this morning will be looking
adverse nine and continuing on in this chapter even some over
into chapter twenty-two will see some things here and try
to glean from these passages scriptures concerning this holy
city descriptor says and i'm sorry verse uh... yeah verse
it says and there came onto me one of the seven angels, which
had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and he talked
with me, saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the bride,
the Lamb's 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. This
is that same city that was mentioned in verse 2 when John says, "...and
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Now, in our study
of this most precious book, we have seen seven visions. Seven
visions given to the Apostle John by the Holy Spirit which
are the complete revelation of Jesus Christ. Each of these visions began with
the first advent of Christ. It shows us all the way through
the dispensation of grace and the time in which we live, all
the way until Christ comes the second time. That is the purpose
of each of these visions. And throughout this whole book,
believers are encouraged, exhorted, to look for and anticipate the
coming of our Lord. This was the purpose of the book.
The believers, like us, were suffering. They were in trouble.
They were in peril. They were in difficulty. They
were struggling against enemies, both in and without, Satan and
the world and the flesh, just like we do. But John was given
these visions so as to encourage them to look forward to the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. To look forward and anticipate
His coming. God by this book reveals all
the things, that all things are moving according to schedule. All things are right on time.
Nothing is out of place. Everything is moving according
to the divine will and providence of God. What is the purpose of
everything that is moving? Everything that is happening
now is for this. To give you unexpected end. Unexpected end. You ever seen
a movie? And then you come back, you watch
it again. You know what you're doing? You already know what's
going to happen. You're expecting things to happen. Why? Because you know the end.
Believer, listen. You know the end. You know what
to expect. You do. Our Lord says this in
Jeremiah. He said, I know my thoughts that
I think towards you. Sayeth the Lord thoughts of peace
and not of evil. Listen, to give you an expected
end. An expected end. Believer, look
about you. What do you see with these carnal
eyes? What do you see with this carnal reasoning? You see chaos. You see darkness. All seems random. But as we see
it through the eye of faith according to the divine revelation of God,
we should know this, that this is not chaos. This is not random
acts of chance. These are not random acts of
fate. These are designed providences
of God moving toward the end. That's what is happening. That's
why the book of Revelation is given, to show you that everything
is well. All is moving according to schedule. A divine schedule. That all things
are moving according to the sovereign will of God for the full and
complete salvation of all His elect people. And it is the full,
complete salvation that John is describing here in chapters
21 and 22. He's showing us the very, very,
very, very end. The very end. When it's all said
and done. In our text we are given the
glorious picture now of the church. The whole church of God. It is described as this. The Holy City. The Holy City. If I had a title that would be
it. The Holy City. The Holy City. The Holy City This angel takes
John up into these high mountains, and he shows him the bride, the
Lamb's wife, holy Jerusalem, the great city descending from
God out of heaven. In our text, the church is pictured
as a holy city, a great city. That's not how the world views
us, is it? That's not how it appears to be in this world.
The church in this world appears small. Look at us. We're small. I'm sure that there are larger
groups of believers. That's wonderful. I'd love to
see tens of thousands in a church, but that's not usual in history. Church is usually small, weak,
poor, unattractive. to the world and the flesh and
the mind but here is revealed by God the truth the truth how
you the church really are not how you appear to be but how
God himself sees his church behold here you are called Holy Jerusalem. Holy Jerusalem. New Jerusalem. The Great City, the Bride of
the Lamb. Now before we begin this, I want
us to get this squared away in our minds when we're seeing this
picture. I want you to understand this
is in no way literal language. People do this and make this
foolish thing. They take these descriptions
of gold streets and pearls, gates of pearls, and they get this
idea that there's some literal gates in heaven made of a pearl,
and then that there's a literal street of gold, and there's a
literal river with literal trees and fruit on it, and things like
that. I don't doubt that there'll be
trees with fruit all over the place in the new heaven and new
earth. I don't doubt that this world will yield its strength
and its perfection, but this is spiritual language, altogether
symbolic language. So get that first, because if
you try to impose these literal things into the city, it doesn't
work. Not true. Notice this, and we
