Would you join me tonight in
the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 7. As you turn there,
I just want to share a Brother Wayne Boyd call today, and he's
rented the Senior Center in Central Point, $50 a month for services. The only thing that he shared
that is the least bit negative, and maybe it's positive, is that
they have to be out of the building, I believe, a quarter after 11
or at 11.30, so they're just gonna start services early, be
finished early, and they'll be the first ones to the restaurant. But he's really excited and He
wept over the phone, just how things have opened up and just
been very exciting for him down there. And I'm excited with him. You pray for him and pray with
him as this works out. The seventh chapter, I'd like
to just spend a little bit of time tonight, probably most of
the time, finishing up chapter seven and then a little Just
one verse, look at the first verse of chapter eight. We're
at the close of the sixth seal. And we went over this a little
bit last week, but I want to go over it again because they're
just, it's well, God's salvation is perfect salvation because
he's a perfect savior. And I just want to go through
this again, how grand he displayed this as he wrote these words
to some people, some Christians, some believers in Christ Jesus
that were suffering some persecution, and intense many times. And the way he encouraged them
and shared with them that their salvation was a perfect salvation. because they had a perfect Savior. And he lines it right out for
us here in these last, beginning with verse 14. And I said unto
him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and
made them white. It struck me this afternoon,
wash their robes and made them white. It doesn't say made them
almost white or off-white. Made them white, pure. They were
pure. And so this just shares with
us that we have a perfect righteousness. When God saves His people, He
washes us and looses us from our sins in His own blood, He
gives to us a perfect righteousness. It's the righteousness of Christ.
It is Christ that He gives to us. He's expressing to these
people that are in serious, serious persecution, as well as to us
who may not be suffering the persecution that they were going
through, but we still delight in his perfect salvation and
to know that we have a perfect righteousness in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then it tells us in verse
15, something that just caught my eye here. Therefore, as are
they before the throne of God and serve him day and night. They're not flawed in their service. Our spiritual person that God
regenerates and makes alive is able to serve God perfectly. They serve him day and night.
They're not flawed. There's a perfect service that
we're able to do. All of the service in the Old
Testament was imperfect. Brother Dwayne, let me read something
today. Under the old economy, there's never a word about repentance. Under the law, there's no repentance.
It's just the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Under the everlasting
covenant, there's repentance, and that repentance is given
by the Lord. And that repentance that God
works in us, to have a change of mind about God and have a
change of mind about what we were worshiping allows us to
have a perfect service of God. We can sit down with him in perfect
fellowship and we're not serving out of necessity. We're not serving
out of need to or serving out of love. And that's a change
from the Old Testament. Those people were serving out
of a need to. They were serving out of law. Under the Mosaic
law, they're serving out of law. But God's people serve out of
love. And they serve him day and night. It's not flawed. It's a perfect
service because it's a perfect salvation. He makes us both to
will and to do of his good pleasure. It's unassisted. We are the recipients of that
great blessing. And then it tells us there in
that verse 15, we serve him day and night in the temple and he
that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. I thought about
that, dwell among them. The one that sits on the throne
is so pleased with his perfect salvation that we get to enjoy
a perfect reception. We're not cast out. We're not
on the hinterlands. There's not stages. There's not
positions. It's not like in this life. There's
no favoritism in the sense we're all favorites. Perfect favorites,
perfect children, perfect relationship with God. Turn with me, if you
would, to the book of Luke, chapter 15. I'm taking you over to the
lost son. In the same chapter, we have
the lost coin and the lost sheep. And here we have the lost son.
We often call him the prodigal son, which gives us the idea. That's kind of sets the stage
that, well, he made things right and got back to the father. He
was regenerated. Luke chapter 15, he was regenerated. That made the difference. That's
why he wanted to go home. That's why he realized that his
father's servants were better off than he was. Here in the
book of Luke chapter 15, I just want us to notice the reception.
It's a perfect reception. There is no remembrance of sin
anymore. The father did not remember this
young man taking off with his inheritance and living like he
did. He came home with a perfect reception. And that's what we read there. He that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. He's not scooting away from us.
