Scripture says this is the day
the Lord's made. And no matter what has happened
to this point, this is the day the Lord's made. He's ordered
all things just exactly the way that they've transpired. Before we begin, I've got about
a minute before 930, but I'd like to say that In the vestibule
there, we've got some of the samples that were left of Brother
Henry's videos that were sent out from Todd's Road. We have
ordered the sets that were requested, so Lord willing, those will be
coming in soon. Rupert Reibenbach was telling
me that when Brother Henry was there a few weeks ago, he had
asked him to just give kind of a summary of what he remembered,
what Henry remembered as far as the sovereign grace, the Lord's
blessing on the preaching of the gospel in his lifetime. And it was kind of entitled,
A History of the Sovereign Grace Movement, I believe is how they
said it. He sent me a copy of it, and I just had ladies make
a few sets, just what Henry remembered as far as meeting Arthur Pink
and Ralph Barnard and how things transpired. And we've made some
copies out there, and you can just take them. Anybody that
would want one, feel free to take them. And if there's not
enough, we'll make a few more. But it was just a real blessing. set forth some of the things
that he remembered and saw and how the Lord seemed to bless
the preaching during our lifetime. Well, let's take our Bibles and
turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 21. Revelation 21. I'd like to deal
with verse 3 in this first service. And before we do, let's ask the
Lord's blessings together. Our Father, we are truly thankful
that we can assemble ourselves together in your presence and
know with assurance that you promised that we three are gathered
together in your name. that you are in our midst. We do not know how to appreciate
the presence of Almighty God. We realize this is an immeasurable
blessing that would be bestowed upon people who in themselves
are totally unworthy of your presence, but that you've chosen
to meet with us and blessed us by being here with us, we say
thank you. Bless, we pray, the preaching
now. We pray that You would bless
the singing to our hearts. We pray that Brother Scott comes
to read the Scriptures. Bless the reading. Bless the
hearing. Blessed, we pray, to our heart, for Christ's sake.
Amen. John had said, we looked at last time,
he said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Now, we looked at
this last week, and as we saw last week, it doesn't say that
John saw another. That's not the word new. Not another. But he saw a heaven
and an earth, a new heaven and a new earth, that was of a different
nature of what we are accustomed to seeing. What we look out now,
we say it's a beautiful day. It is. Beautiful sky, beautiful
trees, beautiful everything. Everything that we're looking
at has been tainted with sin, touched. It's decaying. John
sees a new heaven in a new nature. That which God created in the
beginning is what John saw, because what God created, God said it
was very good. Nothing could be added, nothing
could be taken from to make it better. Sin entered this world. Things began to decay. Thorns
and thistles were Brought up, man had to work by the sweat
of his face, the Scripture says. Earn his bread. This new heaven
and new earth is one wherein dwells righteousness. There is
no presence of sin then, no scars of rebellion, no evidence of
decay, and you and I cannot perceive what that's like. We cannot look
and see or think or realize what would this earth look like. What would we be like without
the presence of sin? John saw the eternal inhabitants
of the new heaven and the new earth. He saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from the source of her glory. Heaven itself prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband. That's what he saw. Then in verse
3 is where we'll pick up this morning. And he said, 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. John said, ìI heard. I heard a great voice. I canít help but think. Faith cometh by hearing.î So
he said, ìNot by the seeing of miracles.î We dealt with that
last Wednesday night. Not seeing miracles. converted or never was the means
of calling out of darkness. God has been pleased by the preaching
of the gospel, by the setting forth of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the confidence. This
is the help. This is the profit. This excites
me. I'm thinking to myself this morning,
what What if God be pleased to call one of His own out of darkness? He's going to do it under the
preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, the setting forth of who He is,
what He's done, where He is, right now. I heard a great voice. Actually, it's the greatest voice
is what's actually the exceeding voice. The voice of Him who said
in John 1, 18, ìNo man has seen God at any time. The only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him.î I heard a great voice, John says, coming out of heaven
from the origin, from the eternal presence of God Himself. Iíve said before, heaven. We just cannot grasp hold of
the depth of that word, heaven. I know that it has to do with
the presence of God. And when you think that the Lord
Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, Christ in you, the hope, the
assurance, the steadfastness, Christ Himself, the hope of glory,
of God's opinion, of God's revelation. John said, I saw, behold, take
note of this glorious thought, the tabernacle of God is with
men. The tent of God, the presence. What a thought! I was thinking,
maybe I should mention this this morning, some of the men, just
to stop and think. We've not come this morning just
to do church. It's Sunday, you know. That was
a phrase at a neighbor's of ours back when I lived in Tennessee.
