Revelation chapter 21. And I
think we have, after tonight, five more Wednesday evenings
in this chapter. So we're approaching the end. I see the finish line out there
about August. But it's just been a delight.
I've enjoyed so much the study. And particularly, I've really
enjoyed this view that God has of his church. how god sees the
church how god views the church and that's what we have here
in these verses in this chapter nine through twenty seven in
particular uh... tonight i would like to look
several verses but a single subject last time we looked at uh... here we looked at several verses
in a single subject subject and that was the walls of the city
and i use the illustration and i've thought about this some
this past week and i really appreciate the fact that the church is behind
a wall that is impregnable There have been some enjoyable films
where a spaceship is wrapped in a force field and nothing
gets to it. It's invisible. Now this protection
is invisible and this protection is unseen by the world and unnoticed
by the world and yet the church depends on it and it is impregnable. Nothing can get to the church.
All the power and all the force of all the things Evil and evil
doctrine, false doctrine, can't get to the church. And the wicked one can't get
to the church. It is in full protection by this
wall. It is high wall, it is thick
wall, and yet it's invisible. It's spiritual. It's a spiritual
wall. And every one of God's believers
and the church as a whole is protected by this wonderful bubble. that we're in, and there's pure
air in there, pure grace, pure righteousness. There was a film,
I never got to see it, I just saw ads about a boy that had
to live inside of a bubble, and you know, I don't want the disease,
but it was pure oxygen, and that's the way it is with God's people,
it's pure grace, pure righteousness, pure holiness. pure peace that
God gives to his people in this protective wall. Well, tonight
I would like to go on and look at four verses that share with
us some things about the gates, the gates of the city. Now, I
have to work at looking at the spiritual, not because I'm looking
at another view, but I'm in the flesh, and I just want to look
at these things as spiritual. the gates of this city. All right, I'd like to read verse
12, 13, 21, and 25, and pick out some thoughts here from each
of these verses that share with us the great truths that are
contained in these 12 gates. Now, we're not going to find
that there are 12 different gates in the sense of what is permitted
in them. We're gonna find, just like we
did the wall, There is only one foundation that that wall sits
on, even though it is described as having the foundation of the
twelve apostles. It is what they preached is the
foundation. It's who they preached is the
foundation. So the twelve may have preached,
but they didn't preach different things. The day of Pentecost
proves that. We only hear one message, but
there were 12 different groups of people hearing the same message. In fact, it says we do hear in
our own language the wonderful works and words of God. Now,
that's what everyone was preaching on that day. Now, I don't know
how it was a miracle. It was. Everybody got to hear
in their own language. And as the Apostle Paul said,
I'd rather hear five words in a known language than 10,000.
And if you go to a Spanish church and don't understand Spanish,
I can prove my point. And I did that one time. I was
in Milan and Pastor, Oh my goodness, he's in Ball,
Louisiana. Milton Howard. He was asked to
preach to the Spanish-speaking people in the community because
he knows Spanish fluently, and I went and heard it, and I picked
out Theos, God, and the rest of it was a foreign language. So I know that for a fact. All right, let's look here. The
way that God looks at the church and these gates. Verse 12 of
the 21st chapter, it says, it had the wall great and high,
and had 12 gates. And at the gates, 12 angels. Now, I am of firm belief that
these 12 angels are the same type of angel we find the angel
of the church at Smyrna, the angel of the church at Thyatira,
the angel of the church at Ephesus, and so forth. This was their
pastor. We have gospel preachers at these
gates. preaching the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace. All right, there's 12 angels
at these gates. And the names written there on
which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel.
Now, we're going to see that these are not national Israel,
but these are the elect of God out of every kindred nation,
people, and tongue. And their names are on the doors
of these gates And in fact, they're the only ones. I'm not talking
about physical Israel. I'm talking about spiritual Israel.
As Paul declares, not all Israel is of Israel. And a true Israelite
is one that is a Jew inward, not outward. To stand before
God as a Jew outward without Christ is going to hear these
words. Depart from me, ye worker of iniquity, I never knew you."
