Glowing and unfurling, glowing
like the morning's beams, Glorious Kings of the Earth's oceans,
High on City of our God, He whose birth cannot be broken, born
before His own, Singing the songs of Zion. Zion is the city of God. Church. City set on a hill. Zion. Mount Zion. That's where
Jerusalem was located. City that could not be hid. Well
seen. Jerusalem means a place of peace. City of peace. Church of God. Look at Revelation 21. Verses 1 and 2. He says, I saw
a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more seed. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Now,
this chapter is speaking of the church, the whole chapter. The
church of God, the people of God. The people of God. As you know, God doesn't dwell
in buildings made with hands. This is talking about the church
or the people of God and their future state. No pain, no sorrow,
happiness and glory. After the destruction of the
first heaven and the first earth, after the judgment, of all the
others, a blessed and glorious and eternal life with Christ,
with God, with them forever in their midst. This holy city it
talks about, New Jerusalem, is not a literal city. I used to
think it might be, but after reading many men and then carefully
studying it along, searching the scriptures, it's not a literal
city at all. It's a people of God. It's a
church of God. Look at verse 9. He said it's,
in verse 2, it's as a bride. In verse 9, he says, come hither,
the last line, come hither, I'll show thee the bride, the Lamb's
wife. Verse 10, he carried me away
in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, showed me that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descended out of heaven from
God. That's who he's talking about,
the church of God, the Lamb's wife. And verses 10 and 11, verse
11, says she had the glory of God and her light was like a
stone, most precious. The city itself, no city produces
light, but this is the people of God. Christ said, I am the
light of the world, and then He turned around and said, you're
the light. You're the light. Reflected light.
Her light is like a jasper stone, He said. Like a precious stone. The light of Christ in them.
Verse 12 says she has a wall. Great and High, Twelve Gates,
and so forth with names on it. A Wall and Gates. Foundations. This is all symbolic. Turn to
Isaiah 26, and then we'll come back and stay there in Revelation. But look at that. Speaking of
these walls, Isaiah 26 clearly tells us, and this is not the
only place, there are several places, We just sang it with
salvation's walls surrounded. Verse 26, Chapter 26, In that
day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a
strong city. Salvation will God appoint. for walls and bulwark. In chapter 60, Isaiah 60, I was
so blessed reading through Isaiah, and if you are looking for a
new place to read, you can begin there. Chapters like chapter
25, chapter 35, chapter 60, 65, 66 talk about the future glory of
the church. But look at chapter 60, verse
14. The last line says, This is the
city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Verse 18. Violence shall no more be heard
in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, but thou
shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise." And he
goes on to say, "...the sun shall no more be the light, the brightness
of the moon, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light,
and thy God thy glory." Just like Revelation 21. Alright,
go back to Revelation. So these walls, speaking that
are spoken of here, is just symbolic of the safety we have in our
Lord. Would you like to make a guess
who that wall represents? It's 216 feet high. Down in verse 17, he measured
the wall, 144 cubits, and I added it up, it's 216 feet high. Now
what do we need with a wall around the city in the New Earth? We
don't have any enemies. Huh? Ain't no enemy. So this
is not literal, this is symbolic. And the gates, who does the wall
represent? Our great and high God who surrounds
us, in whom we live and move and have our being, our protection.
Walls are for safety, walls are for defense, walls are for protection. We don't need walls in the new
heaven and new earth, do we? And the gates? What's the entrance
to the city? Christ said, I'm the way. He's
the gate, the wicked gate. And a foundation? The foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ the
Lord. So all of this speaks of our
great and high Lord in whom we have so great and sure salvation,
refuge, safety. God is our defense and protection. We're surrounded. Salvation.
Surrounded by salvation then and now. Now, alright, it's called
a city. Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem
is called a holy city. A city is nothing like the country. You can live out in the country
and you'll be by yourself, can't you? You can be pretty independent.
You've got a few acres, you can raise your own food and all that.
But you live in a city. You depend on the government.
