Alright, go back to Isaiah 65
with me. New Jerusalem. That's the title and the subject
of this message. New Jerusalem. I had several things of interest
here to give you that I'm going to skip over a little bit of
this. I do want to I'll tell you a little history of the Jews,
but that will be in the course of the message. But let me tell
you a little bit about Jerusalem, the history of Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem means something
like this. It's a founded peaceful city
of peace, something like that. Salem is at the end of the word,
which means peace. But this city was first mentioned
In Scripture, when Joshua came, you remember Joshua brought Israel
into the promised land. And Joshua killed the king that
was there at that time in Jerusalem. There was a city. And Joshua
killed that king. And then he gave that city of
Jerusalem to the tribe of Judah. Joshua, in conquering all that
area, all that land, promised land, Israel, gave it to the
different tribes of Israel, and he gave Jerusalem to Judah, who
are the Jews for short. Okay? So Judah, the Jews, they're
the ones that Jerusalem belongs to. It's their city. And eventually,
this Jerusalem was taken over. There were some people called
Jebusites that stayed there. The people under Joshua couldn't
drive these Jebusites out, and they stayed there. But finally,
David, remember that story? David came. David was made king
by Judah, and David came up to Jerusalem where the Jebusites
were, remember? And they said, He can't come
in here. Remember that? And they put their little gods
all over the wall. You remember that story. He said, He can't
come in here. Our God's over. And He took it.
He took the stronghold. He took Jerusalem for Him. David.
So that's where David set up his reign and his rule, became
the capital city of Israel where the king was, where the first
tabernacle, the tent. David brought the tabernacle
in there, the benchlet, and erected it there. David wanted to build
a permanent house, remember? He wanted to build a permanent
house in Jerusalem with the Lord. wouldn't let him because the
Lord had already determined or had already purposed for David's
son to build a house there. And then David's son came along.
The son of David came along, Solomon. And he built Jerusalem
to its greatest glory ever. He built Jerusalem into the most
beautiful city on the face of the earth. Now, you've got to
be kind of between the lines here about who we're talking
about. Solomon came along, he built this city into the most
beautiful place on the earth, and he set the temple on a 2,500
foot elevation mount. He set that temple up there.
And so beautiful for situation was this place, overlooking the
hills and the valleys. And he built that first temple
and there never was one before it or since. And the scripture
says, under Solomon, the son of David, under his reign and
rule, every Jew dwelt safely. Everybody living in that city
of Jerusalem just felt so safe. And it says also that every man,
every man, dwelled under his own vine and victory. So it was a time of great joy
and peace. Look who they had raining. Anybody
could go see him. Anybody. If you wanted to go
have dinner with the king, anybody could go. And you know what a
spread he put on his table. And the only thing you needed
in order to eat there was to be hungry. It was an open, if
you would, invitation to go eat. at Solomon's table. A great time
of peace and prosperity, joy and rejoicing in Jerusalem. This city sat on a hill, as I
quoted Psalm 48, a beautiful situation, a beautiful place
for situation. Mount Zion, the city of the great
King. The greatest city on earth with
the greatest King on earth. And these were God's people.
Oh, it was a good time to be a Jew. But it didn't last. Wow. Well, Solomon was just a
man. And he himself wrote every man
at his best state. It was altogether vanity. And
he fell. He took a terrible fall, and
the people fell with him. They fell into all manner of
sin and idolatry. So God According to his word
in Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 28 and other places, God sent
a man named Nebuchadnezzar. You know that story, don't you?
God sent, and I've studied this a long time, I'm not just giving
you history, okay? There's a reason for that. I'm
building up a story here. Like any book you read, you know,
there's an intro and there's a couple of chapters and you've
got to stay with it or you miss the whole moral of the story.
The rest of the book won't mean a thing to you. Have you ever
read a book, started reading a book and you lose interest
and you just put it aside? I've done that many times. Don't lose
interest here, okay? God sent this man named Nebuchadnezzar,
a Babylonian king, because of the iniquity, because of the
idolatry of these Jews, of the Israelites. He sent Nebuchadnezzar
and he took them captive. Took them back to Babylon with
him. Not nearly the whole nation. Left a few people there. He set
up a puppet king. Just a puppet. The guy wasn't
a king at all. But Nebuchadnezzar set him up.
