My text will be found in verse
27. Revelation chapter 21. And the title of my message is, Who
Shall Enter the Holy City? Who shall enter the holy city? I believe the answer is clearly
found in our text by a negative and a positive. The negative
here is, "...there shall in no wise enter into it into the holy
city, New Jerusalem, that which cometh from God out of heaven.
No one shall enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." And now notice the positive,
who shall enter in to this holy city, but they which are written
in the Lamb's book of life. Now, the Lord by the Apostle
John has testified through these seven visions that the Lord Jesus
Christ has come into the world He has accomplished redemption
and salvation of His people and ascended back into glory. And
at this time, the Lord is now moving by His Word, His Gospel,
to save His people from their sins. And there is coming a time
when the Lord Jesus shall return. He shall soon come again and
display His glory, His sovereignty, and majesty in this one thing. He will judge all men. This will be displayed to everyone,
His judgment. He shall come and sit on the
great white throne of judgment, and in strict justice He will
reward every man according to his work. That's what it tells
us in chapter 19, when the sea gave up their dead, And they
which were in death and hell were delivered up, and the dead
were in them. And they were judged every man according to his works
in death and hell. And they were cast into the lake
of fire, which is the second death." There is coming a time
when God will judge all men, and it will be in strict, holy
justice, holy judgment. And those who are found righteous,
those who are found without sin, shall be brought to heaven. Those
who are judged in strict holiness and found without spot or blemish
or wrinkle or any such thing, these will be received into this
holy city and live forever in peace, in
paradise, with Christ serving Him. eternity but all who are
found guilty all who are found guilty of sin shall be forever
cast out into a lake of fire which burneth forever and ever
which is the second death And such is reflected in our
text. This is reflected, this judgment
is definitely reflected in our text. Those who are sinners,
those who defile, those who make a lie, those who are found in
iniquity, shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. But those
who are written in the Lamb's book of life, those who are righteous,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. So then this begs
the question, the question must be then asked, how then can any
man enter into such a place? If heaven is holy, if heaven
is righteous, if heaven is without sin, and no one that defileth,
no one that maketh a lie is permitted into heaven itself, how then
can any man claim a right to enter? The Word of God, as well
as the heart and experience of man and Adam's race, testifies
of this one truth. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All have sinned. All have sinned. God's Word is very clear. There
is none righteous. No. Not. Why? Isaiah, in his prophecy, testifies
to this truth that all our righteousnesses... He's not even talking about our
iniquities. He's not even talking about those
things that are knowingly sinful. He is talking about our religion.
He is talking about our worship. He is talking about everything
that we would consider to be righteous works. He said all
our righteousnesses are as menstrual cloths. Filthy rags in the sight and
the nostrils of God, they are a stench. This is our best that
we could offer. Yet we see heaven to be a place
that there shall never be polluted with sin, never defiled with
iniquity, that the God of heaven is holy and just and without
sin, and all who dwell there must be as holy as God is holy."
Our Lord made it very clear even from the beginning. He said,
Be ye holy even as I am holy. So then if man, if any man lack
holiness, if any man lack total perfection which is necessary
for heaven, he then is excluded from entry. No man can enter
heaven except he be holy. Remember in the beginning when
God made man and created man? He made him upright. He made
him perfect. Adam was an upright man, a righteous
man. And all of creation that was
given to Adam at that time was in holy perfection and harmony. There was nothing wrong with
the earth. There was nothing wrong with Adam. There was nothing
wrong with his relationship with God. Why? Because there was no
sin. But when Adam sinned, when sin
entered into the world, we all know the effects. We all see
the effects of sin and the curse around us. We see sickness and
sorrow and grief and trouble and difficulty and death is all
around us. Why? Because sin has entered. Death is a result of sin. Pain is a result of sin. When sin entered, sickness and
sorrow and hunger, because of sin, lust and greed and murder
and envy and hatred, all these things have entered into God's
creation. The moment sin entered God's
creation, the justice of God swiftly fell on man. And so all men by nature are
born dead in sins, incapable and unwilling to come to God
by Christ. The only way a man is ever going
to get to heaven, we know this, is in Christ, is through faith
in Christ. And yet man is so depraved, so
wicked, so vile, that he will not come to God. He will not
come through Christ. This is a result of sin. The
judgment of God failed and man died. And what did God say about
the earth? Cursed is the earth for thy sake. I shall eat of it. How? By the
sweat of thy brow. Work, labor, all the cause of
sin. The law of God then came after
that. The law of God came to show the
holiness of God, didn't it? justice of God against sin, or
requires perfect and unwavering obedience. Isn't that what the
law requires? The law says, "...cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things written in the book of the law to do them."
