Bibles and turn to Revelation
21. Revelation 21. I'm actually going to be looking
at verse 7 and 8. But in light of verse 7 and 8,
John the Apostle, John had said concerning hearing, He that sits
upon the throne, in verse 5, and said this, Behold, this is
the Lord speaking, I make all things new. I make all things new. Now, in
light of Him making all things new, the Scripture says, in the continuance
of the Lord speaking in verse 7, "...he that overcometh shall
inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my
Son." Now, if your Bible gives the interpretation of the all
things there in verse 7, you'll notice that it's actually these
things. So he said in verse 5, I make
all things new. Verse 7 says, He that overcometh
shall inherit these things. Now this morning I'd like to
consider about the Lord Jesus Christ making all things new
and the inheritance of those things. I'd like to consider
three things. Number one, I'd like to consider
that these things are the inheritance of the saints. These things are
the inheritance. We're going to talk about what
they are. Secondly, I'd like to consider what's the qualification those that inherit these things. What's their qualification for
it? And then thirdly, what is the great reward of this inheritance? All right? These things. I make all things new. These things. That is, those
things that God has made new. These things are an inheritance. He that upcometh shall inherit
these things. Believers possess a new heart. That's what the Lord said. I'll
give them a new heart. That is a new will. Man that has the will of the
old man, that will that absolutely resists God, will not come to
God. I need a new will. I need a new
desire. I'll give them a new heart. I'll
give them a new spirit, a new life. You must be born again. These that Almighty God has everlastingly
always loved and called out of darkness, they sing a new song.
A new song of praise. They sing that song that says,
You're worthy. You're worthy to receive all
the honor, glory, praise because we couldn't and we wouldn't have
done anything for ourselves. We would have perished. They
sing a new song. The Scripture says they possess
a new name that no one knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. I've thought about that. They
possess a new name that no one knoweth. and saving he that receiveth
it." It's a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they hear it. He said, I know My sheep. And I call them by name. And when they hear the voice
of the Master, they recognize it. They recognize the voice
of the Master. And they recognize His call to
them. And it's personal. They know
that personal relationship that Christ has with them. And He calls them. I've given them a new name and
nobody knows it. Nobody recognizes it. Nobody
recognizes the call of another. I can't recognize God's call
to you, Mitch. He calls you. You know the name
that He calls you by. That's what it is. He said, I'm going to make a
new heaven and a new earth. Look at that. New, fresh, without
the presence of sin. But all these things are absolutely
the eternal possession of the saints. They've always been the
possession of the saints. But though we possess in regenerating
grace these things right now, we possess them now. New name,
new heart, new spirit, new song. He shall make a new heaven and
a new earth. But there are some things that we know right now
in time. But the Scripture says that He
says, I make all things New. There's going to come a time
when these things will be new in the sense that there's no
presence of sin anymore. I know some things now, Mark,
but there's some things I'm going to know. I see in part, I know
in part, these things that have eternally been the possession
of God's elect. Now, we've been chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. We've always been secure
in our surety of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One that the Father trusted
in first. Oh, I think what a Scripture. The Father trusted Him. The Lord Jesus Christ in that
everlasting covenant entered into that covenant with this
agreement, I will redeem them. I'll answer for them. I'll live
for them. I'll die for them. I'll save
them. And the Father trusted that and
justified them freely. by His grace, that is,
decreed them to be those that did not have to answer. The law
itself would find them without guilt and trusted them, trusted
Him, trusted Christ for them everlastingly, justified freely. How long has God's people been
justified? How long has the law had no hold to cause them to
have to answer to the law. How long have the elect, how
long have they had to not answer to the law? How long? They've
never had to answer to the law. God's never looked upon them
as answerable. The everlasting surety He has
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we, when it
says should be, I've said this before, that we are holy without
blame before Him in love in Christ. Being in our representative. He's always been our federal
head. And I'll tell you this, we've
always had an inheritance in Him. There's going to be an indescribable
difference in glory. We'll be without the body of
death. We're not going to possess anymore
the presence of sin. But our inheritance has always
been there. The Scripture says in verse 4,
we looked at God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, no
more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain for the former things are passed away. Let me
tell you something. You are actually witnessing the
unfolding of what Almighty God has everlastingly decreed appointed,
determined before the foundation of the world. These things are not left to
man's decision, ability, will, whatever you want to say. Not
even to the point to where God, as men say, I heard a man say
this this morning concerning God's appointment, predestination,
choosing. He said God looked and saw who
would choose Him. Therefore, He chose them, predestinated
them to be the elect. Well, you can say it any way
you want to say it, but I'm going to tell you this. If you believe
that, then you believe in salvation by works. that God looked everlastingly
and saw that you would do something, therefore He did something. We're not saved by works. We're
saved by His works, not by ours. We're saved by His grace, not
by our choice. We're willing in the day of His
power, but I'll tell you this, Almighty God is the author and
the finisher of salvation. Author and finisher of our faith.