And then at that same time, a little while later in Nebuchadnezzar's
reign, a Chaldean king came by. And he slaughtered Jerusalem,
just burnt the city up. Tore down the walls, tore down
the temple, burnt all the houses up, and it was left in just ashes,
shambles. The most beautiful city on earth
was totally destroyed. Destroyed. And all that was left
of that Beautiful city, set on a hill. That great temple and
the great former king there. All that was left was a few poor
farmers, vinedressers they're called. That's all that was left.
And Isaiah here, this is a hundred years before that happened. Isaiah prophesied of that. A
hundred years, around a hundred years before that happened. He
prophesied of the captivity and destruction of Jerusalem. But
they didn't listen to him. They wouldn't listen. And some of that we read here
in this chapter. All that Isaiah said, you're
going to be hungry. You're going to be ashamed. My
people. And God in His anger and wrath,
He said in verse 15, He said, You shall leave your name for
a curse unto My chosen. The Lord God shall slay thee.
Talking mostly about the Jews. Your name will be a curse, a
byword. God, through Moses, warned them.
He said, if you be disobedient, if you go after idols and so
forth, you're going to be a joke to everybody the world over.
Everybody's going to mock you. What do people say about Jews? Everybody the world over hates
Jews, don't they? Jews, when they want to deride somebody,
say, you're Jew in me, don't they? They say stuff like that.
You Jew? Everybody. Like no bones about
it. They mocked the Jews. God said they would. But you know, it's the same of
professing Christians who call themselves spiritual Israel. They're a mockery. But God Almighty through Isaiah
said this also. Look at verse 9. Verse 9, he
said, but I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, out of Judah, an inheritor of my mountain,
mine elect. God said, I have a remnant according
to the election of grace. I have a remnant among these
Jews, I mean, Judites. I have a remnant of the sons
of Jacob. I have a remnant of people that
I've chosen. My people. A seed, they're called. Remnant
that I'm gonna have mercy on I'm gonna save them the rest
of them. I'm gonna destroy All right, stay with me in verse
13 In verse 13. He said the Lord God said behold
my servants now. He's talking about the elect
my servants shall eat You will be hungry My servants shall drink
you shall be thirsty behold my servants shall rejoice you shall
be ashamed and And through Isaiah, the Lord
goes on and on with promises of food and drink and joy and
rejoicing and blessing, long life, houses, vineyards, peace,
safety, a new Jerusalem, and her people a joy, God said, forever. Never be torn down. Now, do you understand what he's
talking about? I hope so. I don't think I used
to understand. I've always looked at this in
a strictly future sense. The last time we looked at it,
we looked at it in strictly a future sense or tense. Now, this is
not talking about a new Jerusalem that's going to be built over
in that land in the Middle East. That's not going to happen. And
if this is on the Internet, I think you get a lot of letters on this,
but I don't care. I don't care. I say any man that
says that is plum ignorant. Plum ignorant. You're not talking
about some new Jerusalem being built over in the middle of that
God-forsaken land over there. Not at all. Jerusalem was rebuilt. You remember
the story of Ezra and Nehemiah? You remember? After it was destroyed
the first time, God, through Cyrus, and somebody remarked,
you know, in Isaiah 46, I believe it is, Cyrus is first mentioned. And, you know, verse, chapter
44 and chapter 45, this man named Cyrus is mentioned. He wasn't
even born yet. Can you imagine him picking this
book up one day and seeing his name there? Well, God did raise up this man
named Cyrus. That's the first book, and I
think it's Ezra, all right? First mentions it. He's the one
that sent Ezra and said, take with you who you will. We're
going to rebuild this place. Now you know who Cyrus represents,
don't you? You know who anybody represents.