can see this from the text. I'm not making this up. Look
at verse 9. He said that one of the angels
that had the seven plagues, he came to him, he said, listen,
come up here, I'll show you the bride, the lamb's wife. Listen,
and he carried me away, how? In the spirit. To a great and
high mountain. This is a spiritual view. A spiritual view of the church
of Christ, of God. Now, the spiritual view of the
church surely describes it in its complete state when Jesus
returns. Now, this is no doubt how the
church shall be viewed in its eternal state. in its eternal state. It will
be a glorious church. It will be a full church. It
will be a righteous church. It will be a complete church. Now, we know that when Jesus
comes, that is what is going to take place, and that's easily
seen by this. But let us also see that this
vision of God is revealing the church as it is now. As it is
now in the eyes of God. as it is presently in Christ. The church in the future state
will be a holy city, the bride of Christ, but let us not forget
that we are even now the holy city and the bride of Christ. You know, John says this about
us. He says, as Christ is, So are we now in this present world. Now how
is Christ? How do you view Christ in the
splendor of His glory? How do you view Christ now in
His risen, manifested humanity? How is He? He is righteous. He
is without sin. He is holy. He is perfect. He is loved. He is adored. He
is glorified. Guess what? As He is, so are
you, John says, in this present world. That's how you are right
now. How He is. That's how you are. in the new
man. Now we know this, that in our
flesh, the old man, still sin abides. We understand this, that
we are people of two natures. We are of the flesh, that old
man of sin that we were born with. Jesus said that which is
born of flesh is what? Flesh. It'll live flesh, it'll
die flesh. It will not change. But that
which is born of spirit is spirit. This is what the new birth brings,
is the new creation, and this is the nature that I'm speaking
of. The old man is still full of sin, but this new man, I want
you to understand, God sees as holy. Holy. Scripture tells us that we are
created after God in true holiness. True holiness. And this we know
is the result of what? Our union with Christ. That's
the reason we have this new nature. That is the reason we may be
called the Holy City, New Jerusalem, is because of our union with
Christ. You remember this, that God puts
you in union with Christ in eternity. 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and
verse 30 God's scripture says, but of him, of God, are you in
Christ who he hath made to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. You see, we were put into union
with Christ from eternity. And as we were in Christ when
He came, He represented us in His life to obtain righteousness.
He represented us in the cross and died for our sins. And when
He rose again, guess what? We were in Him. We were in Him. We were in union with Christ
as our representative. But not only this, but God in
grace, the Holy Spirit, has made us united in the experience of
grace. Experimentally, we have been
made united to Christ. How do we know of our union in
eternity and our union upon the cross except the Spirit of God
make us in union with Him experimentally? What I mean by this is the new
birth, the Spirit of God coming and creating in us a new nature. giving us life and faith in Christ. Therefore the Apostle plainly
tells us in Colossians, he says this about you. Now listen, this
is what he, you are complete in him. Now if you're complete, what
are you missing? What are you missing? What are you lacking? you are complete nothing you're
lacking nothing you are complete in him so now in this spiritual
description of the church All of us who are in union with Christ,
the Holy Spirit by John gives us several things by which to
comfort us concerning our state. Not only our state in the future,
but our state and standing now before God. First of all is this,
we are called the Holy Jerusalem, the Holy City. In verse 2, it
says we are called the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. We are described as a holy Jerusalem
in verse 10. It says, He showed me the great
city, the holy Jerusalem. Holy Jerusalem. Now the church,
we know this, is not made up of an earthly building. The church. This city is not an earthly building. How many times have you heard
this? Somebody goes into a church and says, oh, you can't say that
in here. This is the church. No, this is the building. You're
the church. Church is made up of believers
in Christ. Men and women who have forsaken
all to serve Christ, to believe on Him. They are the elect, the
redeemed, the called of the Holy Spirit from life, from death
to life, from unbelief to faith in Christ. Not just ones whose
name are written in some dusty church roll. And you know what
I've done with those? I've thrown them away. Why? They're no good. They don't do
anything. Because your name's written in
a book somewhere, doesn't mean you're part of the church. How
many of your families still think they're part of this church?
And still don't, they don't have any interest, don't want to come,
don't have any interest in Christ. Still they think this is their
church. It's not their church. Because there's only one church.