I was in a meeting one time. A young fellow that was playing
some sports, he got involved with some holy anointing oil.
Holy anointing oil. He got drunk and he had to come
up here before a group of people to ask if he couldn't continue
playing. And his mother and dad were there.
And his father was leaning this way away from him. And his mother
was leaning this way away from him. The body language was so
apparent there. Now, I said that to say this.
God's body language does not lean away from us. He leans toward
us. He is so pleased to welcome his
children into his presence. It's not a repelling, it is an
attraction. And here we read in Luke 15 verse
20. It says, and he arose and came
to his father. Now this is the lost son. He
arose and came to his father, but when he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him. Now his father is paying attention. His father sees him as he comes. His father's not in the house.
His father is waiting at the head of the lane. The reception
is a perfect reception. There is an anticipation of His
Son coming home. Just as we find with the Father,
the Heavenly Father, the anticipation of His children coming home because
He has sent out through His Word and through His Spirit chords
of love that draw us to Him. It's an intentional drawing. God's not up there surprised. He's sending out his cords of
love to bring his lost children home. And then it goes on, and
he arose and came to his father. Excuse me. I'm reading verse 20. And the
son said to him, well, the father saw him, had compassion and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. What a perfect reception. All the things that had gone
on ahead before this were forgotten. None of this was brought up.
He dwells among his church and he leans towards them. He does
not lean away. His body language tells us he
loves us. Goes on and says, and the son
said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight,
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said
to his servants, bring forth the best robe, put it on him,
put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither
the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead, is
alive again. He was lost and is found. and
they began to be merry. He dwells, he that sitteth on
the throne dwells among them. Now he could have had us in an
assembly without him present and we'd still be thankful. He
could have saved his people and brought them into the church
and not sat around the feet of God. But he did allow us by his
own grace. He allowed us not only to be
assembled together, but to be assembled together around his
feet and in such a manner that it says he dwells among us. I just see the arms of God around
his flock. He carries them as a shepherd
carries his sheep. That's perfect reception because
we have a perfect salvation because we have a perfect Savior. He
has satisfied everything that God demanded and therefore there
is no hindrance to the fellowship that God has with his people
and his people have with God. It goes on to tell us there in
going back to the book of Revelation, It says there in verse 16, they
shall hunger no more. I just saw, Oh, there is a perfect
filling. They'll never hunger again. They
have been perfectly satisfied. This is a perfect salvation.
It requires perfect satisfaction on our part of the heavenly manna. God has fed us in such a way
that we'll never hunger again. after the Lord Jesus Christ that
he had created a hunger in us for. Blessed is he that hungers
and thirsts after righteousness. God has created that hunger in
us and that thirst in us, but in Christ Jesus, in this perfect
salvation, in this perfect redemption, in this perfect atonement, he
has made it so his people will never hunger again. It's a perfect
satisfying. And goes on in that same verse
of scripture to share with us, neither thirst anymore. They've
had a perfect quenching. They've been working for years
and years and years to make a thirst quenching drink as good as water. Oh, they all say this will quench
your thirst. When in reality, there's only
one thing that will quench our thirst, and that's a good drink
of cold water. The rest doesn't do it. In fact, it often goes and takes
away the satisfaction that we need. So he has quenched our
thirst. It is a perfect quenching. They
shall know not thirst any more. There's a perfect salvation because
there's a perfect Savior and he has given a perfect deliverance
and it is capsulated here in these words, you'll never hunger
again, you'll never thirst again. That's the perfect salvation.
