Psalms chapter 46, verse 4, Psalms
87 and verse 3. That's the chapter that
we just read earlier. Psalms 87 is. I want to talk to you this morning
on the subject of the city of God. The city of God. God has a city. God owns everything as far as
that goes. He created all things for His
glory, for His pleasure. But He speaks of specific things
in the Scripture. He speaks of His church, of His
city, of His dwelling place, of His creation. He speaks specifically
of things, brings them to our attention, and speaks of the
specifics concerning things. And we know that, well I said
we know, the Scriptures teach us, I hope we know it, I hope
we're learning it, that in John chapter 1, God said that all
things were made by Him, without Him there was not anything made
that was made. And we're taught throughout the
Scriptures that all things, that we've heard quoted two or three
times this morning, that all things that is, all things that
exist, you and me and the trees and the birds and everything
that exists, adamant and inadamant, dead and alive, everything it
has been, everything it is, and everything it will be, He created
for His glory. He'd be glorified in it whether
we understand how or not. You know, whether we understand
anything doesn't change anything. I put a quote from C.S. Lewis in the bulletin. on the inside there. I don't
know if you read the bulletins or not. I hope you do. But I
thought this was so good, I just thought, man, that is good. I've got to let these folks at
church read this too. It says, A man can no more diminish
God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out
the sun by scribbling the word darkness on the walls of his
cell. It doesn't matter what you do,
think, say. When it comes to the glory of
God, we are insignificant. We don't change anything. Men
can curse God. They can refuse to bow to Him.
They can ignore Him if He is pleased to let them. But it doesn't
change Him one bit. That's God. That's God. That's who He is and that's how
He is. And He created everything for His glory. I don't understand
all that's implied in a statement like that when He said He created
all things for His glory. There are things that I look
at and see and things that happen. I think, and it's just natural
me, I think how in the world could God get glory out of that?
As a matter of fact, Don't we look at ourself quite frequently
and say, how in the world could God get any glory out of this
mess? Out of this mess. I'm all the time messing something
up. Can't get it right. Just a mess. Like Donnie Bell said once, we're
a mess in the middle of a mess. But God has Everything. He created everything.
It's all his. Everything belongs to him. We
have titles and deeds and we say this is mine and that's his
and this is hers and some families even have a bank account and
the wife has a different bank account. She says this is my
money and that's his. That's all right. You know, we
just, what's mine is mine. Possess things, we think we do. But you know, things can change
in a matter of moments. And you know who changes things?
Somebody that don't never change. That's God. It's all His. He holds the title to it all. And I said all that to say this,
that in our study this morning, in our message, He has a city. We see a city. This is his city.
It's called the city of God. Here in Psalms 87 verse 3, glorious
things are spoken of thee, O city of God. He's saying this is his city.
This is my city. He owns it, he possesses it,
and he rules it. He's the one that says what happens
in this city, what don't happen. He's in control of the city. It's his city. To help us understand
that, if even children can understand this, if you have a toy, grown
men have toys too. Bruce has got a truck. And I've got a, we've got a boat.
That's our toy. We play with it. And somebody
says, well, the boat doc can see that boat sitting there.
I say, who's boat that? I say, that's mine. That's mine. You kids say, your friends come
over, you say, who's this? If it's Lauren, she says, it's
mine. If it's Megan, she says, it's mine. If it's Carly Ann,
no, that's not theirs, that's mine. That's mine. We can identify
that. The Lord said, this is my city.
And glorious things are said of my city, because all that's
in it is glorious. It's owned by one that's glorious,
and everything that's in it is glorious. God can't have anything
but what's glorious. Everything He owns is glorious.
Everything about Him is glorious. Even the mundane, even the things... Do you know what was said of
the Lord Jesus Christ? He has no form or covenants that we
should desire Him. But He is glorious. And He is
comely. He is beautiful. He's altogether
lovely. And the fault is that men just
can't see Him. They can't see His glory. They
just can't see Him. He's glorious. Everything about
Him is glorious. And this city is glorious. In
Psalm 46, verse 4, the Scripture said, There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacle of the Most High. God dwells in this city. He dwells
in this city. This is his dwelling place. This
is his habitation, this city of God. Now this city is not
a physical city. It's not like New York or Sylacauga
or Cape Girardeau, Missouri. This is not a physical, earthly
city. This is the city of God. It's a spiritual city. But it's
real. Sometimes we think because we
say things are spiritual, they're not real. There's a real place,
and this is the only way we can talk about it because God has
condescended to us to help us in some way understand something
of what He's saying. There is a place called heaven. There is a place that's inhabited
by angelic beings, by those who went to be with the Lord before
us. Where the throne of God is, there is a place called heaven.
