Revivals this morning, again
to Revelation chapter 7. And we'll see if we can finish
up this chapter this morning. And when next I speak to you
on Sunday morning, we'll go into chapter 8. Revelation chapter 7. We're thankful God has been pleased
to teach us many, many facts and truths of His Word. I'm thankful God didn't leave
us in our natural ignorance. We're naturally ignorant about
the things of the Lord, ignorant about the Gospel, ignorant about
how God saves poor old sinners like us through the doing and
the dying of the Lord Jesus. God has taught us about Himself. God's not the way we used to
hear about Him. Somebody who needed us. Somebody
who wants to do some things but people need to let Him. We found
out God's not like that at all. We found out God does His will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and nobody can stay His hand or nobody can say to Him, what
doest thou? We've learned that God is sovereign
and righteous in all of His works. We've learned that God can only
save one way, that's through the satisfaction of His divine
justice. We've learned the ones He saves
are undeserving of the least of His mercies. So we've learned
something of our own sinfulness, of our own depravity. We've learned
of our inability to rescue ourselves. God the Spirit has He has instructed
us, He has taught us to go to the Lord Jesus as those who are
just poor beggars. And we say to Him as that leper
said to the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 8, He said, Lord, if
You will, if You will, You can make me clean. We've learned those things. We've
learned lots of things. We've learned certainly the gospel of how God
can be just and justify the ungodly. God has taught us and He is still
teaching us many things. I know and confess there are
lots of things I still need to learn. And I still study and
still find out things every day as I look into the Word of God,
as the Spirit of God teaches me and shows me every once in
a while a little golden nugget. And then I try to share that
with you and hopefully to instruct you on your way to everlasting
glory. But as I was thinking about all
the things that God has instructed us in, all the things that He
has taught us, I think there are two things.
I know there are two things that are absolutely vital, and these
two things I hope never to forget. I want to speak to you this morning
very, very simply. And I hope that I can talk to
your heart. And I hope it's coming out of
my heart. Years ago, I heard a preacher
say, he said, I'll tell you what real preaching is, a real sermon,
is when a man gets a message from the heart of God. goes to
His heart, and then when that man from His heart delivers it
to the hearts of those who listen to Him. And I hope that will
happen this morning. I hope I can convey to you the
things that God has put upon my heart. I'll tell you two of
the greatest things I've learned through all these years of preaching. through all of these years of
seeking a knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. I believe these
are the two greatest things I've learned and two of the things
I'm still being educated about. These are the two things that
I hope I never forget. Number one, I'm a great sinner. I'm a great sinner. Of that, I'm absolutely certain
because the Word of God tells me I am. Nobody is a sinner because they
feel sinful. Nobody is a sinner because they
realize their sinfulness. We're sinners because God says
we are. You can say whatever you want
to about yourself, but God says He came down from Heaven. He looked upon all the sons and
daughters of men. God assessed everybody's condition. He said they're all gone astray.
That's what God said. Now you may say, well, I don't
think I'm too bad, but God said everybody's gone astray. Everybody's
gone the wrong way. Everybody. God said He looked
and He said there's none good. No, not even one. You think of the person who means
so much to you and you esteem them so very, very highly. You
look up to them and they're your teacher, your mentor, your role
model, whoever it is, mother, your dad, whoever. Let me tell
you something. They're not a good person. They're
a sinner. That's just the way it is. Now,
I know there are some people who are better role models than
others. There's no question about that.