They're not going to have a special place before God. Only people
who have Christ. Paul was a Jew. Christ appeared
to him. Christ converted him. Christ
gave him the new birth. And he is going to hear, welcome
thou good and faithful servant. A Jew without Christ is going
to hear, depart from me, worker of iniquity, I never knew you,
just like anybody else. Now these gates have the 12 tribes
of Israel, and that means that the people who go through these
gates have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. The only ones, and I want to show, it's the doors are open,
the gates are open. And the invitation goes out,
but the only ones that will ever respond to the message already
have their names on the gates. And there's the ones that are
going to enter in. And that's the way God has said it. I was
reading a book, I found a book, and that's one of the neat things
about the internet. I can find books that I would never have
found in going to used bookstores. I read about a guy writing a
book in a book, and I say, hmm, write that down, and get on the
internet, and lo and behold, down in Florida, in a used bookstore,
is the book that I've been looking for, and I go click, pay for
it, and it's sent to me, and I love it. Now I can read that
book. And in there, he's talking about
the grace of God, and he shares, God does it the way he does it
because he wants to do it that way. That's just pretty simple,
isn't it? I liked his language. He was
a preacher that wrote in 1877. And he just summed it up as quick
and quietly as possible. God does his business just the
way he wants to. All right, and that's when it
comes to election and anything else. All right. We had 12 gates. The names were
written there on, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the
children of Israel. There's plenty of open gates
on every side for all who will enter, but the gates only attract
those whose names are inscribed, and that's the 12 tribes of Israel,
the elect of God, who, when you check the residents of the city,
you're only going to find the 12 tribes of Israel, the elect
of God. That's the residents, that's
their names. Now, the cities used to have, as you entered
in, New Pine Creek, population 160, elevation, Now this city has all the names
on the doors. That's a neat thing about the
city. The city has all the names of the residents on the door.
Why? Because their name is written
down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now there's only a certain group
that's going to come through that door. Turn with me, if you
would, to the book of Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. Now, it's not because the invitation
didn't go out. The doors are open, the angels
are declaring, and the message has gone out to the four winds.
The message is to every nation, kindred, people, and tongue.
As in fact, the Lord Jesus says, go and preach the gospel to every
nation. That is the requirement. And over history, God has sent
his preachers to every nation, and if he hasn't yet, he will.
He will take care of it wherever his lost 12 tribes are. He will get the gospel to them,
or he will get them out of there to hear the gospel. Now the message
goes out. We find out there in the book
of Revelation that he has called out his people from every kindred,
nation, people, and tongue. East, west, north, south, the
city cries out through the open gates to everyone. Luke chapter 14, we find a wonderful
account here of the gates being opened, the message going out,
and listen to the response. This is the response. It was
the response in the days of Abel, it was the response in the days
of Christ, and it's still the response. The message goes out,
you pray to God Almighty, it will touch some heart as it goes
out. But we have no way of touching
someone's heart. They have a heart of steel, impregnable,
until the Holy Spirit changes them. Luke chapter 14, verse
16, the scripture says, and then said he unto him, a supper, a
certain man had a great supper and bade many, invited many,
and sent his servant at the supper time to say unto them that were
bidden, come, for all things are now ready. The supper is
made, the invitations have been sent out. And that has gone on
since God put people on this earth. The invitations have gone
out. The invitations have gone out.
I'm reminded of that incident, and we read it just recently,
about the, they learned about the need to have the Passover.
They sent out the messengers, the posts. They went throughout
all Israel and all Judah, and everybody laughed at them. Except,
nevertheless, there were a few here and there that came to the
Passover. The rest just laughed them to
scorn. It says here, he sent them out, and they all with one
consent began to make excuse. Well, I gotta work. I gotta do
this, I gotta do that. We've heard it. If you haven't
heard it, you've heard it. We'd sure like you to go down
here to this meeting, because a man's preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'd like, oh, you know, I've
already made plans. Well, here it is. I have bought
a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee,
have me excused. Now that's just as reasonable
excuse as the ones you've heard. You know, I just can't do it
tonight. I can't do that. I'm doing this. I'm doing that.
Goes on to say, another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen
and go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excused.