You depend on, you live amongst a lot of people, don't you? You're
a citizen. of a habitation, of a dwelling
place. And that's the church. We're
members one of another. We don't live separately from
one another. We're together. And then it will be one great
congregation, the citizens of this holy city, the citizens
of heaven, God's people under His government, under His dominion,
enjoying the same privileges, the same provisions and everything. It's called Jerusalem, which
I already said is called the City of Peace, City of David.
We have a King. King David. No, not the one. The Son of David. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Zion, the city of God. It says
in verse 2, I, John, saw the holy city coming down from God
out of heaven. Coming down. Now, before this
time, before the end of time. Is this too loud? Before the
end of time, before the new earth, before the creation of the new
earth, all the people of God go up to heaven, right? When we die, when we pass over,
when we fall asleep, we go up to God in heaven, alright? But when it's all over, when
God has created a new heaven and a new earth. That's how it
will come down. He's got a new earth that he's
created for us to inhabit. And it's going to come down from
God out of heaven and dwell. The people of God dwell on this
new earth. New earth. Of which we're not
going to particularly speak of too much tonight. There's not
enough time. But all the people of God are
going to come down like that passage in 2 Thessalonians. It says the Lord will appear
in the heaven. Go up to meet Him and then go
up to be with Him until He destroys the heavens and the earth, creates
a new one, and then we're all going to come down, including
Him. Including Him. And so now this
is what I want to look at. But before we go on, who are
we talking about here? The people of God. The people
of God. We looked at that somewhat on
Sunday. Who are these people? The Lamb's
Bride. Are you one? Are you a member
of His Bible? Well, if you are a believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ right now, if you are a lover of the Lord
Jesus Christ right now, if all your hope and trust is in the
Lord Jesus Christ right now, if He is all your hope and all
your salvation right now, if you love to worship Him, Glorify
Him, right now. A worshipper of the Lamb, right
now. Then you'll be there then. You have God's Word on it. Look
at chapter 20. It says in verse 12, we read
of the Lamb's Book of Life. In verse 15, those not written
in that book were cast into a lake of fire, but now those whose
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that's the elect.
That's who's going to be there, the elect of God, chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that we might be to the praise
of the glory of His grace, who chose us. Now is that you? Look
at chapter 17. Chapter 17 is a description of
these people, and there are descriptions all through the Scriptures. Chapter
1, chapter 5, chapter 7, Gabe preached from, and many places. But chapter 17, Peter once wrote, Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. Remember that? He said, give
diligence, find out, seek, search, find out whether or not you're
called and thereby you may know your election. See, our election,
whether our name is written in that book, is known by the call. That's how we know. For whom
he did foreknow, that's forelove, he did predestinate, that's election,
chosen in Christ, predestinated. And whom he did predestinate
he what? Called. And whom He called, He justified."
What's that? Faith. They believed, justified
by faith. And whom He justified, He glorified. They see His glory, and they're
glorified in the end. They're going to be with Him
to behold His glory in the end. It's all to God. It's all past
tense. It's all past tense. We read there, He said, it's
done. But that's future. No, it's done. No, none to God
or all His work. from the beginning. But this
is nothing new. You know these things already.
That's what Paul said. See, and you know these things
already, but to write the same things is not grievous. But knowing,
brethren, he preached from there. Knowing, brethren, 1 Thessalonians
1, beloved, your election of God. How? Our gospel came. our gospel,
the call of the gospel, the gospel, the one true gospel. Oh, we're
bound to give thanks to God, brethren, beloved Lord, for you,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth whereunto. He called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of this glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know
your election by the call. Here in chapter 17, look at it. Who is with Christ? Who is it?
