Revelation chapter 21. And I'd
like to read verses 24 through 27. And we want to look at those
who go into and who make up the city. We've spent some time on
this subject of this new Jerusalem, this city, the city of God, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the saints, from beginning to
end, those in heaven, those on earth that make up this wonderful
city. And we've noticed God's description
of the city. This is how God looks at his
people, how he looks at the body of Christ. And it is a glorious
thing to behold. It's enjoyable to read. It makes
the heart glad to see the way that God looks at his people.
Now this took the redemption of Christ, not silver nor gold. It took the blood of Christ.
It took the redemption that we have in Christ that allows us
and enables us to do that, to be part of this great and wonderful
city. And it has much glory about it,
the doors The foundations, the walls, the thickness of the walls,
the height of the walls, the size of the city, all speak of
perfection and glory that we have in Christ. And that's just
how he describes his people. They have neither spot nor blemish. They have his righteousness and
his sanctification. And the sanctification that we
have in Christ is not contributed to by us, but it is wholly on
the part of the Lord Jesus, His sanctification. He is called
our sanctification in the book of 1 Corinthians, that first
chapter, He is called our sanctification. And that is far greater than
we can imagine, far superior than we could ever accomplish.
and glorious in the eyes of God, and he is satisfied with it,
and he imputes it to his people. In this last few verses, there
are some thoughts here with regard to the inhabitants of this city,
those who are in the city. Now, it is interesting to find
out what people think about that. When you ask people, how do you
get into the church? How do you get into the bride? How do you get into Christ? How do you get, I hate to use
this term because it's so often used, how do you get saved? And the conversation over that
has even led to people killing other people. And most of the
time they believe the same thing. It's works-related, works-oriented,
kind of salvation, and that's not how people get into the city. In fact, the last verse explains
what the rest of these few verses have in them. The last verse
says, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's the last phrase. That's
who gets to go into the city. Those, but they which are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. And we're gonna see a few verses
tonight. We've gone over some of these verses in the past,
but we're gonna look at them again. That we didn't hold the
pen, number one, and the ink has been dried from eternity.
We don't drive God's hand when it comes to writing the names
in the Lamb's Book of Life. And those names were written
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world,
before God created Adam. Names, the names, and all of
them had already been inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life. And
those are they who are permitted to enter into this city. And the reason that the Lord
left it that way, I believe, is that no one would glory in
themselves. Let nobody glory in his work. Glory in Christ. And that is
from beginning to end. Glory in Christ, that you were
given before the foundation of the world. Glory in Christ, that
your names were written down. Glory in him and his great work
of redemption. glory in him and his death, his
burial and his resurrection, glory in him applying that great
work of redemption and stopping us on our headlong travels to
hell, stopping us by the grace of God through the preaching
of the gospel that he had introduced us to hear the gospel. Then we'll
step back and say, I have nothing to boast in myself, but I can
brag on God. till the last breath I have in
these lips, and then for eternity it will continue on. Well, let's
look at verse 24. And the nations of them which
are saved shall walk in the light of it, in the light of the city.
Now, that's an interesting word, nations, because oftentimes we
think of nations as, well, there's Canada and the United States
and Mexico and I don't know how many nations there are recognized
in the world today. But this word has with it the
idea of originally a multitude or a company. And it would be
easy also to say a people, a specific people. And the people that are
in here, they're a multitude of people of the same nature.
Now, that's what this nation is. The nations of them, which
are saved shall walk in it. They have the same nature. God
has given them a new nature. I appreciate it. And I heard
it the first time. And then I found part of it the
second time. And the third time in the last
bulletin, Isaac Newton's words, when he heard, I am what I am
by the grace of God. And he contemplates in his latter
years, blind, He contemplates, I'm not what I once was, and
I'm not what I should be. And he just goes down through
there and he delineates and comes up, but I'm not what I'm going
to be, and I'm not what I was. And that's just by the grace
of God that he could say that, and God's people say that today.
We're not what we want to be, and we're not what we should
be. But thank God we're not what we once were. And that's God
has given his people a new nature. And that's what this is talking
about. God's people have a nature and their nature is the same.
We don't have various natures that God saves us. He has one
nature. That's what he's telling us over
there in the book of Acts, which is there's one blood of man and
one blood of fishes and one blood of birds. When it comes to salvation,
there's one nature. There's one blood that purchases
us. And that gives us one nature.