The gates are open. The message going out. Come in. There's peace here. There's no
one's going to harm you in here. No one's going to browbeat you
in here. No one is going to put you down in here. No, everybody's
going to love you in here. The king of the city is going
to love you. He has a wonderful message of his grace to you.
I bought a piece of ground. I've got some oxen. Just as foolish
excuses as these. And another said, I've married
a wife and therefore I cannot come. You know what Adam said? The woman now gave me. It just
goes on and on and on. What goes around comes around.
And then it says, so the servant came and showed the Lord these
things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his
servant, now here is how it's done. This is how we're going
to get the table filled up. This is how we're going to get
the city filled up. This city is the city of people, the city
of grace, the city of mercy, the city of hope, the city of
peace, the city of holiness. This is how it's going to get
filled up. This is how the city has made
itself. He said, then the master of the house, being angry, sent
his servant, go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of
the city and bring. Now, that's what the Holy Spirit
does. Bring in hither the poor, and
the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. Why did he say that? Because they are members of the
12 tribes of Israel, the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Go out, bring them in. They can't get in here by themselves.
You're going to have to bring them in. And he's telling that
to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's the only one
that can bring them in. The person at the door saying, come in here
because everything is grand, can't get through to them. The
only way they will be brought in is the Holy Spirit bringing
them in. This afternoon, I had a few minutes
before I got to meet at McDonald's for coffee, and I stopped at
one of the wonderful places I like to go through, St. Vincent de
Paul. I'm going down to the book section there and I landed on
how to be born again. And you know what I want to do
with that? Buy it and burn it. Because the
man who wrote it had no concept whatsoever when you put it on
how to, because that means you can do it if you do it right.
And the scriptures teach us the only people in the city are those
who have been brought in by the Holy Spirit because we don't
have sense enough to come in on our own. And then he goes
on to say, so the servant came and said, bring in the poor,
verse 21, bring in hither the poor, the mean, the halt and
the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast
commanded, and yet there is room. Now the only reason there is
room because not everyone is in yet. There's more to be brought
in and this is what he said, the Lord said unto the servant,
go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come
in that my house may be filled. Now we have in here the message
of bring them in and next he says compel them, compel them. Now that's an interesting word,
compel them. Bring them in, compel them, bring
them in. Jesus compelled his disciples
to enter into a ship. Now what would that mean? I'm
getting in this boat and you get in there too. I've compelled my children. Now
that doesn't mean, now if you really want to come in, you can. That means you're gonna get in
here. Now it's for your own good and your own safety. To have
someone tell me that God would never go against the will of
somebody to compel them to come in is ridiculous because that's
the only way we'll ever come in. And once we're in, what do
we find? River of life, bread of life. heaven on earth, Jesus Christ
as Lord, there's no negativism whatsoever. We find out after
we've been brought into the city, it was the greatest thing that
God has ever done for us, was to bring us into that city. We
weren't gonna come. Oh, we heard the message, but
I've got some plowing to do. I've got this church over here
I'm going to, and what would happen if, we've heard the excuses,
haven't we? We've heard the excuses, but
only the Holy Spirit can bring them in or compel them in. And
that's the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. Their names are listed. Enter into the straight gate.
That's what Jesus said. There be few that find it, though.
They enter in the straight gate. And then we find over there,
turn with me to John 6, 37. John 6, 37. What a wonderful
passage of scripture this is. It just helps us with this passage
in the book of Revelation chapter 21 when we talk about the gates.
These gates are open. They are open. They are open. Now, the gates to the cities
of refuge were open. They were not barred at all.
They were open because there were people that needed to be
brought in, and the reason that they were coming down the road
is they had someone after them. And they came down that road
on purpose. God moved them on purpose. The gates are open. All can enter in. But you know
what? If it's only us inviting them,
they withal with one excuse. But when the Holy Spirit brings
them or compels them, and they come in and sit down, Mephibosheth,
He had to be brought in. But once he sat down, what food
he had. He's eating corn husks. Now he
sits down to the king's food. He's never going to say, oh my
goodness, I really feel bad that they carried me down here and
I have to eat this food. No. The most ridiculous thing
a religious person could say is, I would never want God to
go against my will. Oh yes, you would. You stand in judgment before
God and you hear him say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity.
