What an opportunity to be drawn
by the Spirit of God and to be placed in a place where
you've been pleased to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless,
we pray, this Word. Teach us. We ask you. We're needy people. for Christ's sake. Amen. In the last part of the third
verse of Revelation 22, the Scripture reveals a truth that is beyond
our ability to comprehend or to know. exactly what shall be
the state of God's people in heaven. The Scripture says, and
His servants shall serve Him. Now, I know that that's got something
to do with our attitude. His servants. Paul the Apostle
revealed himself to be the servant of the Lord, the bondslave of
the Lord. That wasn't a thing, Bob, of
toil or resentment. It's a privilege for God's people
to be labeled as servants of the Lord. We serve Him. But the word serve The base word to the word serve
there means worship. They worship Him. They lick His
hand, bow before Him. Now in that day, in that state,
His servants shall serve Him. No toil, no thoughts are going
to alter that undiluted privilege and joy of worship. No deviation from that service
is servants. That's going to be our attitude. But I got to thinking about the
actual vocation. His servants shall serve Him. Now listen, let me tell you what
you're thinking, because it's what I'm thinking. And you're
no different than I am. Here, we are labored, maybe I
can say it that way, with the thought that we assemble ourselves
together, and we've come together, God's people, God's elect, God's
regenerate people. have assembled themselves together. And they come together on a Sunday
morning or on a Wednesday evening. And they come together for just
a little while. And they want to worship the
Lord. And even when they come together,
now in the hearing, you're hearing the gospel. The glorious gospel
of God's free grace. The Person of Christ. And all
the while, you're hearing it right now, you're struggling.
Because you know you're hearing, but you're just fighting. What are we going to eat? Boy, I tell you what, yesterday
or tomorrow, we've got stuff. And there's a constant battle.
that is going on as God's people assemble themselves truly. There
is a new heart, there is a new mind, there is a new man, a new
creation created in Christ Jesus that truly desires and longs
for and worships God and loves Him and serves Him. Paul says,
in my flesh I serve, I bow to the law of sin, the body in which
you were born. human body right there, that
flesh that is getting older, that flesh that we have to pamper
every day, that sinful body that is going back to the dust, that
body that was created, that was conceived in sin, that old, wretched,
good-for-nothing body. Inside that body is a brand new
man to you that believe. And you've got a battle going
on. And that new mind, that new man, worships God and loves Him. And that old man that's within
doesn't. Hates Him. Despises Him. Doesn't
want to be here. Doesn't want to hear. Doesn't
want to love. Nothing! But in that day, His
people, His servants, or going to serve Him. Now, we can't even
enter into that. You mean to tell me eternally
we're going to be in the presence of Almighty God serving Him perfectly. That's right. How? How? I can't even imagine concentrating
for a few minutes. We struggle with that. What is
it going to be? 1 John 3 says, Beloved, now are
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be. But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like
Him, and we shall see Him as He is. I am convinced, though
there is a greater manifestation of glory to come, a greater manifestation
of it, without waiting for His second coming, possess right
now a present dignity. And there is a worship. We see
through a glass darkly. Right now, we get a glimpse.
I mean, it's just as I said last week, there are just moments
when we almost... I think I almost got a glimpse
of that. I think I almost entered into
Man, I think I almost heard something. You know what I'm talking about?
You that believe, you know what I'm talking about. There's moments
that just for just that long, just I think, I think God Almighty
reveals something to me. But eternally to be able to serve
Him perfectly. It's not been made manifest.