These things. We possess an inheritance. These things. 1 Corinthians 3.21
says, Therefore let no man glory in men. That includes yourself. I made a decision. Let no man glory in men, for
all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,
or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things
to come. All things are yours. And you are Christ's. Christ
is God's. The ministry of the gospel. The
present order of this world. Life. Death. All things are the
brides. What do you mean by that? I mean
this, that the direction of this world's economy, life in this
world, death in this world, the ministry of the preaching of
the Lord Jesus Christ, all things, all these things are so directed
and maintained to the promotion. of the great work of redemption
and salvation for God's elect. Everything that's happening.
Everything that's happening in this world. The economy that
is in the pits right now. Whatever you want to say. You call it whatever you want.
Unrest over in the Middle East. Call it whatever you want. All
things are working together. All things work together for
good to them that love God. to them who are the called according
to His purpose. And I'll tell you, the end result
is going to certainly be shown to be for the good of God's heritage. And I'm telling you, God has
a heritage. I want you to look at 1 Peter
1, 3 and 4. 1 Peter. This is the way that it is. 1
Peter 1, verse 3 and 4. Be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten
us again." That means regenerated. "...unto a lively hope by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fate is not a way reserved
in heaven for you." How long has God had an inheritance for
His people? Now you know that. God doesn't change. How long
have they had an inheritance? They've always had an inheritance.
We have an inheritance in Christ. The Scripture says in Romans
8, 17, And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him that we may
also Be glorified together. Inheritance. Inheritance. All things are yours. What are the all things? I just
can't wait any longer. I want to tell you what it is.
You know, we start talking about inheritance. these things. Inheritance. And I can start
giving you examples. I can start naming things. Eternal
life, presence and possession in heaven and naming things. What is the conclusion? What is the absolute totality
of these things." Make all things new. He that overcometh shall
inherit these things. All things. What is the inheritance of God's people? It's God. It's God Himself. Listen to this Scripture. And
if children, then heirs. Heirs of God. God Almighty is the inheritance. Therefore, all things are yours. Use that belief. Almighty God
is the inheritance. That's what he told Abraham.
He said, Abraham, I am your great and exceeding reward. If Almighty God is the inheritance,
that's everything. That's all things. We can name
them and name them and name them and it will never get away from
the fact that Almighty God If children, then heirs. Heirs of
God. I'm going to show you this in
a minute. The truthfulness, the completeness
of being an heir of God. He is our possession. What is our inheritance? God
Almighty is our inheritance. Totally in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What's the qualification for
those that inherit these things? What's the qualification? What
is it going to take for it to be proven that Almighty God is
my inheritance? What evidence will it take for
me to behold my inheritance? Well, here's what verse 7 says,
"...he that overcometh." He, I love this definition, overcomes. Here's it is. He that prevails
the scrutiny of God's law. He that prevails. He that overcomes. He that overcomes. He that overcomes
is the one mark that the law of God can scrutinize and say,
I find no fault." That's an overcomer. He that overcomes. He that prevails
when the law of Almighty God looks and says, justified. No charge. Romans 3 verse 4 says,
"...Yea, let God be true, every man a liar, as it is written,
that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome,
be victorious when thou art judged." Lord, when you look, David in
Psalm 51, this psalm right here was written after David had gone
in. In fact, I think it says that
to Bathsheba. Yeah. In chapter 51, it says
right here in just the writing, right above the Scripture, to
the chief musician in the psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet
came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. This is what
David said. Have mercy upon me, O God. According
to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgression. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity. and cleanse me from my sin, for
I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is ever before me. Against
Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight,
that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear
when Thou justest." Lord, that You might be declared right,
just. When You look upon me in the
light of Your blessed and holy law, Wash me. Wash me in the fountain
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the only way
that my transgression will be blotted out. That I might be
justified before you. That I might prevail before you. That I might overcome before
you. He that overcometh. But how? How can I overcome? How? The Scripture says back