There is an existence somewhere. It may be a half inch
from our nose. If it is, we still can't see
it, because it's not seen with the natural eye. But it's there. It's there. And this city of
God is a glorious city, gloriously underspoken of it. And the things
that are spoken of him, the things that are there, makes glad the
hearts of his people, the saints. Makes our hearts glad. Makes
our hearts rejoice. It induces worship. It calls
us to have a desire. We desire that heavenly city. We desire to be there. And, you know, the amazing thing
about it is we are, in a sense, there. And I don't want to get
too beyond even what I'm trying to say, because I don't understand
what I'm saying. Sometimes I get out there and I don't know where
I'm at or where I'm going or how to get back. Did you ever
do that, Bruce, in teaching? I get out there and all of a
sudden I think, well, the folks that listen to me don't know where I'm at
and I don't either. So let's just start over. But you know,
eternity, time is a mysterious thing. As mysterious as eternity.
But as far as God is concerned, now listen, learn this, understand
this. As far as God is concerned, everything is in the present. Everything is in the present.
Everything, as far as God is concerned, is done. Everything
is eternal. Time is not a brief pause between
two eternities. Time is an insert into eternity. There's not two eternities. That
don't even make sense, does it? There's not two eternities, there's
just one. God's eternal, and He inhabits eternity. And we're
in time, which is as mysterious to me as eternity. We're in this
thing called time. And He created time for His glory. He created time to reveal Himself
and His Word, who He is, to reveal His Son. He created time for
His glory and for His people. That's the reason time exists.
And when He's through with time, He's going to say, time shall
be no more. And it won't be no more. There was a time when there
wasn't any time. And God started time. He began
time. Sometime he's going to say time
no more. There will be no time. And in this perspective of time and eternity
and the things of God, we see this glorious, glorious place
called the City of God. It exists now as far as God is
concerned. There never was a time it didn't
exist. And all the inhabitants of that
city are there as far as God is concerned, even though we
as believers are not there yet as far as we're concerned. But
explain to me in Ephesians chapter to where he said he's raised
us up and set us together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You see what I'm saying? When
we look at the Scriptures, it's a spiritual book. You can't read
it and understand it like you can a novel or a fiction. It's not a book of fiction. It's
not a novel contrived in the mind of some natural man. This
is a book of God. And He reveals these things to
us, to the flesh and to the natural mind. It's mysterious. It cannot
be understood. They say it doesn't make any
sense. And it don't make sense to the natural man. It just doesn't
make sense. Do you know what makes sense
to the natural man? Really? That we're saved by works. If you have good works, if you
do good, you're a good person, then God will save you and justify
you. That's what makes sense to the
natural man. That's the prevailing, prominent religion of the flesh.
You don't have to teach folks that. They're born that way.
That's just what makes sense. The things in this book doesn't
add up. They don't make sense to the
natural man. There is a city of God. A city
is comprised of those who inhabit it. It's not just made up of
buildings. What if you took the people out
of a city? What would you have? You wouldn't
have a city. It's the people. When you speak
of a town or a city or a province or a township, you speak of the
people. There wouldn't be any buildings.
There wouldn't be anything. if it were not for those who
inhabit it. It exists solely because of their presence. That's
the only reason it exists. What use would there be, what
reason would there be for it to be a city without folks? Without folks. I saw a movie
once, an old movie, that in this town there was nobody. There
was no one. This one person went to it and
went to restaurants, went to the gas station, went to the
grocery store, went everywhere and he couldn't find one soul.
He was there by himself. It was desolate. It was desolate. A city is comprised of those
who inhabit it. Otherwise it wouldn't be a city.
The structures and government of a city reflect the planning
and work of its founders and those that carry on that work.
