The book of Revelation chapter
21, like the book of Revelation, was written to encourage the
church. And when we get to chapter 21,
it means business. There's just so much in here.
And Mike Richardson and I were talking today that that's the
purpose of the whole Bible. is to encourage God's people
to demonstrate that there's a great God and he does his will in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and
he doesn't have knee-jerk reactions he works on purpose it's all
purposed ahead of time and he just, when a child of God gets
a hold of that just a little bit at least it is a blessed,
blessed, blessed refreshing thing to realize that their God is
in control. We just sang that song, Blessed
Assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. And in the chorus, it says, praise Him all the day
long. Well, I thought to myself, well,
there was a few moments today. You know, the thought struck
me as I read that. Every believer that God ever
saves praises God in just Him saving them. It is a demonstration
of the fulfillment of His purpose of grace when He saves people,
and that very purpose of grace praises God. So whether we feel
like we're praising Him, God's people, those that He has died
for, and those that were born again by the Spirit of God through
the preaching of the gospel, They continuously just the assembly
of them without saying a word without thinking a thought are
Praising the Lord. This is his group This is the
ones he died for and he will receive praise from that great
activity of the fulfillment of his redemptive work and I was
reading I think it was Oh Charles Spurgeon morning and evening
I was given a very small copy of it kind of like Jim's hymn book. It's a miniature and
guess where I put it? It's in the reading room. And in there he mentions, in
one of the days, he mentions that his prayer for his saints
And he didn't say to Peter, go pray for yourself and I'll bless
it. He said, I'll pray for you. There's
a lot of difference. I'll pray for you. He's going
to get glory in all of this. Praise the Lord for his great
work of redemption. Now here, I look at this chapter
51, not only is it for a benefit and a blessing for us presently,
but it is really taking the check and cashing it. One time I was working in a bank
in Dallas, Texas. And my job was to go through
them and get all of these checks sent out to the banks they were
drawn on. And I got to looking in Oregon, and here's the bank
in Lakeview. And I was just going through
there, you know, and here's people I knew that had written the checks.
Here's a $7,200,000 check. Can you imagine how that guy
felt when he cashed his check? seven million two hundred thousand
dollars now I can't remember who wrote it or what it was drawn
on but it was in there and it was big enough for me to take
note with all of the other 395 ones but this is taking the check
and cashing it we've got all these promises that God's given
to us and they're just as good as cash But here we're taking it to the
bank and cashing the check. This is the fulfillment of all
of that. We see what God is doing. I heard a song today by an old
country song. I wish our dollars were based
on silver. Remember the days when you'd
get a silver certificate, go cash it in for a silver dollar.
There was a time you could go to the bank with gold certificates
and get gold coins out of it. Our money now is not worth that,
kind of like that. But here's a check we get to
take to the bank and cash it. The promises have been made,
the check has been written, but there's a time when it is going
to be reality. Alright, I saw a new heaven and
a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away And there's no more sea and that's the promise that God
has given to every one of his children Abraham looked for that
Old Testament he looked for a city whose builder and maker was God
and in Peter He says we look for a new heaven and new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness That's the check We got it in
the hand. This is the passion of it. Here
it is, the reality of it, the fulfillment. And I saw, and I
John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God.
out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Now
I thought when I, John, saw and we mentioned last week what grace
it is that John got to see that and John got to share that with
us. I saw this. Now there are people that saw
the figure, the person, Jesus of Nazareth and never saw any
more. And then there were those that
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now John
got to see something here. Only his people get to see this.
He got to see the holy city. Now John got to see himself. The church coming down, John
got to see himself. come out of heaven. He's part
of the church. He's standing there looking.