But there's also no question about this. We're all great sinners. Not some little sinners and some
big sinners, but all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. And we're sinners because God
says we're sinners. Well, I just don't feel that
guilt like I ought to. No, you probably never will,
but that doesn't take away from the fact you're guilty. God gave
His law. Romans chapter 3 says God gave
His law and His law pronounces us all guilty. guilt is charged. You don't love God with all your
heart, mind, soul, and spirit. And you don't love your neighbor
as yourself. You, my friend, are a sinner. I've learned that about myself. I'm a great sinner. I'm certain of it. Like David, I acknowledge my
transgression, my sin is ever before me. I don't mean I used
to be a miserable sinner. I mean I'm still a miserable
sinner. I read the Apostle said in Romans
chapter 7, the good which I would, I do not. The evil which I would
not that I do. Oh, wretched man that I am. He didn't say, oh, wretched man
that I used to be. Oh, I used to be a real rouser
preacher. You still are. You still are. He said, Oh, wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I need deliverance from the body
of this death, don't you? I need that. I realize it, I think a little
bit more every day that I'm a great sinner and I need deliverance
from the body of this death. I was thinking, I worked on this
message Friday. And I just, I thought, well,
let me examine my thoughts. My thoughts just this day. Have they been for God's glory? Every thought that went through
my mind? Has it been honoring to God? And I have to sadly say, no.
Most of them aren't honoring to God. And I just tell you,
I'm a self-centered individual. And you know what? You are as
well. This is the way we all are by
nature. I am a great sinner. I've learned that. It's one of
the greatest lessons God can teach us. You see, before God
ever lifts us up, before He ever robes us, before He ever lifts us up, He's
going to have to put us down. He's going to have to strip us.
Have you been stripped to see that there's nothing good in
you? There's a vileness about you. There's an obnoxiousness
about you about me. And I'm not just preaching to
you, I'm preaching to me. Because I said, I'm a great sinner.
And you're great. I'm a great sinner preaching
to great sinners. That's the way we are. And I
know there are good many people in this world who say, that is
so offensive. Why would you ever talk to us
like that? Well, I must speak to you like this to be honest
with you. This is what the Word of God
says about us because unless we understand our dilemma, unless
we understand to a degree our disease, we're never ever going
to appreciate what the remedy is. We'll never look to the One
who can save us. If I don't know I'm a great sinner,
why would I ever seek out a Savior? As long as I think I can pick
myself up, as they used to say, by my own bootstraps, as long
as I think, well, I'm a pretty good person, as long as I have
that kind of thinking about me and in me, I'm not going to look
for a Savior. I'm not going to look for somebody
who's almighty and absolutely trustworthy, and somebody who
can meet my needs, somebody who can stand between me and a holy
God, as long as I feel like I'm a pretty good individual. I won't
need a Savior. This was the issue with the Pharisees. They didn't see that they were
great sinners. This was the issue with Saul
of Tarsus. He was among those people. We've
been not sinners. We're not born of fornication
like you are, they said to the Savior. Abraham's our father. Who do you think you're talking
to? A bunch of heathens? We're religious
people. We can trace our lineage all
the way back to Abraham. The Savior said, if you were
the children of Abraham, you'd do the works of Abraham. Abraham
saw my day. He rejoiced. He saw my day. He was glad. But you're not glad. What was their problem? Those
self-righteous Pharisees, what was their problem? They didn't
see that they were great sinners. If that had ever been made to
realize they were great sinners, they would then recognize standing
in front of them was the great Savior that they needed. But they didn't see themselves
sinners. So I'm asking you, do you see
yourself a great sinner? A great sinner. Those of us who are the people
of God, our sinfulness still infects and pollutes everything
we do. Isn't that true? Is there anything you've ever
said, thought, or done that is fit for God to receive it solely
on the merits of the deed itself? And if you say, oh yes, then
you don't understand you're a great sinner. I said one time in a message
and a woman came up to me afterwards and said, I never heard anybody,
much less a preacher, ever say that. I said it in a funeral
message years ago. And I said, there's enough sin
in this message that I'm bringing to damn my soul to hell. forever, were it not for the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, I've never heard anybody
say that. Certainly not a preacher say that. Sin in your sermon? Yeah. Sin in your prayer? Yeah. Have you ever done one
single thing that wasn't polluted by sin? Well, I can tell you
right now, you have never done anything that's not polluted
by sin. Everything you've done has got
the stench of sin on it. I'll tell you why. Because it
comes out of you. It comes out of you. Thank God for the blood of the
Lord Jesus that goes on cleansing us from all of our sins. You see, He's our mediator. We
come to God through Him. He takes our prayers, our messages,
our devotional thoughts, Our works. He takes those things
and He puts the perfume of His own righteousness upon it. Our thanksgiving to God today. Our worship to God today. The
only way it can be presentable to God, the only way God will
ever receive it, is through the merits of the Lord Jesus. Isn't
that right? You know that's true. And the
reason that's the truth is because we're great sinners. We're great
sinners. I hope I never forget that. I
don't think God will let me forget it. And the second thing is, I know
that though I'm a great sinner, I have a great, all-sufficient
Savior. I don't want to forget that either
because if I only remember the first part, that first thing,
that'd get me down. Boy, I'll just be depressed.
