If you take your Bibles and turn
again with me to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21, my text
will be found in verse 27. The scripture says, And there
shall in no wise enter into it anything that defile it. Neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. But, here's
what's going to be in it. He's describing heaven. He's
describing the eternal abode of God and His saints. He declares
to us that this place will be without sin. Nothing of sin will be in this
place. But there is going to be something
there. Who is going to be there? But
they, which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Now the Lord has testified by
John that He will soon return. He will soon return, not as He
did the first time in humiliation, but He will return as the exalted
King in judgment. In judgment. He will come and
sit upon His great white throne. And He will judge every man,
listen, every man according to His works. That's what a just judge does.
He judges you based on what you've merited, what you've earned. He's going to judge every man.
And this is true that all the righteous shall be brought into
heaven. Everyone that is holy and righteous
shall be brought into heaven. Those who are judged in strict
holiness and found to be without spot or blemish or any sin shall
be received into this holy city forever in peace and paradise
with God. But everyone who is guilty Everyone
who has sin or a spot or stain or guilt shall be cast into eternal
fires forever. Look at verse 8 of this chapter. It says, But the fearful and unbelieving and
abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and
idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake,
which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. This
is true, friends, this is true. I know men don't like to hear
this, but this is so. When Christ comes, this is what's
going to happen to all the guilty. To everyone who is guilty. such as reflected in our text
concerning the nature and condition of heaven that there shall in
no wise enter into it anything that defile it nothing no sin
no sinner shall be found in heaven but here is the hope that there
are some going to be found there whosoever which are written in
the Lamb's book of life Question then must be asked how can any
man be received into this place? If heaven is a place for only
holy people How then can any man be received into heaven saying
we of all sins? The Word of God, as well as the
heart and experience of every man, testifies. We all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. This is our experience. I'm asking you to be honest with
yourself. Don't look at somebody else,
but then yourself. Have you sinned? Any honest man,
just being blunt, would have to say yes. We all have sinned. The Scriptures are clear, there
is none righteous. No, not one. Isaiah declares this about even
our righteousness. He says our righteousnesses.
I think it's the only time that word is used like that. I may
be mistaken, but I believe it is righteousnesses. He's just
saying all your righteousness, all you think is righteous is
filthy rags. I like the way Scott Richardson
put it one time, he said your righteousness is about as worthless
as a warm bucket of spit. Very vivid, very vivid. Yet here we see in heaven this
place shall not be polluted by sin neither defiled by iniquity. The God of heaven is just and
holy and without sin and so must be all that dwell in his abode. In this what Hebrews chapter
12 tells us without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Without holiness. I've studied this for a long
time and I still don't fathom the fullness of that word holiness. How holy is holy? Can you be
part holy? Is there such a thing? Well,
I'm kind of holy. No, you must be holy as God is
holy. And so then, if any lack holiness
and total perfection, we must of necessity be excluded from
heaven. Excluded. Now remember, in the
beginning, how did God make man? He made man upright. He made
man without sin. Man was holy. He was without
sin. He was made in perfection. But
see what happened once He sinned. Once sin entered in, everything was cursed. Eden was
cursed and destroyed. Death entered in. Sickness and
sorrow and suffering and hunger and thirst. Lust and greed and murder began
to dwell in the heart of man. And the moment sin entered into
God's creation, the justice of God fell and Adam died. The moment he sinned, the scripture
says, and his eyes were opened to what? His nakedness. His sin. He died spiritually. And then, in the Law of God,
the Law of God shows us this as we go along in Scripture,
God gave His Law. And the Law has a purpose, doesn't
it? The Law is not intended to save anyone. It's not intended
to be a rule of life. It's intended to show man the
inability to obey God. In Galatians 3 and verse 10 it
says, As many as of the works of the law are under, what? Curse. Any man trying to earn his favor
with God is cursed. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law. Listen to these words. To do
them. A lot of men lift the law up. They say, Oh the law is good.