And it's a church that belongs to Christ, that is in union with
Christ. And you who believe, you are the church of God. You
are the church of Christ. So it's not a building. Not somebody
who just sits in the pew and pays their seat rent. That's
what Spurgeon said about it. Some of you just sit out here
and you sit in the pew and pay your seat rent. That's all you
do. And you think you're part of the church. You're not part
of the church. If you don't believe in Christ, you're not part of
His church. But all who are saved by the
grace of God, faith in Christ, forsaken all for the gospel of
Christ, you are the church, the holy city, holy city of God. And though now we seem small,
now few seem to be saved. That we can see. But yet when
this city is all gathered together, I tell you this city is going
to be a very great city. It's going to be a very large
city. Now we see that this great city
is called the Holy City. And this is because we have been
washed in the blood of Christ and fully robed in His perfect
righteousness. Go to Isaiah chapter 61. You
who are believers in Christ, see this and rejoice. You're called the Holy City for
this reason right here. Isaiah 61 and verse 10. The scripture says, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. Why? For he hath clothed me with
the garment of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. As a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. You see, you are the holy city
because you have been clothed in the garments of Christ's salvation. You know what I think about when
I think about that? Jacob, when he came before Isaac
and he had that goatskin put on his hand and on his neck,
he had to be Esau. In order to receive the blessing,
he had to literally become Esau. And I tell you, in order to receive
the salvation of God, we ourselves must become Christ. And this
is what he does, is we are robed in his very skin. And so when
God sees him, guess what? He sees me. This is how you are
called the Holy City. Because you are in Christ. He
has washed you of your sin. He has robed you in His salvation
and righteousness. You're covered from head to toe. Holy City. And you are called
the New Jerusalem. I like that term. The New Jerusalem
in verse 2. Even because we are not under
the Old Covenant. You see, old Jerusalem, that
was the center of all the old covenant worship. That was where the temple of
God was placed there in Jerusalem. And all who worshiped God under that
dispensation were under the law. which Paul said stood only as
a figure and type. But now that Christ has come,
we are made free from the law. You are called New Jerusalem
because you are under a new covenant. You worship God not under the
law, but under grace. You have a new covenant God said
behold the days come sayeth the Lord I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel with the house of Judah not according
to the covenant which they made with their fathers in the day
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt
which my covenant they break you see it's not under the law
because we've already broken that covenant and Although I wasn't husband to
them, saith the Lord, but this shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in
their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no man every one his neighbor, and every one
his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know
me, from the least of them to the greatest. Why? Because we
are all taught of God. Remember, Jesus said, No man
can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
For as it is written, they shall all be taught of God." You see,
we who believe in Christ, we who trust in Christ, don't you
realize you were not taught of man? You were taught of God? You were taught of God because
God in grace made a new covenant with you. A new covenant. And
this is the new covenant. I will remember their sins and
iniquities no more. You see, in New Jerusalem, It's
holy and there is no sin. Why? Because sin has been removed.
It's been taken from you, put on Christ and He has paid the
debt. No sin in New Jerusalem. It's
under a new covenant of grace. Behold the joy of this city.
The joy of this city is this, God is our God and we are His
people. The joy of the church is that
we are the elect. That we are the redeemed. We
are the called. We are sons of God. Heirs and
joint heirs with Christ. And Christ's blood has purchased
us. And God says, because of His
blood, because of the success of His death, God says, I will
remember their sins no more. I'm so thankful he's not like
us. You know, if someone does us wrong, we try to forget, right? But we're not really just, are
we? But God says, I'm just. I've
paid for your sin. Therefore, I will remember it
no more. And secondly, it's called a great
city because of the size of it, the vastness of it. We'll get
into this in a minute, but you realize this city, according
to the measurements here, is 1,400 miles in each direction. Four square city, 1,400 miles
wide, high, long. It is a great city. A large city,
which entails this, that There shall be many saved. I
like this idea. I love this truth. That many
shall be saved. As many as the Lord our God shall
call. You know what that is? That's
going to be many. It's not going to be few. Though we may see
few, we know this. God has many sons. Many sons. And this city, it's so great
and perfect. I said it was 1,400 miles high,
wide, and long, but it's also a city four square. You look at that in verse 16,
and the city lieth four square length, as it is large in breadth. It's perfect, in other words.
I want you to know this church is perfect. Not one person is
going to be there that wasn't purposed to be there. And not
one person that was purposed to be there is going to be missing.
It's perfect. It's square. I like this in Psalm 48. David
encourages us, walk about Zion. Go around her. Tell of the towers
thereof. Mark you well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces, that you
may be able to tell it to the generation following. For this
God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Believer, have you walked about
this city? Have you walked about the city of God? Have you noticed
the strong tower of Christ? fortress, the bulwark of his
righteousness. Let us continually walk about
and look at the glorious things that God has made in this city.