God sends for the purpose of building up His people. But anyway,
Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel. Remember? Zerubbabel? The book
of Haggai? Zerubbabel? Rebuilt. Rebuilt it. But it wasn't anything
like the first one. But it was destroyed again. Again. So that's not the New
Jerusalem, all right? It's not going to be built over
there. And they've tried to rebuild
things again. But Isaiah's vision is the same
as John on the Isle of Paton. In Revelation 21, John says,
I saw New Jerusalem coming down as a bride adorned for her husband.
New Jerusalem. It's the same Jerusalem, an eternal
city, which Isaiah is talking about here. What is it? It's
not something future. It's the church. It's the church. Yes, it is. It's the church of God. And Christ
is the builder thereof. And all these things that we're
reading about here, we're going to look at them. our spiritual
blessings and enjoyments which we have right now. Right now, we have a foretaste
of glory divine. We sing that song, Blessed Assurance. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. What's another song we sing?
It talks about the sweets that we eat here, just a little taste
of them. You see, Isaiah's vision is a
dream, but it's a true one, because he's God's true prophet. You
see, God used to speak to man in dreams and in vision. That's how they wrote these things
down. It wasn't of any private interpretation, but God spoke
to them in dreams. That's what he said in the book
of Job. And these men, they weren't just
pipe dreams. They weren't just fantasy, but
it was reality. Something that was going to,
actually God was going to do it later on. God said, write
it down so that when it comes to pass, they'll know I said
it. Have you ever had someone tell
you a story in such a way that if you close your eyes, you're
almost there? Huh? Depending on the storyteller,
they describe to you some food or something. Say you're hungry,
and somebody describes some food to you, and you're real hungry,
haven't had anything to eat for a long time, and they start describing
a rack of lamb or a filet mignon or something, and they start
describing, oh, it's succulent, and it's just so Oh, the aroma
that was coming from that. It was being cooked. I can smell
it. And you can just taste it, can't
you? Or a beautiful place, you say. Describing a place that
they've been. You haven't been there. You haven't
seen it before. And they start describing it to you. Kind of like Abraham's
servant to Rebekah. Remember? Now let me tell you
about my master. Start telling you. And she just
closed her eyes while he told her. Oh, I see him. Will you go? Yes, I will. She
fell in love with him before she saw him. That's what God
does. It's not up to me. I'm not the
storyteller, per se. This is God's Word through his
man. And if God, the Holy Spirit,
tells us this dream of Isaiah, this vision of Isaiah, you're
there. You can taste it. You can see
him, Nancy. Somebody you've never seen before.
Christ. Fall in love with Him before
you've seen Him. The sweet smell of Savior to you. If you're hungry
and thirsty for His right, you say, I can just taste it. And
then talk about the new Jerusalem. I feel like I'm already there.
You are. That's what all this is about.
That's why we come here. We don't have a... Well, we come
here, look at this. Alright, he says in verse 13,
He says, My servants shall eat. I reminded you of Solomon's table,
didn't I? Well, there's a greater than Solomon here. Uh-huh. That's what our Lord said. Where
two or three are gathered in my name, there are mine to me.
It's a greater than Solomon's here. And what about his table?
Folks, I really believe that Solomon, in all his wisdom, and
now let me say this carefully. According to Scripture, I don't
think Solomon saw and understood and heard the things that we
have heard and understood. I'm certain of that. Scripture
says that, that they wrote of things that they didn't understand,
that these things were revealed unto us, the church. Solomon wrote of things too wonderful,
and now we see, we understand. We sit at a greater table than
Solomon did. Scripture says we eat fat things. I have to laugh at modern man.
God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. Everything they
come up with always ends up wrong, doesn't it? They always change
it, don't they? You're not supposed to eat fat.
Years ago you weren't supposed to eat fat. All fat is bad. Right? Wrong. And you can just name something
that they've come up with. Modern man. Come up with something
that's bad for you. Years ago they said nursing your
child is bad for you. Of all the things. Right, Janet? You remember when that happened?
