We're going to take a break from
Luke this morning. Lord willing, I'll be able to
come back to that again next week and continue our series
of studies in the book of Luke. This morning I'm going to look
at the 14th chapter of Revelation. Revelation chapter 14. And while you're turning there,
Allow me to read these words from 2nd Corinthians chapter
5. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. I love the spring, don't you?
Everything's green. Cassie and I were taking a little
drive here the other day and it was just so beautiful, everything
being green like it is. It was interesting how you could
see where some of the rain had missed certain areas. It was
already starting to turn yellow and then look up on the hill
and you could see where the rain had gone through. Everything
was still green up there, but on the side over here, it's turning
yellow. Poppies are popping out everywhere. This morning, I was
standing outside, and a bunch of the Canadian geese flew by
over the top, and they're just honking and singing. And the
little birds out here. This is such a beautiful place
to live. I tell you, we are so blessed to be able to live here.
Thank you. Thank you for your physical and
your financial support to this little place here in the woods,
allowing Kathy and I to live here. What a blessing it is for
us to live here. Hearing the birds chirp and sing,
songbirds. You ever get a tune in your heart
and you just can't get it out? There's a lot of rock and roll
tunes that do that. One of my favorite tunes that
I just can't seem to get out of my head sometimes, Amazing
Grace. How sweet to sound. That God would save a wretch
like me. What an amazing tune. What a song. It never gets old, does it? I pray that it never gets old
to you. Sometimes, folks, we can get
wrapped up in our little worlds, can't we? We got a lot going
on. Sometimes we just get in our
little routine and go on doing about what we're doing. Sometimes
it blinds us to the things around us. Oh, how I pray this morning
the Lord may lay upon your heart a message of a new song. Was it just new when the Lord
first saved you, or is it new every day? Do you get out of bed every morning
thinking, Lord, thank you? You know, that's what songs are.
That's the oldest communication there is in the world. The Psalms
were Psalms. Mike's poems, they may not have
music to them, but they're read as a poem, as a rhyme, as a song. What a communication, you know,
they used to write ballads back in the old days about their heroes,
you know, or not all of them were heroes either, some of them
were Less than hero, you might say.
The ballad of Billy the Kid. They were songs. One of the oldest ways to communicate
that God has given us to communicate in this world. We speak. We can speak through a song. We act out. We draw pictures. And in today's age, we even communicate
electronically. But I'm taking you back this
morning to a communication that has been around for a long, long
time. Look with me, if you would, in
Revelation 14, beginning at verse 1. And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood. on the Mount Zion. And with him 140 and 4,000 having
his father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard
a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice
of great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps. And they sung, as it were, a
new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the
elders. And no man could learn that song
but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. What is this
new song? And who are the 144,000 redeemed
of the earth? I want to first talk about these
144,000. Now there are men who are wiser than I am about numbers. And they'll spend, you can hear
them, you can find them wherever you want to look for them. Men
who know that certain numbers mean certain things. For instance,
the number 7 is supposedly a picture of God's perfect, complete completion. He created the earth in seven
days, and they can go about throughout scriptures and show you how different
numbers mean different things. It comes down to this. Throughout
scripture, God has used His word as pictures. Pictures, painted
pictures, drawn out pictures for us to see. 144,000 is a figure. It's a picture. It's a type. It's a picture of
God's chosen people. It's a picture of this. Our Lord
says in John chapter 6 verse 37, He says, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. That's what the 144,000 is a
picture of. It's a picture of God's complete.
All of those for whom He died on the cross. It's not a picture
for all of mankind. If Christ died for all of mankind,
then all mankind would be saved. We know that's not true, don't
we? The 144,000 are God's elect.