Now I'm going somewhere with this. Not only does its existence prove
a work begun, it also reveals the nature and character of its
founders and its citizens by their livelihood. Now the city
of God is so in this respect. It's known by those that inhabit
it. It's known by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's known, when you
speak with the city of God, know immediately that the Lord Jesus
Christ, His presence there, makes it a glorious city. His presence there gives life
to it. His presence there gives life
to its inhabitants. The city of God is a glorious,
glorious city because of Who's there? The Lord Jesus Christ. And because of the inhabitants
of the city that's other than the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, I thought it was
all because of him. It is. But you know, those that
inhabit the city, the citizens there, reflect the glory and the beauty of Him
who established that city and Him who rules that city. He made
them what they are. He gives them everything they
have. He sustains them. He keeps them. His life is their
life. And their life is His life. As
a matter of fact, they are vitally united to Him. And the glory
of those that inhabit the city radiate the glory of the king,
of the prince. The city of God is not comprised
of literal buildings and earthly government, although in the scriptures
many things of that nature is mentioned in respect to the city
of God. These are always representative and symbolical of Christ and
His church. You know, we hear a lot of these
religious songs about the streets of gold and walking on the streets
of gold and the gates of pearl and the walls of jasper. That's
symbolical. There's nothing earthly going
to be there. Gold and jaspers and rubies and
all those things, that's earthly things. What the Lord revealed to John,
and we'll read some of that in a few minutes, is speaking of
the glory and the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ and the saints
in him, the church. That's who he's speaking of.
The city of God has many other names in the Bible, all of which
do the same thing. They reflect the beauty and the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the center of attention of everyone that inhabits the city.
All of those, and we'll speak more of this later, all of those
that are in the city focus on Him. They look to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we do now. That's who we look at now. Those
that know Christ, those are His children, We inhabit that city
now. We see the glory of that city
now. We see the Lord Jesus Christ as the prince and the king and
the ruler of that city now. All the eyes of the saints are
focused upon Him. That's when it will be in glory.
This will be when all this comes into full view and full focus. We now have a taste of what it
will be then for us. And now we live in that city. There's other names in the Scriptures
that refer to this city, the City of David. The City of David is often called
in the Scriptures Jerusalem. Jerusalem is referred to as the
City of David. So is Bethlehem, just about six miles outside
of Jerusalem. And to be born this day in the
City of David is to say which Christ the Lord is born in Bethlehem.
But also Jerusalem, and the word Jerusalem, Salem, Salem means
peace. That's what Salem means, it means
peace. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince of Salem. He's
the Prince of Peace. He's the Prince of Jerusalem.
It's called the City of David. The City of David. David being
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ an antitype of David.
And Jerusalem, Salem, peace, the city of peace, the peace
of God. It's a glorious city. What glory
is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ in that He made peace
between Himself, between God and man? He's the Prince of Peace. He's the Prince of Salem. It's
called New Jerusalem. This city of God is called New
Jerusalem. in retrospect to old Jerusalem
or earthly Jerusalem. It's called also a holy city,
the holy city, New Jerusalem, called New Jerusalem. John saw
the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.
This is a habitation of God. This is a habitation of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the saints in Him. It's this New Jerusalem,
a beautiful city. It's beautiful because of its
inhabitants. the Lord Jesus Christ. He's beautiful. That's what the
preacher said in the book of Ecclesiastes. He's beautiful.
He said he's altogether lovely. He's a good king. He's a good
prince. He loves his subjects. He loves his kingdom. He's not a tyrannical dictator,
but he only does that which is right, which is good in every
respect for all of the citizens of his city. He never, never
does anything to harm them, to hurt them, to cause them grief. He always does that which is
right. A holy city, a spiritual city, And it's called Zion, Z-I-O-N,
also written sometimes spelled S-I-O-N, which is the city of
God, the spiritual city of God. In the Old Testament Scriptures
you read of Jerusalem, sometimes it will be called Zion, sometimes
Zion, but it really is speaking of and points to a symbolical
of the remnant of grace the remnant of god those will be saved the
remnant according to an election of grace called new jerusalem
spiritual israel this is the church of god the spiritual church
of god the builder of this city now i'm interested in this city
and it came to my attention i began to study this and i know what
a city is i know what a city is and i know what a as far as
an earthly city, but I didn't know much about this spiritual
city. And I became interested in it. And I wonder if somebody builds
something, I wonder who built it. Somebody built this city,
and the builder is the Lord Jesus Christ. The builder is God. He built this city. In Hebrews
11, 8 through 10, by faith Abraham when he was called to go out
into a place which he should have received for an inheritance.