You see, if I just right now said, okay, I'm through, I'll
send you home. You say, man, I lied, you bloodied
us up here, preacher, you've been beating us in the face,
my nose is bloodied, spiritual nose that is. Aren't you going
to give us, aren't you going to cut open a wound here? Aren't
you going to do anything, any salve for it? Oh, here's the
salve. There's a great Savior for great
sinners. He's all-sufficient to save.
He had to be great to do the work that He was sent to do.
What was the work? Save His people from their sins. That is, save me from my sins. And save you from your sins.
He is the all-sufficient Savior. He's God, so He's able to save
from sin. And I know He's willing to save
from sin because He's God come down here. I know He's willing
to save. He wouldn't have come if He wasn't
willing to save. He was up to this great, great
work of reconciling the people unto God, of redeeming the people
from the curse of the law. He was up to the job of putting
away all the sins of those by whom He died. He was up to the
work of bringing in an everlasting righteousness for everybody He
represented. He could bear up unto the wrath
of God. The wrath of God didn't sink
Him down. He sunk the wrath of God. The
wrath of God exhausted itself in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
an all-sufficient Savior. All of the wrath, all of the
damnation, all of the hell that all of His people would have
suffered forever, our Lord Jesus bore it all until the wrath of
God had just simply exhausted itself. There's nothing left
for wrath to give. Wrath said, I poured out all
I got. That's everything that all the
sins of all of your people, of all ages, that's everything that
they deserve. I poured it all upon you. And
our Lord Jesus said, well, then it's finished. It's finished. And He bowed His head and gave
up the ghost. He's a mighty Savior. This is
what gives me hope. This keeps me going. When Satan comes to me and says,
you're such a vile man, you think you're something, don't you?
You're a preacher. I say to him, I'm a terrible
person. He says, uh-huh, you are. And
then I say, but I have an almighty Savior. Deal with him. Thank God, He's got to do it.
The Savior has already dealt with Him. The Savior has already
issued Him a fateful blow, and He did that on the cross. You see, the Scripture says,
this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus, He came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I'm chief. Our Lord Jesus said, I'm not
come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Listen, the more you can convince
me from the scriptures that I'm a sinful man, hey, it's not going
to offend me. You go ahead and show me from
the Word of God that I'm a sinful man, because the more that you
do that, the more I hope I have in Christ Jesus, because He came
to save sinners. He said that's why He came. He said, I've not come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And I said, Lord,
here's one right here. Here's one right here! I got
no excuses, no alibis. I was born with my fist in your
face. I was born cursing your name.
I was born unthankful, unholy. I grew up thinking I was a good
boy. And I found out I'm an ungodly
wretch. Lord, here's a center right here.
If there's ever a center in this building, I don't know about
the rest of you, but right here's one, Lord. Right here's one. I need you. Do you think, you
know, many of you, but you've studied the Word of God for years.
Do you think there's ever been a poor old guilty sinner who
ever came to God through Jesus Christ and said, oh God, show
me mercy for Christ's sake. Do you think there's ever been
one whom God turned away? Absolutely not. You know who
He turns away? The self-righteous. Yeah. Those religious do-gooders. Those
who just kind of tug on their own self-righteous garments a
little bit tighter and say, I'm not that bad. Yes, you are. Bless your heart. In all of your self-righteous
garments, you are that bad. In fact, you're worse than I
can even tell you about. But God will have to convince
you of that. I was reading this week, John Newton said, He said, if ever I reach heaven,
I expect to find three wonders. He said, number one, there will
be some people there I didn't expect to see. There will be
some people there I did not expect to see. From that we can learn
we're not the judges of others. You can't see anybody's heart.