Verse 14. Now the world over, it says it
will be a people like Waters, verse 15. The waters where the
whore sits. That's false religion. People,
multitude, nations and tongues who resist, who make war against
the truth. Verse 14. These make war with
the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. He said, Be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world. And who is he that overcometh? It says the people of God overcome
by the blood of the Lamb. 1 John 5 talks about our faith
in Christ overcome. This is the victory. So those
in Christ by faith. And it says they, verse 14, that
are with Him, who the people of God are, the Lamb, the Lamb's
bride, the wife, the city of God, they that are with Him are
called. are called. Have you heard the
call? Huh? My buddy, you know if you've
heard it or not. Your ears were once deaf to it.
I was. My ears were closed until one
day. He's talking to me. He's talking to me. Right, Joseph?
I'm that public. All of God's people hear that
call. And so the called are chosen. The called are the chosen to
the praise of the glory of His grace. That's how you know. Is
that you? Praise of the glory of His grace?
Do you praise the glory of His electing grace? Very few people
like the sound of that word. Most people wish it wasn't in
the Bible, election. What about you, Matt? When I
say that, whoever stands up here and says that word, do you glory
in it? To the praise of the glory of
His sovereign, elected, great? Do you praise the glory of His
redeeming grace? You know you weren't redeemed
with corruptible things, your own conversation or life or works,
you know that, but with the precious blood of the Lamb. You know that.
When we say the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us
from all unrighteousness, all sin, do you praise Him for that
redeeming grace? All of God's people do. They
love it, but praise of the glory of his redeeming grace, keeping
grace. What about keeping grace? Can you keep yourself? The Lord
upholdeth, Psalm 145, the Lord upholdeth all them that fall. A righteous man will fall seven
times, the Scripture says, but the Lord will raise him up. Is
that your hope, Brother John? That the Lord is going to uphold
you? Yep, is keeping grace kept by
His power. They are called, chosen, and
faithful. Verse 14. Remember that Barbara
Ross, I looked straight at you one time when we were studying
this, and I said, Barbara, you're a woman full of faith. You did
this. And I said, no, yes you are.
And I asked you this question. Is Christ all of your hope of
salvation? Is it? You don't have any hope
in yourself, in your works. Huh? No? You see, all your righteousness? What about wisdom? You're full of faith. Faith is in a person. The Lord
commended two people. He said there were two people
in the Scriptures who had marveled at their great faith. A centurion
was one of them. And that centurion, All he said
was, you remember, he sent someone and asked the Lord to come to
his house and heal someone. And while the Lord was coming,
and the centurion met him and said, no, don't come. I'm not
worthy for you to come to my house. He said, I'm not worthy
for you to set foot in my house. And then he said, all you have
to do is speak the Word and it's done. He said, I'm a man of authority
and what I say goes. You're all authority. You just
speak the Word and it's done. Our Lord said, that's great faith. Here's a man full of faith. Is that you, Marlon? You're not
worthy? Huh? Is Christ Lord to you? That's the faithful. So that's
who is with Him. That's who these people are.
All right, go back to the text. Go back to the text in Revelation
21. Let's dwell here a little bit. That's who the people of
God are. And it says in verse 3, I heard
a great voice out of heaven. Who's that? That's Christ. If you've got a story to tell,
and it's a wonderful story, And it's good news. And it's something
you did. And it's for someone you love. Who are you going to have to
tell it? This is the Lord Himself. A great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. The dwelling place, the place
where God dwells is with men. And He will dwell with them and
they shall be His people. And God Himself shall be with
them and be their God. God is with them. He says He
will dwell with them. Now, in the first earth, this
is the new earth. In the first earth, Christ, Proverbs
8 says, He rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth. Remember
that? He delighted, His delights were with the sons of men. He
came down to visit. Quite often. He came to visit
his earth quite often. Okay? In the garden, when he
made it, he came down and walked in the garden with Adam and Eve
and enjoyed his creation. And he looked around and said,
this is good. This is good. And he enjoyed
Adam and Eve. And he came often and visited. He visited with Noah and Abraham,
Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah and his wife, and on and on it
went. And then he came, later than that, he came to stay for
33 years. Just 33 years he came to do that
great work of redemption. Alright, and he left. Okay? And the next time, he's coming
to stay. He's not leaving. He's going
to stay forever with his people. Who's he talking about? God.