The witness, he saw himself in the brightness of the glory of
God. Now this is much like what John got to see when he saw his
Lord transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. But it didn't
happen to him. He saw the glory of it, but it
didn't happen. Here he got to see it. He got
to see the church in quote-unquote this transfigured glory, the
glory of God adorned. beautiful beyond compare beyond
explanation beyond words the beauty of this church coming
down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adored for her husband
and then I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the
tabernacle of God is with men And he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them, and be their God." Now this verse of scripture is the
fulfillment, the completion of the everlasting covenant. God
promised in the everlasting covenant that he would be a God to some
people, and those people would be his people. He purposed it. He promised it, and here it is. This church, this group of people,
I heard a voice out of heaven saying, this is what God said,
I'll be their God, they shall be my people. Now that's the
promise fulfilled. Take it to the bank and cash
it. This is what God promised, and that's what is ours. That
the God of heaven, the creator of heaven and earth, is the God
of His people, and He has made His people of such that they
are His people, and He will be their God. There will be no... Well, He's going to weld the
neck in place. In eternity. Will not be turning. will not be drawn off to any
side, right hand or left hand. Here our spirit is fastened to
him, but then our whole being will be fastened upon him. He
is our God. He is the one we worship. I remember my pastor. that brought me the gospel, sharing
one time, and I've shared this with people, I think the whole
church, one time he was accused of making Jesus Christ an idol. And he said, that's the best
compliment anybody has ever paid me in my life, because an idol
is an object of worship. He has made Jesus Christ his
object of worship. Now that's a high compliment.
And if a lost man tells a preacher of grace that, I'm not going
to go off boasting about it, but it's just a pretty high compliment.
And that's how he felt about it. And I believe that that's
what He has made, Jesus Christ. God has made Him, Jesus Christ
to Him, an object of worship. And that's going to be our opportunity,
our responsibility, and our privilege. Now, I heard a voice. I heard
a great voice. There's some things about this
voice. This is God's voice. And this voice, as we have found
it in the book of Revelation, as we've gone through it, but
it's everywhere. God's voice gets people's attention. Now there are some times he uses
his voice and people don't hear it. We have a record of that
in the Bible. I thought it was thundering.
But there are people that God gets their undivided attention
with his voice. It is a great voice. Now it doesn't
mean it has to be loud. But it is a great voice that
touches hearts. It is a great voice that gets
attention. It's a great voice that comes
down where we live. It's a voice that calls. It's
a voice, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. It's a following
voice. It's a voice that calls. It's
a voice that gets to where we live. Turn with me if you would
over to the book of Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 32. Ephesians
chapter 5 and verse 32, we look here at the great blessings,
the words of encouragement that the Lord shared with the church.
Remember these seven churches of Asia, they're representative
of all churches in all ages, God's people in all ages, but
they were going through severe persecution at this time. That's
one thing I want to keep in my mind as they're going through
severe persecution and the reason for the writing of this book
is to encourage them. Never did God ever put these
people down in their great persecution. He's encouraging them. He's encouraging
them in where they are, because where they are is where He wanted
them, and purposed them, and determined that they would be.
So here's the encouragement. Look in Ephesians chapter five
and verse 32. It says here, this is a great
mystery. Now that's the same word, great,
here as it is over the book of Revelation. Great mystery. Now, it's great in its context,
it's great in its view, it's great in its evaluation. The
voice of the Lord doesn't necessarily have to be loud to be heard. But it is a great voice. And as it says here, great mystery,
and I speak concerning Christ and the church, and that is a
great mystery. The word is the same that we find over there
in the book of Revelation chapter 21 and verse 3. A great voice. It's a voice that seeks out his
people. It's a voice that's recognized
by his people. It's a voice that gets his people's
attention. It's a voice that sometimes is
spoken of as thunder in the scriptures, in the book of Revelation. Sometimes
it's a great trumpet he speaks. His voice is like a great trumpet.
It gets the attention of his people. And that's very important
to recognize the fact that God gets the attention of his people.