And that nature is to glorify and praise and worship God. That's
what he has given us. And we don't worship ourself
and we don't worship our works. We worship God and what he's
done for us. And that's this nations that
come into the city. They have one nature and it's
been quickened and made and given by the Lord God of heaven. And
it's a nature we didn't have by nature. It's a new nature,
it's a new man. And it recognizes God as the
supreme, sovereign being. And that we bow before him and
worship him and love him and allow him to put his feet on
us, become his footstool. He's gonna sit there until every
one of his enemies be made his footstool. And after he puts
his feet on us, we just say, thank you, Lord. I wouldn't have
it any other way. These nations of them which are
saved shall walk in the light of it. Now turn with me, if you
would, to the book of Matthew, chapter 24. This same word, and
oftentimes this word has been translated Gentiles. And to the
Jews, the Gentiles were a multitude of people of the same nature,
and usually not good. That was the view of the Jews
towards the Gentiles. They are a people of one nature.
They don't have God, we do. They have a bad, evil heart.
We have a good one. And they just looked at the Gentiles
that way, as a people of one nature, and it wasn't a positive
one. Well, this word, carried over
from its original meaning, could mean God's people of one nature. Nations, people, God's people
that are coming out here in the book of Matthew chapter 24. There's
three verses here in the book of Matthew that have the same
word. And let's just look at that. Matthew 24 and verse 14
is the first one, Matthew 24 and verse 14. And it says, and this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations and to all peoples. Now by nature, they have one
nature. And by God's grace, they get a new nature. They get the
nature of Christ. And this, it doesn't mean that
the gospel is gonna be preached necessarily in every nation,
but every nation his people are in, that's where he's gonna have
the gospel preached. Every nation where his sheep
are, that's where he'll have the gospel preached. And then
the end shall come, and we know that, when the last one's saved.
This is gonna be wrapped up like a tent, and it won't be like
wrapping up a camp tent. It's gonna be quicker than that.
He'll wrap it up. When the last sheep is saved,
when the last place, where the last sheep, when the gospel is
preached at that last place, then shall the end come, and
it will come, all right? And in chapter 25, verse 32,
again, this word nation. Nations is used, chapter 25 and
verse 32. It says here, and before him
shall be gathered all nations, all peoples. I asked a person one time now, this person believed it was a
judgment of the nations as countries. And I says, well, are they going
to judge Germany when they were Christian or now? What time period are we gonna
do this? Are we gonna judge America when it used to be or now? You
know, you just think just a little bit. This is the judgment of
peoples. And there's two natures of peoples
gathered here. There's the nature of people
that God has given a new nature to, and the nature of people
that were given the nature of Adam in the fall. The sheep and
the goats, there's two natures here. And that's what nations
mean. It means a multitude of people
of the same nature. The goats have the nature of
Adam. Job said, man be born like a
wild donkey's coat. Now that just sums up man's nature
by nature. Wild, unbridled, can't be controlled. You know, you control it just
a little bit, but the inside, the heart, can never be controlled. You just let a donkey or its
cousin, a horse, given the opportunity, they'll bulk and run away. But the nature of the sheep is
to follow. The nature of the sheep is to
follow the shepherd. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. Now there's two natures here
assembled. Out of every person in the whole
world ever been born, there's the nature that God gives and
there's the nature that Adam gave. And Lord be gracious, put
us in the group that God gives the new nature to. All right,
so they're gathered together. It says, he shall separate the
one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats.
There's gathered all nations, all peoples, peoples who have
the same nature. And then in the last chapter,
chapter 28, verse 19, we often remember this is the great commission.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations. Well, that's only done
as we do it to peoples. That's what this is peoples down
there. Brother Heller doesn't have a radio broadcast to the
nation. He has a ministry to peoples. Our missionary in Mexico, he
didn't go to Mexico City and get on a radio broadcast and
be a missionary to the nation of Mexico. He is a missionary
to the peoples of Mexico and primarily there in the Yucatan
Peninsula where he's been for those 40 years. That's what that
word means in this context. So go into all the nations, teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I'm with you always.