Well, I know who's saved because I've noticed their fruit. I'm
a fruit inspector. I don't think you're very qualified
to be a fruit inspector. You say, well, Scripture says
by their fruit you shall know them. That's talking about prophets,
true prophets and false prophets. You're not a fruit inspector,
and this isn't the day of judgment, and you're not the judge. Only
God can look at the heart. He said, there'll be some people
in heaven I didn't expect to see there. And I'll tell you, those who
finally wind up there will say, I'm here by the grace of God.
By the grace of God, I am what I am. He said, secondly, there
will be some people missing from heaven that I fully expected
to see there. From that, I think we can learn,
don't judge a book by its cover. Not everyone who professes to
know the Lord really knows Him. Not everybody who says they are
saved are actually saved. Only those who are washed in
the blood of the Lamb and robed in the righteousness of Christ
Jesus. Only those who believe Him. The Savior said, not everybody
who says to me, Lord, Lord is going to enter into the Kingdom
of Heaven, but he that does the will of my Father which is in
Heaven. Well, what is the will of the Father which is in heaven?
This is the will of God, Christ said, the will of Him that sent
Me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life. So He says there will be some
people missing from heaven, fully expected to see. And then thirdly, he said the
most amazing thing to me about heaven would be to find myself
there. Standing accepted in the presence
of the Lord Himself. And isn't that the way you feel?
That's the way I feel. I was reading this over again
here in Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. This grave multitude. in this vast multitude, can it
be that I'm there? I look in this multitude. You
know, it's like they take a group picture. You go to a family reunion or
a high school reunion, graduation reunion, let's say. and take
pictures. Everybody get together, smile,
you know, one, two, three, get the picture. And everybody get
a digital copy of it. Who are you looking for? Yeah,
there I am right there. In this vast multitude, can I
see myself there? Robed in a white robe, waving
a palm branch. And by the grace of God, and based upon the very assurance
of God's Word, I can see myself there. Can you see yourself there? Isn't that amazing? I'm there! I'm there! Amongst all this great
multitude, John said that no man can number. The most amazing
thing is, there I am! Years ago, we used to sing a
song about being in heaven. We'll be there. We'll all be
there in that great and glorious day. You'll be there and I'll
be there. All of God's elect will be there
in this vast multitude. And we're going to hear the Lord
say, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Can you imagine?
You're going to hear that. You're going to hear that, Ron.
You're going to hear that, Debbie. We're going to hear each of us,
all of God's people, we're going to hear that. We're going to
hear the Lord of glory say, enter in. Enter into the kingdom I've
prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.
And we almost say, me. Me. Yes, you! I wrote your name down
in the Lamb's Book of Life before I ever made the world. I set
you apart in My Son to give you grace and glory. And My Son came
into the world and saved you by His substitutionary death. And the Spirit of God gave you
life to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You're justified by grace
and justified by blood. And here you are! Lord, thank
you! And I tell you, I'm going to
join in in singing verse 10, Salvation to our God who setteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb! I'm going to pick up singing
that song because I've been singing it for years down here. Haven't
you? We've been singing it for years.
