Good morning. Now we're on time. Let's open this morning's service
with number 62 from your hardback teminal, crown him with many
crowns. Let's all stand together. Number 62 in the hardback teminal. Crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. ? Crown him the Lord of love ?
Behold his hands and side ? Rich wounds yet visible above ? In
beauty glorified ? No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight
But downward bends his wandering eye That mystery so bright Crown
him the Lord of life, who triumphed o'er the grave, who rose victorious
to the strife for those he came to save. His glories now we sing,
Who died and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And
lives that death may die. crowned him the Lord of heaven,
one with the Father known, one with the Spirit through him given
from yonder glorious throne. ? To Thee be endless praise ?
For Thou for us hast died ? Be Thou, O Lord, through endless
days ? Adored and magnified Please be seated. Good morning. Let's open our Bibles together
to Isaiah chapter 66. Isaiah 66. As you know, it's been very difficult
for me to move on from Isaiah. I so appreciated Robert Horton,
not Robert Horton, Robert Hawker. Sorry, Robert. Robert Hawker, one of my favorite
writers, concludes his commentary on the book of Isaiah by saying,
Farewell, Isaiah. Farewell, our dear brother. Farewell,
thy prophet of God, whom has spoken the words of truth to
our souls. What a blessing. We often find ourselves going
back to Isaiah, so we'll do that. But for now, this morning will
be our final message in this book as we've tried to go through
verse by verse. I want us to pray before we begin.
And before we do that, I want to welcome a dear friend and
brother to our congregation. Michael Bolton has moved here
from California. Michael's around here somewhere.
Where did I see him? Oh, all the way in the back corner. Michael,
we're glad you're here, brother. He starts a new job on Monday
and will be living up in the Lake Mary area. So I encourage
you all to get to know Michael. All right, let's pray together.
Our merciful Heavenly Father, oh, how hopeful we are that you
would be pleased this morning to rend the heavens. to open
up to us the mystery of the gospel, to reveal once again to our hearts,
to our souls, the glory of thy dear son, to cause us to look
in faith to him and to rest all the hope of our salvation on
him. We are completely dependent upon
thy Holy Spirit. to accomplish that blessing in
our hearts. And so, Lord, we pray that you
would enable us to forget about ourselves in this hour and to
hear your voice spoken from your word to our hearts. Open that
which no man can shut. Put away our sins through the
sacrifice of thy dear son. Give us hope in knowing that
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us of all sin. For it's
in his name we pray, amen. The question that I want to try
to answer this morning in this hour is who has reason to hope? that the promises spoken by God
through the prophet Isaiah are for them. Another way to say
that would be, how do I know that I have eternal life? And how do I know that the new
heaven and the new earth is for me? Now, if you ask a Jehovah's
Witness that, they would say, well, I'm working on trying to
get into that 144,000. If you ask a freewheeler that,
they would say, well, the hope is that I made a decision and
I accepted Jesus as my savior, and therefore, I know that I'm.
If you ask a reformer, they would say, well, you know, you have
to evaluate your life and get the assurance of your salvation
from that. What does God say? What does
God say this new heaven and new earth is for? Who is it for? Here it is. Look at verse 22
of Isaiah chapter 66. For as the new heavens and the
new earth, which I will make. Now, the Lord not only makes
the new heavens and the new earth, but he makes those fit for the
new heaven and the new earth. And if he doesn't make it, it
won't be made. So this isn't our work, this is his work. And this is how he leads through
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet Isaiah, to conclude
this entire book of the gospel. He points us to the new heaven
and to the new earth, which he will make, which he will make. And that new heaven and new earth,
which I will make shall remain. It's not going to pass away.
The heaven and the earth as we know it will pass away. But the
new heaven and the new earth which He will make shall remain,
saith the Lord. There's our hope. This is not
my opinion or your opinion or anyone else's opinion. This is
what God says. That's where we hang all our
hopes. What sayeth the scriptures? What
has God said? Doesn't matter what anybody else
believes. What does God say? So shall your seed and your name
remain. Remain forever. Everything in
this world is temporal. You're temporal. I'm temporal.
Everything's decaying, everything's coming to an end. The heaven
and the earth as we know it is going to be consumed by fire.