even unto the end of the world. Amen. So this word nation, it's,
uh, as we find it over here, the, these, this nations of them,
which are saved, they have this nature of God, nature of Christ. They shall walk in the light
of it. No, they're not bedbugs. Nancy had an experience down
there, Mississippi with roaches. Oh, You turn on the light and the
roaches just shoo! And people who live there don't
pay any attention, but us who are not around them a lot, we
notice them very quickly. And they can call them what they
want, they're just old roaches, that's all they are. She had
to sleep on the floor on them. on a mattress and they were all
around. She was so glad to get home. But those critters, bedbugs,
roaches, you turn the lights on and they just head for the
dark. And these, of these nations,
love the light. John chapter 1 tells us they
love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds are
evil. They have no love for Christ. But those who have been given
a nature to love Christ, appreciate love walking in the light. I mentioned here, I think the
other day about the difference how we feel when there's sunshine
or when there's clouds, particularly long period of clouds. Sun comes
up, boy, we're just like those cormorants. We want to get out
there with our wings out and get in the sun, put our back
right to the sun. It just makes you feel good.
Well, it turns out there's vitamin D you can get that way too. So
it's to walk in the light. What a blessing. And by nature,
we don't want it. God has to work on our nature
to love, to walk in his light, and to appreciate and enjoy him.
And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into
it. Now that's interesting. By nature, we don't bring any
honor or glory to God. We're mistaken if we think we
do. We don't bring any honor. We don't bring any glory to God.
He is the one that gives honor and he is the one that gives
glory. And he makes us kings and priests of the most high
God. He allows us to have that honor
of being his servant. There's much said in the world
today about deacons. I've had several conversations.
People want to know, what kind of government do you have out
there? Well, we don't have much. What
about deacons? Well, every man is a deacon and
every woman is a deaconess. Well, do you ordain them? No,
we leave that to God. Just let God take care of that. Well, how does he do that when
he saves them? He takes care of that when he saves them. He
ordains them when he saves them. They've been ordained to eternal
life. They've been ordained to service. So just saves a lot
of trouble, doesn't it? We don't have to call for counsel.
God's already taken care of that. Well, he says here, he says,
and kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
The only honor we bring is the honor that we've been given.
Trophies of grace. Trophies of grace. Sinners saved
by grace. That's all we can do. We have
none of our own. We're just trophies of grace,
saved sinners, SS's. That's all we are. We have nothing
to bring to God, but He has everything to give us. And that reflected
glory is what we bring into the city. This is the glory of God
brought into the city by His people because He has saved them
by His grace. Boy, when we get beyond that
point, when we get beyond that point, we're on thin ice. He
is the Savior and I just am the sinner He saved. That's it. The
gates of it shall not be shut at all by day nor for there shall
be no night there. Now, metaphorically, I look at
this, that the gospel will be going out of this city for time
and for eternity. We'll be delighting in the salvation
that we have in Christ. Now we do it. What do we do? What do we do? Brag on God. That's the light. We brag on
God. And what shall happen throughout eternity? The gates shall not
be shut, day or night. Because there will be no night
there. We're just going to brag on God.
We're going to praise God. We're going to thank God. That's
all we get to do. Well, my goodness, that beats
the alternative, doesn't it? We get to brag on God for eternity. The gates will continue. Metaphorically,
we're just going to continue to tell about God and Christ. And we do it now through the
gospel. But then we'll sit at his feet and say, worthy is the
lamb that was slain. And then it tells us, and they
shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. They
shall bring the glory and honor. The only glory a people bring
to the city is the glory of the Lord. Our nature has come short
of the glory of God. Christ loved his people, died
to redeem them, sanctified them, and will perfect and glorify
them. And then in the last verse there, and there shall be no
wise enter into anything that defileth, nor whatsoever worketh
abomination, nor maketh a lie, but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life. Now, these three things are just
very interesting. It says there, no wise enter
into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie. Now, I just would like to spend
a little time on that and then look at the Lamb's Book of Life.
This passage tells of the thoroughness of the redemption that we have
in Christ. There is nothing left that defileth. Now, this word defileth is translated
differently in other places. And there's one passage I want
to go to that we have read several times. But I've never noticed
that this is the word that is used there. Here it is, defileth. And we think, oh my goodness,
that's really terrible. That's a terrible crime to defile
something. This is the same word. Turn with
me to the book of Acts. I think you'll appreciate this.
