Well, it's good to see you this
morning. And again, we are truly thankful for another time we
have to meet together. I never cease to be amazed at
the wonder of our Lord that would enable
us to come together and meet. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we thank you this
morning in the name of the Lord Jesus, we realize that it is
by your mercy and grace and compassion that You have brought us together
this morning. And Father, as we come, we ask
You to speak through Your Son by Your Spirit according to Your
Word. Settle our hearts. Cause us to
hear and to see and to rejoice. We pray, Father, that You would
bless the Word to our understanding. And we ask these things for Christ's
sake. Amen. That which settles the heart of a believer when he actually
sees, and he does see the frailty of His old nature. When He beholds the fleeting
hours of this life, when He witnesses the emptiness
of this world, the only thing that settles His heart is God's
Word. That's it. That's the only thing,
the Word of God. David said in Psalm 119, 129,
Thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore doth my soul keep them. Your evidence, your witness,
thy testimonies, of all things, when it says wonderful,
actually the word is a miracle, that I hear from God, that God
speaks, and that God Almighty gives me a heart to hear. That is a miracle. Man by nature, He doesn't hear. He doesn't care. David said that, I've heard your
voice. The Lord said, My sheep hear
My voice. And if the Lord said, My sheep
hear My voice, you know what? They hear His voice. Oh, and they follow. You know
where they follow? They follow in their heart. All
men do what they want to do. Everybody does what they want
to do. What are you doing what you want to do? All that a believer knows by
grace, he knows by the written Word of God, which is the report
of the living Word. And it's wonderful. Everything that you that believe,
know. You know by God's Word. Well, here's the testimony right
here. Revelation 21. This is the testimony. David said your testimonies are
wonderful. They're a miracle. Here's the
testimony of the eternal state of all that God has everlastingly
loved, all that the Lord has everlastingly purposed to show
mercy to. All that God Almighty has everlastingly
loved in Christ and chosen in Christ and ordained that He was
going to save. All that God has saved, all that
the Lord has purposed to save, He saves them. There ain't no
ifs, ands, or buts with God. All that the Father giveth me,
the Lord Jesus Christ said, shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out." Now here is the way that it is. David said, your testimonies
are wonderful, a miracle. We looked last week, John verse
2, saw the holy city. holy, robed in Him who is His Bride's
righteousness. And I'm telling you, she's holy
for He is holy. If she's found in Him, she's
holy in Him. New Jerusalem. The city of God. Fresh. Not the city over in physical
Israel. This is the fresh city of God. This is the abode of Almighty
God. New Jerusalem coming down from
heaven established by God Chosen by God, redeemed by God,
quickened by God, kept by God, made ready, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And John said, now here's another
great testimony. Now this is the way it is. John said in verse 3, I heard
a great voice. out of heaven, saying, now you know, for a believer,
they are absolutely convinced. God spoke to John. John said, I heard a great voice.
And by the grace of God, believers right now, they will hear that
same voice. They hear it. You know it. Men
scoff. They laugh. I don't know what y'all think
y'all hearing. Y'all not hearing anything. Yeah, we do. Yes, we
do. 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." The Shepherd, the voice, the
great voice, that voice that only those with ears to hear,
man is born Adam has ears like this. But new ears. Fresh ears. The ears that Christ said, I
give. The hearing ear, the seeing eye.
They're both of the Lord. And they hear things that are
wonderful and marvelous. They hear things that are done
that they themselves know they can't do. That's what I hear. If you're telling me something
I can do, anybody can hear that. But I want to hear of mercy. I want to hear of grace. The voice of the Lord, the one
that they follow. But I'll tell you what He says.
Right here. I heard a great voice. What he
says. Turn with me to Leviticus 26.
Leviticus 26. What he says. I'll tell you this. That's wonderful. That's a miracle. Leviticus 26.11. And I will set my tabernacle
among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. and I will walk
among you and will be your God and you shall be my people."
Now listen, that to you that believe is a marvelous thing. I'll set my tabernacle among
you. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
was made flesh. He tabernacled. Look it up. The
Word was made. He tabernacled. I will set my
tabernacle among you, and my soul will not abhor you. Lord, how can that be? Well, with man it's impossible. that God would tabernacle with
His people, but with God all things are possible. How is it,
Lord, that You'll tabernacle with us? God, as Brother Scott
said so wonderfully, God is going to have to do something for Himself
before He'll do anything for you. God's going to have to be
just. God's going to satisfy Himself. And He'll show mercy, but it'll
be an absolute Justice. Just God. Almighty God. This is a wonderful thing. God
is going to dwell with His people. The Word was made flesh. He did
dwell. Tabernacle. And I'll tell you
another thing. The presence of Christ and the
Father is with His people right now.