You wish, well, the wish, the thought won't even go through
the mind. But on the other side, all the church will say, thank
you, God almighty. for your grace. All right, John
chapter six, verse 37. This is the gates. This is who
comes through the gates. Here's what the names are of
the 12 tribes of Israel. John chapter six, verse 37, all
that the father giveth me shall come unto me. And the church
is hallelujah. It's an impossible task. We'll
never get skin on these bones. We'll never get breath into these
people. We'll never see them move unless
the Holy Spirit does it. You know, now we're doing what
we're supposed to be doing. God is going to take care of
his part. All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me. They'll come through the gates.
They'll come through Christ. They'll not come another way.
They'll not be as thieves and robbers. They'll come through
Christ. They'll bow. to the Lord God
Almighty. They'll bow to his gospel. They'll
bow to his word. They'll bow to his ways. They'll
bow. They'll say he is the way, the
truth, and the life. I thought there was another way,
but it is wrong. He'll strip us of our righteousness,
and we'll come begging the righteousness of Christ. All that the Father
giveth me shall come unto me, and him that cometh unto me I
will in no wise cast out. Hallelujah. The gates are open. The invitation has gone out.
And with one excuse after another, and thank God Almighty that he
doesn't heed those excuses for his lost sheep. He will pick
them up. He will bring them through the
gates, and they will rejoice in it. They will say hallelujah
and really mean it. All right? the gates of the city. And then it tells us in verse
13, Revelation chapter 21, verse 13, we have this set about the
gates. On the east, three gates, and on the north, three gates,
and on the south, three gates, and on the west, three gates.
Now, that is just a statement. I shouldn't use the word just.
That is a statement that means it's the gospel that goes in
every direction. It's always the same. It's not
a different gospel to these people who just don't have the mind
to understand. Preachers have said, if people
just believe in a supreme being, they're okay, sorry. That's not what the Bible says. Everybody, even the devils, believe
in a God. They're quick to confess it.
Are you here to punish us before our time, thou son of God? That's what the demonic there
at Gadarene, Gadara, the demonic, those unclean spirits said that. And I appreciate what Brother
Rupert says, we've all got those. We were born with those. Now,
I'm not convinced and he wasn't either. He's not trying to tell
us that we have these evil spirit, but we have an evil spirit about
us because of the fall. We will trust a God, but we'll
never trust God unless he opens our heart. We'll believe anything
and it's proven around the world. People will believe anything,
all right? It tells us here, the East, there's
all these directions. In every direction, the gospel
is proclaimed by the angels. They're the messengers of God
declares, the preachers through the church, they declare it.
And we're called on to preach the gospel to every creature,
preach the gospel to every creature. And in Revelation chapter five,
back up there if you would for a moment, Revelation chapter
five and verse nine, It shares this. I've alluded to it, but
I want to read it. Revelation chapter five and verse
nine. We were here some time ago and
it says, they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take
the book, to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred north. Tongue, south. People, east. And nation, west. The city is located in such a
place that it points in every direction of the compass. The
doors are open. The gospel has been declared
in every direction. And God is calling people, his
tribes of Israel, out of every kindred, nation, people, tongue. And they're assembling, and they
make up the city, and they are in the city. Psalm 98. Turn there with me
if you would. Psalm 98. This is an interesting
passage of scripture about the gospel being preached in the
Old Testament. Who did it go to? We can just
say, those dumb Jews, they didn't understand what God was saying.
Well, dumb Gentiles didn't know what he's saying either. We're
born dumb when it comes to the gospel. It's just out of our
league. It's spiritual and we're not.