Do you see how depraved man is to go back to the law? The law
is very clear. There's nothing unclear about
the law. You must, if you are under the
law, you must obey the law perfectly, without error. You cannot look
back and say, look, I've obeyed it then. And if you would defile
it once, You've ruined it. You have no opportunity to recover
yourself. The law is something perpetual
and continual. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in... Listen, all things written in
the book of the law, not just the Ten Commandments, all things
written in the book of the law to do them. But if you want to see the justice
of God, in full bloom, then you must look at the cross. You must
look at the cross. Behold the most precious in the
eyes of God, His Son. And yet when sin, when sin was
imputed to His Son, God in strict holy justice slew His own beloved
Son without mercy. without mercy. When he was found in Christ,
he made him an offering for his people. And the justice of God
said, Awake, O sword! Awake, O sword! And smite the
man that is my fellow. Therefore, heaven is a place
of holy and divine perfection. Thus, sin can never come into
it or defile it. That's why it's called the Holy
City, the New Jerusalem. Because it is pure and without
sin. Now this is something for us
not being able to grasp in our minds. We could not even imagine
at our best a place without sin. We have never experienced a place
without sin. Yet heaven is that place. Heaven
is that place. What we have experienced is this.
We are sinners. We are sinners. And if heaven
is a place of total perfection without sin, how then can we
who are sinners enter? How? Except you be without sin, you
shall never enter heaven. Thus we conclude that no man
by nature, by natural condition, may enter into heaven, seeing
that we all by nature are sinners." You know this, even believers,
I want you to understand this, and this is where we're going
to get to, that if you're going to enter heaven, we know this,
you must come to God by Christ. You must have His righteousness.
That's where we're going with this. But I want you as believers
to even understand this. We could not go to heaven in
this condition. Even as we are children of God,
we ourselves could not enter into this and this condition.
This is why the body must die. This is why we must put off this
old man so that we may enter into glory. That's what it's
for. Because we can't enter in like
this. We can't do it. Even when Christ comes again,
the Apostle says, we which are alive and remain, we shall be
changed. This body, this mortal, must
put on immortality. This corruption must put on incorruption. You see, the believers even could
not enter heaven at this condition. Isn't that sobering? That's understandable
how pure heaven is. That if you were to enter in
in this condition, We could not enjoy the presence of Christ,
this condition, this sin. Couldn't enter in. Yet we are
sure of this, some will enter in. This is the hope. Now, that's the difficulty in
the negative. Heaven is pure. We are sinners. How can we enter in? That's a
big solemn question. That's a solemn question. How
can you enter heaven? How can you enter heaven? Being
sinners. Will there be any? The answer
is yes. Our text bears that out, but. I like those words, those conjunctions. But. We were dead in trespasses,
but God. Heaven is holy and pure and you're
a sinner, but. But they. That are written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. Now there are some people who
will. And I want you to understand this. Heaven will be full of
people. Look around you, we're small.
There are empty chairs, aren't there? There are empty places
in the worship service of Christ, here. But I know this, there
will not be one empty place there. Not one. That's good. It will be full. I like when
the Lord uses that illustration of 24 elders. 24 elders. That's
a representation of the whole church of God. 12 apostles, 12
patriarchs of the Old Testament. All the saints of God shall be
there. It'll be a full place. Look over
in Revelation chapter 5. See how it's described here.
