Let's take our Bibles and turn
back to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. John had just heard in the last
service we looked at Heard the one that sat on the
throne say, He that overcometh. And if a man or a woman overcometh,
if a man or a woman is victorious, this is what they will say, we
are more than conquerors through him. I love this. But he that overcometh shall
inherit all things. I will be his God. not the God
of this world, but the God that is set forth and declared in
this book, ìIíll be his God, and they will be my son, my son.î Romans 8 verse 15 says, ìFor
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, But
ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father, Sons, Sons." Now, that's a lot of young men
that I love and respect. But there's something about my
son, my daughters, my children. They are mine. Galatians 4, 6 says, And because
ye are sons, because you are sons, not because God is going to make
you sons, because you are sons, you go back to that statement
that I have said repeatedly. Brother Scott said, if you ever
insinuate God has ever changed, then you err right there. If
we are the sons of God, because ye are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit into His Son, into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father,
because ye are sons. Well, if God has been the eternal
Father in mercy, grace, Compassion. Election. If He's always been
their eternal Father, because He's never changed, don't ever
insinuate that God ever changed, then they've always been sons,
Mark. They've always been sons. Because you are sons. Believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sons by election. Sons by purchase. Sons by adoption. And I'll tell
you this, sons by choice. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of your power when God is pleased to say, Come." You
know what they do? They come. They come. When the Spirit of God effectually
calls one of God's own, you know what they do? They come. All
that the Father giveth me, there's that word Brother Scott just
They shall come. They shall come. What if they
don't come? God didn't call them. If God
called them, they're coming. They're coming. Oh, but the fearful,
unbelieving, abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters,
liars have their part in the lake which burneth with fire
and brimstone, which is the second death. That is, there's a death
that we're not familiar with. We are familiar with a death
whereby a body goes back to the dust. That is the death that
we are familiar with. Here is a second death. This
is another order of death where the worm dieth not. Eternally
under the judgment of Almighty God, feeling the judgment of
Almighty God, knowing the judgment of Almighty God, it cannot die. It cannot die. It is a death. But it's a second death, another
order. Well, after this, oh, this is
going to be a... I've been looking so forward
to this. John said in verse 9, There came
unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, full
of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come
hither, and I will show thee the bride, and the lambs wife,
and he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain,
and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending
out of heaven from God." John says, "...that came unto
me." There came unto me. Now, you think about that. He came to me. He spoke with
me. He said something personally
to me. God speaks personally to His
people. There came unto me one of the
seven angels. Now, no doubt, I'm sure that
there could be many explanations given of the identity of one
of these seven angels. But I'll tell you who I believe. Now, John is seeing a vision
here. He's beholding something in the
vision. The revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And one of the seven angels,
let me tell you who I think it is. Turn back to Revelation 1.
Revelation 1 and verse 20. John on the Isle of Patmos saw
the Lord Jesus Christ standing there described in those previous
verses, verse 20. But in His hand there were seven
stars and seven golden candlesticks. And it says, The mystery of the
seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven
golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels. of the seven churches, and the
seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches."
John was to write seven letters to seven churches, and there
were seven angels. You know, we looked at that months
ago. The seven angels were actually
the preachers that God had raised up in those seven churches. Not
that there were just totally seven in all the world, Seven
being the number of perfection, God calls out His own and raises
up a place where God feeds His sheep. He has a place. The reason that the Lord has
allowed Katie Baptist Church and other churches that proclaim
the sovereign God, the reason He has is because He is going
to feed His sheep there. He feeds them. He feeds them
through the preaching of the gospel and these seven angels.
Seven messengers is what that word angels means. The messengers.