Now they know that babies that nurse are healthier. That's not God-made. Well, if
they say fat is bad, our Lord said, I'm going to feed you with
fat things. Fat things. Eat the fat. Wine on the leaves. Well refined. Our people, God's people, His
people, they eat. They eat fat things. They eat
heartily. They eat at a greater table than
Solomon. And they drink. He says, that
my servant shall drink. This is that new wine that makes
the heart glad. Wine is a mocker. The actual
liquid called wine that men drink and get drunk on is a mocker.
That's what that means. It mocks you. It makes you think
you're something you're not. It makes you think you know something
you don't know. It makes you think you're better. Somebody
once said, the more wine I drink, the better singer I am. Not true. But that's what that
verse means. You're a mocker. Wine's a mocker.
It mocks people. Mocker. Okay? But this wine now,
the wine which is the Word of God, which is the blood of Christ,
the Gospel of Christ, it makes the heart glad. You have the
abundance of the heart, you know. You do sing right. You do sing
well. If you drink this wine, which
is Christ's blood, the Gospel of Christ. And the water which
is God's Word, this really quenches. The water of this world doesn't
satisfy, does it? That's right. Why is it people
can't get enough? They can't get enough. They can't
get enough. People that are millionaires
won't be billionaires. Billionaires won't be multibillionaires. Why? Our Lord said it won't satisfy. It won't satisfy their cravings,
thirst. Does this satisfy? One time in
your week or two times that you come, And you sit down here and
you're just for once, just for a little while, you're completely,
totally satisfied. Aren't you? Huh? You feel like,
I don't need anything. I don't want to be anywhere with
anyone else doing anything else. If God gives you a true spirit
of worship, and keeps the fowls away and the thorns and so forth.
If he does give you that, you're satisfied, aren't you? And that's
the time when you don't want the water to quit flowing. That's
the one of these days it won't. Well, he says they'll drink.
And he says, they shall rejoice. My servants shall rejoice. And
he's talking about these impostors, these hypocrites. They'll be
ashamed. You will rejoice. My people will rejoice. They'll
rejoice. Uh-huh. I mean, rejoicing in
the Lord. My pastor touched on that. Rejoicing
in the Lord. You know, we came here Sunday,
which was Christmas Eve, so-called. Just a little handful, a little
motley crew, weren't we? Had a few visitors here, and
maybe they came expecting our choir to be decked out in its
finest. You know, that's the first thing we removed was the
choir loft. Don't need that. And all the
trappings of religion. People, you know what's up. that people the world over went
to a place Sunday and saw just, you know, a bunch of pageants
and pageantry and a bunch of goings on and heard beautiful
music, they thought, and saw a beautiful array of things and
all the flowers and poinsettias and you name it, all the trappings
of that religious pagan holiday. And they all went away. talking
about feeling good, you know, emotional and so forth and so
on, didn't it? But I stood back there at that
door and greeted most of you. And on nearly everybody's lips
was the name of Jesus Christ. We went out of here talking about
Jesus Christ, not the choir. God's people rejoice in the Lord. See, that's what I'm trying to
say. Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. And
by God's grace, we will. That's who we're going to talk
about. That's who we're going to meet every time in honor of.
That's who we're going to look at and study. That's who we're
going to worship, praise, glorify, study, grow and hopefully grow
in grace and the knowledge of. Jesus Christ, the Church's Lord. This is the Lord's Day. We say
it's Wednesday. It's the Lord's Day. Father's
Day. Rejoice in the Lord and the things
of the Lord. Verse 14 says, My servants shall sing for joy of
heart. How many times have you sung
that? The Church is one foundation. Huh? I'm quite sure I've sung
it at least a thousand times. I'm quite sure. When I was young,
when I was real young, I thought I sung it a thousand times a
week. I was tired of singing it. I didn't like singing it. That's before I knew the song
of Moses. That's before I knew the songs
of Zion. That's before they entered my heart. Honestly, it's not that we don't
know any new songs. It's not that our piano player
can't play much, or our song leader just doesn't have any
musical ability at all. That's not it at all, is it?