He turns them by his voice, his word. He gets their attention. And this is a comfort to God's
people. He is able to do what no one
else could do. Religion goes through the guise
of getting people's attention, but all it does is saddle them
down and bind them up. This voice is liberty and this
voice is freedom, but it's God's voice. It's the God who created
heaven and earth. Now, it shares in there, Turn with me back just a little
bit to the book of John. John chapter 12. John chapter
12. As we look at this voice and
God is spoken in many places. In the Old Testament we found
He spoke through the prophets. Hebrews chapter 1 says, In these
days He has spoken unto us by His Son. the voice in the Old Testament
through the prophets the Old Testament scriptures has the
same validity as the words that we read in red because they're
still God's words God's words to his people words of encouragement
okay John chapter 12 John chapter 12 God the Father speaks to the
Son John chapter 12 verse 28 Father, glorify thy name. That's the words of the Lord.
Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified
it and will glorify it again. That's the words of God the Father.
Jesus Christ makes this request and we spent that look 23 through
27 but we're just gonna read 28 and it says in verse 29 the
people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said an angel spake unto
him. Now the word angel means a messenger
so it doesn't necessarily mean a being with wings. We're not going to look at them
out of context. A messenger from heaven spoke
to the Lord Jesus and comforted him. The Father spoke. But there
were some there that all they could make out of it was just
thunder. This great voice to many is nothing more than thunder. And we hear it expressed this
way, I don't want to hear it. I just don't want to hear it. It's
nothing more than thunder. And if you've ever been under
a real close thunderclap, understand what they're talking about. It's
just, it just goes to the, it shudders you. And until God works
a work of grace, His word just shudders us. and we don't want
to hear it. Take it away. Well, as we heard
Sunday, there comes a time in the lives of every one of his
people that it becomes effectual. And it goes from thunder to the
word of God. It goes from inexplainable to
I heard God's word. It meant something. I think most of you have heard
Tim's expression of the effectual call. about the library. Yeah, they kept sending him notes
and sending him notes and finally they said, if you don't return
that book, we're sending the police. And he said, Dad, that
was the effectual call. I returned the book. Gets the attention. Gets the
attention. And then in Acts, Acts 9, verse
4, Acts 9 verse 4, this is again, sometimes the reaction of people,
of us, at the voice of God. It's a great voice. It's God's
voice. It's God getting his people's
attention. He got John's attention. And
John, he was so enamored, so caught up, so... it was so pleasant. this voice, what it said. But notice here in Acts chapter
9 verse 4, it says, And he fell to the earth, Paul, Saul of Tarsus,
fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. And the man which journeyed with
him stood speechless." Hearing a voice, but seeing no
man. What an effect the word of God
has on people. of it speechless. I think I'd
rather have someone stand speechless than say, well, that just sounded
like thunder, and go on with life. We don't know what happened
to these people. But they stood speechless at
the Word of God. Now, going back to the book of
Revelation 21, verse 3, it says, I heard a great voice out of
heaven, a great voice out of heaven. What a statement, what
a picture, what a view, what a comment. I heard a great voice
out of heaven. Now if you've heard the word
of God, It is a great voice out of heaven. It's not of this earth. It's a great voice out of heaven.
It's a voice that came from God. It's a divine voice. It's a voice
of purity and holiness. It's a voice that God speaks
to his people with such clarity. It's a voice out of heaven. It
is not from this world, and it is not the preacher's voice.
It's a voice that goes much deeper than the words that the preacher
uses. It's a voice out of heaven, and John heard a voice out of
heaven, it says there, a voice out of heaven saying, and how
he is ecstatic with, this is him. This is He. To hear His word is to hear His
word out of heaven. This is not mixed with the words
of the world. This is words of heavenly words. And this is so valuable and so
vital that we hear these words out of heaven. And we don't mix
it with philosophy. Paul spent a lot of time, and
we've been hearing that in the book of 1 Corinthians, he spent
a lot of time against human philosophy, mixing human philosophy with
words that God said, and getting a mix. That's not the words out
of heaven. Philosophy isn't that. I came
not to you with words of men's wisdom. I came not to you with
psychological words. I came to you with the gospel.