He says in Isaiah 37, You listen, not one arrow of
accusation shall go over the wall of this city. You understand that? Not one
accusation against you. Now know this, your conscience
has many accusations against you. The enemy has many accusations
against you. But I want you to understand
this, because of Christ, not one of them shall be heard. Not
one. It's a big city. It's a great
city. Not one of them shall be heard.
Now then, so we've seen it's a holy city because of our union.
It's a great city because of Christ, its towers, its bulwarks,
its number. But also see this, the church
is also called the bride of the Lamb. Look at that in verse 2,
it says, as a bride adorned for her husband, and in verse 9,
the angel says, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. This is intended to show us the
love of Christ. The love of Christ. Believer,
you are the object of God's love. Believer, he loves you as though
you were the only one. I know you're not. I'm thankful
you're not. I'm thankful that he loves me.
But I know this, his love for you is so focused as though you
were the only one that existed. You are the apple of his eye. God does everything. in protection
of you. You ever had, I've been out weed
eating before without safety glasses and a little rock pop
up at your eye. You look crazy trying to protect
that, don't you? Everything just, you use your
whole body trying to protect the eye. I'm telling you that's
exactly what God says when he says you're the apple of my eye.
All his being is there to protect you and care for you. Why? You're
the object of his love. The object of His love. Why?
Because you're in Christ. Because Christ is the object
of His love, and you are in union with Him. Believer, you are the object
of His eternal, effectual, immutable love. He chose you to be the
bride of His Son. He hath betrothed us to Christ,
and Christ has paid the dowry for us by His own blood. And
we, by nature, we recognize this when we think of a bride. What
I think of is Gomer. That's the first instance I think
of myself. Gomer. Her name means wasted. She was a prostitute. She was
the most unlikely bride for a prophet of God. And yet God said, go
you down and marry a woman of whoredoms. Why? Because it pictures His Son.
Who did Christ marry? He married one of whoredoms. That was us by nature. We were
by nature full of sin and rebellion and flesh. And yet God in grace says, I
will betroth thee to Me forever. I will betroth thee unto me in
righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in
mercies." This is what he has done for
us in Christ, so as we read this in our text, that you are the
bride of Christ, you should recognize how great his condescension was. That he chose the most unlovable to be his bride. And he didn't leave us in our
whoredoms, but rather robed us in godly apparel, paid the debt of our sin. and we now has sent forth his
spirit and in that book of Hosea it said I will sow her unto me
in the earth and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained
mercy I will say to them which are not my people thou art my
people and they shall say to me thou art my God therefore
behold the king he says All is ready. The wedding feast has
been prepared. All is ready. Come now. Isn't this the gospel? Come now. All is ready. Come forsaking
your other garments. and put on the one prepared by
Christ. And you listen, all who put this
garment on are holy as God's Son. In other words, you are
a worthy bride. You who are not worthy by nature
are made worthy by the blood of Christ. You are His bride.
Thirdly, we are a city of light. Look at verse 11. And having
the glory of God, this new Jerusalem descending out of heaven, the
brides of the Lamb, having the glory of God, and her light was
like unto a stone most precious, even like unto a jasper stone,
clear as crystal. Now look over chapter 22 in verse
5. I see this another way. And there shall be no night there,
and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord
God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. The church is the city of light. And the church, we know the light
by which God is known. We know the light. And who is
this light? It is Christ. Christ is the light. Jesus said this in John 12. He
said to them, yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while
you have the light. Lest darkness come upon you,
for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
While you have light, believe in the light, that you may be
children of light. And later in that same chapter,
Jesus reveals to them, I am come a light into the world. Who is
this light that they have with them? It is Christ. Who is the
light of the church? It is Christ. How is it that
we know God? How is it that we know the salvation
of God? It is by the light of the gospel
of Christ. And this light reveals this one
answer to this all-important question. How can God be just
and justify the ungodly? How do we know this? It's not
because we were smart. By nature, men are ignorant. Men go about to seek, they go
about to establish their own righteousness. By works and by
flesh and by carnal reasoning. You take these guys that are
graduates of the highest degrees in physics or mathematics, very
intelligent men. And when it comes to religion,
they're morons. Every one of them that attend
a worship service, that looks to some carnal ordinance
to save them, that just shows that they are in darkness. They
think if they're baptized in some pool of water, that that
water can actually cleanse them. They believe that some wine or
some bread can make their soul cleansed. They take some carnal
thing and try to make it A spiritual remedy. We know that's ignorance. Why? Because the light of the
glory of God is shined in the face of Jesus Christ. We know
that salvation belongs to God, and Christ alone is the only
Savior. Why? The light dwelleth in the
church. There is no night here. We walk
in perfect light. Perfect light. And the light
is Christ. The light is Christ. He is the
light of this city. And we walk in Him. Why? We're children of light.
