We're coming to the Lord's table
in a few minutes and it's one of the glories of the Word of God that he says
in Song of Solomon chapter 2, he brought me into his banqueting
house And His banner over me was love. How do you get into
the banqueting house of God Almighty? You are brought into the banqueting
house of God Almighty. We love to think of that love
of God. It is infinite, it is eternal. And if John 13 Verse 1 is not
one of your favourite verses in the Bible. It ought to be.
It says, The Feast of the Passover is near. Jesus knew that his
hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto
the Father, having loved his own which are in the world. He
loved them unto the end. He's iron. He's iron. He's iron. I am so thankful that we have
God's Word written, preserved and by the Blessed Holy Spirit
illuminated to us. In Revelation Chapter 14, in
the midst of all of the The extraordinary things that are going on in Revelation.
Occasionally we have these remarkable glimpses of heaven and then we
have John being commanded in verse 13 of Revelation 14. He says, I heard a voice from
heaven saying unto me, you write this down, you write this down. Don't you love that? God caused
it to be written. God the Holy Spirit wrote all
of this book. He illuminates all of this book
and all of this book is about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You write it down. How blessed
we are, how blessed we are that it's written and I can go back
and I can look at it again and again and again and when I forget
I can go back and look at it again and I can remind myself
again and again of what God says. and I can say Amen again and
again and again. Faithful, true, dependable, reliable. God's Word is like him. It's
living and active and it's sharper than a double-edged sword. Listen
to what he says. You write this down, you write this down so
the saints can read it until I come back again. Blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
spirits, that they may rest from their labours, and their works
do follow them. There are blessed people in this
world. The children of God are a blessed
people, aren't they? They are blessed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It means to be in an enviable
situation in the circumstances of your life. It also means to
be happy. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord, Hence, from henceforth yea, save the spirit that they
may rest from their labours. What is it? And their works do
follow them. What is it? To be in the Lord. Well, the scriptures give us
just wonderful, wonderful pictures of what it is to be in the Lord. You're in the ark. Or you're
outside of the ark. There is a great division between
humanity, isn't it? There are those who are in the
Lord. And how do they get in the ark? How did the ark ever
get built? Noah for 120 years would have
been, seemed like the biggest fool there ever was. What's his
business about rain? What's a boat? What are you building
a boat for? You're in it. You're in it because God put
you in it. And who shut the door? God shut the door. And what was
inside the ark? pitch, propitiation. What kept
the waters outside the ark and kept the wrath of God at bay
for those people? The wrath of God fell on that
ark just like it fell on the rest of that world, didn't it,
at that time. And it was absorbed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that ark, with those people in it, above all the troubles and
all of the storms and all of the upheavals of the earth that
went on. The highest thing on planet earth
was the ark. The waters were 20 feet above
the mountains, higher than this building above the mountains.
The highest thing on planet earth, the thing that rode above all
those waves, was the ark. You're in the ark. What is it
to be in the Lord? It's to be so united to Him So one with Him. That's what His prayer is, isn't
it, in John 17? He prays for this unity. He knows
it's the reality. He's not praying for something
that won't happen. He's praying because it has happened in eternity and
it must happen in time. It's pictured in baptism to be
in the Lord, isn't it? We're in Him, we're immersed
in Him. You're saved, our salvation. My righteousness before God is
in Him. Our union means that whatever
the Lord Jesus Christ did when He was on this earth, I did. We were chosen in Him from the
foundation of the world. When He came into this world,
we were circumcised in Him. When the Lord Jesus Christ lived
on this earth, I lived before God in Him, perfectly obeying
the law of God and perfectly, perfectly loving God with every
breath, every second, and obeying the law of God in love. It wasn't
a burden for the Lord Jesus Christ to perfectly fulfill the law
of God. It was his delight to love God
and to love his neighbour as himself, and I did as well. When
he lived, I lived. That's what baptism pictures.
When he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried. When he was resurrected, I was
resurrected. When he was exalted, I was exalted. That's what it is to be in him,
isn't it? Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Where are all of God's children
now? We're raised up together with
him and made, made sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. We're sitting with him now, just
like you're in the ark. To be in Christ is to be in that
Passover, isn't it? To be in that house with the
blood over the doorpost. What a glorious gospel declaration
God says in Exodus 12, doesn't he? He says, when I see the blood,
not when I see your faithfulness, not when I see your obedience,
not when I see your good works, when I see the blood of my Son,
I'll pass over you. It's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, the Lamb of God who takes the sin
of the world. The great desire of the children
of God Paul says, I just want to be found in Him, found in
Him. We worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. He
counts all the things of this world, all things are lost for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things. I do count them
but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him. When God comes looking for me,
He's got to look inside of His Son to find me. What a place
to be, what a secure place for the children of God. to be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the Lord, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings and being made
conformable unto his death. How do you get in the Lord Jesus
Christ? How do you get in him? Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord. How do you get in Him?
Well, listen to what God says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. But of Him, of God the Father,
are you in Christ Jesus? who of God is made unto us. If you're in him, God has made
his Son your wisdom. That's all the wisdom I need.
That's all the wisdom I need to get through this world. Jesus
Christ is all the wisdom I need. And righteousness. He's made
all my righteousness before God. and is all my sanctification.
Sanctification is not something that grows. Sanctification is
a finished deal, isn't it? It's done in the Lord Jesus.
He's all my sanctification and He's all my redemption, that
according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in
the Lord. How do you get in to the Lord? By God the Father. We are elected in Him. We are
chosen in Him. We are loved in Him. And we are
kept in him. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. They rest from their labours. They rest from their labours. No more struggle with sin. No
more struggle. No more does a child of God say
a wretched man that I am. David said my sin is ever before
me. It's a blessed thing, isn't it?