I came to you with the word of God. I came to you with the word
of God out of heaven. It was heaven sent. What did
he say when we read over there in the book of 1 Corinthians
about the Lord's Supper? I give unto you which I have
received. How that the Lord, the same night
He was crucified, He was given that Word. That is the honest
thing to do with God's Word is to leave it where it is. Speak
it as it is. Don't add any philosophy to it. Men's words. Men's thoughts. Just leave it, God's Word, out
of heaven. And don't try to bring it down
to a level where people can understand it and make it palatable. Really,
I'll tell you really, the Word of God is unpalatable to the
natural man. It is not palatable. And we can't
make it palatable. God has made it so unpalatable
that only those he regenerates enjoy it. is unpalatable to the natural
heart, to the natural mind. It's unpalatable to a natural
man. It's a sham. They won't accept
it. They won't believe it. They won't
deal with it. They'll say, I believe the Bible
and not believe the Bible and not read the Bible. The word
is unpalatable. It tastes so bitter until he
changes our taste buds. And then it is as sweet as honey
in the honeycomb. And we never go away from it
saying, I don't believe that. We may go away saying, I don't
understand that. But it is sweet as honey in the
honeycomb. Do you understand how bees make
honey? I've been having a little honey
in my oatmeal. It's bug juice. I don't understand how they make
it. Go find pollen and chew on it or whatever and make honey
out of it. It's sweet. It's palatable. Only God can
make the Word of God palatable and refreshing. And we want to
read it and hear it. And it's when it comes out of
heaven to our heart. It hasn't been mixed with anything
else. It's been brought heaven sent. Whether it's a still, small voice,
whether it's the thunder that claps, that kind of voice, whether
it's the horn, the trumpet that blows, it is a voice. And John
said, I heard it. I heard the voice of God. I heard a great voice out of
heaven saying this. Now, it's interesting to look
that up. And I'm not going to read very
much about that. But the three words, out of heaven, there's
not very many times in the Bible that those three words are used
in combination. One time as at Sodom and Gomorrah, he reigned
out of heaven. Serious business. He was out
of heaven though. Here his voice is out of heaven.
I would like to look at Deuteronomy 436. Deuteronomy 436. I intended to bring that website
tonight for those who are interested. There is a wonderful Bible program
on the internet. and uh... you can just do so
much with it it's i've just really enjoyed it when i don't get out
to my study and i didn't try the roads out there today i just
stayed home and worked on my my uh... laptop but it's a wonderful
bible program and i need to get that to you if you're interested
but deuteronomy chapter four verse thirty six it says here
out of heaven he made thee hear his voice deuteronomy chapter
four verse thirty six out of heaven. Now he's speaking to
Israel and he spoke to the Israel out of Mount Sinai but what a
statement. Here I heard his voice out of
heaven in Deuteronomy over here in the Old Testament right in
the middle of the law he said out of heaven he made thee hear
his voice. Did God do something against
their will? amen and amen out of heaven he made thee hear his
voice goes on to say that he might instruct thee and upon
earth beshowed thee his great fire and thou heardest his words
out of the midst of the fire now he's making a reference here
to what happened on mount sinai but what a wonderful statement
he made thee hear his voice out of heaven And that's comfort
to the church. If we have ever got a glance
of what we are by nature, and what we couldn't do by nature,
we'll be thankful that He made us hear His voice out of heaven.
He used somebody to reflect His voice, read it clearly and distinctly,
and gave the sense thereof. The Word of God didn't interject
anything, just made... I think our responsibility is
to compare Scripture with Scripture and let it lie. All right. Now, what does it
say? Going back to the book of Revelation.
What did it say? What did this great voice out
of heaven? I made thee hear my voice from
heaven. John heard it, was glad. Church
hears it, is glad, elated. He's speaking. I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people, and God Himself, now I like that
word Himself right there, He's not going to let anybody else
fill that position. God Himself shall be with them. Not going to leave anybody else.