And then he goes on to tell us there, and neither shall the
sunlight on them, they shall Neither shall there be any sunlight
on it. There's a perfect forgiveness. Remember? Well, let's just go
again over to the Song of Solomon, chapter 1. Our representative, our spokesperson,
In this case, the bride speaks with regard to where she is and
what condition she is in. And it is shared with us here
in the Song of Solomon, chapter one, verse six. The sun will no longer ever hit
any of God's people in this sense. There is a perfect forgiveness. What made this bride black? Song of Solomon chapter one verse
six. It's recorded. Look not upon
me because I am black because the sun hath looked upon me. The bride recognizes the condition
that she is in. When we're regenerated and when
we are caused to repent, we are able to see, finally, the condition
that we are in. And then we hear the promise
of God, the Son will never do that to you again. The S-U-N,
the sin will never separate again. The sin will never cause you
to be black again. You will not sin in my presence. There's a part that God leaves
within us in 1st John that says, does not sin. I'm glad because that's what
the requirement is. There is a requirement imposed
by God on the church, you shall not sin. And in that new creation,
it does not sin because Christ has paid for our sin. And so
the son will not strike the church anymore. There will be no more
sin come between. We see God lean toward us more. He's not repelled by the children. He is, in fact, in love with
them. So much love he gave his only
begotten son. He is leaning toward us as we
lean towards Him. It is such a delight to be in
His presence because there's no friction. Remember one time
our friend that lived in Rhode Island that passed away a couple
years ago, he came to visit us and we had someone come over
and have dinner with us and after that person left he said, you
could have cut the with a knife, the tension with a knife. He
felt it. He felt the tension there. In
the presence of God, there is no tension. We'll never be afraid
of being in his presence. We're not afraid of being in
his presence now. And the sun will not do that.
And then it goes on to tell us, no more heat. God's been angry
before. Look at the cross. There will
be no more heat. God will never show what he showed
at the cross. He will never take out on his
children what he took out on his son. He will never require
punishment the second time. When His Son took our sin upon
Him and became sin for us, and God the Father poured out His
justice and wrath and the just due of the law, He poured it
out on His Son, but He will never require it the second time upon
us. We will stand before Him, as we read in the book of Jude,
without spot or blemish. There is no more heat. He will not be angry. Ever again,
his anger was poured out on his son. Now, he is angry with the
wicked daily, but he's not angry with his children. I take great
solace in this. God finds no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. That gives us a big insight about
God. I realize that that's a statement
that God gives us so we have a little bit of handle on Him
and we can't get much handle on Him. It's one of those human
characteristics that God shared with us about God. He has no,
it's not something he's relishing and delighting in, but he is
angry with the wicked every day, and he will be angry with the
wicked for eternity, but his own children, he's turned off
the heat. He will never be angry with his
children. He was angry with his son. He
was just with his son. He poured out his justice on
his son. He poured out his wrath on his
son. But his son became our absolute perfect substitute. And this
is perfect salvation. There is nothing in here that
is harmful. There is nothing in here that
would cause us to back up, react. Everything is delightful for
the church. Now, the sun went through a lot,
so it could be delightful for the church. Now, going on here
in this passage in Revelation, it says here, the lamb, in verse
17, the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed
them. There's perfect food provided by the perfect sacrifice, the
perfect savior. This is perfect salvation. The
lamb shall feed them. He will feed his sheep with himself. It's a perfect, perfect, perfect
food. And then it tells us in the next
line there, and shall lead them to living fountains of water.
There is perfect water. perfect water, perfect food,
perfect salvation, perfect redemption, perfect Savior, perfect purpose
of God. And then it says, there will
be a perfect relationship for he'll wipe away all tears. We'll
never be put into a position in our spirit and there for eternity
after we have our new body will not remember sin anymore. We'll never remember what came
between us and God. It will not be part of our makeup.
Now we'll rejoice in His grace, and we'll rejoice in His death,
we'll rejoice in His sacrifice, but sin will be put away. There will be no more memory
of sin. It's a perfect relationship.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of James. This is just
a wonderful verse about Abraham. I often go to the book of Romans,
but this verse is just a delight about Abraham when he believed
God. And these, this extra word is
added here in the book of James, a comfort word to God's people. James chapter two, James chapter
two, we read here as James is writing, For a long time, many
of the church fathers didn't believe that James was part of
the canon. He mentioned several things about
works. Well, when God saves us, we'll
serve him. It won't be a question. And it
won't be for merit. It won't be for reward. It won't
be for all the things that we thought before God saved us.