We need to try to obey the law. Doesn't say anything about trying.
It says, cursed is the man that doesn't do them. And then what
do men do? They say, well, I'm going to
take this side of the law and I'm going to try to do this.
And then the other side of the law, they say, well, you know,
we can't offer sacrifices anymore. There's a big mosque right where
God had his temple and us offer sacrifices. Can't do it. Does that excuse you? No. If you're under the law, you
better find a high priest, you better find a sacrifice, and
you better tear down that mosque, build a temple, and start doing
it again. Because that's part of the law.
But the Lord did away with that. Nobody's going to do that again. All these fools thinking that
the temple's going to be rebuilt and God's going to start off
and sacrifice again. What a spit in the face of the
Son of God. God did away with that dispensation. Why? Because it's cursed. You
can't do it. It's impossible for men to be holy by the Lord.
Now, how holy is God in this matter of sin? Well, consider His Son. Consider when Christ came into
this world, there was never a man holy as He is. And yet when God made him to
be sin for us, how did God treat his son? What did God do to his
son? Awake, O sword, and smite the
shepherd, the man that is my fellow. God in strict justice slew his
own son. God forsook His Son when He was
made sin for us. Therefore, heaven is a place
of divine perfection. Thus, sin can never come into
it, defile it, for it is called the holy city. Therefore, see
the solemn truth. This is a truth. This is an unwavering
truth. To enter into heaven you must
be holy as God Himself. You must be as holy as God. It
just says there's not going to enter anything that defiles this
city. Nothing. No sin. No sin will be here. Thus we conclude that no man
can by natural, his natural condition, enter into heaven. Seeing all
we are by nature is sinners. We are sinners by birth and sinners
by choice. Yet I am sure of this. I'm sure
of this too. I'm sure that no sinner is going
to enter into heaven. I'm sure that heaven is a full
of place of only holy people. Yet I'm just as sure as this
is going to be full. Heaven is going to be a place
full, full of holy people. I like this, in Revelation 5,
in verse 11, this is what it says, He said, I beheld and heard
the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts
and elders, listen, and the number of them was ten thousand times
ten thousand and thousands of thousands. You know what that
means? John couldn't come up with a
number. There's not a number in the Greek
language that can magnify the number John was talking about.
So that's why he said 10,000 and 1,000 and 1,000s of 1,000s.
I don't know. 1,000 is as high as I can count
and there's got to be 1,000s of 1,000s of 1,000s of them. That's how many are going to
be there. This same multitude is pictured in Revelation 14
as the hundred and forty and four thousand. Now the one hundred
forty four thousand that just doesn't mean there's going to
be one hundred forty four thousand. Think of the fool that figured that
to try to figure that one out and said oh there's only going
to be one hundred forty four thousand when they reached one hundred
forty five thousand. What do you think happened. They had
to change their tune. They had to change the way they
thought. That's just a perfect number, that's what it means.
There's going to be a perfect number there. As many as God
determined to save, He'll save. In Revelation 19 it says there
was much people in heaven. Much people in heaven. So we
know this, that heaven is a sinless place, we know this, we are all
sinners by nature, and yet we also know this, that God has
purposed to fill heaven with holy people. So then, how shall we, who are
by nature sinners, now listen, I'm not, this is not a fictitious
thing, we are truly guilty. We are truly guilty. How can
a truly guilty sinner be numbered among the multitude of sinless
people? How can we who are sinners, really
sinners, be made really holy? Now these aren't pretend holy
people. God's not just winking. Yeah, I really know you're sinning,
but I'm just pretending that's not it. They have to be really
holy. So how can really guilty sinners
be really holy? That's that question we often
ask, how can God be just? And still justify the ungodly. Is there any hope for sinners?
