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, but I'm going to skip over a little bit of
this. I'll tell you a little history
of the Jews, but that'll 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 the king. And
then he gave that city of Jerusalem to the tribe of Judah. Joshua in conquering all that
area and 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, OK? So Judah, Jews, they're the ones
that Israel, 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. So he can't come in here. Our
gods 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
a tent. David brought the tabernacle
in there eventually. and erected it there. David wanted
to build a permanent house, remember? He wanted to build a permanent
house in Jerusalem, but the Lord wouldn't let him because the
Lord had already determined or already purposed for David's
son to build a house there. And then David's son came along,
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 reading 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 under, 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 fig tree. So it was a time of great joy
and peace. Look who they had reigning. 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 set on a hill, as I
quoted in Psalm 48, a beautiful situation, a beautiful place
for situation. Mount Zion, the city of the great
king, the greatest city on the earth. 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. Why? Well, Solomon was just a
man, and he himself wrote every man
at his best state. It was altogether vanity, and
he failed. 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, OK? 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, 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, and looked 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. And 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. 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 called them, 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, look at verse Fifteen, he said, you should
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 in the world over.
You're going to be a... mock you. What do people say
about Jews? Everybody in the world over hates
Jews, don't they? Jews, when they want to deride somebody,
say, you're Jew and mean, don't they? They say stuff like that.
You Jew, you know, like everybody. Like no bones about it, they
mock the Jews. God said they were. But you know, it's the same of
professing Christians. They call themselves spiritualists. They're a mockery. But God Almighty, through Isaiah,
said this also. Look at verse 9. In 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 of me do that I have a remnant of the sons of Jacob
I have a remnant of people that I've chosen my people. I see
there are a remnant that I'm going to have mercy on I'm going
to save them the rest of my mother destroyed. I say women and verse
thirteen. Verse thirteen he said the Lord
God said behold my service now he's talking about the elect
my servants shall eat you will be hungry My servants shall drink,
and ye shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice,
and ye shall be ashamed." 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
being is 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 get a lot of letters on this, but I don't care. I don't care. I say any man that says that
is plumb ignorant. Plumb ignorant. Not talking about some new Jerusalem
being built over in the middle of that God forsaken land. Now. Jerusalem was rebuilt you remember
the story of Ezra and Nehemiah remember after. It was destroyed
the first time God through Cyrus and somebody remarked you know
in Isaiah forty six I believe it is Cyrus is first mentioned
and. Yeah. No, verse chapter 44 and
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 mentioned it. He's the
one that sent Ezra. I 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
that God sends for the purpose of building up his people. But
anyway, Ezra and Nehemiah's 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. So. That's not the new Jerusalem. It's not going to be built over
that. And they tried to rebuild things
again. But Isaiah's vision is the same
as John on the Isle of Patmos. In Revelation 21, John says,
I saw new Jerusalem. coming down as a bride adorned
for her husband. 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. Christ
is the builder thereof, and all these things that we're reading
about here, we're going to look at them, are spiritual blessings
and enjoyments which we have right now. Right now, we have
a foretaste of glory divine. Let me sing that song, Blessed
Assurance. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. What's another song we sing?
of the sweets that we eat here, just a little taste of. Have
you ever, you see Isaiah's vision is as 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. And the
book of Job. And these men, they weren't just
pipe dream. They weren't just fantasy, but
it was a reality, something that was going to actually God was
going to do 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. And it on the storyteller they
described you something some food or something so you're hungry
and somebody described some food to you and you're real hungry
and anything to eat for a long time they start describing a
rack of lamb or a filet mignon or something and they start describing
all this 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. Oh, 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 Rebecca, remember? Now let me tell you
about my master. Start saying she and she just
closed her eyes and what he told her and then she's 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 this 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 and savour to him. 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. All right, 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, and me, it's a greater than Solomon's here.
And what about his table? Folks, I really believe that
Solomon And all his wisdom and now we say this carefully. Yeah,
according to Scripture, I don't think Solomon saw and understood
and and heard the things that we have heard and understood.