Look at verse 11. And I beheld and heard the voice
of many angels round about the throne, and the beast, and elders,
and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and
thousands of thousands." You know what that means? That's
more than I can count. That's what it means. I just don't have a number. I
just can't put a number to it. It's a large number. In chapter 14, it says that it
was 144,000. That's not just literally 144,000, that's a large number
representative of the whole of God's saints. Look in chapter 19 and verse
1. Look at this. And after these things I heard
a great voice, listen, of much people. In heaven. In that place where there is
no sin. In that place that is not defiled. There is much people. Much people. That's how many
are going to be there. Much people. So then how? That's the question
again, how? Are we by nature sinners, guilty
of trespassing against God, be numbered among these sinless
multitudes? There's going to be many. But
what should be important to you is, are you in that number? Now that's important. It's not
the fact there are going to be many, but will you be there? What good would it be for you
to know that there are many believers if you're not one of them? It
wouldn't do you any good. How shall we know if we should
be in the citizens of heaven? Is there any hope for sinners?
Yes! Look at your text, it says this,
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life, they
shall enter into this holy place. Behold, here is the hope, here
is the hope, that God has written in a book of sovereign election
all those who should enter heaven. It is in this book of God that
He has written the names of all those He has chosen to enter
and inherit this holy place called Heaven. You see, there is a people. God has chosen a people and He
has written them down in an eternal book, here called the Lamb's
Book of Life. In other places it is called
the Election According to Grace. And I tell you that according
to the Word of God, these alone, these alone were chosen of the
Father to be holy. These who are written in this
book were chosen to be holy, so that they may inherit this
holy city. But I also see in this text that
none of those whose names are not written in this book will
enter heaven. Only those who are written in
this book shall enter heaven. But those whose names are not
written in this book shall not enter heaven. In fact, we can
clearly see that the reason that they will not enter heaven is
not because of election. Men will not go to hell because
of election. Men will go to hell because they
deserve it. Because of their sin. Look over
at chapter 17 in verse 8. Look at chapter 17 in verse 8. It says, "...the beast which thou
sawest was and is not, and shall ascend up out of the bottomless
pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell upon the
earth shall wonder," listen, "...whose names were 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." Who
is these that are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life? How
then are they distinguished? They are distinguished by their
wonder of the beast, by their worship of Satan, by their following
of sin. See, the reason men go to hell
is not because of election, but because of sin. The election of God is not for
the damnation of men, but rather the salvation of those who's
written in it. Election is for the salvation
of those whose names are written down. It's not for the damnation
of those who are not. And see, when Adam sinned, all
of our race became depraved. All of our race deserves damnation. We were born in sin, dead in
trespasses, and could by no means of the flesh save ourselves. We were altogether become unprofitable. We are all unrighteous and wicked.
We by nature hated God and would not come to Christ even because
we could not come to Christ. The Scriptures are clear concerning
our nature, that the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. This morning I'm preaching the
things of the Spirit of God. And you know what the natural
man is going to do? He is not going to receive those things.
They're of no value and no interest to him. He will not receive them. Why? For they're foolishness
to him. That's the first reason they
won't, because it's foolishness. What you're talking is foolishness.
It's gibberish to me. I don't understand it. I don't
want to understand it. I don't want it. It's foolishness. Why is it foolishness? Because
to us it's not foolishness. We believe it's not foolishness
at all. It's the power of God unto salvation. To every one
that believeth. Listen, he thinks it's foolishness
because the scripture says neither can he know them. because he's spiritually discerned.
The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. Therefore, all God has
to do, all God has to do in order to condemn our race is this,
leave us alone. God has to do nothing. Our Lord Jesus said, I came not
into the world to condemn the world. You know why? It's already
condemned. What does God have to do to damn
you? Leave you alone. Leave you in your sin. Man's hearts, they counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointing, saying, let us
break His bands asunder and cast His cords. Isn't that what man
wants? Isn't that what man wants? To do away with God. Leave me
alone, that's what he says. I'll have my own way. I will
not hear of Christ. I will not come. Men set up gods of their own
imaginations, the gods and idols of their own making, the works
of their own hands. We, like those Pharisees, go
about to establish our own righteousness, being ignorant of the righteousness
of God. Men turn to the law, not knowing
that the law only can condemn them, it cannot save them. And listen, had God not made
a sovereign choice among us, had there been no election of
grace, you mark this down, there would be no salvation at all. Had God not chosen us, we would
have never chosen Him. Had He not loved us, we would
have never loved Him. Praise God for sovereign election. Heaven would have been an empty
place had God not made choice among us, had God not sovereignly
chose. God, not for our sakes. I like that. And you remember
the covenant promises in Jeremiah, I believe it is, or Ezekiel 36?