It was a real blessing to see this. And I don't know if I've
seen it. And I want to see more of it.
But this is just Acts chapter 10, verse 15. There's nothing
in this city that defileth. There's nothing in this city
that defileth. And that word is placed in this
verse of scripture, chapter 10, verse 15. Remember when Peter
is being prepared to go talk to some Gentiles? And the Lord
taught him a tremendous lesson, but he's also teaching us. He taught him a lesson by dropping
a sheet down from heaven with all kinds of raccoons and squid
and opossums and pork and shellfish, shrimp, everything that was prohibited
under the law. all of that's all those critters
in it and old peter looked out there and saw those raccoons
and opossums and he says oh there's nothing i'm going to eat on this
table well let's just look here acts chapter 10 verse it says
verse 14 peter said not so lord for i've never eaten anything
that is common or unclean i've never eaten possum not going
to I've never eaten raccoon, not going to. I've never eaten
prawns, not going to. I've never eaten pork, not going
to. And he's bragging about it. And the voice spake unto him
again the second time, what God hath cleansed thou that call
not thou common. Now that's the same word that
we find over here, defileth, common, common. You know, this is such a special
salvation that God said nobody there is going to talk about
a common. It's just everyday kind of, you
know, I got saved. That attitude. That's common. That defileth. God saves his people. We're not
walking down the street one day and just praying, got saved. I went to a meeting, got saved.
It is a work of grace. It's a work of mercy. It's a
work of peace. It's a God-given, grace-given,
blessed thing that God gives to us. And we'll never walk around
saying, that's a common thing. It's a gracious thing. It's a
holy thing. It's a blessed thing. It's not
defiled. It doesn't defileth. It isn't
so common. It is the uncommon thing to be
saved. It is God's grace in action.
It's a miracle. It's just another way of saying
it's a miracle. Evolution is so common, but creation
is a miracle, and that's why people don't want to deal with
it. And salvation is a miracle. It's not just walking the aisle,
signing your name, raising your hand. That's not what it is. It is a work of grace. It's a
work of mercy. It's a work of God. It's a miracle. And here, people will talk about
a miracle of salvation and not talk about, oh, you know, I went
to meet one. I walked away and I just felt
a little better. It's a work of grace. It's a work of grace. There's nothing left that defileth. And then there's the word abomination,
or worketh abomination over there in the book of Revelation. And
Duane and I were visiting this afternoon, that word came up.
There's a tape around here, a CD around here, Brother Marvin Stoniker
preaching on the abomination of desolation. And he mentions
this word abomination. Well, it fell right on the floor
in front of me tonight. There's no abomination. It has
to do with idol worship. No free will works religion. No will worship in this city. It has to do with idolatry. It's
not Oh my goodness, what an abomination. It's idol worship. It's looking
at salvation as something that we provided, we did, we accomplished,
we got it done. That's just idol worship, will
worship, self worship. That's not a miracle of God's
grace. And here in this place, nobody,
will have an abomination. There will be no idolatry. No one is going to say, well,
I got the job done today. Everyone will boast in Christ. What did Paul say? Would it please
God to reveal Christ in me? I wouldn't go down there to a
permit, but he stopped me. He arrested me. And then that
last word, it says in verse 27, or maketh a lie. That word means perverse, impious,
deceitful precepts. The worst lies that have ever
been told in this world have been about God. People, demons, and the devil
have told the worst lies in the world about God. Satan in the
Garden of Eden. As God said, he told a lie right there. He's
the father of it too. That's what God said. And the
lies that are mentioned here is not telling a white lie or
telling an untruth. The lies are perverse and pious
deceitful precepts that God is trying to do something. That's
a lie. God is hoping to get something.
That's a lie. God is going to do something.
God is sovereign. God is king. God is Lord of lords
and king of kings. And so these lies are perverse
and pious, deceitful things. God has no place in the hearts
of his people or in this city for any of these things. What's
that mean for us? It means God's really going to
do a thorough job. None of us, as we stand in this
city, as we stand before Christ, or as we walk through this life
between here and there, nobody is ever going to talk about common
things with God. He's glorious. He's, he's the
Lord God Almighty. There's no superior one. He's
not common. He's not the co-pilot. He is
God. You know, sometimes I like that
song. He's a, what a friend we have
in Jesus, but you know, we can take that just a little too less.