No man has seen God, nor can see God at any time. Nobody.
Who's God? Who's he talking about here?
Jesus Christ. Immanuel. A virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and now shall call his name Immanuel, which
be interpreted God with us. God was manifest in the flesh.
God Immanuel. God with us. God with us. And I thought about this. And
when he said in verse 5, Behold, I make all things new. You know,
all that God will be to us, God will be all to us. All that we
need, all that we loved and needed and rejoiced
in on this earth. In other words, there are not
going to be relationships then, like now. We're not going to
have a father. Our fathers won't be our fathers, if they're there.
Our mothers won't be our mothers. Our husbands. Our wife. No, no,
no, no. No children. We'll know somehow
that they were in that lower... We'll know as we've been known,
but there won't be that relationship anymore. We'll all be the Lamb's
bride. Okay? Our Maker, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Tammy, do you enjoy living with
that fellow right there? You don't want to leave him,
do you? Don't want him to leave you? Well, your maker is going
to be your husband. He'll never leave you. Now, he's
a pretty good one. Pretty good, as far as men go.
But you just haven't seen anything yet. See, whatever you rejoice
in right now, Mary, you rejoice in him, you rejoice in her, don't
you? That relationship. Your dad, didn't you love having
your dad around? As a kid, your father meant protection,
didn't he? He meant provisions. Just when
dad's at home, you're safe, you're secure, there's not a worry in
the world. It's dad, father. Brother. What a relationship
brothers are, one another. Friend. Friend. Confide in someone. Our God is
going to be all of those things to us. I wish I could get this
across. He's going to be all and in all
to us. Our Father, our Mother, our Husband, our Brother, our
Friend. We won't need those relationships
without Him. Doesn't that make sense? God.
I'm going to be their God. And all that that is. God is
so merciful to us in giving us these good relationships here
on the earth. Good father, good mother, good
husband and wife and so forth. We ain't a half. We ain't seen
a half of it. He'll dwell with us forever.
God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
God with us. He'll be God overall. on and off, all things new, all
things brand new. They will all be the bride with
this wonderful husband, of which Solomon is a good type. Well,
here's another way that you may know if you're going to be one
of these people. If you read through the book
of Revelation, you won't read much about what the people are
doing there, that is, in the form of eating and drinking or
possessions. You don't hear about recreation
or much about the kind of food they're eating. There's a marriage
supper that seems to go on forever, but there's not any mention really
of things. possessions. It seems that all
the people are doing all the time is hearing the Lord Jesus
Christ speak. They're just worshiping Him,
beholding Him. They're singing and just enjoying
one another's fellowship around Jesus Christ. That seems like
about all they do out there. Does that appeal to you? Does that appeal to you? I know
it does, some of you, because you're loath to leave this place.
When we come here, if God has blessed the preaching, if Christ
has been exalted and you've been comforted and you've rejoiced
around this gospel, and you're loath to leave it, like Peter,
you say, let's build three tabernacles here. Let's just stay here. Oh,
don't you wish we could just stay here and enjoy this a little
bit longer? Well, here, it will never stop. Never stop. Well, I hope this
lasts. It will. And last and last. It will. If that appeals to you
now, believe you'll be there then. Alright, look at the blessed
and happy state of God's people. Verse 4. And it tells you what
heaven and the new earth is like by what is not there. It says in verse 4, God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes. We live in what's called the
valley of tears because the valley of the shadow of death always
hanging over us. It's a life full of tears. David
wrote this in Psalm 80. Listen. He said, God feeds his
people with the bread of tears. And give us them tears to drink
in great measure. You remember David saying, I've
watered my couch with tears. Remember, David and his men came
back to find their families gone, and it says they wept that they
had no more power to weep, no more tears to fall. And you think about all the tears
of all of God's people, how many have fallen. But you know something? David also said, they're in a
bottle. They're all in a bottle. God
knows everyone that fell. He said it. He said it. Tears. So many have been shed
and more to come. But soon, very soon, no more
tears. All tears gone. God shall wipe
away all tears. It's like the precious picture
of a father with his child in his lap wiping his eyes. The Lord said that often to His
disciples while He was here, didn't He? It seemed like He
was always drying their tears with it. Be of good cheer. Fear not. Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
heart? It's alright. God shall wipe away all tears
because He's going to put away the cause of tears. Look at it. Verse 4. It says there will be
no more death. No more death. Death is our greatest fear. It's our greatest fear for ourselves,
for our loved ones, isn't it? It's our greatest fear. That's
what the Hebrew says, that He came to deliver us who all our
lifetime were subject to fear of death. All our lifetime. That
means we never stop really fearing it. We don't. We don't. Fear
for ourselves, for our loved ones. We don't want to see them
go. It doesn't matter how old they get. I'm not ready for my
dad and mom to go yet. It's past time, but I'm not ready.