See, this city is our inheritance. It's the city of God. That's
where we live and where we're going to live. And see, that's
our home and our future home. It's going to be with the Lord
Jesus Christ. He obeyed and he went out not knowing whether
he went. That's kind of like we are. It's like I said in the
outset, if heaven was right here, we couldn't see it, because we're
in this natural flesh. But he didn't know where he was,
he just knew the promise of God. He believed God. That's what
the Scripture said, he believed God. By faith he soldiered in
a land of promise. He soldiered in a land that God
had promised that he would eventually, eventually arrive at the place
appointed by God. He would eventually arrive at
the place appointed and determined by God. And where we're eventually
going to arrive is the place determined by God. We're going
to arrive in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
city of God. That's our destination. That's
where we're going. Believers, that's where believers
are going. For he looked for a city. He
looked for a city. God had told him. He said, you're
going to a city. That's the reason he knew that.
That's the reason he looked for one. Because God told him and
he believed God. He looked for a city which had
foundations. Not earthly foundations. Not
built on this earth. Whose builder and maker is God. That's what he said in Hebrews
11 verse 10. The builder and the maker of this city is God.
Now that's something to look forward to, isn't it? We're going
to a city, a glorious city, whose builder and maker is God. Now
whatever it looks like, whatever is there, whatever have or it
shall be, of which we know very little, the builder and maker
of it is God. I don't know exactly how it will
be when we get there. I've read lots and lots of books
of what writers have said, and they make it sound good, but
there's a lot of speculation. And I suppose it's not wrong
to speculate as long as we say this is speculation. But the
truth of the matter is this, that this city is so glorious
and so wonderful and so beautiful that it cannot be described. It's incomprehensible. And the
Lord, only what He has told us in this book, is the only hint
of what it looks like. And all of those things, like
the streets of gold, the walls of jasper, the gates of pearl,
is to transfer to us some idea of the beauty of it. This
is like the bread and the wine, the blood and the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's to give us some idea, some
sense of the beauty of it, of how this looks to the flesh.
Beautiful. I've seen some beautiful sights,
haven't you? Beautiful sunsets, beautiful sunrises, some beauties. There are some beautiful things
in this world that God has made. And he made the gold, and he
made the silver, and he made the jasper, he made the rubies.
And all of these things he's made is to give us some idea
of the beauty that will be there. And all of these point, not to
a place, not to a building, not to a street, but they point to
a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. to the Lord Jesus Christ. The
builder and maker is God. The Lord Jesus Christ, God sent
Him into this world. He became flesh. He became flesh. He became what
He had never been before. Isn't that amazing? He had never been flesh before,
but He remains what God made him. He remains flesh. He's a man. This man ever lives
to make intercession for us. This man entered in to help himself
in the presence of God for us. This man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
this man. The builder and maker is God.
Beautiful. Beautiful for situation. High. Glorious. Wondrous. Everything about Him is beautiful.
In Him is the very epitome of holiness, purity. In Him is righteousness, perfect,
intrinsic righteousness, thoughtless righteousness. In Him is justice. Everything about Him is just.
Scriptures even call Him the Just One. In this city, there's
holiness, righteousness, justice, purity, perfection. That's hard for us to comprehend,
isn't it? This is what we're going to be in the presence of.
We're going to be in the presence of a person. To a child of God
that God has given faith, understanding, I don't think it would do a thing
for me to know that I was going to walk on streets made out of
literal gold. I don't think that would have any attraction to
me at all. But the gold speaks of His deity, His deity. The silver speaks of His humanity,
His person in the flesh. And we could go through all those
stones and the pearls and all that. He's the pearl of great
price. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the glory of that city,
and we'll see that. and His church, His church in
Him. In Matthew 16, 18, the Lord spoke
unto Peter and He said, Thou that art Peter, I say unto you
that thou art Peter, upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Oh boy, the
Catholics went to town on that, didn't they? They said the Lord
built a church on Peter. No, he's talking about himself.
He said, upon this rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, upon this
truth, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
It's my church, a glorious church. You see, he's going to present
to speak glorious things to that city. It's a glorious church.