Huh? We like these same old songs. Same old songs of Zion, huh?
Don't you? How firm a foundation come thou
fount of every rock of ages? Huh? They don't get any better
than that. And we sing for joy. For joy
of heart. A lot of people can have all
this emotion. That's what religion is mostly
about, this outward emotion, isn't it? Get them going. They
have these praise leaders. We're never going to call you
that, buddy. I'm never going to call you that. Don't worry
about it. They have these praise leaders,
you know. Getting everybody pumped up. Religious cheerleaders. Come
on, folks, sing it. God's people sink on the heart.
Joy of heart. He says, but they will cry for
sorrow of heart some day. Sad, isn't it? They'll howl for
vexation of spirit. They'll stand before the Lord
they thought they knew, only to hear Him say, depart from
them. Many. Not most, but many. The Lord will have the victory
even then. But verse 15 says, you leave your name for a curse.
But my people, he said, the Lord is going to call his servants
by another name. Over in Isaiah, where is it?
I wrote it down. 62. They're called Hephzibah.
Some of you young expectant parents are looking for a name for your
children. Here's one. Hephzibah. Hephzibah Stoniker. You don't like that? God did. God called his people
that. You know what it means? It means,
my delight. The names used to mean something. Israel. God changed
Jacob, surplanter, cheat, no good, to Israel, prince with
God. Abraham, father of the faithful. Simon, Peter, little rock, stone,
on and on it goes. Hephzibah, Hephzibah. Could be worse, could be Zapnap
Panea. That's Daniel's name, Revealer
of Dreams. Daniel liked it. Oh well, Hephzibah. Another name was Holy People,
Redeemed of the Lord. Call them the Redeemed of the
Lord. Then over in Acts now, here's the name. Here's the name,
OK? And Jeremiah said Jehovah Sidkenna. That's her name. You
say, no, no, no, you've got that wrong. It's his name. Huh? No,
I don't either. It's his name and it's her name, isn't it,
John? You've read that. As he is, so are we. Same name. When you marry somebody,
you take their name, don't you? Well, here's the name. Here's
the name. In Acts chapter 11, verse 26, it says the disciples
at Antioch were first called what? Christians. Now, I know the world has abused
that, and there are people all over the world that call themselves
by that name that are not, just like Jews. He is not a Jew, which
is what I want to know. Neither is all Israel. They love
Israel. Israel, huh? But God's people
are still called Jews. They're still called spiritual
Israel. All Israel is going to be the same. All Israel. All Jews. Everybody from the
tribe of Judah, under King David, son of David. That's right. The Christian is a blessed name.
What does that mean? Of Christ. In Christ. A disciple of Christ. A brother
of Christ. Christ. Followers of Christ. A Christian. That's what they're
going to be called. Christians. The Blessed One. And he said
in chapter 65, verse 16, and he who blesses himself in the
earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. You want to
be blessed on this earth? Don't invest in the stock market.
Don't invest in whatever. Don't provide for yourselves
bags of wax oil. Heap not up for yourselves treasures
on this earth, where moth doth corrupt, rust corrupts, thieves
break through and steal." Uh-uh. Know the Lord. Bless yourself in the God of
truth. You want to be really blessed on this earth? You know
who's really blessed? A man who has the fear of the
Lord, who knows Christ. He can have a little. Better
is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure
and trouble therewith. Because where your treasure is,
that's where your worries are. If Christ is your treasure, you
have nothing to worry about. You can lose everything and not
lose your treasure. That, the pearl. You said the
God of truth. Yeah, that's what I'm talking
about. Christ, He is true. This is the
true God in eternal life. God of truth. The word truth
there, interestingly, is the word Amen. Look it up. I looked it up. I don't know
why I looked it up, but I did. The word truth is, Kelly, it literally
translates Amen. What did Christ say? Who did
Christ say He was in Revelation 1? Amen. Okay, let's go on. And he says
here, whoever swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth.