Children of light. And fourthly, this city has the
constant presence of God. The constant presence of God.
Look at this in verse 3. And I heard a great voice from
heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with man, and he shall
dwell with them. They shall be his people and
God himself shall be with them and be their God. And in verse
22 the same thing is mentioned here. And I saw no temple therein
for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. Now consider this right now,
believer. You are the temple of God. Why I told you this building
is nothing. You are the temple of God. The
Holy Spirit of God dwells in each of us. Paul says that in
1 Corinthians 3.16, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But now notice this. This describes us dwelling in
God. This is the experience of the
church in glory is this. We shall see God and experience
the fullness of His person. Though we have Him now, yet then
we shall have Him completely. Now we must see Him by faith
because He dwells in us. But then we shall see Him face
to face because He's not only in us but outside of us. We're going to see and experience
the... I can't even describe it. I won't
even try. The atmosphere of God is what
we'll experience in heaven. The very presence of God. But
I am thankful this, that God does presently dwell with us.
He said that, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there I am in the midst of them. I'm thankful for His presence
this morning. I'm thankful for Him coming to be with us. What
good would church be if we had not the presence of Christ? And
fifthly, we see the security of the church. Look at this in
verse 12. verse 12 we see the security by these walls and a
great wall and and it had a wall great and high and had 12 gates
and at the gates were 12 angels And the names were written thereon,
which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. And then look at verse 17. And
he measured the wall thereof, and hundred and forty-four cubits,
according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall
of it was as of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like unto
clear glass. Now this city is described as
one surrounded by walls and gates. In other words, it is a fortified
place. You listen, the church is a fortified
city. A fortified city. It is a city
of safety and security. In Zechariah chapter 2 and verse
4 it says, it said unto him, Run, speak this unto the young
man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without
walls. For the multitude of men and
cattle therein, for I sayeth the Lord, will be unto her a
wall of fire round about. And will be the glory in the
midst of her. You see this city is not made
up of metal walls or fortified walls. Our president wants to
put a wall and that's good. Oh, but I got a greater wall
than that. I got a wall that is God himself. Walled in city. Protected. Believer, I know that
you are surrounded by foes and troubles and difficulties, but
I want you to see this. None of those things can touch
you. They may touch this flesh, but
they cannot touch you. They cannot get to you or defile
you. They cannot separate you from
your God. Why? You are in a walled city,
protected by God Himself. Therefore, He says to the prophet
Isaiah, He says, Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob,
that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee.
I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest
through the waters, not if, when, when thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Believers see that these rivers
and floods and fires were ordained of God not to hurt you, but rather
to show you His power, to show you His protection. And this foundation of this city.
He says there's twelve foundations. Look at this in verse 14. And
the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them were
the name of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. There are said to be twelve foundations
of this city because of the twelve apostles which are the word of
God. These are the ones that God has
sent to declare His word to us. And this is the foundation upon
which our faith is built. It is built upon the word of
the prophets and the apostles. Now then, do you realize how
marvelous this book is? Have you considered how great
this book is? There's no other book in all
the world like it. Written over thousands and thousands
of years by different men in different languages and different
continents. You know what makes this book
so special? It talks of one person throughout the whole book. Jesus
Christ. Now, these men didn't know each
other, they didn't communicate with each other, they didn't
sit down and say, hey, let's talk about this so we can write
a book that makes sense, that fits together. No, the Spirit
of God moved on these men and they wrote the Word of God. And it is the Word of God that
speaks to us of one Christ. This is the Lord Jesus. Our Lord
Jesus on the road to Emmaus, He said this to those apostles,
He said, Ought not Christ to have suffered and entered into
His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures, what? The things concerning Himself. You realize that this is the
foundation upon which our faith is built? It is the Word of God.
This is not the Word of man. Men wrote it as they were moved
by the Spirit. But you see this by faith, by
the grace of God, by the Spirit of God in us, that this foundation,
our security, our hope is built on this Word. Paul says this in Ephesians 2,
he says, "...and are built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets." Listen, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
cornerstone. Now what does the chief cornerstone
of a foundation do? All the weight of the foundation
rests on that corner. So all the words of the prophets
and the apostles rest on who? On Christ. On Christ. This is the foundation of the
Church. It is the Word of God. and not the word of man. This
is why we don't deal with traditions. This is why we don't listen to...