It's unspeakable in our present state about our exact nature
then, but when He shall appear in His open manifestation, when
all of this is over, we shall be like Him. We'll be like Him, changed into
His glorious image. See Him as He is, gazing upon
Him absolutely beholding merciful redemption Himself, the salvation
of the Lord Himself. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3.18,
But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image From glory now, you that
believe, there is something. You have seen something. We have
seen something. But from glory to glory, glory
then even as by the Spirit of the Lord. His servants shall serve Him. What shall be the vocation of
God's people. Well, Revelation 1-6, and I'm
going to just give you a little something to think about. Revelation
1-6 says, "...and He hath made us kings and priests unto God
and His Father." Though kings and priests now,
and I know we are, it says He hath made us kings and priests. I know that we shall serve as
kings unto God and priests unto God by the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ unto the Father. I know this, that we shall wear
what is revealed by Paul the Apostle to be a crown of righteousness
that is merited totally. to the Lord Jesus Christ and
His redemptive glory and sacrifice. But there's an interesting point
that I want us to consider. We've looked a lot in this last
chapter. We've looked a lot back in Genesis. Genesis chapter 2. Why don't
you look back at Genesis 2 verse 15. The Scripture says, And the Lord
God took the man, took Adam, and put him into the garden of
Eden to dress it and to keep it. Now, I know this, that Adam,
the word dress, I looked it up. It meant to work it. He put him
into the garden. Now, this was before Adam ever
fell. He put him into the garden to dress it and to keep it. That
is, to observe it, to watch it, and to regard it. Now, to watch
it, to regard it, in what capacity? It's not told. Adam saw, regarded,
and knew something. He knew something of God Almighty
in that garden, in that creation. Now here we understand. Now you
think about this. All I did was read the Word of
God and I'd say this is what it is. You see, a believer does
not look at the Word of God to make what he believes to be right. He looks at God's Word to find
out what God says is right. This is the way it is. Before
the fall, Adam was in the garden and he dressed and kept. He worked and observed and regarded. He named the animals. They were
there. The trees. There was fruit there. He'd eat. Even before the fall,
man was not created to be inactive. Now that's just a fact. I mean,
all you've got to do is just look at that and realize that
this is the way it is. Before the fall, man. There was
no course. where man was in a state of just
oblivion or inactivity or had no purpose whatsoever. Man was
placed in the garden that was created for him. God told him. He said, there's
trees to eat and you can eat them all. I got to thinking about
that. We eat today so we can live.
Adam could eat before the fall. He said you can eat of all the
trees. Eat them. But there was no toil. There
were no thorns. There were no thistles because
there was no curse. There was a place of God's creation
in which man fellowshiped with God in an absolute state of innocence. You see, we can't even enter
into that. You try. You try to enter it, but the
presence of sin blurs everything that God says was so. It was
a place where man was always reminded of God's provision,
God's sovereignty. The Lord made all this. This
was God's creation. And I am placed here by God. He could eat. He could fellowship
with God. Adam was put into the garden.
to dwell there, to rest there, to have fellowship with God. But the Scripture is silent to
the exact state of activity of the redeemed. All we know that
before the fall, God said this. It was very good, very good. Knowing that Adam dressed or
worked what the word means. It means worked, tilled, and
kept. That is, he observed, he heeded,
he watched, or he marked is what means the garden. We know that
we shall in that day, based on this statement, and His servants
shall serve Him. We know this, that that word
indicates that there is activity. But how? How? Well, here's where I'm going
to give you the few things to think about. The original creation,
the Scripture says, was completed. It was completed. Genesis 2,
verse 1, "...thus the heavens and the earth were finished."
God Almighty finishes what He begins. Nothing is open-ended
with Almighty God. He leaves nothing to just continue
in a perpetual state unchecked by Him. Philippians 1, 6 says,
"...being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it, will accomplish it until
the day of Jesus Christ." as the original creation was reflective
of God's character. And he said it is very good. Very good. The new creation created
in Christ Jesus will be the exhibition of His manifold blessing in the
person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So when it comes to this
point of His servants shall serve Him, I know that it's going to
be a finished service. It's finished. God Almighty finishes. Ephesians 2.7 says that in the
ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. So I know that
our activity shall be just as Adam, dressed and kept and watched. I know there's something of our
activity there. His servants shall serve Him.
Our activity shall be the beholding of His completed redemption and
the accomplishment by the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that. You
say, boy, that doesn't sound like a lot of activity. Obviously
it is. The beholding that in the ages
to come, He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ. No
presence of sin. No toil. No thoughts of rebellion. To behold forever. Now, I'm talking
about right now. I just said a moment ago, we
almost get a glimpse. But in that day, we will behold
forever. Serving Him. Beholding. Secondly, the original creation
was a place of rest. Genesis 2, 2, And on the seventh
day God ended the work in which He had made, and He rested on
the seventh day from all His work which He had made. Now,
what rest? God rested. What the word rest fully means
to Him who fainteth not, neither is weary? I can't say. God ceased. That's one of the meanings. God
rested. But obviously, it means more
than just what we would call a cessation from work. Just a stopping. Stopping. Almighty God never stops what
He's done. He never changes. You see what
I'm saying? God created and on the subject, He rested. God never
changes. But His rest is seen completely,
we know, in the accomplishment of the redemption of the bride
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ when He said, It is finished. It was over. Christ had redeemed
His people. And the Scripture says in Hebrews
4 and 9, There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Christ who remaineth forever. is our Sabbath. He is our Sabbath. We talk about a Sabbath day as
Sabbath. That was in the Old Testament.