We just can't pick it out. We can't see it. Here in the
book of Psalms, Psalm 98, verse two and three. Psalm 98 verse
2 and 3, the Lord hath made known his salvation. I want to know
about that. His righteousness hath he openly
showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of our God. Every kindred nation people and
tongue and this is in the Old Testament the gospel has gone
out We just read on Sunday about it going to Nineveh in Assyria
The gospel went out and then in Romans chapter 10 Romans chapter
10 the gospel has gone out that the gates are an open in every
direction Now there's only one Christ There's only one door. There's only one gate. And by that I mean there's only
one message. There's only one Christ and his message. But the
direction, it goes in all directions. It covers the world. And it's
the same in every direction. The North doesn't get a different
message than the East. It's all the same. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It is by His blood and by His
righteousness alone that we depend. All right, the Book of Romans,
chapter 10. The Apostle Paul is sharing with
us as he is a secretary for the Holy Spirit, for God Almighty,
in verse 17 of this chapter 10. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God is absolutely
essential. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. We'll never have the faith without
the word of God, the gospel. We'll not have, now we can have
faith. My prayers have been answered. I don't know how many times I've
heard that. And you know what? Before I was ever saved, my prayers
were answered too. I can't explain it. I had faith, but I didn't have
the faith, because the faith is created in us by the author
and finisher of our faith. I had my own, but I didn't have
God's. I didn't have his faith. I had my own. All right? Romans
chapter 10. There, then it says here in verse,
18, but I say, have you not heard? Yes, barely. Their sound went
into all the earth and their words into the ends of the world.
But I say, did not Israel know? First, Moses saith, I'll provoke
you to jealousy by them that are no people. And by a foolish
nation, I will anger you. But Isaiah says very bold and
saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I was manifest
to them that ask not after me. Oh, the twelve tribes of Israel,
Gentiles and Jews, they weren't seeking me, but I was seeking
them. They weren't known of me, but
I knew them. But to Israel it saith, All day
long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
again saying people, The gates are open, three on the east,
three on the west, three on the north, three on the south. And
if you follow this, it just goes around the compass. Gate, this
gate, that gate, and so forth. The message is the same. God's
invitation, the invitation of the angel is the same. God takes
that message and out of every kindred, nation, people, and
tongue, he draws his people. You know what? They come in and
find out their name was written on the doors. before the foundation
of the world. And they're, thank you, God. Wow, that's wonderful. And they
don't sing the song, there's a new name written down in glory. It's not that way, it was written
down in glory. And then we find out it was.
The 12 gates were in verse 21 over there. The 12 gates were
12 pearls. Every several gate was one. I'm glad that the Holy Spirit
led the writer of this book to declare that the gate is one
pearl, not a bunch of them. He didn't take a bunch of little
bitty ones and glue them together. Now, this is spiritual. This
is spiritual. We can sing about the pearly
gates, but this is spiritual. There is only one pearl that
is sufficient for the gates, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ
and his gospel. There's only one. He declares
time and time again, declared from beginning to end, there
is only one way. That's a pearl. of God. This pearl is figurative, it
is spiritual, and it declares to us that the gates of this
wonderful city is based upon the fact of Jesus Christ and
his righteousness. That's the pearl. My goodness,
when God reveals that to his people, that is a pearl of great
price. It's so valuable. We're not wanting
to sell it by any means. We just find out how important
that gate is. I am the door is what Jesus said. We can put that another way.
I'm the gate. I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh
unto the father, but by me. I am the gate of this city. And it's represented in these
12, because to every gate, to every tribe of Israel, it is
always the same gate. It is always one gospel. It is
always one word. It is always one righteousness.
It's always the one Christ. That's the pearl of great price.
Notice here, Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. You men work on something that
will fit in my Bible that will turn the page so I'll be there. Ladies, you computer-wise, do
that. Matthew chapter 13, verse 45,
this pearl of great price. Oh, the weightiness of Christ,
the value. Jesus Christ and him crucified. If I could just grasp that in
its entirety, the value of Christ, the pearl of great price, that's
the gate is one pearl. Don't look for a crack in it.
It's one message. It's one person. It's one grace. It's one righteousness. It's
one God. There is one God. There is one
salvation. There is one message. Verse 45, 46 of this 13th chapter,
again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking
goodly pearls, who, when he hath found one pearl of great price, looking for several, found one. One pearl of great price. Now, I've heard this explained
many ways. Pearl of great price is the church,
that fits too. Pearl of great price is the blood
of Christ, that fits too. The pearl of great price is Jesus
Christ and him crucified, that fits too. It all fits. But there
is only one pearl of great price, and that's the gates. That's
the entering in. You'll come by Christ or you
won't come. He says, all that's come up to
me before this is thieves and robbers trying to climb up another
way. Well, we're going to find out
something about this. It's a high wall, and he went over it. He's the only one that can. Pearl
a great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
The Lord God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, he had all the
kingdoms of the world. And in order for Him to give
to us His righteousness, He sold all He was at the cross and paid in full. And that's
a pearl of great price. It is indeed the pearl of great
price. And that's the way we enter in.