But notice here in James chapter 2. 23 verse 23 and the scripture was
fulfilled what sayeth Abraham believed God and it was imputed
unto him for righteousness and notice the last phrase and he
was called the friend of God. Now that's a term that God can
use and does use toward every one of his children that he has
imputed unto him for righteousness. Abraham believed God and it was
imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend
of God. I found a new name for the church.
Friend of God. Boy, that means a lot. I know
what it is. We just read a little bit and
find out what God's attitude towards sin is, and his attitude
towards the lost is, and his attitude towards his son who
became sin for us, and then to find out that he imputes to us
Christ's righteousness, and at the same time says, you're my
friend, with capital F. Another small talk. A friend,
the friend, he was called the friend of God. Now that just
makes things that much easier to read. He'll wipe away all
tears. There's nothing between me and
my Savior. It's a perfect salvation. There's
nothing hindered. Nothing is held back. Nothing
is prevented. Everything is given. It's a perfect
savior giving a perfect salvation and the church is made perfect
as a result of it. And here we are sitting around
the throne and God in the midst and we're sitting there with
him. It is going on now. It will go on then. It will be
a reality like we don't know it now. But it's as sure now
as if we'll ever have it. As sure as God has given it. It's happening right now. Now,
let's look at the first verse of the next chapter in the book
of Revelation. He opened the seventh seal. Chapter
8, verse 1. I'll not take too long here.
Chapter 8 in verse 1, and when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about
the space of half an hour. Now there's something that we're
going to find under the seventh seal, and that is God's strange
work of judgment. He's done it in the past. In
fact, we find, uh, I think it's, it's, uh, Jude and also in Peter,
there's a whole list of God judged, um, Sodom and Gomorrah, God judged
the angels, God judged God, and he just preparing people. He
judged then he'll judge in eternity. Now, He's preparing us, he's
preparing the church to watch, to see this judgment. It's a strange work of God to
judge. He tells us, judge not that we
be not judged. Now, a lot of people have turned
that around and says, you know, keep your mouth shut at all times,
don't open it at any time. Well, that's not what it means,
but God is judge. And here we have him going to
judge the world. Now, there's silence. And this is an indication of
a sober reflection on what's going to happen. I venture to
say that once Abraham had spoken to the angel of the Lord and
got it down to where he thought that city could be saved, As
a result of that number of people trusting God, he kept quiet to
see what was going to happen. This is a time of reflection. There was quietness, quietness. when those children of Israel
marched around that first city they took, Jericho. Do you remember
how quiet it was until the end? And then they shouted. They were
to march in silence. This is anticipation, anticipation
of God's judgment against this city. Silence as they marched. It is as if God was thinking
about what he's going to do. Have you ever just stopped and
thought about what's going to happen next? And the angels were
thinking about their mission. And the saints, the redeemed
of the Lord, were thinking about God's great mercy on them. That's
all we can think. We're silent before God, thanking
him for his great mercy he's bestowed upon us. And when he
is preparing for this judgment, we're silent too, because we
should have been judged. We're judged in Christ, but we
should have been judged. There's not a believer I've ever
met that doesn't realize I should have been judged. But Christ
took my place. We should have been as Sodom
and Gomorrah. So silence among the saints,
silence among the angels, silence by God, and it's symbolized by
a space of half an hour, silence in heaven. Judgment is coming. We're looking at what's going
to happen. Matthew Henry said, great things were upon the wheel
of providence. And the church of God, both in
heaven and earth, stood silent seeing what God was doing. The
wheel of providence is turning. And we're silent before God. Judgment is going to fall. It
has fallen in the past. It's fallen all through the ages. But it's just a sign, a reminder
of His eternal judgment. It is written of God he finds
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, though, and I'm thankful
for that. This is a time of great silence,
sobering silence, when we see God preparing for this seventh
seal and judgment to fall on this world.