They said, well, we're thinking about doing church today. You
know, we haven't come to do church. We've assembled ourselves together
this morning for the privilege and the honor and the duty of
assembling ourselves together in His presence to hear from
Him. That is what we have come together
this morning to do, to meet together in worship of Almighty God, to
bow before Him in our heart. It is a wonderful realization.
As I said, when two or three are gathered together in His
name, I am in the midst Turn with me to Ezekiel. Let me show
you something in Ezekiel. This is a blessing to me, and
I know it will be to many of you. Ezekiel 48, verse 35. There was a description of the
holy city herself, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
gave a great description. I won't read all of it. 35, verse
35, Ezekiel 48, verse 35. And it says, it was round about
18,000 measures. And the name of the city from
that day shall be... Now look at the name of this
city. Here's the name of the city. The Lord is there. The Lord is there. That's the
name of the city, the Lord Jehovah Shema. The Lord is there. God tabernacled temporarily into
flesh. He came temporarily. John 1.14 says, And the Word
was made flesh. Actually became flesh in count. Tabernacles. It was a symbol
of protection and communion. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we beheld His glory. We saw Him. We looked upon Him. The glory as the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. The presence of God
with His church is the glory of that church. Now I know, I
know, I've heard and I hear now, I know of the disrespect of many
in this community that have looked and they've heard, they have
a false conception of what's being said, and the disrespect
that's been given to this place where God has been pleased to
establish a hearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. But though men
speak disrespectfully of this place, disrespectfully of the
pastor that has been here faithfully preached fifty years, does that
take away from the glory that the Lord is here? The Lord is
here. What a blessing. I mean, you
look outside, somebody looks outside and they say, what's
the name of that church? K. Baptist Church. What does
God call it? The Lord is here. That's the
name He's given. This will be the name of that
city. The Lord is there. What's the marvelous thing that
can be said concerning the blessing of God out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue? What is the blessing that can
be said of those places where God has been pleased to raise
up the message of truth? Here's what it is. has been pleased
to pitch his tent with those that he's everlastingly loved.
And we see him. We see him by faith. What gives
anything in this life, any value whatsoever, what gives anything
in this life value or reveals its poverty, it's whether or
not God's in it. when he was buried in the tomb. There were some that came, and
they looked in there, and there were two angels that were sitting
there. And these angels said to two
of the visitors, Why do you look for the living among the dead? He's not here. What was the value? What was the value of that place? It was whether or not Christ
was there or not. Look on the cross. What is the
value? What is the worth of that cross? It was that the Lamb Himself
made sin, made the guiltiness of His people, made the substitute,
the one who actually died as them, made sin. It was the Lamb on the cross.