The seven angels. John says, There came unto me
one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, full of
the seven last plagues. You remember, there were different. First of all, there were seven
seals. Those seven seals. was the revelation, the perfect,
the number seven represents the perfection of God, seven seals. It sets forth the revelation
of how God has perfectly and completely sealed His people
from destruction and eternal deception by Satan, the beast
of this world's cares and the false prophet. God has sealed
His people. that God's people are not deceived
is because God sealed them. He has kept them, placed a seal
upon them. Secondly, we heard seven trumpets
that are the perfect warnings of God to all who persist and
rebel against Him who is the mighty God. The trumpet is a
warning. God has sealed His people and
He sets forth a warning. And this warning is actually
through the preaching of the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. That's a promise. There's a warning
in there too, Pat. Don't believe him, and Almighty
God will put you in hell. Thirdly, we saw the seven angels
pouring out through the preaching of the gospel, the seven vows,
or that is, the judgment of God in this life that was referred
to, as we looked at previously, as the seven last plagues. And again, every time you see
that word seven, especially spoken of in this book, it speaks of
the perfection of, the perfect of, the seven. The seven last
plagues. Not necessarily plagues that
we would think of or call in this end time, which I believe
that we're in. I think we're in the last moments,
historically. I think, well, I don't know.
I don't know. No man knows that. But these
seven last plagues, these seven vials, there were seven seals
that said, God sealed His people. Seven trumpets that said, God
is sending out a warning. And seven vials, which are the
seven last plagues, which is judgment Before judgment, those
that Almighty God leaves to themselves, and all that God has got to do
for a man to rebel and to perish is for God to leave him alone.
Just leave him alone. No one is going to say, You made
me do what I did. No, no. Man by nature hates God. He hates him and hates all that's
associated with him. He hates him. Judgment before
judgment is known mainly in two ways. Number one, there's a famine
of the hearing of the gospel. There is a famine, I've said
so many times. Try to go and see or find how
many places that you can find in any one state or whatever,
how many places do you find where the gospel of free grace, sovereign,
saving grace is preached? Not many. A lot of places to
go to church, but there is a famine. But do you know, God's people
will always hear. God always puts them in a place
where they can hear the gospel. God's people will hear. The Lord
will send a preacher. Make His Word and His will known
to them. So the first of these seven last
plagues, there is a famine of the hearing. And secondly, God
gives men left to themselves exactly what they want. Strong
delusion. That's what men desire. That's
what men want. Because they would not receive
the love of the truth. Because they willed not to do
it. God sent them strong delusion. God sent them strong delusion.
That's what the Scripture says. God sent them strong delusion. God gives every man, brother
Scott, what he wants. God gives every man, every woman,
exactly what he wants. If a man desires to rebel against
God, he will. If a man says, I am not going
to hear that gospel, That sovereign grace stuff, I am not going to
hear it. If God leaves you to yourself,
you won't. Believe me, you won't. But if God gives a man a new
heart, what does he want? He wants Christ. And he'll have
Him. He said, I'll be your God. You'll
be my people. John said, There came unto me
one of the seven angels, which had the seven bowels full of
the seven last plagues. And he talked with me, saying,
Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife."
Come hither. He talked with me. I looked that
word up too. He preached to me. That's what
it meant. He preached to me. He preached
to me. The Lord's preachers are talking
to the sheep. That's who they're talking to.
As I said this morning, they're talking to God's people. They're
preaching to God's people. The Lord says, I'll send you
pastors after my own heart. I'll send them to you. Why? To
comfort you. To teach you. To instruct you.
Come hither. Come hither. And that word, come
hither, right there, it actually is in an urging way. That's the way it was described,
in an urging way. Not that God's preachers in themselves
possess the power to call one, but as the means by which God
calls out His own. A man stands up, and he's just
a A piece of clay, that's all he is. A man God called to preach
the gospel is just a man. That's all he is. He's just a
man. But I'm thankful for those that God's given a heart to study,
to preach, to teach. I'm thankful for them. Thankful. Thankful that God calls my path
to cross one of His preachers. And they say, this preacher said,
Come hither. This is what God's preacher says
to God's people. Come hither. I'll show you. Let
me show you. That's what he said. Come hither
and I will show thee the bride. I will show thee. That is, I
will show by proving and by making known. Here again, I don't have
the ability to reveal anything to you. If anything is revealed
to God's people, it's going to be the Spirit of God that's going
to reveal it to them. But I'll tell you this, there's
the means of preaching. Though I don't possess the ability
to be able to speak to your heart through the means of preaching,
through the foolishness of preaching, not foolish preaching, but the
foolishness of preaching. Someone says, you mean to tell
me. that this is the way, that this is the only way that God
has been pleased to manifest Himself is through the gospel,
the preaching, the proclamation of the gospel. That's right.