But this new heaven, that's the one I'm interested in. I'm interested
in the new heaven and the new earth because the Lord says that
heaven's going to remain forever. And it shall come to pass that
from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another
shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." So
all those fit for the new heaven and the new earth are going to
worship me from the new moon to the new moon, from Sabbath
to Sabbath. In other words, the language
here is 24-7 for eternity. My people are going to worship
me. They're going to bow before me. I hear people talking about
going to heaven to meet so-and-so. And, you know, I mentioned this
a few weeks ago. I said if heaven is nothing more
than an approved version of what we have here, that doesn't give
me much hope. If heaven is nothing more than
a family reunion, I've been to family reunions before. I'm not
getting excited about that. Heaven has seen him. Worshipping
him in the fullness of his glory being made like him being rid
of the sinful flesh Now that excites my soul that gives me
hope and Then it cannot be overlooked
that the Lord in his divine wisdom Closes out this entire book with
a word of warning As he closes out the entire canon of scripture,
you remember how that closes out. When the Lord brings this
whole book of the gospel to an end, he says, if any man adds
to the words written in the book of this prophecy, the curses
of this book will be added unto him. In other words, if any man
adds to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the
hope of their salvation, the curses of this book will be added
to him. And if any man takes away, from the prophecies of
this book, so his name shall be taken from the book of life. In other words, he has no hope
of salvation. And so it is with the book of Isaiah, the Lord
concludes this book of the gospel with this warning, verse 24,
and they shall go forth, talking about those who are going to
be worshiping him for all eternity, and look upon the carcasses of
the men that have transgressed against me, for their worms shall
not die, neither shall their fire be quenched. They shall
be unabhoring unto all flesh." I met someone recently who said
they believed in heaven but didn't believe in hell. You can't have heaven without
hell. This is you can't have life without death, you can't
have the gift of eternal life without the judgment and wrath
of God. And the Bible teaches both, doesn't it? Now I want
to know what God says about how I'm going to escape the wrath
and judgment of God and how I'm going to have hope of knowing
that my name, my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And
the Lord spoke to him. Remember the disciples, they
came back rejoicing because the demons were subject unto them.
And the Lord said, don't rejoice that the demons are subject unto
you. Don't rejoice in that you see these temporal things, but
rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven. And do
I have reason to rejoice that my name is written in heaven,
that this new heaven and new earth is not going to be anything
like the old heaven and old earth that you and I know about in
our experience is for me. turn me to 2nd Peter chapter
3 this is the most pressing need isn't it I mean I know we all have needs
we have we have the disappointment of our own sin we have relationship
issues that we desperately want to be made better we have financial
problems, we have physical problems, all those problems, all those
temporal problems are like this temporal earth, they're going
to come to an end. The greatest need that I have, the greatest
need that I have is to know that I have a place in the new heaven
and the new earth. And if I'm able to set my affections
on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of
God, then whatever the Lord has ordained for me and whatever
things happen to me and whatever things I do in this world, I
can have hope of knowing that I have everlasting life. Look what Peter says in 2 Peter
chapter 3, in verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise.
Oh, aren't you glad? Our God cannot lie. every promise
he makes you can you can hang your soul on the promises of
God and that's what we're doing, that's what faith is. Faith is
believing God. Believing what God says. Who
else are we going to be able to believe for the hope of our
salvation? The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise as some men count slackness. but it's long-suffering
to us-ward. Don't miss that. These promises
are for us-ward. The promises of God are not for
the world. They're for those that He saves
out of the world. The world has no reason to have
hope in the promises of God. Those that are in Christ can
trust. This is for us-ward. It's amazing
to me how people will take this verse of Scripture and they'll
pull out a portion of it and they'll say, see there, it's
not God's will that any should perish but that all should come
to the knowledge of the truth. It's God's will that everybody
is to be saved. No, it's for us-ward. Look what he says, but
as long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any of us-ward
should perish and none of us-ward. You see, whatever God's not willing
to happen is not gonna happen. And whatever God is willing to
happen is going to happen. God's will always reigns, always. He hath done, past tense, whatsoever
he wills with the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the
earth. No man can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
reigns to say that God wills all men to be saved but he's
not able to get it done is to put man on the throne of God
and to make man to be God and to strip God. Someone wrote me
recently and said, well you can't rob God of his glory, you can't
rob Christ of his glory, you can if you give it to man. If
you give it to man you've done that, you've robbed Christ of
his glory. Yes, he has essential glory in
his nature, and that cannot be diminished, not by an ounce.