The dwelling of God is with them. There is the fulfillment of Immanuel,
God with us. John said, I heard a great voice
out of heaven, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with them, and he will
dwell with them, and they shall be his people. The significance
of God dwelling with us is that they are his people. He is theirs
and they are His. He is mine and I am His. While
the Lord Jesus was upon this earth, many were in His presence,
but so few were His people. I mean, He walked among the masses. Do you remember the woman that
had the issue of blood in Mark 5? She looked on Him and said
in her heart, If I can but touch the hem of His garment, I'll
be made whole." She never said anything to anybody. Kind of
worked her way through there, you know, bumping in. Everybody
was bumping into Him. And I mean just, she touched
Him. And the Lord stopped. He said,
who touched Me? His disciples said, what do you
mean who touched you? Everybody's touching you. For
the press, for the folks that were there. Someone had touched
Him by faith. The press, the people. All those
folks that were there, there was one woman that the Scriptures
brought out that looked on and saw Him and knew Him and needed
Him. He is dwelling with all who are
His by electing grace, by divine purchase, and by willing commitment. God's people called out of darkness. They call on Him because they
willingly desire Him. They need Him. God's given them
a new heart, a new nature imparted unto them. A new heart, a new
man, a new creation created in righteousness. A new person. There's a new creation,
a new nature that's within. We're the imparted nature. that is put in realizes the imputed
righteousness of Christ, answers, we know something about who He
is. They are His people redeemed,
justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God Himself
shall be with them, and they will be His people. He will be
their God. Actually, what is said is, God
Himself will be with them as their God. Big difference. As I said, a lot of folks were
in this world walking, didn't know Him. He'll be their God,
not their judge. He'll be their God, their Master,
their hope eternally. He shall associate Himself with
them. as their God, showing Himself
as the One who has eternally looked upon them in mercy and
compassion." You know, that's a wonderful thought. I've said
this so many times. I just appreciate what Brother
Scott told me at that time. It made such an impression on
me. He said, if you ever insinuate God's ever changed, therein you
err. Right there. I don't care how
men say, if you ever insinuate, does he look upon his people
now in mercy, in compassion? Sure he does. Has he ever not? Has there ever been a time when
God says, Therefore now, no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus.
How long have they been in Christ Jesus? before the foundation of the
world. God has never changed. God has
never looked upon them any other way. Do you know what a glorious
thought that is? What a comfort that is that He
would everlastingly look upon me. If He has chosen to look
upon me in mercy, in compassion, He has everlastingly purposed
to bring me to himself, always ordering, long-suffering, not
willing that any of his elect should perish." He is long-suffering,
Paul says to us, long-suffering, not willing. That is not his
will. What is the Father's will? All
that the Father has given me I should lose nothing. Three
glorious truths are revealed in that third verse right there,
and I'll stop. Number one, God's people are
blessed with hearing ears. John says, and I heard a great
voice out of heaven. You that believe this morning,
let me tell you Though I cannot tell you, but the Spirit of God
can reveal something to you. God has blessed you with a hearing
ear to be able to hear the voice of Him who ever liveth, the voice
of Him who is our God, the voice of Him who is our hope, our mediator. God Almighty gives His people
and blesses His people with hearing ears. Secondly, God's people
are blessed with the presence of God. You can't even imagine. You can't even realize. If you
get out of this seat and go somewhere and sit down where the gospel
is not being preached, you that believe, number one, it would
be the most uncomfortable place you've ever sat in. You'd sit
there and you'd realize They're not telling me the truth. You'd
realize God's not being honored here. My heart's not being blessed
by what I'm hearing. The Spirit of God is not speaking
to me through that message right there, a message that honors
man. God's people are blessed with the presence of God. They
hear His voice. You hear the gospel of free grace. You hear the message of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you can just take a deep
breath And you can say, you know what? It's good just to be able
to hear that. I can drink of that. I can eat
that. I can rest in that. It's so comfortable
to sit here and listen to Him honored. That's what God's people
want to hear. That's what they want to hear.
They want to hear Christ honored. Tell me of Him who has everlastingly
loved me and lived for me and died for me, rose for me, intercedes
for me, coming back to get me. I look so forward to seeing him.
I know, I know that there's going to be a day in which Job says,
I'm going to see him. I'll see him. And thirdly, God's
people are blessed to be God's people. And they shall be His
people and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. Oh, you consider. the wonder
that God would give me ears to hear, that God Himself would
dwell with me and not leave me to myself as many that walked
in His presence and argued with Him and despised Him and rejected
Him and hated Him. But Almighty God blessed me to
be one of His own, allowed me the glorious privilege What would
you exchange for that? You wouldn't. What would a man
give in exchange for himself? Nothing. Nothing. You wouldn't
take all the riches that this world offers. You wouldn't do
it. God Almighty has given His people
the privilege, and the Lord God shall dwell with them. Well,
I hope this has been a help. We'll just take about a 5-10
minute break, and we'll come back in the second service.