That's right. Not through games and toys and
carnivals and rummage sales. Don't you all ever have rummage
sales down there? No. Why? Because the preaching of
the gospel. is the power of God unto salvation.
Don't have time. Don't have time for a rummage
sale. Don't have time for, what is it? The gospel. Come up hither. Come hither. I will show thee
all the elect. I'll show thee the bride, the
Lamb's wife, she who was first betrothed to
Him in eternity. and now openly shown in conversion. I'm convinced. I see some of
God's elect. I see some of God's people. I
believe that. I believe I see some of them here this morning.
I believe I do. Fellowship with Him. This is what God's preachers
are commanded to do. Show His people through the Scriptures
while preaching the gospel how God sees His bride. That's why
He said, Come up hither. Come hither. I'm going to show
you the bride. Let me tell you what God says
about His bride, the Lamb's wife. This is what I'm going to show
you. Here is the comfort of God's elect, told afresh that they've
been prepared by being robed in the righteousness of her husband. Come hither, you that believe. This is what I say this morning.
Come hither. Let me show you the bride. Let
me show you the Lamb's Wife, how that they in the person of
their husband, that you're a holy city, a holy city of God's residence,
that is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Let me set forth that. Come here, there. The habitation
of God with men, that they've come down from God Himself, from
heaven itself, who is the first cause, the last word of their
glory. And John says in verse 10, And
he carried me away in the Spirit from great and high mountain,
and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending
out of heaven from God. This high mountain, I don't doubt
at all is a picture, is a type of Mount Zion whereby Psalms
48, 2 reveals it to be the city of God, the city of the great
King. Ezekiel 40, verse 2 speaks of
the same situation. It says, ìIn the visions of God
brought he me into the land of Israel and set me upon a very
high mountain by which was as the frame of a city on the south. Come up here then. I'm going
to show you the bride when we start getting into verse 11 on. It's going to start describing
the city of God, which is the bride herself. Description. Wonderfully marvelous terms.
The habitation of the Lord. The city of God Himself. His
church. His bride. But of all the truth,
when John said, He carried me in the Spirit to a great and
high mountain, of all that truth to be set forth in this vision,
the one thing without doubt that I see in John being brought in
the Spirit to that great mountain is the glory and the majesty
and the mercy of God in bringing His people to Himself. High Mountain. Revelation 14.1. Turn back there
and look at this. Remember, I told you, Revelation
is not a book that is preached chronologically. It is the same
story over and over and over. Look at Revelation 14.1. John
says, And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mount Sion, and
with him 144,000 having His Father's name written
in their foreheads. That's 144,000 representative
of the perfection, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve
apostles. We're going to look at that terminology
here in the next week or so. But here, the 144,000, the perfection
of God Himself, the Bride, made so by the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the Lamb back in Revelation
14. He stood to receive His bride
just like He stood when Stephen was stoned. John is carried away
in this vision by faith. He sees the great city, holy
Jerusalem, descending out of heaven, descending from God.
And God brought Moses. Do you remember when God brought
Moses up to receive the holy law? of God, that law that says,
Do and live. Do and live. Let me tell you
what Mount Zion sets forth. Done. Done in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Done in Christ. Mount Zion. The holy mountain of God. Here
is the mountain of God's mercy and the secure presence of Almighty
God. Psalm 125, 1 and 2. They that
trust in the Lord. Trust Him. Trust Him for their
security. Trust Him for their peace. Trust Him for their glory. Trust Him for their holiness.
They trust Him. They that trust in the Lord.