Well, yes, there is. Yes, there is. I definitely if
I didn't have an answer to this question, I definitely wouldn't
be here. If I had to close the book right then and you had no
answer. What a horrible thing, and some
people run around saying they got the answer, well, you need
to start doing something. Look, this look back at your
text, here's the whole now there's going to be any hope it's right
here. But, there are going to be some
there. And who are they? They which
are written in the Lamb's book of life. Behold, herein is hope
that God has written a book of sovereign election. That all
who are written in this book shall enter into heaven. It is in this book that God has
written the names of all He has chosen to inherit this holy place. These alone were chosen of the
Father to be holy. They were chosen to be without
blame before Him who is of purer eyes than to behold evil. And
also see in the text that none of those whose names are not
written in this book are not going to be there. Listen, everyone
whose name is written in this book is going to be there. But
those whose names are not written in this book, they will not be
there. They will not be there. In fact, we can clearly see the
reason why they will not enter heaven is not because of God's
election, but rather because of their sin. Their sin is the cause of their
just desert of eternal damnation. In Revelation 17 it says, They
that dwell upon the earth shall wonder whose names are not written
in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when
they beheld the beast that was and is not and yet is. See their names were not written
there. But we know this, they shall be in hell because they
wandered at the beast. They loved their sin. God is not doing them any injustice
by leaving them to themselves. And so when Adam sinned, All
of His race became depraved. All of us were born into sin. Dead in trespasses and sinning
can by no means of the flesh save ourselves. We were altogether
unprofitable. We were altogether unrighteous
and wicked. We were all by nature haters
of God. We would not come to Christ even
because, listen, we could not come to Christ. Listen what God says about a
natural man. This is this is true of the elect
as well as those who are not listen. Scripture tells us that
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. I don't care how well we preach. Doesn't matter if. I know I'm
not, but if I could have the greatest oratory skill. I think if someone said of Whitfield
that he could make them weep by using the word, by the way
he said, Mesopotamia. He could make them weep. They
make your tears fall, but you can't change a man's heart. Not by skill, not by zeal. I could be the most zealous preacher,
the most faithful preacher, and yet I cannot change the mind
and heart of man. There's nothing this I'm going
to tell you, you see, there's nothing you can do to change
your heart and mind and will. This is how dead man is. He cannot
come to Christ except the father, which has sent him, draw him.
We have no ability and listen, we have no will. We have no desire
by nature to come to Christ. Why? Because the carnal mind
is. This is a fact. This is a statement
of truth. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. Here's our will. It is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Therefore, listen, what
does God have to do to those whose names are not written in
this book? What does He have to do? Nothing. All he has to do is leave them
to themselves. To give man what he naturally
wants. Separation from God. We say in our hearts, I will
not have this man to rule over me. When Christ is preached,
men don't mind Jesus. They don't mind a Jesus that
they can control, that they can manipulate. They don't mind a
Jesus that they have power over. But when Christ is preached in
His holy perfections, in His power, in His deity, in His majesty,
men will have nothing to do with a God like that. And so what do men do? They set
up the gods of their own imagination. You know, you talk about a Christ
who's a successful savior. I believe I've got to have a
part in that. What you've done is you've made a God of your
own. You've set up a Christ of your own. That's what we do by
nature. We set up gods of our own imagination. And we go about to establish
our own righteousness. So what man does by nature is
natural to him. To be religious. One archaeologist said you'd
sooner find a civilization without an alphabet as you would not
have a temple. Man by nature is religious. He's
religious. We like the Pharisees go about
to establish our own righteousness which truly cannot save us. I
just told you heaven is a place of truly holy people. Not pretend
holy people. but absolutely perfect people. They turn to the law, not knowing
that the law has a purpose, and this is the purpose, Paul said
in Romans three, that every mouth may be stopped and the whole
world become guilty before God. That's the purpose of the law,
just to expose sin. So the law cannot save you, your
work cannot save you. By nature we are sinners, haters
of God. And listen, had God not before
the world began chosen some to save, listen, there would be
none saved. Had God not purposed and decreed
to save a people, heaven would be an empty place. Had God not
purposed it. But God, I like those two words. We are truly guilty. We by ourselves
could not earn heaven, but God. But God. Not for our sakes, but for His
own glory. For the praise of the glory of
His grace, God made a covenant. He purposed to save some of that
worthless and defiled race of Adam. In an act of grace and
sovereign love, He set His heart on a chosen people for this purpose,
to make them holy. God purposed By writing their
names in this book, he purposed to make them holy. And it is these alone that will
enter into heaven. Now a question. The question
I've got to ask myself. Am I one of these? If only these are going to enter
into heaven. And that's what it says. Not
anyone who makes a lie or sins, but these whose names are written
in the book of life. In the other place it says those
who were not written in the book of life, they went after the
beast. But these who are written in the book, am I named in this
book? Am I one of these? If I'm not,
I must be damned. Now if my name is written in
this book, it was written there before the world began. Your name was written there.