Ever since this congregation was established, it's the song
of this church, isn't it? Salvation to our God who sitteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb for all these years we've
been singing that song. We just step out into eternity
and just keep on singing. Just singing it better. That's
all. Singing it for a change on key. Hitting the right notes all the
time. But it's the same song. John sees all of the elect in
glory. Watch it all wear the same garment. White robes washed in the blood
of the Lamb. This is our state now. It's going
to be the way it is in heaven. We'll be the same way. Except
this old flesh. It won't be around to rob us
of our joy, cause us so much grief and pain. It will be absolutely
perfect throughout in that day. All stand accepted before the
throne of God. You know, here in verse 9, it
talks about the throne of God. What are we to understand by
the throne of God? Absolute sovereignty. Absolute sovereignty. Back in
chapter 4, John says the first thing he saw, the very first
thing he saw when he entered into heaven was this throne. It's the very central thing of
heaven. And that throne speaks of the
reign of God, the sovereignty of God. That's the central thing! If you miss the sovereignty of
God, you miss the central thing! Have people fuss about the sovereignty
of God? Man life, the throne of God is
the very center of heaven. His absolute sovereignty. And I was thinking about this
passage this week. Here is the throne of God and
God who is sovereign. God who does as He pleases with
everybody and in every situation. Standing before a sovereign God,
I kind of take a big swallow and
say, wow, sovereign God. I meant all of Him. But wait, it is Him who sitteth
upon the throne. But there's also the Lamb, the
Lamb. And He's the one who brings me
to the throne. It's through Him I have access
to the throne. And all of a sudden, I'm not
fearful anymore. I come reverently to the throne,
even now when I seek God's face in prayer. And I recognize it
is the throne. It's the throne of God. It's
the throne of grace. It's the throne of glory. There's
God on His throne, but here's the Lamb! The Lamb! And through
the Lamb I can come to the throne! Thank God for the Lamb. The Lamb. The sovereignty of God at first
made me to tremble. But then I found that it's the
throne of God and of the Lamb. And now I'm thankful. And you know what's true about
all these people? They all come out of great tribulation. You see that in verse 14? I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. He said to me, These are they
which came out of great tribulation, have washed their robes, made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. All of these people, this
great multitude, all of them, they all got white robes, They
all stand before the throne of God and of the Lamb. They're
all singing the same song and all of them come out of great
tribulation. All of them come out of afflictions and troubles.
Oh, child of God, I know you've got your troubles. I know you've
got things in life that bother you and afflict you. But I want you to pay attention
to the words. Look again at verse 14. These are they which came
out of it. They came out of it. Say, I'm
in it. I know you're in it, but you're
going to come out of it. You're not always going to be
there. It's not always going to be like this. And even in
this world, Usually, not always, but usually for God's people,
we'll have a time of trouble. We'll have a storm, and then
the Lord brings us into the sunshine. We say, thank you, Lord. I sure
am glad to feel that sunshine again. I've had a lot of dark,
troublesome, stormy days lately. But maybe God might be pleased
to send dark clouds and storms to you for a long time. But I'm
going to tell you this, be encouraged. You're going to come out of it.
That's wonderful. You're going to come out of it.
All you're hurting, and people suffer. Some of God's people
suffer with cancer a long time, suffer with heart disease, suffer
emotional issues. They suffer physically. family issues, suffer with their
children, suffer with grief, suffer with sirens just a day
in and day out. Say, will I ever be free of this? Yes, you will. You're coming
out one day. You're coming out. You're going
to glory. Who are all these people? I see
them all. They've washed their robes in
the blood of the Lamb. Who are they? Well, they're all
people who come out of great tribulation. We're coming out
one day. That would be joy if I wanted. We're like the children of Israel
in Egypt. Oh, the toil. Oh, the burdensome
days. And then the Lord sent the Passover
lamb. By the blood of the Passover
lamb. They went out! And I can just
hear them. Whoopee! We're free! Boy, that's the way it's going
to be in glory, isn't it? Thank God we're free! Salvation to
our God who sitteth upon the throne and under the Lamb forever
and ever! We'll join in singing and our
souls will be filled with thanksgiving and there won't be any more sorrows,
not going to be any more hurt and no more afflictions and no
more troubles. What a day that will be when
my Jesus I shall see! And I'll look upon His face the
one who saved me by His grace. Oh, we're coming out. Coming
out. All these come out of great tribulation. And I'll tell you what, verse
15 says, they're before the throne of God and serve Him day and
night in His temple. We're going to serve Him day
and night. Serve Him forever in His temple. What will our
service be? Well, I don't fully know except
to say it's going to be worship, thanksgiving, we'll be praising
the Lord, we'll admire the perfections of His nature, perfect all of
His attributes, We'll be thankful for all of
His many works of providence. And then we will see so much
clearer than we see now. Because now we see through a
glass darkly. But I believe in some way, we'll
be able to look back and say, Lord, I see. That route you had
me on, and I was crying asking you to get me off that road.