On Saturday, that was a day of rest. He is our Sabbath. He is
our day of rest. We rest from the toils of trying
by the own foolishness of our wicked works to establish a finished
rest before Almighty God. He is. Our Sabbath. God blessed the seventh day and
sanctified it. That's what Genesis 2, 3 says.
The eternal Sabbath. The Lord Jesus Christ and all
in Him. Those sanctified by the Father.
What shall we do in that day? We shall rest. Rest in Christ
who has finished the work. Let me say it like that. Thirdly,
we in that day shall worship Him. His servants shall serve
Him, shall worship Him. Revelation 7 and 11, and all
the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders
and the poor beasts, and they fell before the throne on their
faces and worshiped God. What did they do? Night and day. Before the throne of God, serve
Him. That's what verse 15 of Revelation
says. Serve Him night and day in His
temple, and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among
them. What shall we do? I'll tell you
what we'll do. We shall behold as Adam beheld. Kept. Welked. Watched. We shall in that day behold. We shall rest. And we shall worship. Now, I understand. As I said
a moment ago, the presence of sin causes us not to be able
to comprehend a state of continual and complete worship. We are
so taken up with junk that doesn't matter. Well, I've got to do
this. I've got to go here. I've got
to be... I wish I could... I've got this stuff right here. We are absolutely so taken up
with stuff that doesn't matter. We cannot even comprehend rest. Just stop and worship. That thought is so foreign to
this war that goes on. We almost... Oh, this internal
respect. Worship. Evidence itself now,
in fleeting moments, we see through a glass darkly. But this worship,
I know that it is a heart worship. It's a heart bowing. Adam, before the fall, was innocent. He was created upright. But he
didn't stay that way. He fell. Adam was perfectly satisfied
in his state. Perfectly satisfied. In the garden
he dwelt, he fellowshiped with God. Man was told to be fruitful. What God told Adam, before the
fall, be fruitful. Increase and multiply. That is,
continue. And replenish the earth. Now
there's a word. That will cause you some thought.
What does replenish mean? It means plentish back what was
there. You say, what does that mean?
I don't know. Replenish the earth. Replenish the earth. That's what
the word says. Replenish. But after the fall,
everything that God told Adam to do was marred by sin. He told
him, Be fruitful. Multiply. and replenish, that
is, fulfill, is what the word means, fulfill and subdue. Well, in closing to these thoughts,
that which Adam could not do, the second Adam did. God told
Adam, first of all, to be fruitful. The Lord Jesus Christ He Himself
was fruitful. That is, He increased. He grew. John said of Him, John 3.30,
He must increase, I must decrease. That is, increase before His
people in knowledge. I say, we grow in grace in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior. He multiplied perfectly. That is, continued forever. He multiplied, and we in Him.
And He replenished, that is, fulfilled His Father's will. That's what it means, replenished.
What did it mean to Adam? I don't know the fullness that
it meant to Adam, but I'll tell you what it meant to Christ.
And He accomplished it. He fulfilled His Father's will.
This is the Father's will, that of all that He's given me, I
should lose nothing. based on the authority of God's
Word, all that the Father has given Him, He's going to bring
them to the Father. Here He is, I and the children
which you gave Me. In that day, we shall see Him
as He is. We'll be like Him. And we'll
serve Him. His servants shall serve Him,
not in toil, up with thorns and thistles and sin, but they'll
behold Him and they'll worship Him. And they will forever behold
Him and worship Him and dwell with Him and be absolutely thankful, satisfied, content in the person
of their blessed Savior. To you that believe, this is
an anxious anticipation. We look forward to it. Come quickly,
Lord Jesus. Receive us unto Yourself. This
world has nothing for us. Nothing. You have it. You have it. Struggle, toil,
problems, Oh, but in that day, His servants, made so by the
grace of God, by the blood of Christ, washed from their sins,
they shall serve, they shall worship Him. Alright, let's stop
there. Next time, we'll look at that
next, and they shall see His face. Alright, we'll stop.