Not themselves. But they that trust in the Lord
shall be as Mount Zion. which cannot be removed, but
abideth forever, as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so
the Lord is round about His people, from henceforth and even forever."
As God in Christ humbled Himself in being found in fashion as
a man, He became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. But the Scripture says God has highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every name. That at the name
of Jesus, every knee is going to bow, every tongue is going
to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He was abased that we
might be exalted with Him and in Him. We looked at that last.
Heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. I will be their God. I will be their God. Heirs of
God. Isaiah 57, 15. For thus saith the High and Lofty
One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in
the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit. to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. From this great
mountain, Mount Zion, John is shown the beauty, the majesty,
and the glory of the church as she is seen and revealed to be
as God says she is." Now, you remember that. Someone looks
around and they say, well, I see those people that believe. I
don't see Bill Scott being consistent all the time. Well, the reason
is you don't see him as God sees him. That's the reason. This is the way he is. Tell me how God sees me. Not
as I see myself. Tell me as He has declared me
to be. He carried me in the Spirit to
a great and high mountain and showed me that great city. The
holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. I'm going
to stop right there. I'm not going to get into that
next verse 11. But I was thinking, whenever
John was brought up to that mountain, God was going to show him. He
was going to show him the bride. He was going to show him the
holy city. The new Jerusalem. The new earth. the new heavens, everything,
I make all things new. Moses went up on Mount Sinai and God gave him the law. And Moses came down and gave
the law to the people. But before Moses died, God brought
him up on another mountain. And I know that because Moses
had disobeyed God, a picture that the law itself was not going
to carry God's people into the promised land. I understand that
perfectly, and you do too. Joshua, our great Jesus, our
great Joshua, he led the people. over the promised land, through
the Jordan River. Beautiful picture of the gospel in that. Moses
couldn't bring them over, take them over. Bring, take, you know.
Couldn't do it. God brought him up, though, on
another mountain, Mount Nebo. And God showed him the promised
land. Moses saw it. This was one of
God's elect. one of God's own, one that the
Lord had everlastingly loved, taught him, showed him. John says, one of
the seven angels, who I believe God is now, showing his people
the promised land, the New Jerusalem. And we see through a glass darkly
But we see. We see in part, and we know in
part, but we know. We know. And we get a glimpse,
get a hint. He's taking this book. John said,
one of the seven angels. He said, come hither. I'm going
to show you the bride's wife. Let me show you what God says
about her. Let me show you how God has set her forth. And John
is going to behold the holy city, the bride herself, you that believe. Lord willing, in the next few
weeks, we are going to behold what Almighty God says about
His bride, how He describes her. And this angel, this messenger
of God, told John, says, come here, let me show you. And he
said, he took me up on a high mountain. When God speaks, it's
a high thing. He said, I deal. I'm the holy
one. I deal in the lofty place. These
things are too high for me. It's God's words. And John says,
He brought me up and I saw. Moses looked from Nebo and he
saw the promised land. He knew what that represented.
The promise of Almighty God. There's the land. There's the
land I'll give you. Didn't work for it. Didn't earn
it. And themselves didn't deserve
it. It was God's to give. And He gave it freely. I'll give
you to drink of the water, the fountain of the water of life
without a cause in you. But you'll drink. You'll drink.
And God's people do. They drink. And they drink today,
and the next time they meet together, if God leaves them here, if God
tarries, you know what they want to do? They want to drink. Charlie,
one more time. Let me just drink one more time.
Tell me about Him who put away my guilt, who loved me and gave
Himself for me. Our Father, we are so thankful. that we've had just a few minutes
to meet together. Oh, what a blessed few minutes
to be able to assemble ourselves and that you would meet with
us. And Lord, we're convinced that you meet with us. You said
that you do, where two or three are gathered together in your
name, in your character. We thank you. that You've blessed
us with a hearing of Yourself. Lord, teach us. Show us. Show us afresh. Renew within
us that Spirit that You've created in us. Make it fresh today. Renew it. For these things we
ask in the name of Him who is altogether worthy. Our blessed
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask. Amen.