in Revelation 21, he that overcometh, he that prevails, he that conquers,
he that gets the victory, only those are going to have
an inheritance. Only those are going to inherit
all things. He that overcometh. The only
way that I will ever be said to overcome is to be found in
Him who is my righteousness. Here is the way. Here is the
only way that a man can be said to overcome. Listen, I can't
even get through a prayer without wandering. I can't even
attempt to speak to God without my mind floating off. And right there,
if judged on just my faithfulness to pray, I've been lost. I'm talking about
prevailing before God's law. I'm talking about every dot,
every cross T, every I's dot and every T's cross. I'm talking
about, Chuck, never deviating. Never, never, never, never, never
deviating one bit. How can I overcome He that overcometh? Listen to this, Romans 8, 37.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. How? How are we more than conquerors
through Him? Here it is, John 16, 33. In the
world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have
overcome. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I've
prevailed. I've conquered the world. I have
obtained, I have recovered for the elect, for the arrangement,
that which was promised them. We're more than conquerors through
Him. We're more than victorious through
Him. 1 John 5 verse 4 says, Whatsoever
is born of God, whatsoever is born of God, Whatsoever is born
of God overcometh the world. They do overcome. It is made
evident that they are overcomers. Whatsoever, whosoever is called
out of darkness, whosoever believes, whosoever the Spirit of God imparts
life, whosoever Almighty God reveals Himself to, they are declared, shown to be, evidenced
to be those that overcome the world. They are overcomers. How can that be? This is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. I tell you, the strength of the
church to overcome, to prevail over the scrutiny of God's law
over the wiles of the devil, over self, this world, is the
Lord Jesus Christ who is our strength. Now when John said
this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, it's
not because of our faith. It's not because of our faith
that we are said to overcome. That would make faith a work. If you said it's because I believed,
that I have overcome, that God has declared me to overcome.
It's because I believe. That works. No. You are shown to be an overcomer
being represented by the Lord Jesus Christ who has overcome
the world. And faith in Him, faith that
is from above, faith that is given to you to believe, by which it's evidenced that
the Lord Jesus Christ, as your federal head, overcame the world
and God accepted His overcoming and imputed it to you, charged
it to you. His righteousness is charged
to you. You didn't do anything. You're saved by grace through
faith. You understand it by faith. It's
not of yourself. Why? Because we boast in it. Grace. Faith is given to every
sinner regenerated by the Spirit of God. He that overcometh. And we overcome, I'll tell you
this, only in our substitute, our representative. We come to
Christ by faith. Leave Him by faith. In coming
to Christ by faith, the sinner, regenerated by the Spirit of
God, sees Him to be our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption before Almighty God. He that overcometh. How
do I overcome? I overcome in a substitute. He that overcometh. shall inherit all things." All
things? This last point is the proof
of what I've said concerning the inheritance of all things.
And I entitled this last point, or this point was, the great
reward of our inheritance. Here's what He said in verse
7, I will be His God and He shall be mine. Son. He that overcometh
shall inherit all things." What is that, Lord? What are
those all things? Here it is. I will be His God. He shall be my Son. Imagine the wonder of that verse
of Scripture that I quoted a while ago. when Jehovah made this promise
to Abraham and to all objects of God's mercy, just like Abraham. Abraham was a chosen object of
God's mercy. Fear not, Genesis 15.1. Fear
not, Abram. I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. your reward, your benefit, your
portion by lot. I like this one in that definition
when I said I'm your reward. I am the payment for the completion
of the contract in that everlasting covenant. This is the great reward
that God's elect receive through Him who has overcome the world. This is our reward. Almighty
God. The payment of the contract.
Psalm 16.5 says, The Lord, that is the capital L-O-R-D, the Lord
Jehovah, Father, Son, Spirit, Jehovah. In this verse too, I want to
tell you right now, this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Jehovah
the Lord is the portion. This is Christ speaking. He is
the allotment of mine inheritance. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the man. The man, Christ Jesus. Totally
God. Totally man. And here is our
representative. This is our federal head. This
is the man who sits now in glory. This is what he said. His words to His Father and our
Father through Him. This is His words concerning
His obedience. The Lord is the portion, is the
allotment of My inheritance. He is My possession and of My
cup. And Thou maintainest, Father,
My lot. those things that are assigned.