They're ready, but I'm not ready. Right? Fear of death is our greatest
fear. Greatest source of sorrow. Greatest cause of crying in it.
Somebody passes, somebody you love. End of a relationship. End of good times. End of those
smiles that you love to see. Laughter. End of that fellowship. Eating, drinking, loving. You won't see them again. And
that's sad, isn't it? Death. Separation. Death is separation. You're not going to see them
again. And bloody you weep, don't you?
Death. Our Lord said, no more. No more. No more separation,
Steve. Never again. Never again. No more fear of death. You can't die anymore. No more
sorrow. No more... That's the next thing. Neither sorrow. No more sorrow. Sadness. Mourning. Please ask
these too, says it. It says, What hath man of all
his labors, and the vexation of his heart is his labors unto
the sun, and all his days are sorrow, and travail, and grief? No matter what you do, what you
get, it ends up in sorrow. Why? Because you lose it. No
matter how hard you work, how long you work for it, It ends
up, no matter how happy it makes you, it ends in sorrow. Doesn't
it? No more sorrow. Never again. Not have one moment of sadness
or mourning ever again. No crying, he said. No crying. No more crying. No weeping, no
wailing, no anguish. No crying in the sense of calling
out. God's people cry unto Him day
and night. How long, O Lord? How long? They
cry out, Why? Why? Why? Why? Help! Help! Help! Help! No more crying.
No more. In Isaiah 65 it says, Before
they call, I'll answer. No crying. No need to. No more. Only laughter. Shouts
of joy. Anything that's going to be heard
out of our mouths is going to be joy, unspeakable and full
of glory. Look at verse 4. No more pain. No more pain. Some of you have
experienced much bodily pain. I haven't experienced enough
to talk about it, but some of you have. But he says no more. No more bodily pain, no more
mental. All of us have experienced mental anguish and pain. This
is something that gives you great pain. Like fears and worries. Worry about your past. Worry
about right now. Worry about the future. Future
of whoever, whatever. Worry. Fears. Painful. It causes you great
pain considering what could happen and so forth. Doesn't it? It
gives you pain. Heart pain. Heart been broken. No more many
things. No more. No more. Never again. No pain whatsoever, Sherry. Zero. No pain. No pain of body. No
more pain of mind. No more pain of heart. No fear. No worries. No doubts. No nothing. No pain. Just joy. Happiness. Comfort. Peace. Forevermore. Why? Why is there no more tears? Why is there no more death? Why
is there no more sorrow? Why is there no more crying?
Why is there no more pain? Because there's one thing that
caused it all. Sin. Sin. No more sin. Kelly, no more sin. Does that sound good? We're crying
right now for happiness. I don't understand how there's
not going to be tears because I cry when I'm happy. That story
over in Nehemiah where it says the old people were crying when
they saw the new city. The new city was built and the
old people were crying. And it says the young people
were laughing. And it said they couldn't tell the difference
between the crying and the laughing. It's all happy. With no more
tears. Because of no more sin. Isaiah
25. I do want you to read it with
me. Isaiah 25. Oh my, this is wonderful. In closing here, Isaiah
25. The Lord said, The former things
are passed away, I make all things new. He said, write this down,
John. These things are true and faithful. Why are they true? Because God
can't lie. God said, write it down. Roy, God said, write it
down. Told John to write it down. Why?