This is why I don't even like creeds. Why? Because men will then usually
shift over to the creed and put all their trust in that instead
of the Word of God. I don't care what men say. What
men say and their opinions about this don't matter. My opinion
doesn't matter. Only it matters this. Thus saith
the Lord. That's all that matters. We're not here to get an opinion.
This church is not built on opinions. This church is not built on traditions.
This church is built on the Word of God. My faith is built on
the Word of God. I believe on Christ because I
believe the Word of God. And this is the foundation of
the church, the Word of God. Now then, their cities has gates. And this is what I'll close with,
is these gates. Now around this city, if you picture it, 1,400
miles this way, 1,400 miles this way, there are three gates on
each city. Three gates on each city. Each
gate is made of one pearl. and in the gate is written the
names of the children of Israel now that's what it is of picture
now let's see what the what what it really means first of all
I would have you know that there this gate this city has plenty
of gates and the scripture says that they're
open their open all the time so that any may enter You got
that? The church has many gates. But
I tell you, really, it only has, they're all representative of
one gate. Christ. The only way into glory is through
Christ. That's it. Christ. He is the gate of pearl. He is
the pearl of great price, the scripture says. He is the only
way to the Father. He says, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. And you listen to this. No man
cometh to God but by me. Now, either Christ is the only
way to God, or He's a liar. I tell you, He's no liar. He
is the only way to God. He is the gate. And by Him, men
enter in to glory, by faith in Him. But I have you know that
these gates all have names written on them. The twelve tribes of
Israel is a picture of all the elect of God. All that God chose
in eternity, all that Christ redeemed at the cross, all of
them shall enter in. And not one shall be missing.
Not one shall be missing. Now listen, this morning I bid
all men to come to Christ. I bid you to come to Christ.
I bid you to come to Christ. Come and believe on Christ. But
I know this, only those God chose and called will come to Christ.
I'm confident of that. Can you come to Christ? Will
come. And all who do come to Christ,
you know what you'll find? You'll find your name written
there. You'll find it written there, not because you came.
It was written there before you came. And you came because of grace. And listen, every one of these
gates had an angel. These are the preachers of the
gospel who preach the one message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I preach this message every time.
You that have heard me, have I preached any other message? Have I showed you any other Savior? bear me witness have you heard
of any other savior you won't by the grace of God
you won't Christ is all Christ is the gate by which we enter
into glory and are made partakers of the divine nature and these
gates do not shut day or night Listen, if you will not come
and enter into Christ, it will be because of your rebellion. It's because you will find an
excuse not to come. I tell you the gate's open. And
yet you still tell me, well, I don't think God... Don't think.
That's just an excuse. Well, I can't come because I
have so many things. Well, then that's your own fault.
You won't leave them. You won't leave your religion.
You won't leave your friends. You won't leave your family. You
won't leave whatever it is you're hanging on to. It's your fault.
Gates are open. And they're not shut. And you
know what? The only people this really encourages
are those people who are part of the city. Because we go in
and out and find what? Green pasture. We're fed by these things. These
things encourage us that the gate is never closed to me. I'm
always have access to God through Christ. And I guess I can mention
this last one in closing, but the street of gold. Because most
people, they're going to want to know about this. Street of
gold. I have you know there's only
one street. There's only one street. The street of gold is
Christ. Because that street is the only
street that leads to the throne of God, to the water of life,
and to the tree of life. Christ is a street of gold. It's
not a physical street of gold. It's a picture of our Lord who
says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
God but by me. He is that street. Therefore, you who have entered
in, you are the holy city. You are the great city. You are
the bride, the Lamb's wife. You, my friend, are a fortified
city. Christ's blood and righteousness
has cleansed you from all sin. You are new Jerusalem. You are
under grace and not under the law. Your foundation is the Word
of God. The gate by which you entered
is Christ, who's written your name there. On the palms of His
hands are names eternity will not erase, written with marks
of indelible grace. And friends, that street by which
we continually come to God Don't we continually need to come?
We're not just one-time comers, are we? We follow this street
constantly, always walking this avenue, coming to the throne
of grace. You are in the sight of God the
holy city. And one day we shall descend
from heaven with Christ and forever be with Him. May God give us
comfort and His grace to see these things. This stand be dismissed
in prayer.