It's a glorious church. The builder of the church is
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God. I know this is Christ
because in 1 Corinthians 10 and 4, and they did all drink the
same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock
that followed them. And that rock was Christ. One hymn writer
put it like this, rock of ages, cliff for me, let me hide myself
in thee. We're not only hidden in the
Lord Jesus Christ now, we'll be hidden in Him then. When somebody looks at the Lord
Jesus Christ, they're going to see His glory, not the glory
of this man, not the glory of the flesh, not the glory of this
preacher or that preacher or Peter or Paul or James or John.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be the glorious one.
He's the glory of that city. And the foundation of that city,
we know who built it. And the foundation of that city,
it's a sure foundation. It's a sure foundation because
He is that foundation stone. The Lord Jesus Christ is. He's
the foundation of that city. The foundation of our salvation,
of our hope, And of our glorification, the foundation of it is the Lord
Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 28, 16, Therefore thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in sign for a foundation of stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. This city
has a sure foundation, one that will not crumble, one that's
everlasting, it's sure, it's certain. He that believeth shall
not make haste, or he'll not be confounded, or not be ashamed,
because that foundation is not going to crumble, it's not going
to crush, it's not going to perish. Now those that have a foundation
that somebody else built other than Christ, those that are seeking
a city that's not the city of God, they're going to be ashamed,
they're going to be confounded, because they put their hope and
their trust in someone other than Christ. In Isaiah 44 and 28, he said
of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and Cyrus is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ here, and he shall perform all my pleasure. Oh,
this is a glorious city because all the pleasure of God is performed
in this city. All the pleasures of God are innumerable in this city. All
the pleasures of God are without—they're not diluted, they're without
mixture. The pleasures of God are all
freely, freely given in this city and experienced in this
city. He shall perform all my pleasure,
even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple
Thy foundation shall be laid. And I know that there was a literal
foundation laid, and there was a literal temporal build. But
that was only built and laid to tell us of a greater foundation,
of a greater city, of a greater building. And that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. The foundation shall be laid.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into this earth. And if you would
say that in time there was a foundation laid, it was when the Lord Jesus
Christ came and fulfilled all righteousness for His people
when He came and put away all of His people's sin by sacrifice. This is the foundation of our
hope and our life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And no other foundation
can man lay than it is laid, which is Jesus Christ. There
is no other foundation except this sure foundation, the foundation
of God. In 2 Timothy 2.19, the foundation
of God stands sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. It's sure. Nothing uncertain about it. Nothing
sure. I'm uncertain about a lot of
things. I'm going to go vote. But by my vote, I'm sure not
going to determine the outcome. I know that. And you know that. Surely you know that. I mean,
get out and vote, but know this, that God raises up kings and
sets them down. And He turns men wherever He
will, and His purpose will be accomplished. Rest in that. Please,
let's not worry. This is in the hands of God.
Lots of things are uncertain. I may never make it out that
door. Life is uncertain. We may never meet again. You
may get a phone call this week and say, Tommy's gone. That's real. That's reality.
But I'll tell you this, this life is uncertain as far as we're
concerned. But this city that has foundation,
which is Jesus Christ, It will never be shaken. It will never
be moved. It's certain. It's a sure foundation. And those that are in Him, that
He's given faith in Himself, that He's brought to Himself
and we're inhabitants of this city, we shall never inhabit
another. We shall always remain in His
presence. And we'll always enjoy the glory
and the beauty of this city. That'll never change. That will
never change. Never. Death can't even change
that. Death can't even change that.
The foundation of God standeth sure, the Lord knoweth them that
are His. 1 Peter 2, 6, Wherefore, also
it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in sign a chief
cornerstone. See, the cornerstone of this,
that's where the city began. Did you ever lay any block? You'd
lay the corners first, don't you? And then you'd put those
in between. He's the chief cornerstone. I
lay it in sign, the church chief cornerstone, elect precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. That
corner is not going to lean. If that corner leans, the whole
building will lean because it's all tied together. If that corner
of the world begins to lean, this building is going to lean.
Finally, it will all shift that way and fall. But not in this
city. Not in this building. You will
not be confounded or confused or ashamed because this building
is eternal in the heavens. This city is. And the light of
that city, he is the foundation stone, he is the cornerstone,
and he is the light of that city. The city has light. has light like you ain't never
seen. Light that is brilliant and bright
and revealing, yet it's not blinding. You know, sometimes you drive
into the sun, you drive west on 280 about when the sun's going
down, and man, you just, you wind up with spots jumping around
in your eyes if you don't have on shades. You can't look in
the sun. I've been sitting out on the
water and the sun shining down on the water and you look at
the water and it just about knocks your eyeballs out. The sun is
a wonderful thing, but boy you can't look at it. But God, the
Lord Jesus Christ is wonderful and He's brighter than ten million
suns, but you can sit and look at Him all the time and never
be blinded. He's the light of that city.