And then That last verse, verse 25, the gates of it shall not
be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. So they're
not going to be shut at all. What is that sharing with us?
Christ is the only door, the open door whom sinners draw near
to. And in him, we find total acceptance. They're not closed. I've had
people tell me I have an open door policy until you needed
help. And then the doors close. Just
can't get to them. That's not the way it is with
Christ. He is a high priest that allows, permits, and in fact
insists that we come boldly before the throne of grace. He is the
open door. They do not shut. John chapter 10, verses seven
through nine. Would you turn with me there?
John chapter 10. This is just, they just fit together. All the verses fit together.
More and more I find out the best commentary is just, and
sometimes I'm at a loss for verse. That's amazing to me. I go read
Pacher or Gill and find out they've stumbled on verses And said,
this is what this means. And you say, wow. And it's over
in Habakkuk. It's in Zephaniah. I have trouble
finding it when I want to. But they bring out these treasures. All right, notice this with me.
John chapter 10, verses 7, 8, and 9. The scriptures share this. Then said Jesus unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the
door of the 12 tribes of Israel. I am the pearl of great price
for all my people. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Why? Because the door is open, never
closed. We have total acceptance with
the Lord Jesus. Now, that doesn't mean we leave
the church. It's symbolic. We will always have the open
door policy with the Lord Jesus Christ. My sheep will come to
me. They will not find it a problem
to come to the shepherd. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. What a blessed verse the Ephesians
got to hear. Ephesians chapter 1 is good.
We break down some of those verses. Whoa! What a message the Holy
Spirit gave to the Ephesians as well as to us. We relish and
delight in the message of God's grace. He just superly did it
here in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. What's that mean? I can go in
and out. No closed door policy. I can
approach God. I can approach God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit through the Son. It is through
the Son that we approach the God of our salvation. God, the
Lord Jesus. I've been accepted in the beloved.
Now this word is used in another place and with this we'll close.
Turn with me to the book of Luke 1. Luke 1, this accepted, this
accepted. Look over here in Luke 1 with
me if you would. This has to do with some very
valuable information for us. The gates will not be shut. The gates will not be shut. They're
open. The message goes out, but for
those who are in, the approach to Christ is eternal. In fact, the church is the body,
and he's the head. All right. Luke chapter 1, verse
28, it says, the angel came in unto
her and said, hail thou that art. Now, those three words are
in italics. They've been put there for clarification. Sometimes it doesn't make it.
Anyway. Hail thou that art highly favored,
the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. Now the
word accepted over in the book of Ephesians chapter one and
verse six, he hath made us accepted, is the same word that we find
here in this passage, two words, highly favored. Highly favored. The church is highly favored. The church is accepted. He hath
made us accepted. He hath made us highly favored. And the wonderful doors of Pearl,
which is Christ and his righteousness, opened up to the world. The gospel
goes out and God touches the hearts of all those that he has
known from the foundation of the world. They come in and they
find out this is not prison. This is being accepted with Christ
and in Christ allows me daily, every second of the day to be
accepted, highly favored in his presence. And he welcomes his
children as they go to their prayer closets every second and
say, you are mine, highly favored, accepted, and I'll not close
the door. You'll always have this open to you. What gates? I'm glad they're open to the
four winds. Glad the message goes out. Glad
on the outside there's someone who really cares about bringing
people in, fetching them. Thank God for fetching grace.
Thank God for compelling grace. to bring us in and to find out
the way in is through the pearly gates. And the pearly gates is
the person Christ Jesus and his righteousness and his shed blood.
And once we're in, it's not confinement, it is acceptance with God, highly
favored position with God. And it's the privilege to reign
with Christ for eternity. Hallelujah, what a place.