And I'm certain of that Scripture says that they wrote of things
that they didn't understand that these things are revealed unto
us, the church. Solomon wrote of things too wonderful,
and now we say 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's 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's bad, right? Wrong. 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 was bad for you, of all the things. Right, Janet? You remember that when that happened?
Now, they just know that babies that nurse are healthier. Have not God made them. Well,
if they say fat is bad, our Lord said, I'm going to feed you with
fat things. It's a fat thing. 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, Let my servant shall
drink. This is that new wine that makes the heart glad. Wine
is a mocker. The actual liquid called one
that men drink and get drunk on is a mocker that's what that
means it it mocks you it makes you think you something you're
not it makes you think you know something you don't know who
it makes you think you better than 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 is a mocker it mocks people mocker
okay but this wine now the wine which is the 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? Why is it people can't get enough? I can't get enough. I 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 work 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 Nancy,
one of these days it won't. Well, he says they'll drink and
he says and he says they shall rejoice, my servant shall rejoice. He's talking about these imposters,
these hypocrites, they'll be ashamed. You will rejoice, my
people will rejoice. They'll rejoice. Uh huh. I mean, rejoice in the Lord.
Our 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. need that and all the trappings
of religion a week. People you know it's. That people the world over. Went to a place Sunday. and saw
just you know a bunch of pageants and pageantry and and a bunch
of goings on and heard beautiful music they thought and beautiful
and saw a beautiful array of things and all the flowers and
poinsettias and you name it all the trappings of religious that
religious pagan holiday and they all went away. talking about. Feeling good you know emotional
and so forth and so on. But I stood back there at that
door and greeted. Most of. 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. 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. 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. How many times? 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, but 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, we sing
these But. A lot of people can have all this
emotion that's what religion is mostly about this outward
emotion and get them going they have these praise leaders. They
were never going to call you that but I'm never going to tell
you don't worry that they have these praise leaders you know.
Getting everybody pumped up religious cheerleader come on folks saying.
God's people sing from the heart, the joy of the heart. He says that they will cry for
sorrow of heart someday, sad, and they will howl for vexation
of spirit. They will stand before the Lord
they thought they knew, only to hear him say, Depart from
me. And. Not most. The Lord will have the victory
even then, but verse fifteen said, You leave your name for
a curse to my people, he said. The Lord is going to call his
servants by another name. Over in Isaiah, where is I wrote
it down, sixty-two, they're called Hephzibah. You some of you young
expect that parents are looking for a name. Here's one. Help
somebody. Help the bus stop. You don't
like it. It got the. God called his people
that you know what it means it means my delight. The names used
to mean Israel, God changed Jacob, supplanter, 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. And you'll like it. Oh, well,
that's another name was holy people redeemed of the Lord column,
the redeemed of the Lord and over an axe. Now, here's here's
the night. Here's the night, OK? And Jeremiah
said, Jehovah said, Kenneth, that's her name. So no, no, no, you got that wrong,
she isn't. No, I don't. It's his name as her name is
John. You read. As he is. 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 would like. 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 saved. All Israel. All Jews. Everybody
from the tribe of Judah, under King David, son of David, is
going to be saved. 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 blesses himself and 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 yourself bags
of wax oil. Heat not up for yourselves treasures
on this earth, where moths doth corrupt, and thieves rush to
corrupt, thieves break through and steal. No, Lord. Bless yourself in the God of
truth. You want to be really blessed on this earth? Oh, you
know who's really blessed? A man who has the fear of the
Lord. He knows Christ. He can have
little. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord and 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. Huh? Lesson, who's the guy who said
the God of truth? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Christ, he is true, this is the
true God, the eternal God of truth. The word truth there,
interestingly, 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? I
am a man. OK, 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 is, you know, he swear used to say,
I swear by. I swear. On the stack of Bibles,
I swear by my mother's name, I swear. You know, people used
to, for an oath to convince you that they believe what they believe.
That's a swearing. But he says God's people need
nothing more than God. My God said it. I believe it.