God don't have an eraser and He's marking out people and rewriting
it. No, that's what we do because
we're imperfect, right? God is not imperfect. God known
unto God or all of his works before the foundation of the
world. God's counsel is being done. Whatever he determined
to do, he's going to do in this. These names were written there
from eternity. Revelation 17 and eight of those
that wandered not at the beast. The scripture says that they
were written in the book before the foundation of the world.
See, then the salvation of these was not an accidental thing. When you write something down,
you have something to do, right? And you write a list, you write
it down. Because you intend to do it. Now we don't always do
it, but we're talking about God. He's telling us in our language
so we can understand it. He wrote down the purpose of
what He was going to do. Shall He not do it? Salvation is on purpose. It was
purposed and planned of God even before the fall of man. Even before sin came into the
world, the scripture tells us that Christ was as a lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Why was he as a lamb slain
before the foundation of the world? Because in the covenant
of grace, God purposed it. He purposed the salvation of
these elect by the offering of Christ. And we know that God
has made with his elect a covenant. A covenant, and I like this,
it's a one sided covenant. one-sided covenant normally covenants
required two people doing two different things I'm going to
do this for you and this is your responsibility to do this well
this is a totally one-sided covenant God said I'm gonna make a covenant
with you and I'm gonna do it all nothing then is required of you
in this covenant it's a one-sided covenant covenant contingent not upon
any measure of the object, but rather a one-sided covenant that
has fulfilled all the promises based on the success of a covenant
surety. Go to 2 Samuel. Go to 2 Samuel.
2 Samuel 23. Look at verse 5. This is David here on his deathbed. David here on his deathbed, he
testifies of God's holiness and his demands of righteousness
and his confession is this, although my house be not so with God. He said, although my house be
full of sin and wickedness, my hands are full of blood, my flesh
was full of lust, but David's hope of heaven was not in his
own righteousness, but rather in a covenant. He said, although
I'm a sinner, although my house be not so with God, yet here's
my hope. He. You see who his hope hinges on? He hath made with me the object
an everlasting covenant. How foolish is any man who tries
to make a covenant with God? You see, David didn't say, I'm
not dependent upon, he didn't say, well, I made a covenant
with God. How foolish is a man to try to
make a covenant with God? You can't uphold your end. No matter what you say, you can't
do it. You can't. It's foolish. God, if you'll just do this,
then I will do that. I'll tell you, if salvation was
99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 nine, nine, nine, nine percent
God and point zero zero zero zero zero zero one. Me, I die in my sins and go to
hell. That's it. If I have to add one
thing, there's no hope for me. There's no hope for me. Matter
of fact, the Lord calls anyone who tries to make a covenant. A fool. Remember in Isaiah he
said to those people, he said, You scornful men that rule this
people, because you have said, I have made a covenant with death
and with hell, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it
shall not come on me. How many people made that covenant?