Listen to this. John 14, 23, Jesus answered and
said unto him, If a man love Me, and I'll tell you this, if
a man loves Him, it's because God loved him first. If Almighty God by His Spirit
has given you a heart that loves Christ, then you believe Christ. And you trust Him. And you'll
believe the report concerning Him. You believe God's Word concerning
Christ. If any man love Me, he will keep
My words. And My Father will love him,
and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him. That is a miracle of the grace
of God. I love just to read that. The
Lord Jesus Christ says, The Father and I will make our abode with
you. And His Spirit is in you. Almighty God, Triune God, indwelling
His people, we will make our abode with Him. Lord, that's wonderful. I wouldn't
have known that if God hadn't have told me that. My testimonies
are wonderful. Your testimonies are a miracle.
We have the promise of His presence right now. Hebrews 3.15, let
your conversation be without covetousness. Don't covet that which is not
yours. Let me just get right down to
brass tacks. Don't covet God's honor. Be content with what Almighty
God has done for you. Don't covet that which is not
yours. He's the potter. We're the clay. I'm not the potter. I don't order my own steps. That's His honor. That's His
glory. Let your walk be without covetousness. Lord, You're the
shepherd. By the grace of God, we're the
sheep. Be content with such things as you have, for He has said,
I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee." We have the presence of
Christ in the promise. He said, I'm not going to leave
you. He graciously visits His people
in times of public worship. I'm not trying to sound anything
other than honest. He said, in Matthew 18, 24, where
two or three are gathered together in my name, in my character,
according to my gospel, where the gospel of Christ is
preached, free, sovereign grace. Sovereign grace. There am I in the midst of them. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad
you're here. But I'm glad he's here. And I don't want to say anything
that's disrespectful. I don't want to be untruthful.
I want to be honest. And I pray that he blesses the
word to our heart. Boy, I tell you this, I know
he said I'm there. Doesn't it grieve you when He
hides His presence? Now, here is the way it is. He said, I will never leave you.
I will never forsake you. Where two or three are gathered
together, I'm in the midst of you. If a man loved Me, he'll
keep My words. My Father loved him. We'll come
unto him and make our bode with him. But here's what I know.
I know that God Almighty has been pleased to dwell with His
people. But let me tell you how He is
going to make you appreciate it. I want you to turn to Psalm 3.
I am going to tell you how you will appreciate it. I'm telling you, every believer
knows something about what we're about to read right here. Song
of Solomon 3.1. Before we read, remember, He
said, I'm there. I'm not going to leave you. I'm
not going to forsake you. I abide. My Father abides. My Spirit abides. We dwell. Let me tell you how you will
appreciate His presence. Song of Solomon 3.1. By night
on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but
I found Him not. I will rise now and go about
the city and the streets and the broad ways. I'll seek Him
whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. The watchman that go about the
city found me, to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom
my soul loveth. I held him, would not let him
go till I had brought him into my mother's house and into the
chamber of her that conceived me." We considered that scripture.
a few years ago when we went through Psalm of Solomon. But
let me just suffice to say this. Let me tell you how Almighty
God is going to make you know and appreciate and desire His
presence. There's going to be times that
He's going to put you in a situation where you think He's not there. And I'm telling you, you'll look
for Him. Have you seen Him whom my soul
loves? I looked for Him and I couldn't
find Him. There's times that you're going to think that He's
forsaken you and He said, I'll never forsake you. And a believer is going to say, You said you'd never leave. Lord,
I believe that. But oh, if I might find you. The presence of Christ to a believer
is made altogether precious when He puts you in a situation that
you think He's gone. And He's never gone. Just the
very hunger that you have for Him is evidence that He's there. Because He's made you hungry
for righteousness. Blessed are those that hunger
and thirst for righteousness. Not for religion. I'm not talking about world self-righteous
religion. I'm not talking about hearing
about stuff that puffs up this flesh, I'm talking about a soul
hungry. I'm talking about really thirsty. You know, if a man is hungry,
blessed are those that hunger, you know there's some pain when
you're hungry. If you're hungry now, I'm talking
about hungry, Now right after I eat, I might eat about 3.30
in the afternoon, about 5 o'clock I'm not hungry. What you want
for supper? I ain't hungry. I don't know
about that. I might get hungry after a while.
Right now I'm not hungry. I'm talking about when you're hungry
and it hurts. You start to say, I've got to
have something to eat. I'm hungry. I've got to have for a believer.