Lord, I see now your wisdom. I praise you for your wisdom. I praise you for your grace.
Lord, I didn't realize as I should have then, you were teaching
me. You were bringing me to Christ Jesus. You were forcing me to
the throne of grace. I didn't realize this would be
our unending service, blessing the Lord for all the good things
He did for us, day and night. And we'll enjoy His presence. Look at the end of verse 15.
He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. We're
going to be with the Lord forever. We're great sinners, but due
to this almighty great Savior, we're going to be with the Lord
forever. Where is heaven? It's wherever Christ Jesus is. That's where heaven is. And we're
going to be with Him forever. And then we'll be free from all
the cares of this world. Look at verse 16. I shall hunger
no more. Neither thirst anymore. All fleshly
desires, even those that are legitimate, we won't have those
anymore. Neither shall the sun light on
them nor any heat. What it's saying is the Lord
will give us everything that's precious, everything pleasant,
everything that's refreshing to our souls. The earthly desires,
the earthly cravings of the flesh will be no more. Grasp this if
you can. Our only desire will be toward
the Lord. That's the only desire we'll
ever have. Man, that's just going to be wonderful. That's just
going to be wonderful beyond description. I can't even imagine
what that's going to be like. And we'll all be in the midst
of the Lamb of God, verse 17, for the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them. And the word feed means
feed as a shepherd feeds his sheep. We're his sheep. And we're going
to be right there with the shepherd forever. And he's going to feed
us. He's going to tend to us. He
has been tending to us all the days of our lives in this world.
He is going to tend to us forever. That multitude John sees, and
the Lamb who identifies Himself with us, there is the Lord and there is
all His people. and all shall be led to the living
fountains of waters. Verse 17, for the Lamb which
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters. He'll lead us to the
living fountain of His Word. He'll lead us to the fountain
that flows right from the throne of God. He's going to teach us
about full salvation. I'm very, very interested and
curious about what heaven's going to be like. I know we're not
going to be gods. We're not going to be little
deities. But it would seem, and I know we're going to have a
perfection, but it also seems to me like we're always going
to be grasping, learning from the same. He's going to teach
us. He's going to teach us of the fountains of waters that
flow from the throne of God. He's going to teach us about
God's eternal purpose of grace. This salvation, this redemption,
this reconciliation, this justification, this remission of all of our
sins, it all flows from the throne of God. He's going to teach us.
My, what a teacher. I'm going to sit with y'all.
We'll all sit together and learn from Him. And then all of us shall be brought
to endless joy. The last statement of verse 17,
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. No crying in heaven. shed a lot of tears in this world
for various reasons. We weep over our sin. Weep over
our guilt. Weep over our families. Take visits to the cemetery. A lot of tears in this world. But none in that world. None in that world. Endless joy
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at one more verse. Look
at Romans chapter 15 verse 13. Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. Even now, I realize that there's
a lot of tears in this world, but even now we have a joy in
Christ Jesus that the world can't take that away from us. But one of these days we're going
to have everlasting joy. Romans 15, 13, now the God of
hope, the God who gives us a great
confidence, A great expectation of future glory based upon His
Word. May He fill you with all joy
and all peace in believing. Don't miss that. In believing. You know where you are going
to find joy and peace? In believing God's Word. In believing
what God has said. that you may abound in hope,
abound in confidence, abound in expectation of future glory
through the power of the Holy Ghost. Oh, hear the saints in
heavenly glory. And we'll be there. We'll be
there by the grace of God. Well, let's sing a final song.