Those that He predestinated before the foundation of the world,
as we see in Ephesians chapter 1. Those that He had chosen in
His Son before anything was ever created. Those for whom His Son
would come to this world, manifest Himself in the flesh, and die
on the cross to pay their sins. To redeem His people. That's
the 144,000. Our Lord calls them My sheep. He tells us that they hear His
voice, that they know Him, and they will hear no other, and
they follow Him. Israel is another picture of
that very thing, another type of those who are redeemed, those
who are called the elect of God. Israel was chosen out of all
the nations of the world in their day to be the ones who would
carry the oracles of God, the ones who would receive the law
of God, the ones who would be favored of God. How many times
do we read in the Old Testament where Israel, who was so small,
couldn't do anything, was about to lose a fight, a war, and the
Lord came in. and moved upon it and won the
war for it. The whole idea of the Lord separating,
spreading, opening up the Red Sea so that they would walk on
dry land was the picture of God delivering His elect out of the
bondage of Egypt, the bondage of sin. In Jeremiah 33 verse
22 we read these words, As the host of heaven cannot be numbered,
neither the sand or the sea measure. And then in Hosea 1 verse 10
we read these words, Yet the number of the children of Israel
shall be as the sand of the sea. So we can see by that very word
that the Lord gives us here in Hosea, God's elect are more than
144,000. There's more than the sand of
the sea. These 144,000 are described in verses 4 and 5. Look at that
if you would with me. Revelation 14 beginning at verse
4. These are they which are not defiled with women, for they
are virgins. They are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These are redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits of God and to the Lamb. And in their
mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before
the throne of God." That's a big order to fill, isn't it? Is there anyone here without
fault before God this morning? You can raise your hand too if
you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ. No fault, Roger. No fault before
God. Do you know of anyone who can
fit the description that we read there? How can one be without
fault before the throne of God? We can see the answer in that
over in Revelation. Here's the answer to that very
thing. That question, who can be without fault before God? Chapter 5, verse 9. How? How
can one be without fault before the throne of God? Look here,
Revelation chapter 5, beginning at verse 9, and they sung a new
song. saying thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation. God Almighty was manifest in
the flesh He shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his
people. The people of God, so many that
they cannot be counted as the sand of the sea, cannot be counted
or two, are referred to as 144,000. That's spoken of back in chapter
14. They can stand before the throne
of God as virgins. Those who have no guile in their
mouths, those who have no fault because of this Lamb, because
the One who has redeemed us unto Himself. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. This is the
new song that we sing, and that's the title of this morning's message.
A new song. The songbirds have come out and
sing a new song. We sing the new song every morning. The mercies of God are new to
us every day, are they not? Folks, if they're not to you,
you need to look at yourself and examine yourself. Am I in
the faith of God? Do I believe Jesus? Do I believe
all of His Word? If you do, then His mercies are
new every day. every day. Wait a minute, John. Didn't we read back in verse
3 of Revelation 14, were we not told no man can learn this new
psalm but the 144,000 which were redeemed? Turn over, mark your
place in Revelation 5, would you? Mark your book there, put
a piece of paper or something. Turn over to the 40th psalm. Psalms number 40. Well if no
man can learn it, Then who are those that sing it? To be born
again is as impossible as a camel that can go through the eye of
a needle. Think about that. That's how
impossible that is with men. Our Lord told Nicodemus, don't
fret over what I said about being born again. It's as the wind
bloweth. You can hear where it comes from,
you can see where it's going, but you don't know where it came
from. You can hear it, but you don't see where it's coming from.
So is the way of the Spirit of God in bringing men and giving
men new life. With men this is impossible,
he says, but with God all things are possible. We must be taught
of God by God Himself. Who can only come to God when
one has been given life to come? Look at verses 1-5 of Psalms
40. I wait patiently for the Lord,
and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also
out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and He set my
feet upon a rock. This is the rock our Savior builds
his church upon. This is the one that he told
Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
have not revealed this unto thee, but my Father. And upon this
rock will I build my church and establish my goings, as it says
there in verse 2. Set my feet upon a rock and establish
my goings. And he hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear
it, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn
aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to us. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, there are more that can be numbered. Now look over
verses 13 through 17. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul
to destroy it. Let them be driven be desolate for the reward of
their shame that say unto me, Aha! Let those that seek thee
rejoice to be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, The Lord be magnified." That's our new song.