He says, I do this not for your sakes, but for mine own namesake. I do it for the praise of the
glory of my grace. That's the only reason anyone
is saved, is for the praise of the glory of the grace of God.
I don't do this for your sakes, I do it for my own sake. And because of this election
he has made a covenant, he has purposed to save some of this
worthless, defiled, wretched race of Adam. I like that in
when paul's explain this in romans chapter nine he says of the same
love he made vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor what's
that law adams worthless we all of the taken from the
same law and for his own purpose he had
made vessels of mercy Now, I must ask myself, am I one of these?
Since there is an election that is unto salvation. Since these
who are chosen and written in the book, is my name in the book?
Is my name in the book? For if not, I must be forever
damned. Now, if my name is written in
the book, I want you to see this, it was written there forever. If your name is in this book,
this book has no eraser. It's written with marks of indelible
grace. It's written with an iron pen
that cannot be removed. It was written from eternity
before the world was. That text we read in Revelation
13, it says those names were written in the Lamb's Book of
Life when? Before the foundation of the
world. See then that salvation of these
was not by accident, but rather the purpose of God." These who
are to enter into heaven are not going to trip and enter in.
They're not going to be accidentally accepted. They're on purpose
accepted. God intentionally purposed that
these whose names are written should inherit this eternal paradise. And we know that God has made
with these elect a covenant. Therefore there's a covenant.
If God purposed, He also swore that there should be, that these
should enter into heaven. He made a covenant. What is a
covenant? It's a contract. It's a binding
document between two parties. But this contract is not like
anything we do today. Scott, you got a house and you
signed a contract. And basically their contract
was, we're going to build a house. That's our part. Your part is
to pay for it. Okay? That's a contract between
two parties. But God's contract is nothing
like that at all. It's a one-sided contract. God
does all the work. and you get all the blessing.
That's the covenant. That's the contract. God says,
I am going to do everything necessary so that you should enter into
this holy place and the contract is you, whose
names are written in this book, shall receive all the blessings. Isn't that what he said in Ephesians?
He said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly
places, according to how great we did, according to the measure
of our works. Is that what it said? No. According
to His grace. as He had chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, before we could do any
work. We were given all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in
Christ before there was ever a world to work in. God swore
that these should enter in. Now go over and see this covenant.
I want you to see this covenant as it was spoken by David. Go
to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 23. We know that David here is on
his deathbed. And Scripture says these be the
last words of David. 2 Samuel chapter 23 and verse 5. He says, although my house be
not so with God. God before told him what a good
king should be like. God told him and said, this is
what you should be. And what did David say? Although
my house is not like that. Although my house is nothing
like that. Although my house be not so with
God, yet with me he hath made an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure, For this is all my salvation, and
all my desire, although I make it not to grow. David, on his
deathbed, testifies to God's holiness and his demands of righteousness,
but confesses, my house is not so. Although my house is full
of sin, full of wickedness, my hands are full of blood, my flesh
is full of lust, but herein was David's hope. his hope of entering
into that sinless heaven was not in his own righteousness
but in the covenant of god how foolish is any man who tries
to make a covenant with god in that foolish i want you pay attention mark
a man who's a fool who says anything like this i've made my peace
with god you run as fast as you can from that fellow, he's an
idiot He is foolish. They say, now God, here's a covenant. I'm going to make it with you.
If you'll do this, then I will do such and such. That man is
a fool. You know what God calls them?
He says, those are scornful men. He said, these are men who've
made a covenant with death and with hell. And he said, their refuge is
a refuge of lies and falsehood. He said, in one day I'm going
to disannul that covenant. That covenant they hang on to,
a covenant of works, God says when they close their eyes in
death, I'm disannulling that covenant. It's not going to work.