But when man says that God's willing for everybody to be saved,
but he can't get it done unless you cooperate with his will,
then your will becomes stronger than God's will, and that's not
our God. That's not our God. He's not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. Everyone that
God chose in the covenant of grace, everyone for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ shed his precious blood, they're all going to be
brought to repentance. They're all going to have their
minds changed in the new birth. They're going to have their minds
changed about who they are. They're going to have their minds
changed about who God is. They're going to have their minds
changed about how it is that God saves sinners. Because until
the Lord gives us a changed mind, and that's what the word repentance
means, until the Lord gives us a changed mind, we deceive ourselves
in thinking that there's something good about us. We deceive ourselves
in thinking that God's hands are tied until we let Him have
His way. We deceive ourselves in thinking
that God's looking for something other than the shed blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. But when
the Spirit of God comes, He will convict the world of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. You see, whatever is not of faith
is sin. Whatever is not of faith. Men
think that sin is just the stuff they feel guilty about. Just
the bad things they've done in their lives. The mother of all
sin, the root of all sin, the sin that doth so easily beset
us is the sin of unbelief. And when the Lord convicts us
of that, we realize, Lord, oh, I need faith. I'm not a believer. I need for the Spirit of God
to do what you sent him to do, convict me of my sin. Show me
that my righteousness is in my substitute of righteousness because
I go to my father. I have a righteous advocate who
intercedes on my behalf and the only righteousness that God's
impressed with is the righteousness of his dear son. And that's the
ministry of the Holy Spirit of judgment because the prince of
this world has been judged. God's people have been delivered
from the grip of Satan. They have been. The Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished that. He's not going to lose one of
his sheep. He accomplished their salvation and in time he's going
to give every one of them repentance. Oh, aren't we hopeful today?
The Lord will give somebody repentance. Lord, change my mind. But, look at verse 10, but the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, That means
you don't expect, if you're expecting a thief, you're going to be up
and waiting for him, right? With the guns loaded and 9-1-1 call. I mean, what, this is, the Lord's
going to come like a thief in the night. People are going to
be sleeping, spiritually sleeping. They're not going to be looking
for him. Who's he coming for? He's coming for those that are
awake, spiritually watching and waiting for him. But the unbeliever
is going to be asleep. Oh, you know, I've got plenty
of time. In the witch, the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat and the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Now, that's God's Word as to
all this stuff that we spend so much time and energy worrying
about. Y'all have a dear brother, Lowry
Beese, who lives in Mississippi and watches our service. He's
probably watching right now. He's been watching for years. And
Lowry's house a couple months ago was struck by lightning. And Lowry's a year or two older
than I am, and he and his wife have been married as long as
Trisha and I have. we just he's cumulated a lot of stuff and
he said he said you know Greg he said just last week my wife
and I were talking and we were we were wondering what are we
going to do with all this stuff we've got we got a big house
just full of stuff he said we don't have to worry about it
anymore the house burned to the ground it's all gone And that's what the Lord's saying
right here. One day, lightning's gonna strike. Fire's gonna fall
from heaven. They're gonna burn up all this
stuff that we're so attached to. Seen then. Seen then, verse 11, that all
these things shall be dissolved. They're gonna be dissolved. You drop something in acid and
it just gets dissolved. Just go where to go. I don't
know. It got eaten up. It's gone. It's gone. If you knew beyond any shadow
of a doubt that tomorrow was going to be your last day of
life on this earth, what difference would that make in the way you live and what
you think? That's what the Lord is saying.