This is to be written down. Blessed, blessed are they. Blessed are they who have seen
God in his holiness. Blessed are they who having seen
God in his holiness have seen themselves in their sinfulness
and seen their need of a saviour. What a saviour sinners need. What do saviour sinners need?
Real sinners need a saviour exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ who
does all the things with all the power that the Lord Jesus
Christ alone can do. We need a saviour who can bear
all of my sins in his own body on the tree. A saviour who can
bear those sins away so that the infinite wrath of God can
be poured out on those sins and God can say they are gone. which is why they are blessed. I'll just read it to you, but
there's a lovely verse in Jeremiah chapter 50, which ought to be
precious to us. He says, in that day, in those
days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel,
the children of God, shall be sought for, and there shall be
none. The iniquity of Israel, there'll
be none. Who's looking for it? Anyone. Satan can look for it. God says there's none. They'll
be sought for and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah
and they shall not be found. For I will pardon whom I reserve. That word pardon means I'll be
propitious. I'll be propitious. It's just
what the publican said at the temple. God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. God, you look upon your dear
and precious sacrifice of your son, and you be propitious to
me. Believers rest from their labours. Believers alone are those who
know that in this flesh dwells no good thing. David said, My
sin's always before me. In this flesh dwells no good
thing. In this flesh dwells no good thing. in this flesh, which
is only ever seen by the new creation. There's a new creation
that God puts in people in salvation and then works through that new
creation for the rest of their journey here. It's created by
God, Ephesians 2.24, in righteousness and true holiness. And that new
man is the new man that sees the old man. There is a struggle.
There is a struggle. God's people live in this world
with two natures. They live in this world with
the nature that they had from their father Adam, and they live
in this world with the new creation in them, and there is a struggle.
And so often we see the old man, and so often, and especially
for children of God, they see the old man in themselves, and
so barely do we see the new man. And that's why we need to hear
the gospel again and again and again. I need to be reminded.
that God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. We are made by God to be perfectly
fit for heaven. He has made us, made us qualified
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Blessed
are the dead. All of the struggles with this
flesh are gone. And they rest. They rest. What a lovely word. What a lovely
word it is to rest. All is done. They rest from their
labours and their works do follow them. We have to write this down. You
see, their works don't go ahead of them as a cause of their salvation,
and their works don't go beside them as an assurance of their
salvation. Their works do follow them. is the evidence and God works
faith and God creates faith in his children in such a way that
we are caused to look to him and blessed are they. We look to Christ because we
need a mediator and there's only one. We need a sin offering and
there's only one and it's him. We need a substitute to stand
before us as our representative before God. I need a redeemer.
To rest, I need a righteousness before God, a perfect righteousness. To be in the presence of God
and to be at rest is to be as holy as God is holy. As righteous
as God is righteous. They follow them. They follow
them. God works faith in the hearts
of his people. Abraham believed God. And his faith was in exercise. Faith is exercised by God. He just believes God. Our works follow them. Not our works. Not our works. When we get to heaven's glory,
we'll say, not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory
and praise. Blessed, blessed rest, blessed
union, blessed grace to believe, blessed to sing, blessed to be
able, by the grace of God, to sing. What are they singing up
there now? What are they singing? songs all up there. I was joking
with June the other day about the fact that my singing is so
appalling, and my sense of all sorts of music is just abysmal,
really. But when we used to hop on the
bus in India, there were 27 girls, and they were between 12 and
14 years of age. And as soon as the bus started
to move, they'd start singing. And I printed out a stack of
good hymns for them to sing, so they were actually singing
really nice. And I couldn't help myself. They used to sing in
harmonies and parts, and it was just And they do it all the time,
and they do it for hours, singing. And I used to join in thinking,
I'm just bored. And I used to say to those girls,
one day, one day you'll hear me singing in heaven, and it'll
be tuneful in the most remarkable way. What are they singing up
there now? They sang a new song, saying
thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof. You
are absolutely sovereign over everything that happens in this
universe. That's what's in the book, isn't it? It's the book
of life. It's the book of God's sovereignty. It's the book of
the eternal covenant. It's the Lamb's book of life. For thou wast slain and has redeemed
us to God. by thy blood. You have bought
us back at the price of your very own life and that precious
blood out of every kindred and tongue and nation and people
and has made us unto our God, kings and priests. And we'll reign on the earth.
We'll reign in the new creation. The glorious creation is coming.
Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. He'll wipe
every tear from every eye. He'll embrace his saints. You
might remember when Stephen was being stoned to death and Paul,
Saul of Tarsus was there. The Lord Jesus Christ is sitting
on the throne of heaven. And he saw him stand. Stephen
saw him stand. He saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing on the right hand of God. How to see the glory of
God in the face of his son. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we pray that you would grant us the grace of your comfort
in the midst of trials. You would grant us the grace
to simply believe what you have said about who you are and how
you save your people in your dear and precious Son. You grant
us the grace and peace, Heavenly Father, to rest in our union
with Him, that He's done all things well. He is doing all
things well. He takes us into His banqueting
house and His banner over us is love. May we feast, Heavenly
Father, again and again upon the broken body and that precious
shed blood. And may His union with us be
so real, Heavenly Father, that we can walk through this world
and the circumstances that lie before us and continually be
reminded that you are with us. You are with us and you never
leave us nor forsake us. Worlds without end. Cause your
son to be our hope and our trust and our rock in the midst of
a changing world, Heavenly Father. We pray in Jesus' name and for
his glory. Amen.