He's, he's more than that. He just, He's a serious friend. He's a
friend that loveth better than a brother. And there's nobody
is going to have an abomination there. Nobody's going to bring
in their idols. Now, God, we know, we'd recognize right off.
We can't get our rabbit foot in and we can't get our bale
in. We can't get our golden calves in, but we sure are will worship. Our free will worship? No, God's not going to permit
it, Terry. It's not going to be there. We're not going to
have any trouble with it, Terry. And then a lie. We're not going to
ever be telling things about God that are untruths. Thank
God he helps us now. My goodness. Sometimes we just
have to say he's the Lord God Almighty. He's the sovereign
God. I can't go beyond that. I don't understand anything about
it. I believe it. He's just the sovereign God.
Oh, you don't believe that? Oh, yes, I do. You really don't. Oh, yes, I do. God doesn't kill
people. Oh, yes, he does. Just ask Ananias
and Sapphira. Now we may not know anybody that
he's dealt like that, but he does in the book. He'd made illustration
enough in the book. Now, who is in this city? We
know that there's those three things are not gonna be there.
The last phrase says, they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life. These are a people that were
given by the Father to the Son, and the Son spoke about them
many times. All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise
cast out. He tells us about this agreement
between he and the Father and the Holy Spirit many times in
his own ministry. And he gave the apostles information
about it after that, that he had a gift that was given to
him. And they were people, nations, people who were of the descendants
of Adam. The first Adam, all men died. Second Adam, all shall be made
alive. Everyone that Christ represents
shall be made alive. Everyone that Adam represented
died. And he represented every man, woman, boy, and girl. Jesus
Christ represented all those who are written down in the Lamb's
Book of Life before the foundation of the world. And all of them
shall be made alive by the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a fountain
filled with blood. Drawn from Emmanuel's veins.
Now the writer of that song took that from the book of Zechariah.
There's a fountain and it's for forgiveness of sins. Revelation chapter seven, verse
13. Would you look at that with me?
Revelation chapter seven, verse 13 and verse 14. We have these
wonderful words shared with us about those who are in the city,
who make up the city, inhabit the city, are the city. Those
who are spoken of as having great gems as foundation, pearls for
the doors, height perfect, width perfect, length perfect, thickness
of the walls beyond destruction. This church, The gates of hell
shall not overcome it. Beautiful statements made by
the Lord. Now here in Revelation 7, 13,
it says, And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What
are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came
they? And I said unto them, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to
me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and
have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the land. There's another metaphor, another
word picture. The Lord washes us thoroughly,
picturely in his own blood. That's who's in that city. The
Lord of glory has spoken so highly of his great work of redemption.
Revelation 17, would you turn there with me? Revelation 17
in verse eight. As we think about those who are
in the city, summed up this way, those who are written down in
the Lamb's Book of Life. Revelation 17, verse eight, the
scriptures share this, and the beast that thou sawest was and
is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into
perdition and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose
names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation
of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not
and yet is. They'll follow the beast. I think
that's just another word for it. They'll follow any religion.
They'll go from this religion to that religion. They used to
just brag on Chevys and Fords, but now Dodgers got into the
mix, hasn't it? So they go from this religion
to that religion to that religion. Who? Those who's not written
down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And then in Revelation 20, Revelation
20 in verse 15, it says this, and whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now that's
the opposite of those who are in the city. Those who are in
the city are, their names are written in the Lamb's book of
life. Those who are in the lake of fire, their names are not
found in the Lamb's book of life. They are the ones on the side
that say, here, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never
knew you. Or to the goats, depart, depart. And to the sheep, we've had a
nature change. They're a nation of God. They've had a nature change,
God's work to work of grace. They're the ones that come into
this city, and they are the people of God, and then Turn with me
one other verse, I think it's in first Revelation chapter one. Revelation chapter one and verse
five. This is the beginnings of the
introduction to the book, but also the introduction to the
letters of the seven churches. And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and
the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. That's the inhabitants
of this city, the church. The church triumphant, the visible
church, had Judas. The church triumphant didn't.
The church visible has all kinds, but the church triumphant, the
Lord's true body, only has those who have been given a new nature. They are a nation of God. Lord willing, we'll start this
22nd chapter and I think I, well, August 24th I have to finish
this.