Lord knows how to make you hungry. He knows how to make you feel
the pain of hunger after Him. Back in Revelation 21, John said,
I heard a great voice. Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and He will dwell with them. They shall be His
people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. The miracle of God's grace is
that God Almighty can make a man desire His presence. Now, I'm going to be honest with
you. Until the Lord makes a man to
truly desire the presence of God, that Scripture right there doesn't
mean anything. The tabernacle of God is with men. He'll dwell
with them. They'll be His people. God Himself
shall be with them and be their God. I'm telling you that there
is a true sense of I don't care in an unbeliever. God will dwell
with His people. An unbeliever says, I don't care.
Now that's right. I know that's right. But you let Almighty God give
you a hunger for history, just like back in Song of Solomon.
Have you seen him? But there's coming a time in
every believer's life, I'm telling you right now, you're going to
know it, but all in that day, to see him without the presence
of sin, And to realize, as John said, I saw, I heard. He'll dwell with them. They'll
be His people. God Himself will be with them.
Be their God. That starts right now. That starts
in this life. Perfected in that life. Perfected in that day. But right
now, the hunger for His presence that God's people have is real. You want to be there. You want
to be where He is. In verse 4, this will be the
only other verse, verse 3 and 4 this morning, God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. Five blessed truths in this fourth
verse. Five truths. There was the first
one. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. In that day, perfect presence,
perfect communion, perfect commitment, perfect delight, perfect satisfaction. Now, I'm going to tell you something. I hear that perfect commitment,
perfect delight, perfect satisfaction. And because of the presence of
sin, it grieves me because I know that I don't enter into that
as I wish I did. It doesn't make me happy because
I say that. It grieves me. But in that day, God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. No more sorrow of the sin of
commission and omission. Doesn't it grieve you over what
you've done and what you haven't done? There's things that I do. I tell you, the most obvious
thing to me is when I desire to pray and I find myself wandering
out somewhere. And I'm thinking, I'm desiring and I'm attempting
and I want to. I want to speak to God Almighty. And I find, because of the presence
of sin, such a lack of commitment on my part, Gary, that I can
wander off somewhere and I'm thinking about something that
don't more matter than the man and the moon. It just don't matter. Something that's so temporal,
something that's so petty, something that's so silly, and I think, No more tears. He'll wipe away
all tears. There should be no more death.
Death and hell at this point right here have been cast into
the lake of fire. No more witnessing the effects
and the grief of beholding our beloved suffer in unbelief. you that believe. That grieves
you. That grieves you. Beholding the
effects of death on those we love. I've said this every time I hear
someone has left this world, and they're in my family, and
they're in your family, as in all of our families. When someone
leaves this world, and there's been no obvious commitment of
Christ, no heart, our heart just breaks. Now that's true. You know it's
true. There'll be no more death. Neither sorrow nor crying. You
say, well, I thought God was going to wipe away all the tears.
What's the difference here? No more suffering over being
despised for the sake of Christ and His Gospel. We're reproached because of the
stand, because of the love for Him, because of our heart for
Him. Unbelievers. ridicule us, laugh
at us, make fun of us. Ah, you just think you're so
spiritual. You just, you know, you think, no, I'll be honest
with you, I really don't think I'm that spiritual. If you only
knew the grief I've got in my heart overseeing myself. No more sorrow over oppression. No more being despised for the
sake of Christ and His Gospel. No more crying clamor. That's
what that is. Brawlings or reproaches against
us. You just, you know, and it hurts. It hurts. But it doesn't change anything. Neither shall there be any more
pain The consequences of sin be gone. We groan right now in
this earthly tabernacle. Paul said in Corinthians, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
In that day, without the presence of sin, absolutely, perfectly, righteous
in Him who we then shall see by sight." No more by faith.
We'll see Him and be like Him. No more pain because of the war
that rages within. Here's the fifth part of that
last verse. "...For the former things are passed away." The
world as it is right now. Judgment is over. And the way things are, the former
things, the first in time is what it means. First in time,
as we are concerned, passed away. The order of things as we know
them will be over. John, you heard these things. The tabernacle of God is with
men, and He will dwell with them. They shall be His people, and
God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And 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." testimonies, the testimony of
God. It's wonderful. We're in this
tabernacle right now and we've grown and we desire to be clothed
upon in that day, seeing Him as He is, realizing this life
is but a vapor. I mean just a moment. Now you think, in comparison
to eternity, I'm talking about when absolute eternity, time
is no more, this just twinkling of an eye, this moment, this
vapor, That's how the scripture describes it. You're here right now for just
a vapor. What think ye of Christ? Come to Christ. Come to Christ. I tell you this, if you can,
It's because He's made you willing in the day of His power. Not
by works of righteousness that we've done, but according to
His mercy. Cast yourself upon the mercy
of God. God Almighty gives you a heart
to long after Him. Thanks be unto Him. All praise
and honor and glory. You're worthy. Let's take about
a 10 minute break. We'll be right back.