This isn't for the preacher. This isn't for anybody else. This is God's position. Now let's
look at this just a little bit. The Lord had promised. Look with
me in Acts 15. Acts 15. Acts 15, verse 16. The
tabernacle of God. The tabernacle is a dwelling
place. Sometimes it was made of green boughs and leaves put
over. There was a feast of tabernacles
and Israel had to be reminded every year that they lived in
tents or little tabernacles, little huts. For 40 years they
lived in these little huts and they were reminded. in this Feast
of Tabernacles. They lived in these little huts,
these little bow, tree huts. And it was a promise God made
to them. I'll see you from here to here. You're tabernacling. And that's
what we're doing right now. We're just tabernacling. We're just in this tabernacle
of flesh. we're waiting to wit the day
of redemption and he says right here Acts chapter 15 verse 16
and after this I'll return and will build again the tabernacle
of David now David wanted to build a tabernacle in the Old
Testament but he only got to amass the materials his son Solomon
actually built excuse me the temple Tabernacle was built in
the wilderness. The temple was built from the
material. After this, I will build again the Tabernacle of
David, which is fallen down, and I'll build again the ruins
thereof, and will set it up." Now this is the promise of what
God will do, what Christ will do with His church. It is in
ruins. Where did it get in ruins? In
the fall. How's it going to be taken care
of? By God. I will build it. It's the tabernacle
of David. And this tabernacle is spoken
of here and in the book of Revelation as the church. I'm going to build
the church. I'm going to lift up the church.
I am going to cause the church to grow. If we're ever going
to see church growth, it's going to be from God. That's where
real church growth happens. I'll never forget being down
at my dad's place one time, and the preacher of that church came
down with another guy, and dad says, brother Blow, so and so,
how you doing, fine, what are you doing? We're on a church
member drive. Now I was lost as a goose, but
I knew that was wrong. You don't go on church member
drives. God adds to the church. This
is something you learn when you're saved. God adds to the church
daily such as should be saved. We're not out to make the church
grow. God is. We're not out to make the tabernacle
grow. God is. God will raise up the tabernacle
of David. And this tabernacle is written
over here in the book of Revelation. It is the true tabernacle. Now there's a relationship between
Christ as the tabernacle and the church as the tabernacle
and they're identical. What did Jesus tell Paul, or
Saul of Tarsus. Why persecutest thou me? Who
was Saul of Tarsus persecuting? The church. There's an identical
twin. Christ and his church are so
close, so identical, so blessed as being in such union. There
is a union with Christ that cannot be destroyed. And there is an
identicalness about this. So when we're talking about this
church as the tabernacle, we're talking about Christ as the tabernacle.
And when we're talking about Christ as the tabernacle, we're
reflecting on the church as His body. This is such a delight
when we see this tabernacle coming out of heaven. Christ and His
church in unity. Such tenderness between them. And it tells us over in Hebrews
chapter 8, there was a tabernacle in the Old Testament, but here
it tells us Hebrews chapter 8. Have you ever tried to write
down everything that God's done for us? I think that's kind of what John
said, there's not enough ink and there's not enough paper. When we consider what Christ
has done for us, we can't write it all down. we keep discovering things about
it Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 2 verse 1 now the things which
we have spoken this is the sum we have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens
a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which
the Lord pitched and not man the true tabernacle. Man has
nothing to do with his tabernacle. Man has nothing to do with the
building of this tabernacle. Man has nothing to do with the
material of this tabernacle. We can only talk about it as
it is listed in the Word, but we have nothing to do with the
building of it. It is a true tabernacle. You
go to the Old Testament, there were certain people that had
been given gifts in certain areas, and they were used to build that
tabernacle. and people have gone to great
lengths to try to build models of it and everything else. Well,
none of us have that expertise that they had. And here it boils
down to what Christ said about His tabernacle. It is the true
tabernacle and it's pitched not of men. This church that we see
coming out of heaven is God's work. No one was there to help
with the building of the heavens and the earth. Do you notice
what day man arrived? We've got 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
5th day. And the 7th day he rested. There's
five days of work before men arrive. And all the work's done. And he creates man. And man has taken over God's
position, quote-unquote, so much that he declares, it's our work.