That's the song we sing. The Lord be magnified. Our sister
Sarah thought she had lost her well pump. That's a pretty expensive
thing. It cost us $3,000 when we lost
ours the year before Pastor Gene left. $3,000 to replace that
little tube that goes down into the ground and sucks water out.
She thought hers had gone out. It's pretty old. Her neighbor
came over and he said, you know you got water running under the
ground coming out from a plant? She goes, no, I didn't. They
went out there and they found out it wasn't a pump. It was a broken
line. Praise the Lord is the first
thing that came out of her mouth. Yeah, that's a pretty good praise,
all right. That's a pretty good praise. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for all things.
Praise the Lord for our trials, huh? I know that trials we go
through, when we go through them, are pretty tough to go through. Not sure where we're supposed
to go, not sure what we're supposed to do, praying for the Lord to
show us. God's people will come to the
point of praising God for everything that happens to us eventually.
Everything. Let the Lord be magnified, but
I am poor and needy. The Lord thinketh upon me. Thou
art my help and my deliverer. Make no tearing, O my God. Now that we can see who the What
is this new song that they sing? We've been singing it. Ever since
I started this message, we've been singing it. Who is it that's
in charge of those birds flying around singing the new songs
this morning? It's our Lord and Savior. The
very one who's in charge of everything that happens. We've heard it
said over and over again. The dust we see in the window.
We see the dust particles floating in the air. All of that. is ordered
and sure by our God. The new song that declares the
sovereign rule of our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ, the Son
of the Living God. Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ, the
Redeemer of His people. Jesus Christ, my God. That's
what the song is. That's the new song. We didn't
ever sing that song before. Before, it was the song of, look
at me, what I am doing. My works are bringing me to God. God will accept me because of
what I've done. I've made a decision for Jesus.
He has to accept me. That was the song at one point
for some. Others with a point with, I've
got into the box and I've told them all of my sins. I'm resolved
of my sins. That was the song of one time.
Every one of those religious beliefs outside of the true and
living God is a religion of works. What's the first thing in works?
Man. That was our song before. Man. Me. I may not have attended services
of any religious function, but John had his own religion of
John. Some of you understand that exactly,
don't you? What is our new song? The Son
of the Living God loves me and gave himself for me. The Son
of the Living God has provided everything I need to be with
Him for eternity. The Son of the Living God laid
down His life and paid for all my debt. The Son of the Living
God came to me when I was dead in trespasses and sin and gave
me life to hear His voice. And the power of that life He
gave me hears His voice. My sheep hear my voice. The Son
of the Living God redeemed me to the Father. He is my God. That's the new Psalm. Matthew
chapter 10 verse 32-33. I put 32 down twice. Whosoever
there shall confess me before men, him will I confess also
before my Father. Who do you confess? To men? To women? To those that cross
your path in this life? Who is it that you confess? The
hardest thing for me to do is to keep my mouth shut. When I
hear people say, God is wanting. God is waiting for you. I have
family members who said that just this morning. On Facebook. And I just, it took every, ask
Kathy. She heard me. Oh, I better just
hold my tongue. We opened a big old can of worms
to that. Those folks, and they're not gonna hear it. They're not
gonna hear it. Not unless the Lord brings them
under the preaching of the true gospel just as He brought you
and I. The same way He brings every one of His people under
the preaching of the true gospel. The gospel of Christ and Him
crucified. That's how the Lord saves His
people. That's how He gives them ears
to hear. Whosoever shall confess Me before
men, Him will I confess also before My Father. That's the
new psalm. But our Lord doesn't stop there.