Now, we're not supposed to swear. Our Lord told us not to. What
he's talking about here is, you know, he used to say, I swear
by I swear on a stack of Bibles, I swear by my mother's name,
or I swear, you know, people used to, for an oath to convince
you that they believe what they believe. That's swearing. But he says, God's people need
nothing more than God. My God said it. I believe it.
Why? Because God said it. What do you believe? Believe
what God said. Now, all my hope, all my faith, all my everything,
my all and in all is in the God of all greater, my God and His
Son. That's what that means. He says,
because the former troubles are forgotten. By who? God. They're hidden from my eyes.
Oh, my. Oh, my. It's wonderful. And God
says, The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, and it will
be found. Her sins and her iniquity I will remember no more. No more. One of the old writers said,
if God has forgotten it, why don't we? We live with guilt,
don't we? Well, in a sense, it's good. It drives you to Christ. But
in another sense, we ought to just forget about it. God damn. Forget those things which are
behind. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. I persecuted the
church. I killed people for believing this way. I blasphemed God. He said, forget that. I'm a new man. See, every day,
clean slate. Look at this. Behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered
nor come to mind. Now this is talking about the
new heavens and new earth. God is going to create a new
heaven and new earth. Brand new. New heavens and new
earth. And he said the former, the one
we're on right now, will not be remembered. It's not even
going to come to mind. You're going to forget all about
it. Why? Because the new one is going
to be so beautiful. So beautiful. Have you ever been
to a place And you thought it was beautiful. And then you went
somewhere that's more beautiful. And then you didn't even tell
anybody about that former place, did you? Well, it says the former will
not even be remembered or come to mind for the beauty of the
latter. Adam's there right now. And he
can't even remember the first garden because he's in a much
more beautiful place. But now, look at this, look,
there's a but here, verse 18. And here's where it changes.
But now, be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. He doesn't say am, he says but. Be ye glad to rejoice in that
which I create. Behold, I create Jerusalem rejoicing
and her people a joy. Right now, we are already inhabiting
New Jerusalem. by promise, by vision, like I
said, foretaste of glory divine. And he says in verse 19, and
I will rejoice, I'll create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a
joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. That's when Christ said two or
three are gathered and I'm right there. In my name we rejoice
in the Lord and Christ is right there rejoicing in you, rejoicing
in the Lord. That's the reason I'm told to
mostly do this, comfort my people. Comfort. Oh, there's warnings
or proof or bukes and so forth, but like a child sitting at the
table, the object is to have them eat, not to correct their
table manners the whole time. There's some correction that
needs to be done, and well, let me go on. But the object is to have that child
eat good food. And you don't spend the whole
time, Deborah, talking about the ingredients in the food,
do you? You don't serve up a dissertation of what's in broccoli and how
it's good for you. That ain't going to make me eat. Makes me eat. Eat. And we rejoice in the Lord and
eat at His table with Him. Someday it's going to be, I mean,
we're actually going to be there body and spirit. We're there
now. Uh-huh, this mystic, we sung about it, this mystic sweet
communion. See, the saints in heaven right
now are actually literally sitting around a table with Christ right
there. Uh-huh, yes they are. It's going
to be a literal place. They're eating and drinking.
Yes, there is. They're there right now. Saints that have gone
before. Saint Helen, Saint Virgie. See, I never heard of those names.
It doesn't matter. God did. He wrote them down years
ago. St. Linda and St. Others, you know. They're eating right now. They're
sitting there with Abraham, Jacob, Mary Magdalene, Mephibosheth,
and on and on the list goes on. Lydia, they're sitting right
there, right now. If they're not singing them right now, they're
eating. But we're having this mystic,
sweet communion. Meaning, we don't see it, but
this is what we're doing. They're rejoicing in a Christ
that they literally see with their eyes. We're rejoicing in
a Christ whom we don't see, yet we believe, and we love, and
we rejoice with joy unspeakable. And Christ is with us. Uh-huh,
yes he is, yes he is. Or people say Christ is not in
you. That's just typical thinking. Why would a man say that? Why
would a man take issue with God's Word? Huh? Do you mind telling
me? Oh boy. There's schisms, there
always have been, always will be, heresies among you. But he
says, I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. There are
two or three who gather, that's where I am. Right in the midst
of it. The tabernacle of God is with
man. Revelation 21 says, the tabernacle of God is with man. He said, I'll never leave you
forsaken. Did he say that? Did he say that
when he left this place? Did he say it? Did he mean it?