That's what the Lord is saying. Look what he says. Seeing then
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
we to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Oh, Lord, give
me the grace to number my days, to realize that, yeah, this is
all going to be dissolved. Looking for. and hastening unto
the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat. Nevertheless," here's our hope, nevertheless, we according
to his promise. Now, Peter is referring to Isaiah
chapter 66, the verses we just read to begin this message. Nevertheless,
we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Two things I'm looking forward
to in the new heaven and the new earth, seeing the Lord Jesus
Christ in all the splendor of His glory, worshiping Him as
I ought and not having any sin. wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Why can't we see him like we ought now? Why can't we worship
him like we should? Why can't we believe on him like
we ought? That's because of sin, isn't
it? And when sin's gone, we're going to see him in the fullness
of his splendor, the fullness of his glory. I has not seen
yet, nor is he heard, nor is it even entered into the imagination
of man, the things that he has prepared for us. What's it going
to be like? I don't know. I'm sure looking
forward to seeing. It's going to be glorious. We
don't have anything. Put out of your mind the thought
that heaven's an improved version of this world. That's what most
folks think. They just say, well, you know,
I'm not going to have the troubles and the problems that I have
here and everything is going to work. We're going to know
each other like we knew each other. We're going to say, do you remember
when such and such? No, we're not. No, we're not. We have no memory whatsoever
of this life. and we're not going to relate
to anybody in heaven like we would based on a relationship
we had with them here. When the Pharisees brought that
up, what did the Lord say? You do err not knowing the scriptures
nor the power of God. To think that a man's going to
know his wife in heaven as his wife? That's not the way it's
going to be. We're going to have perfect love
for one another. all in His presence. That's the
new heaven. That's the new earth. What is there here compared to
that? Nothing. Wherein, beloved, verse 14, seeing
that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of Him in peace. found of him in peace without
spot and blameless. Now those are the folks that
are going to go to heaven. Those that are found of him, found
of him. Oh Lord, find me, find me and
put me in Christ. because the only way that I'm
going to be blameless, the only way that I'm going to be without
spot is to be found in the Lamb of God who Himself is without
spot and blameless. The only way I'm going to stand
in the presence of a holy God is to have clean hands and a
pure heart and the only way that's going to be happening is if I'm
found of Him and found in Him. I'm sorry, Revelation Chapter
21. Revelation Chapter 21. Now John
is going to close the canon of scripture in the end of the book
of Revelation by quoting from the end of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah has 66 books, 66 chapters
in it. There are 66 books in the Bible.
And there's a transition that takes place in the book of Isaiah
at chapter 40. Remember chapter 40? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
And we can identify so many things of the Old Testament prophecies
in the first 39 chapters of Isaiah and so much of the New Testament
in the last 27 chapters, the revelation of Christ being made
more clear in the latter part of the book of Isaiah. The book
of Isaiah is a microcosm of the entire Bible is what I'm trying
to say. And here in Isaiah chapter 66, he closes in the 66th book
of the Bible words from the prophet Isaiah. And he says in verse
1, and I saw, 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 Now, the sea or the oceans that divide the continents
today represent in the scriptures two things. The sea represents
separation and there is a separation. There's a separation between
us and the new heaven and the new earth right now. As long
as we're here in this flesh, as long as we're in this world,
there's going to be a sea. And the second thing the sea
represents is the turbulence of this world. The way of the
Lord is through the seas. And how many times we see God
demonstrating the trials and troubles of this life through
the turbulence of the sea. And now he says, there's no more
sea, no more separation, no more tears, no more troubles. For I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, 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. What did
we read in Isaiah? The new heaven and the new earth
will remain, remain, and they shall gather together and worship
me. And God Verse four, shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. If we have any memory at all
of this world, we're not gonna get the tears out of our eyes. 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 for the former
things are passed away. Is that through your soul? Does
that give you hope? The former things are passed
away. They're gone. They're dissolved. They've been
burned up with a fervent heat, as Peter says. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I will make all things new. Now, John's still
quoting from Isaiah 66. I'm going to make this new heaven
and this new earth and I'm going to make all that are fit for
it. And he said unto me, write, for these words are true and
faithful. Whose words are you able to listen
to and believe without any doubt or without any question or without
any nuance, without any emphasis, Every word to be faithful and
true. You can't speak that way and
you don't listen that way to the voice of anybody, do you? You see, there's emphases and
nuances and untruths and misconceptions in every word that man speaks.