And God continues to say, no, it's not. It's my work. This
tabernacle is my work. That was human work. It fell
apart. It is lost. It's gone forever. But this work, this tabernacle,
and this tabernacle is coming down out of heaven. It's more
perfect. It's perfect tabernacle. And
this one tabernacle will It says in, Behold, the tabernacle of
God is with men, and He will dwell with them. Now, God's dwelt
with His people on this earth in the past. The Lord Jesus dwelt
on this earth. And He will do it on a continuous,
eternal basis. at this time when the check is
cashed he will be in their presence continuously he will not be removed
from them now the everlasting covenant the blood of the everlasting
covenant the new covenant the covenant of grace are all summed
up here in these words that God uses when John heard him out
of heaven Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself shall be with them. That is the fulfillment
of the everlasting covenant. Now when God created man in the
beginning, it shares with us in the book of Genesis that God
came down in the cool of the evening and visited with his
creation, his highest creation. When an animal It was His highest creation,
human beings, special creation. But God visited with Him. Now,
in this completeness of redemption, He will not come to visit, but
He will be there constantly. It will not be just an evening
visit. It will be an eternal presence
with His church. Now, turn with me, if you would,
back to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 24. The Old Testament is filled with
statements with regard to this everlasting covenant, this eternal
covenant, this covenant of grace, what He's going to do. And this promise was made before
the world began. He has an everlasting covenant.
There's a covenant of grace. And in that covenant of grace,
He is determined to redeem a people. I was amazed at the number of
times in John 17 he talks about his people. We've got it down
just now to seven. We've heard that seven times
in that book, in that chapter. He talks about his people, special
people. But they were known to him before the world began. He's
not reacting to what happened in the Garden of Eden. He is
already taken care of He has a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He has names written down in
the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
He has already said they will not take the mark of the beast.
He has already said they will have eternal life with Him. He
has already said they will be a tabernacle. They will be a
holy city. He has already determined that
and purposed that and in time He carries it out and in the
finality of it, here it is coming down out of heaven and He said
with this They are my people and I will be their God. Now
look at Jeremiah chapter 24 verse 7. Jeremiah chapter 24 and verse
7. This is his promise. He's always
had this. I hate to say in the back of
his mind because it's been in the forefront of his mind. He's
always had this purpose. And he's had this purpose forever
and ever and ever. Jeremiah chapter 24 verse 7,
And I will give them in heart to know Me, that I am the LORD,
and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for
they shall return unto Me with their whole heart. Now that's
what God said in the covenant of grace. They will be my people
and I will be their God. Now why did he tell Israel on
the Mount of Sinai, thou shalt have no other gods before me?
Is it now he's creating a problem for them? Or did he identify
a problem that they had? I think the latter. Natural man
has many gods, but the covenant of grace states that the church,
I will be their God. Now we're going to stop with
this verse. I have quite a bit more and we'll just pick up here
next time. But this covenant of grace, the
fulfillment of it, the words of it, what it contains and the
promises that are in it, the church has been thrilled about
since Abel. He's my God. I'm His person. I know where I came from. As we read through the New Testament
there and read about the church at Corinth, the churches of Galatia,
the church of the Ephesians and so forth, just a wonderful reminder,
this is where you came from. And this is where I brought you
to. You were just in that old sinful town and I brought you
out of it. It's a wonderful, the word church, called out assembly. It's one called out assembly.
God called to his assembly, the church, and he's fulfilling his
promise when he said, and I'm just gonna reread this verse
here in Jeremiah 24 and seven. It says, and I'll give them a
heart to know me, that I am the Lord. Now that word Lord is Jehovah. And it carries with it the idea
of, there's one translation I really appreciate, Sovereign Lord. That's how it's translated every
time. Sovereign Lord. I kind of wish
King James guys had done that too. It'd save some conflict. You believe in the sovereignty
of God? No, I don't. Well, it says he's Sovereign
Lord, right? Anyway. I'll give them a heart
to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people,
and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with
their whole hearts." A statement of the covenant of grace. This
is what I'm going to do for my people. And this is who I am
for my people. And we find it finalized or culminated
over here They shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them.