And what does God say this? He said, It is a refuge of lies. I want you to be honest with
yourself. Is your hope of heaven in any measure on you? Any measure? Any measure of you being accepted
with God based on anything you have done? What about your faith? Do you have faith in your faith?
Well, I just have faith. Well, that will get you hell.
If that's all, you got faith in your faith, that's just stupid. Faith has to have an object.
And if the object of faith is itself, then what good is it?
Because your faith, at times, at best, is just unbelief. It's a refuge of lies. And God
says your covenant with death shall be disannulled and there
shall be vexation. Listen to this understanding.
The bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it and
covering narrow that he can wrap himself in it. Your works are
too short. And your righteousness can't
cover you. I'll tell you what, in works religion, that is a
vexing thing. They do all this and I say to
someone, well, that's not enough. What do you mean, that's not
enough? Look at all I've done for God. Too short. Your bed's too short and your
coverings too narrow to vexation. They hate it. They despise it.
But this is the covenant that God has made with His elect,
an eternal covenant, an everlasting covenant, not based on their
participation, but David said, is ordered, look at that, is
ordered in all things and what? That's a covenant I want. That's
a bed I can stretch myself out on. That's a righteousness I
can cover myself in. It's ordered. What have to add
to it? Not a thing. God's ordered it. And it's sure. Behold, that God is laid in Zion,
a stone. Here's here's the foundation
of my covenant. Here's the hope of my covenant.
Since it's not in me, it's got to be in someone else. Here it
is. Behold, I have laid in Zion a
stone. precious stone, a tried stone,
a cornered stone, a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. I don't want to leave it. Do you want to leave Christ? This is Christ. He's speaking
about the sure foundation, the surety of this covenant is Jesus
Christ. He's Jesus Christ. See how God
in the covenant has given of grace, he purposed to make his
elect holy. He did this by giving us to Jesus
Christ. You see, God, the father trusted
all the salvation of those whose names written in this book. God
trusted the salvation of these people to one person. His son. The father said to the son, These
are my elect. I give them to you. And Jesus
said, I will be surety for them. You know what surety is, right?
One who guarantees. The responsibility of all whose
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life is totally dependent
on the success of Jesus Christ. Totally, completely. God gave
them to be, he gave them to him to be a representative. See that none of the elect were
worthy of this election. None of them ever could merit
such a covenant of grace. And yet in order to display the
riches of his grace, God, according to the good pleasure of his will,
took them from the same lump of Adam's fallen race to make
us vessels of mercy. You see, there was no difference
between you and those whose names not written in the book. There's no difference. Except God. Chose. You. The only difference. God gave you to Christ. In Ephesians
chapter one, you know, you we read this constantly because
it is a blessing. We bless God. Blessed be the
God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul just couldn't help
it. He did his salutation and all of a sudden he couldn't hold
it in. He just blessed God. It's overwhelming praise. Blessed
be the God, a father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessing. And where are all these spiritual
blessings found in one place in Jesus? In Christ. according as he had chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world for this purpose
that we should be holy. Oh, that's great, because heaven
is only a place of holy people. If it's only a place for holy
people, the only hope for me is that God purpose that I should
be holy. They should be holy without blame
before him. Here's his motivation in love. Every day I look in the mirror,
I can't find a reason God to love me. And you? I can't find a reason. The only reason is His grace.
The only reason is sovereign mercy. In love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children, how is He going to do this? How
is He going to do it? by Jesus Christ, that's how. Unto himself. According to the good pleasure
of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein
he hath made us sinners. Yet made us accept it in one
place. In the below. in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. What's the measure of His forgiveness?
You that are believers in Christ, what's the measure of His forgiveness?
According to the riches of His grace. How rich is His grace?
