demon. Yeah. You say, Pastor, you just shouldn't
talk that way about your kids, right, your kids. Your children and you and I had
to be born again. We had to get a new nature. Otherwise,
we would never stop. Right? We would never stop. We
love, by the old nature, we love every evil way. You don't have
to teach your kid to steal, stick out your tongue and be disobedient
to you. You can see the rattlers farming
on those little rattlesnakes. You don't have to teach them
that. They must be born again, a new nature. Regeneration, sovereign regeneration. God, listen to me now. Some of
you in here could care less about this thing of church and going
to church. It's your only hope. It's the
only hope. You're never going to be off
heroin. You're never going to be off the drugs. You're going
to be seeking the false gods until you die unless God gets
in your way. Unless God catches up with you,
unless God intervenes with you on your Damascus road of life
and gives you what you cannot get yourself by your works, God
in sovereign grace, a new nature, a new heart. You not only need
a new nature, which causes you now to love the things you once
hated and to hate the things you once loved, And you can still
and still do cry out, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God Jesus Christ already
has because he's regenerated me. He's born me again and in
a new heart. Why are 350, 60 of you here today? Well, most of you are here today
because you want to be here. Ezekiel 36 says this, a new heart
also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I'll
give you a heart of flesh, a soft heart, a loving heart, a caring
heart, a heart to know me. And then the truth is, God's gonna give you a new body. I like that part. A perfect body. You know, Ms. Pam and I were
talking about that sometime this week, a new body. And you know,
some of you know she was in a car wreck and has lost the talus
in her ankle. So any change of weather causes
pain. Just think, a new body would
be nice. And that day is coming. No more
hurt, no more limping, a new body. I'm happy for her. And I know she's happy for me
and Arthur. I don't like Arthur, but Arthur
seems to love me. Every joint in my body aches
at times. A new body. A new body, it's
a great thing. Think about this. So God, think
about this. Now, somebody said, well, you
know, I just don't understand the Bible. Well, the key to the
Bible is Jesus Christ. That's the key to Scripture.
And then if you can just follow this, people often say, you know,
are you pre-millennial? Are you post-millennial? I'm pan-millennial. I believe
it's all gonna work out. Whatever that means. Here's what
I think is important. You know what? God loved me before
the foundation of the world. and in time sent the Holy Spirit
of God to fetch me out of my lodibar, and regenerated me,
born me again, and gave me a new nature and a new heart, a heart
that loves Him, a heart that wants to give Him all the glory.
He revealed His grace to me, and here's what I know. As an
eight-year-old boy, When he regenerated me and gave me faith in Christ,
his eye has always been on me, even before I was eight years
old. His eye is on the sparrow and he watches over me, that's
a good thing. He gave me a new heart. And one day, he said,
Ken, I'm gonna give you a new body. But you know, a new body
down here wouldn't be much good. Not down here, because mess is
everywhere. Just every way you turn, there's
mess. Somebody asked me this week,
how are things over at Grace Centers? I said, as usual, same
mess. Still mess going on. But thank
God, what a future we have. See, what God is going to do
for those of us who have a regenerated heart, a new heart, we've been
born again, we're Christians, we have our rewards, we mess
up, but the day is coming when this old flesh is going to lay
down and die. And we'll be able to say, like
Dr. King, free at last, free at last,
thank God Almighty I'm free at last. And then he's gonna give
us a new body, but before he does that, or when he does that,
I don't know what the time's going to be, he's going to create
a new heavens and a new earth. And I was just crazy enough to
be thinking about And you know, the Revelation 21 talks about
this new city. Wow, and it's a huge, monstrous
city. It's a city that can't be on
earth. I've read all about it. It just couldn't be built here. It's a huge city, but it's a
beautiful city. Abraham was looking for a city
whose builder and maker was God. There's gonna be a new earth. I can tell you this, say, well,
what's it going to be like in heaven? You're going to be perfect.
And everything around you is going to be perfect. And God's
going to be there. And all relationships are going
to be perfect. Isn't that something? I don't know how else to describe
it. Perfect. And you're going to be so happy
all the time. and so thrilled. Have you ever
been in a church service? I mean, those of you who are
really, really, really conservative about showing any emotion, has
there been times when God was so powerful in the house of God
that you had to hold your hand down almost? You know, you just felt with
joy and peace and all is well and God is here. That's what's gonna happen. So
let's see, he chose you before the foundation of the world.
Christ redeemed you years and years and years ago, paid your
price in full. You didn't know a thing about
it. And maybe like me, you were born in the 40s. or 50s, or 70s,
or 80s, you were born, and God stood up and said to the spirits,
seek him out of Lodibar, the spirit of God came. Maybe you
were in Old Zoar Baptist Church back in Alabama, Kentucky, or
somewhere, and God sought you out. Or maybe God found you in
a bar. I don't know where God found
you. You can, when the spirit of God comes hunting, he doesn't
simply go to church. I mean, some of you had to be
found down in Lodibar, right? Down in the hood? You ever wondered
why the bullet missed you? Because God was there. You ever
wondered why you didn't die when you OD'd? You ever wonder about
all those secret, secret thoughts that you good church people have?
Why God didn't kill you for those? Because he had a plan to deliver
you, to save you, and to put you in a new heavens and a new
earth, wherein, as the Revelation says, dwelleth righteousness.
God's gone wild, burn it up. Let's stand together and praise
our God.