He says this right after that, but whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
This is our new psalm. Once I was in a deep pit, as
we read in Psalms 40 there. I was in a deep pit, miry clay. You know what miry clay is? That's
the kind of, you ever step in clay and it sucks your shoes
right off your feet? That's what miry clay is. It
grabs a hold of you and pulls you down. It's almost like quicksand. My Lord brought me out of that. Just as he brings each and every
one of his people. He brings us out of the miry
clay. Clay, the very clay that we loved, the darkness that we
loved walking in because it hid what we truly were. No one else
could see my wickedness, but I could. The new song is this,
I have nothing, nothing to offer the thrice holy God. Everything
I have is but dung. It's like bloody rags. To be thrown aside, to be wasted,
to be thrown out. That's me. That's everything
that we come to God with in this flesh. That's the new song. The new song is a song that God
chose me. I didn't choose Him and I know
I wouldn't have chosen Him. Thank God for choosing me. Thank
God for choosing some. The new song is atonement. Christ's
blood accomplished what it was set out to do. To pay the price
of his people for their sins. Not maybe, not might, it did
what the Lord intended it to do. It did what he had purposed
it for, to give it for. It washed us clean as snow. We stand before God right now
with no guile in our mouth. The mouth of our spirit, the
spirit that loves God because He first loved us. The new song, the new song is
the song of praise for drawing me, for calling me unto Himself. And the new song is eternal.
I can never, ever, ever be lost. Paul says, I am confident. I
say, I am confident. Why? Why? Because God's Word
has said so. Nothing can separate me from
the love of God, which is in my Savior Christ Jesus. We sing a song the world does
not know. It's called the gospel. Look
over at Psalms 98. Look over at Psalms 98. We sing the story of the God
of all power. The God of our salvation. A song
he has given us when he took up residence We sing of Him, listen to the
psalm here in 98. Oh sing unto the Lord a new psalm. For He hath done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm
hath gotten Him the victory. That's our Lord and Savior. He
could not lose. He got the victory. Verse 2. The Lord hath made known His
salvation. His righteousness hath He openly
showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered His mercy
and His truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise
unto the Lord all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice
and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with a harp
and with a harp in the voice of the psalm. With trumpets and
sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord the King. Let the sea roar in the fullness
thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods
clap their hands, let the hills be joyful together before the
Lord, for he commendeth to judge the earth. With righteousness
shall he judge the world and the people with equity." Listen to these words from Romans
chapter 15. Verse 6, that ye may with one
mind and of one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. wherefore receive you one another
as Christ also received us the glory of God. Now I say that
Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision of the truth
of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers and that
the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written
for this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and
sing unto thy name. In Hebrews 2 we read these words
For both he that sanctified and they that are sanctified are
all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren."
Do you confess with your heart who the Lord is? What comes from the mouth comes
from the heart. saying I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praises
unto thee. Look back again if you would
at Revelation 5. Revelation 5 beginning at verse
11 and I beheld And I heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number of
them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. That sound more like the sands
of the sea to you? Sure does, doesn't it? Saying
with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb. This is our new song. Worthy is the Lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world. Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessings. and every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth." Here is the
sovereignty of God right here. Everything. Every creature which
is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen.
And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him
that liveth forever and ever." What is your song? Is it still
about you? I find it interesting how often
those who claim to be Christians can tell you when they followed
Christ. I made a decision to follow the
Lord in 1972. I've been following Him ever
since. What is your song? Is it about
you, or has the Lord given you a new song? Listen to these words
from Isaiah 25-1. O Lord, thou art my God. Is He
your God? Is He your Lord? Has He made
Himself your Lord in your hearts? O Lord, Thou art my God. I will exalt Thee. I will praise
Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels
are of old, and are of faithfulness and truth. There's a day coming,
folks, I know. Today we battle the flesh, we
battle the sin that still exists in our flesh. But there's a day
coming, some of us closer than others, when we'll sing that
song perfectly. O Lord, thou art my God. Amen.