So you and I could read it. Anytime we need to read it, we
can read it. Let's say it. Sure as God's Word is. And he
said, it's done. It's as good as done. I'm the
Alpha and Omega. I'm the author and I'm the finisher.
I'm the one that purposed it. I'm the one that's going to finish
it of our faith. I'm the author and the finisher
of the faith. I'm He. Alright, look at Isaiah
25. No more sin. No more sin. Verses 6-9, in this mountain
shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat
things, a feast of wines on the leaves, of fat things full of
marrow, of wines on the leaves well refined, and he will destroy
in this mountain the face of the covenant cast over all people. That's ignorance. That's darkness.
We'll know. We'll see clearly. Cast over
all the people. to spread over all nations. He'll
swallow up death in victory. This is all speaking of Christ's
coming to do that great work on Calvary. He'll swallow up
death in victory. And Paul wrote of that, didn't
he? Oh, death, where is thy victory? Oh, grave, where is thy sting?
Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory?
Thanks unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. He'll swallow up death in victory.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth and was made sin.
He was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Why? Because of sin. Because we are full of sin, Christ
came into this place of sin to be made sin for us. The only
way that sin could have been put away is for Christ to take
it on Himself. He came to be made sin and to
die because the wages of our sin is death. The punishment,
the soul that's hidden will surely die. And God made His soul an
offering for sin. And Christ came down here for
33 years in this cesspool of iniquity to live for us. And He died on Calvary's tree
as a sin payment, as a sacrifice, as a substitute, as satisfaction. To put away sin. And Scripture
says he did it. He said, write it. It's done.
It's done. He cried on Calvary's cross.
It's finished. What's finished? Putting away
of transgressions. It's finished. I put them away.
And he arose victorious, proving that God accepted that claimant
victorious over sin, death, and hell. And alright, then the Lord
said, no more death. No more. God's people will never
die. Because I live. And it says he, verse 8 there
in Isaiah 25, The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all
faces, and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from
all the earth. For the Lord has spoken, and
it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, we have
waited for Him. He will save us. Yes, He did.
We're going to say, in the new heaven, new earth, He hath saved
us. This is the Lord. We've waited
for Him. We're not going to say that then. We're going to say,
He's here. We'll be glad and rejoice in His salvation. His salvation. No more tears. No more death. No more
sorrow. No more pain. because no more
sin, because Christ put it away. That's why we're singing unto
Him throughout eternity that loved us and washed us from our
sins in His own precious blood. Holy City coming down. Inhabit
the new earth and God will be with them and they'll be His
people. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord and our God, we rejoice in what we've read. We
rejoice in that great salvation. We rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ and what He did, that You sent Him to this earth for
us to do what He did. We rejoice that He accomplished
that and He rose victorious and is now seated. Oh, how we rejoice
and look forward to His coming again. And we rejoice in thinking
about that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,
God with us, and we with Him dwell forevermore in joy unspeakable,
full of glory, beholding His glory. We rejoice, Lord, in all
of this. But we have many sorrows and
griefs and troubles and trials and pain and suffering to go
through and death. And yet, Lord, recall these things
to our mind, recall these things to our hearts, remind us of these
things, of the sureness and certainty of these things, sure promises
of God. We ask that you would bring them
to our remembrance so that we might had some comfort in time
of trouble. There are many more to come.
We thank you for your church and ask your blessings upon it.
Every assembly throughout this land and others. And we ask your
protection that thou would be a wall and a hedge about them,
we know You are. Let us see that, that Thou art
our safety, our refuge, our salvation. We're standing on Christ's rock.
We have nothing to fear, nothing to fear, because we fear Thee
and rejoice in Thee. It's in Christ's name we've met
here tonight and give thanks. Amen. Thank you.