Michael's 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 great, 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, it's wonderful isn't it? 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
no more. Well, in a sense it's good, it
drives you to Christ, but in another sense we ought to just
forget about it. God did 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. Now, blaspheme God, he said,
I'm just 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's going
to be so beautiful. So beautiful. 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? 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 and, he says but. Be ye glad and rejoice in that
which I create. Behold, I create Jerusalem rejoicing
and her people a joy. 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. Oh, there's warnings or proof,
rebukes 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.
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. 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. From a
literal place, they're eating and drinking. Yes, there is.
They're there right now. Saints have gone before. St. Helen. St. Burgi. I never heard of them. It doesn't
matter. God did. He wrote them down years
ago. St. Linda. St. Others. 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 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 rejoice
with joy unspeakable. Huh? And Christ is with us. Yes, he
is. Yes, he is. Well, people say
Christ is not in you. That's just typically. Why would a man say that? How
would a man take issue with God's word? Huh? Do you mind telling
me? Ah, boy. There's schisms that
always have been and always will be. Heresies among you. But he
says, I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. There are
two or three together, that's where I am. Right in the midst
of 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, just figurative. 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 never leave. You'd never part with them, 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 dreams, soap bubbles. The things that are not seen,
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'll 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. 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. That's coming here. It's called
the good news in the gospel. Tell my people, tell them the
good news. The warfare is accomplished. Did we say that Sunday? You're
not fighting for your souls. Christ has already won that battle. It's over. Satan's judged. 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 this is where are we. No more weeping shall be heard
in order of 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. And verse twenty says and shall
no more infant of days or old man has not fulfilled his day
the child will be a hundred years old and his life will be full
the center though now he's 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. We're complete in Him. My baby,
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 had we all received
grace for grace. 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 the 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 none of you are responsible for that,
I know. But it's a good little house, and I'm glad we have it. It keeps us dry. That's all it's
for, anyway. Keep us dry. And we inhabit it. And the plant, it says, they
shall not plant another heap. As the days of a tree are 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, vanity.
Young people, vanity, 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
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 become. It doesn't matter. It's a vanity
of events. 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
where you came into, broke and naked. What matters? One thing. You see, this is not
in vain. Man goes 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've lost everything, but
they had Christ. And he had them. Now they can lose nothing. 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.
Nobody. Nobody. I mean nobody. And it says go
on, they sit there. Now, this is really when the
blessings of the Lord are upon the people. And 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 the grace of God if He saves us. We call
us, He calls us His children, but our children? Oh, you'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. 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 to. That marriage supper can't start without the last elect. So you're going to be born somewhere.
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'm 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're
yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb, look at
this, and close it, 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 Ethiopian change his skin, the leopard his spots,
neither can you do good which you are accustomed to doing evil.
Well, how can we do good? If he 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. You eat what you once hated, don't you? You love it now, don't you? What
you once hated. I'd rather eat 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 nor 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 things, troubles out of sight,
out of mind. Come to hear the good news, have
your weeping dried up and turned into joy and rejoiced and 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. 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 is going to be. As
we said before there really is a people right now gathered around
the 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 those are just things too wonderful for me. Okay, stay
in with me. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
You for Your Word. It is the Good News, truly, the
Good News which is Christ our Lord. Our salvation is in Him,
and He is our salvation. We thank You, Lord, that we are
complete in Him. We have all these things, all
these promises, all the blessings of God are in Him. We are yea
and amen to the glory of God the Father, the God of truth.
And we say amen to all these things. We look forward, Lord,
to that new Jerusalem, truly, coming down from heaven, and
we're part of that eternal body forever, never to be separated,
literally united. We look forward to that day.
Until then, keep us here in thy church on earth, in thy body,
Lord. Keep us, lest we cannot keep
ourselves. And we pray that you might gather
us together with the saints at this blessed river, day in and
day out, until you come for us in that great day. And Lord,
forgive us our sins. We pray all these things that
are met in Christ's name. Amen. Yeah, the president.