Doesn't matter who it is. God speaks, He says, these words
are faithful. They're true. Believe them. And He said unto me, it is done. I used this illustration last
week. You've heard it many, many times,
haven't you? The difference between man-made religion and the gospel
is the difference between do and done. Man-made religion is
all about something you do and you never know if you've done
enough. So you never have assurance. You never have assurance. Tell them it's done. It's finished. Everything that God requires
for a sinner to go to heaven was accomplished by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, I can rest there. I can have
hope in believing these words which are faithful and true.
It is done. I am the Alpha. You know that's
the first letter of the Greek alphabet and I'm the Omega. That's
the last letter. I'm the A to Z and everything
in between. Any word that you can spell with
the alphabet, that's me. That's me. Any word that's faithful
and true, that's me. Now what the Lord's saying here
is I'm the one who chose you. God placed you in Christ, in
the covenant of grace before Adam was ever made. That's the
beginning of our salvation. Began with the love of God toward
his people. And I'm the end of your salvation.
Not only, and I'm everything in between. I redeemed you, I
called you, I kept you, and I'm going to deliver you faultless
before the throne of God. I'm the Alpha and the Omega.
I'm everything. And when God shows you that Christ
is everything, you come to this conclusion, I am nothing. Nothing. He's everything. Everything. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Freely. Calm. Any man thirst? Calm. Drink. Drink. Now, I'll tell you who's not
thirsty. The people who are not thirsty are the people that are
having their thirst quenched satisfactorily by the things
of this world. Now, I know every one of us drink
from the bitter waters of the broken cisterns of this world.
But the difference between those that are thirsty and come to
Christ and those that are not, some folks are satisfied by that,
by that putrefying water. Some folks, some folks just drink
it up and they think, you know, this is life. This is everything. This is, isn't it wonderful?
And the child of God drinks of it and it's so bitter. Doesn't quench his thirst. He's
got to have something clean. He's got to have a river crystal
clear which flows from the throne of God. Got to have it. Got to have Christ. None of this
stuff meets my need. Verse 7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things and
I will be his God and he'll be my son. Now I met people before
that have overcoming ministries and by that what they mean is
that you've overcome sin. You've overcome an addiction,
you've overcome this and you've overcome that and you live a
higher life now. And you walk with your feet off
the ground and you just are, you're an overcomer, you're a
spiritual person who's learned by your effort and by the grace
of God. Most folks that believe they're
overcomers would not say that I did it all myself. God enabled
me. You know, they're like that publican
who, I mean, what did he say? God, I thank Thee that I'm not
as other men. Isn't that what he said? He gave
God the credit. He believed himself to be an
overcomer. He said, I fast twice a week. I give to the poor. I do good works. And I'm not like that publican
over there. He's not an overcomer. Look at him. He won't even look
up. He's beating himself on the breast and saying, God, have
mercy upon me. I'm the sinner. And the Pharisee
believed himself to be the overcomer, didn't he? So what does God mean
when He says, He that overcometh? He that overcometh. What is an
overcomer? If it's not that, if it's not
that self-righteous, pharisaical spirit of thinking, look, you
know, I'm not living in sin anymore. I'm an overcomer. What does God
say an overcomer is? Turn with me to 1 John chapter
5. Very clear. It's very clear, it's very simple. First John chapter 5, verse 4, for whatsoever is born
of God overcometh the world. whatsoever is born of God, overcome
with the world. Nicodemus, you've got to be born
of the Spirit. You've got to be born from above,
the new birth. I will make the new heaven and
the new earth, and I will make those fit for the new heaven
and the new earth, and the way I'm going to do it is I'm going
to cause them to be born again. And everyone that I cause to
be born again is an overcomer. You see, there's only two kinds
of people in this world, those who overcome the world and those
who are overcome by the world. And everyone who overcomes the
world is born of God. And everyone who doesn't overcome
the world wasn't born of God. Now I'm going to continue this
message in a few minutes. I had another message prepared
for this morning, for the second hour, from the book of Mark.
Maybe the Lord will enable us to incorporate both these messages
together, but I want to continue on this thought. What is it to
be an overcomer? Who is it that overcomes the
world? Because everyone that's born of God, everyone that's
born of God is an overcomer. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. All right, let's take
a break and we'll come back in a few minutes.