How infinite is His grace? Well, that's how infinite His
forgiveness is. His blood is so effectual that
he's forgiven us all our sins, even those you've not done yet. And those you've been doing this
morning were already taken into account. Forgiveness of sins. So the father purposed us being
holy, and Jesus Christ has made us holy by his offering. God could never excuse sin. He
gave us to Christ and Christ was made the propitiation for
our sin. You know what that means? The
mercy seat. You have to think about the great
day of atonement. You have to think about how the sins were
in charge. The goat and how it was taken
away and the other one was slain. That's a picture of Christ and
that blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled
on the mercy seat. That's what Christ did is He
took His own blood before God and He said, Behold the payment
for their sins. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, to put him to grief. And thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, seed prolong his days and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand he shall see of the travail
of his soul and be satisfied how can a sinner get into heaven
as holy because his sins have been paid for one hundred percent
no two hundred percent double Now, what it tells us,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth the Lord, speak comfortably
to Jerusalem, her warfare is accomplished, for the Lord hath
received double for all her sins. Christ's blood was doubly sufficient
to satisfy God's justice for our sins. And having pleased
God, what's the evidence of God's accepting his offering? He raised
him from the dead and sat him on the throne. Now, listen, we
are not waiting for Christ to rule. Christ is ruling right
now. Right now. Everything is moving
according to his sovereign decree for one purpose. As thou has
given him power over all flesh for this purpose to give. Eternal life. To as many as the
father gave. Who's going to be saved? As many
as the father gave him. Scripture says it's 10,000 times
10,000 and thousand and thousands of thousands of thousands. That's
a lot. And every one of them are going
to be saved. Matter of fact, they were saved before they were
saved. What I mean, they were saved before they ever experienced
it. Timothy, he says he saved us and then what? Called us. See how the order works? He saved
me. And then they did what? He called
me. He called me. He gives life to
all those So then, preacher, how may I know I am one of these
then? God chose the elect. They're
written in the book. It's a lamb's book of life, which
means that Christ died for them. Christ redeemed them. Christ
saved them. They're going to heaven. That's
for sure. Now, then again, is that me? Is that me? How may I know? Have you been called? Paul in
Romans chapter 9 is talking about the vessels of mercy. He said
there were vessels of wrath fit for destruction. They were fit
by their own sin for destruction. But these vessels of mercy were
aforeprepared unto glory. And what does Paul say? Even
us who are called. Have you been called? The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God and they
that hear shall live. Have you heard the voice of the
son of God? What is it? It's still ambiguous. How do
I know that? Everyone who is called and hears
his voice does one thing. They believe. I. Believe. Only. on Jesus Christ as all
my salvation. I know that in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. I know that. Yet God has given me a new heart. I'm able to do something that
I wasn't able to do before. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn't that what it simply says? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Have I not preached Christ to
you? Have I not declared He's the surety of the covenant? That
He's a successful Savior? Why will you not believe? I'll tell you this, you will
believe if God ever calls you You can't do anything but believe. When you believe, know this,
that God has, by his grace, made you holy. He has made us holy. He has given
us a nature. A new man. You know what Paul
said? Put on the new man, which is
created after God and true. What? Oh, yes, I told you, nobody's
getting in the heavens yet to be holy. When you die. What's going to ascend into heaven?
A holy nature. Why is this flesh not going to
go? Because it's not yet holy. It will be. We have this hope
when the body dies, we have hope of its resurrection and transformation
to where we will be both body, soul and spirit, holy in the
presence of God. See, God saved me, the whole
man of me. Yet now we have what? An earnest,
don't we? A down payment. His spirit. These are the ones who are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. They that believe. I pray that God be gracious to
open the hearts of his people to see what God has done for
you. I wrote that this morning from
Peggy's that a lot of God's people will live below their station. Just unbelief. We do. But I tell you, there's only
God can cause us to see what he's really done for us. And
I tell you what, I'm I'm learning as we're growing, we learn of
the you know, when I first believed I didn't fully grasp all the
things that I know now. God by grace is teaching us instructing
us in these things. I'm so thankful that he does
because they're comforting. They should be comforting to
our hearts.