It's just literal. No, it wasn't. If it was within your power to
keep your children and the rest all forever, would you? You love
them, don't you? Would you? Yes, you certainly
would. It is in His power, and that's exactly what He does.
You'd never part with Him, and they'd never part with you. And
that's the way it is. That's the way it is. We can't
see Him. The things that are seen are temporal. The things
that are seen are pipe drains, soap bubbles. The things they're
not saying, those are real. He's real. It says in verse 19,
I've got to hurry. It says, and the voice of weeping
shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. When
you come in here, hopefully, if you're weeping
over your sins, it will turn into joy. Hopefully. Or it may be something
like those people over in Ezra, remember? Some of them were weeping,
the old folks were weeping, and the young people were shouting.
And nobody could tell the difference. Do you remember that? What's
that noise? They're weeping. No, they're shouting. Why are
they? Sheep are wouting. What's wrong? They're just happy.
Some are weeping for joy, some are shouting for joy, but they're
happy. That's the object. Let's come in here. It's called
the good news, isn't it? The gospel. Tell my people, tell
them the good news. The warfare is accomplished.
Didn't we say that Sunday? You're not fighting for your
souls. Christ has already won that battle. It's over. Satan's judge. Tell them she's
received of the Lord's hand double for all her iniquity. Can I dwell there a little while,
John, on that? My, my. Tell her the good news. And it says, where are we? No more weeping shall be heard
in her, nor the voice of crying, that is, weeping over whatever. For a little while, we come in
here with the church, and we really rejoice. And all our troubles
are forgotten, aren't they? And verse 20 says, And shall
no more infant of days, or old man, have not fulfilled his days,
the child will be a hundred years old, and his life will be full.
The sinner, though, no, it doesn't matter how long he lives, he's
going to be cursed. What does that mean? That we're all going
to grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. They were complete in Him. A
babe, the youngest believer, is complete in Christ. Just like
a hundred-year-old man. Like a man who's been hearing
the gospel for a hundred years. Complete. Fullness. Full of joy. Of His fullness
have we all received grace for granted. That's what that means.
Go on. They'll build houses and inhabit
them. Some houses are bigger than others,
and I'm talking about church houses, aren't they? And you've
heard me time to little our little house, but I'm sorry, I don't
mean that. It's a good little house. I might
not have built it right where it's at. I might have moved it
over a few feet. And you were responsible for
that, I know. But it's a good little house,
and I'm glad we have it. It keeps us dry, and that's all
it's for anyway. Keep us dry. And we inhabit it. And they plant, it says, they
shall not plant another heap, but as the days of a tree, the
days of my people, my elect shall long enjoy the work of their
hands. They shall not labor in vain
or bring forth for trouble. This is not in vain, folks. What
we're doing is not vanity. All is vanity. Vanity of vanity. Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.
It doesn't matter what you do for the rest of your life, it's
vanity. Solomon wrote two books about
it, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. It doesn't matter who you meet,
who you know, where you go, what you have, what you do, what you
become, what you don't. It doesn't matter. It's vanity
of vanity. It's all going to end. You're going to die like you
were born, naked and wrinkled. with that one thing. You're going to leave this place
the way you came into it, broke and naked. What matters? One thing. You see, this is not
in vain. Man goeth through his long home,
and that's what we're doing here. We're preparing to meet the Lord. As I've said so many times, so
many men trying to tell people how to live. And there's some
merit in that, but what I want to do and what I'm endeavoring
to do is teach people how to die. Hopefully they'll die in
the faith. Hopefully their names are found
in that hall of faith. These all died in the faith. They had lost everything, but
they had Christ. And He had them. Now they can lose nothing. It's
not in vain. They'll not bring forth for trouble.