He's the light of that city. The city had no need of the sun. See, we won't need these natural
things. We won't need the sun and the moon and the stars and
all of them, and water, the earthly water. We won't need streets
of gold and walls of jasper and gates of pearl. We won't need
these things. The city had no need of the sun, neither of the
moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it.
And the Lamb is the light thereof, Revelation 21, 23. And this city,
boy, it's sure, it's steadfast, it's immovable, not going anywhere. And its inhabitants are safe.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is the light of that city. And it's
just, boy, everything's good. Everything's good. And where
does He inhabit that city? He's going to bring all of His
children. It's as good as done. He's going to bring all of His
children together. And we're going to enjoy. We enjoy now,
but we're going to enjoy more then. Because we'd be rid of
this flesh, this sin. He's the light of that city.
He's the light, the truth, the wisdom, the knowledge, all these
things. Light speaks of these things. John said this, he said,
I'm not that light. I'm not that light. But he said,
I sent to bear witness of that light. And that's what I'm trying
to do this morning, is to bear witness of that light. I'm not
that light. This earth is not that light.
That city is not found on this earth. You ain't going to find
a city like that on this earth, wherein dwells righteousness
and light and love. Everything good, holiness, the
only place you'll find that is in this city here, the city of
the scriptures, the city of God, because the Lord Jesus Christ
is that light. John 8, 12, see the world can't see this. The world can't see it, can't
see it at all, even though the light is shining. They can't
see it because the dead man can't see. You can shine a ten million candle pair light
right in the eyes of a dead man and hold his eyelids open and
shine them right in there. He won't blink. He won't even
see it. He's dead. He ain't going to see it. A dead
man just can't see it. Jesus spake unto them, saying,
I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. It's only
those that He's given life can see. You know, folks was right
around the Lord Jesus Christ. They followed Him. They ate with
Him. I mean, they just ran and rubbed elbows with Him, and they
didn't see Him. They didn't know Him. They didn't
have a clue. But boy, some of them did. I
remember one Paul did, didn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ just
opened up, gave him life, opened his eyes. Thomas, he walked up and he said,
Thomas, touch me. I don't know if Thomas even touched
him or not. But he said, my Lord and my God. He said, I am the light of the
world. In 1 John 1.5, He said, this then is the message that
we have of Him. This is the message. And declaring
to you that God is light, and He in Him is no darkness at all. In this city, in this kingdom,
in this province, in this tabernacle, however you read it, wherever
you read the Scripture, it's called different places, but
the city of God There's no darkness in it at all, none whatsoever. There's no dark corners. There's
no mysterious things that we don't trust, that we're apprehensive
about, because everything is light. Everything is light. Everything gives and radiates
the glory of God in Jesus Christ. He's the Lamb in the midst of
the throne. The Lord Jesus Christ is a ruler
and prince of this city. He's the Lamb in the midst of
the throne, Revelation 7, 17. His name is called Wonderful. His name is called Wonderful. the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. He's the Prince of this city. And he promised this. He said,
I'll be their God, and they will be my people. And
that's how it is in this city. He's our God. We worship We worship
Him. In this city, we worship Him
now in His Word, by His Spirit. And as He reveals Himself to
us, we worship Him with a new heart that He's given us. But
in this city, we'll do exactly what we're doing now. We'll worship
Him then. A believer will never stop doing
what he's doing. We believe now, we believe then. We worship Him now, we worship
Him then. Everything in this city is glorious.
Everything in the gospel, because it's the gospel of Christ, is
glorious. The city of God is where we're
going to dwell together. We're going to dwell together,
where all eyes are going to be focused on Him. All hearts are
going to be in agreement. There's not going to be any dissension,
no division, no arguing over doctrine. There's not going to
be any little preachers and big preachers, little churches and
big churches, none of that. There's going to be one object
of worship, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. in the city of
God. And really, that's the way it
is here. Our just one object of true worship, and that's Christ. Anything else is not worship.
Let's bow our heads.