He said, that overflowing scourge you thought would not come to
you is going to come over you and over you and over you and
over you for eternity. But this is the covenant that
God makes with His elect. An everlasting covenant, David
said. Not based on us, not based on
our participation. But one, David said, is ordered
in all things and sure. Our God said, this is the covenant.
Behold, I have laid in Zion a stone, a foundation stone, a tried stone,
a precious cornerstone. That is the covenant of grace,
is in Christ, ordered in all things insure. God's made a covenant in order
to make the elect fit for heaven, and that is this. Give my son I Give my son To be the propitiation
for your sins. I Give my son to be your righteousness
I give my son to provide all that the elect need in order
to enter into this holy city God the Father then trusted all
the salvation of his elect to his son and that he should be the representative
man of all those whose names are written in this book. Look
and see that none of the elect are in themselves worthy of this
election. None could have ever merited
such a covenant of grace. Yet, in order to display the
riches of His glory and grace, God, according to His good pleasure
and will, took from the same lung of Adam's race and covenanted
to make us vessels of mercy fit for heaven. fit. I just read part of that, that
He had blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
according as He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Listen, this is the reason. That
we should be holy. What does it take to enter heaven?
You must be holy. What did God determine about
His elect? They should be holy and without blame before Him,
in love, having predestinated them unto the adoption of children.
How? How? Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ
not Jesus Christ plus anything else by Jesus Christ alone father purpose that the election
be holy by Christ and now has taken upon Him the nature... Christ has taken upon Him the
nature of a man so as to be qualified to represent us. He represented
us as a man, and as a man, He obtained righteousness. As a
man, He offered Himself to God without spot, without blemish,
or any such thing. And God imputed our sins to Christ,
since He had none of His own. He took our sin. And God made
Him to be sin. How is it that you should be
made holy? Only by His offering. Only by
Him being made sin could you be made righteous. That's the
only way. There is no other way. This is
the covenant of grace. This is the covenant God made
with the elect. God in love for His elect could
never excuse our sins. What a miserable place heaven
would be if our sins were not gone, completely gone. Would
we not always be looking over our shoulder wondering if our
sin judgment would come back to us? We know some people who
have been let out of prison without justice. And what do they do? Always, always looking around,
waiting for that moment that justice is going to come. Heaven
would be a miserable place with that. But this is the covenant
that I'm going to take all of your sins away. I'm going to
pay for them in full. And that's what Christ did. So
upon the cross he laid on him the iniquity of us all and it
said it pleased God to bruise him To put into grief when thou
shall make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seat
He shall 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 satisfied And having pleased God in obedience,
having satisfied the justice of God for our sins by His death,
God has raised Him up to the throne of grace, where He now
sits for this purpose, to save His people from their sins. This is what He has sent me to
do, to preach to you this gospel. And I know this. Only the elect will hear it.
Only the elect will believe it. Because only the elect the Spirit
of God will come to in grace and make it effectual. So then how can I know if I am
one of these? If they're the only ones to enter
into heaven, if Christ has made them perfect in a covenant of
grace, how then can I know I am one of them? Listen, do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ alone? That's a very important word,
alone. There's many in this generation that believe on Christ plus. David said this, this is all
my salvation. Is Christ all your salvation? David said, this is all my desire. Is not this all your desire to
be found in Christ? It is the affection of the heart. It is the object of faith. Is
this one person Christ? If Christ is all, heaven is yours. If Christ is all, heaven is yours. For he hath made us meet, qualified
to be partakers of the divine nature of the heavens. He has
made us mean, qualified. Are you qualified? I don't know,
are you in Christ? Are you in Christ? If you are
in Christ, it is because your name was written down from eternity. Because Christ suffered in a
covenant of grace for you. and now the spirit of god is
called you in the spirit of god keeps you and listen god will
not stop until you have what he's given until you inherit
what he's given he won't stop this is the conference a place
that is whole it's mine If you're in Christ, it is your
inheritance. And nothing will rob you of it. Nothing. I pray that God blesses
to your hearts.