You maintain all that you've everlastingly loved and given
me because of my obedience. You are. You're my portion. I tell you, these blessed words
spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to His Father as our
federal head, you are my portion. Almighty God in that everlasting
covenant to show mercy chose them in Christ and redeemed them
by Christ and called them to Christ. Their reward is God. Heirs. Heirs of God. Boy, I tell you, when you bring
it right down to the heart of what the inheritance is, heirs
of God, One day, by the grace of God,
I'll understand that and see Him as He is and know Him. As children of the Father in
Heaven, we inherit by virtue of our joint heirship with the
Lord Jesus Christ all the riches of the covenant of grace. Heirs
of God. Joint heirs with Christ. The
Lord says, You are my portion, and He's our portion being found
in Him. We have that inheritance by virtue
of our oneness with the obedient servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians in closing. 1 Corinthians. I thought about this this morning.
1 Corinthians 13.1. I'll just read this to you. Though
I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and I have not charity,
I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." If I speak
with the tongues of angels, men, and I don't have love, God is
love. God is love. So this is saying
right here, if I speak with the tongues of men and angels and
I don't have God, if I don't have God, it's my inheritance.
If I don't have Christ, Christ is here. How do I possess Almighty
God? I possess Him who is formed in
me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. If I don't have God as my inheritance,
I'm just a sounding brass, tinkling cymbal. Almighty God, He that
overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be His God. He shall be my Son, but the fearful
Those who fall away, the fearful, those who fall away being without
root in the day of adversity. The reason I say that definition
right there, those that fearful, you remember when the sower went
to sow and some of it fell by the wayside. It was just taken
away and they just didn't even consider it. Some of it fell
amongst stony ground. and sprung up quickly. But it
said when adversity, when the sun came out, the adversity concerning
the gospel, it wilted because there was no root. Fearful. Fearful. The fear of man is a
snare. But the fearful, the unbelieving,
that is, Mockers with lip service only. The Lord says, they honor
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. The abominable. All without a
robe. Without the robe of Christ's
righteousness. Murderers. Haters. Haters of God. despises of God. This is the
God set forth in this book. Sovereign God. Everybody claims
to love God. Oh, I love God as you conceive
Him to be in your mind. But what about the God of this
Bible? What about sovereign God? What about the God who says,
I do as I will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants
of earth? What about Him? What about Him who says, I have
the right to do what I will with my own? What about Him? No, He
said, no, I hate that God. Whoremongers. All who find pleasure
in any other except Christ. Whoremongers. Adulterers. Sorcerers. Prisoners. Prisoners to sin. Prisoners to this world. Idolaters. Worshippers. of any other God, and then liars,
false witnesses who cling to a false gospel. The fearful,
the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers,
the sorcerers, idolaters, all liars should have their part
in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is
the second death. And here's the bottom line. Without
a doubt, there is not one person in this room that has been called
out by the grace of God that all those things couldn't
have been said about every one of us. And there is within every
believer a nature that still believes that very thing. All
those things right there. But those found in Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ has paid the guilt of it. He's paid the debt
of it. And God has given you new life,
a new heart, But those that die in that state without their guilt
being paid for. And how do you know whether or
not they have or haven't? What differentiates between the
two? Here's what it is. They will
not leave this world without vowing by faith. and confessing
what they are by nature and calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ to
save them in spite. Have mercy on me. They will not leave this world
trusting in themselves that they are righteous. They won't. They'll
cast themselves upon the mercy of God and say, Father, just
like David, my sin is ever before me. wash me throughly, cleanse
me, and I'll be as white as snow." Or, if I have not you to answer
for me, if I have not you to put away my guilt, I'm hopelessly
lost. That's a sign of a believer.
Almighty God calls them out of darkness. And I'll tell you this,
they will relinquish, they will cast away everything they formerly
thought that their righteousness was built upon. That's a fact. I know Paul the Apostle said,
he said, all these things that I trusted, dung, dung. May Almighty God have mercy on
our souls for Christ's sake. Amen. All right. Let's take a
few minutes break.