It's not, you go to a little trouble to get here, but nothing
like it used to be. Nothing like it is down in Mexico. Ain't nobody goes to the trouble
to come here to worship, here to serve like they do down there.
I mean nobody. And it says, go on, they are
the seed of the blessing of the Lord and their offspring with
them. We are seeing our children's children being born. And Nancy,
I believe we are going to see our children's children being
born again. Now this is really when the blessings
of the Lord are upon a people. When the Lord starts saving your
children, And then your children's children. Boy, the Lord is just
so good, isn't He, when He starts doing that. It's a mercy and
a grace of God if He saves us. He calls us His children. But
our children? Oh, He'll save my child too?
Thank you, Lord. Lord, would You save my grandchild
too? Just might do that. Huh? Maybe that baby's the last elect.
Maybe that baby's the last. Maybe that baby's the last. Any
other babies I don't know about? Hannah? Okay. But who knows? Huh? Who knows? Might be the last elect. Wouldn't
that be wonderful? That's the only thing. It's he
that leadeth now. That's the only thing that's
preventing him from coming. Waiting on the last elect. The salvation of Israel was waiting
on that child to be born. And the consummation of Israel
is too. The marriage supper can't start without the last elect. The Son is going to be born somewhere.
It might be us. Y'all are blessed of the Lord.
Blessed among women, aren't you? Huh? Christ is in you. You're just no less blessed than
Mary. And go on, it says, they're offspring,
and it shall come to pass before they call. I'll hear them. You
know, the Lord heard us before we called. The Lord called us
before we called. That's what he started out with
saying, didn't he, Kelly? He said, I have sought of them and
asked not for me. You understand that, don't you? Don't you, Vicki?
You understand that. That's you, isn't it, Vicki? I am found of
them that didn't seek me. Only a believer can explain that. I didn't seek the Lord, but I
found Him. I said, Behold me to a people
who are not called by my name. Now they are. And while they
are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb, look at
this in closer, the wolf and the lamb shall feed together.
You know, God's people are lambs. Yeah, they are. They're like
Christ. As He is, so are they. They're harmless. They're harmless. Of whom the world is not worthy.
But when we come in here, we're like wolves. Saul. Here's a good example.
Saul of Tarsus. A devouring wolf. God brought
him and turned him into a lamb. Didn't He? Turned him into a
lamb. and changed his nature. Changed
his nature. Yes, he did. The lion is going
to eat straw. Lions don't do that. You know, the scripture
says, Can he that open and change his skin, the leopard his spots,
neither can you do good which are accustomed to doing evil.
Well, how can we do good? If it changes our nature. Ezekiel
36 is all about that. This new creature. Some will
give them a new spirit. A new heart. Such were some of you, but now
you're wise. You eat what you once hated, don't you? You love it now, don't you? What
you once hated. I'd rather read anything. I did
read everything but this. And dust shall be the serpent's
meat. This adversary of ours, oh, he's going to lick the dust
forever. And they will not hurt and destroy
in all my holy mountain. You feel, this is one time, isn't
it, when you feel safe. Come in here amongst God's people
to forget the world, the former thing. troubles out of sight,
out of mind, come to hear the good news, have your weeping
dried up and turned into joy and rejoice. Meet Christ here
with Christ's people and eat at the table and just joy and
rejoice and drink to the fullest and nothing moves and nothing harms
us. Well, someday, You know, that's
not true. That is true in Christ spiritually.
That's true all the time. Yes, it is. Nothing and no one
can harm us. God's people are immortal. Except
when He, until He sends whatever. But someday in that new place,
it's going to be literal. that nothing is ever going to
spoil this gathering of the new Jerusalem. There's going to be,
as we said before, there really is a people right now gathered
around a table or standing before a throne, whatever, right now,
actually, literally, literally. And nothing can spoil that ever. And that's what we're looking
forward to. And someday all this is going to be destroyed and
we'll never even think about it again. A new heaven, a new
earth. And that was just things too wonderful for me. Okay, stand
with me.