Amen. Well, this morning we began by
reading from 2 Timothy chapter 1. I want you to go right back
to the same chapter this evening, 2 Timothy chapter 1. I'm thankful to see you this
evening. It's kind of stormy and rainy,
but we're thankful to be in here where it's dry and where we can
meet and nice comfort. Remember those that are ill,
those that are sick, that can't be with us. By the way, we have
no internet service, so we're not able to live stream today,
but we will have the, oh, we are? Well, hello. I guess they did get it fixed.
They said they were working on it, so we're Thankful, but I
think we're still going to have our equipment looked at Tuesday
because we've been having some issues, but We're thankful so
we welcome those are Joining us by way of the internet, but
remember those that are ill those that are sick and Remember and
Thompson and just Talking to Linda, and she said that they
may, she may go home, maybe tomorrow. Is that right? Maybe tomorrow?
Because maybe she get, they take a little bit better care of her
at home than in the nursing home. Continue to remember Buddy in
prayer and Elizabeth in prayer. And we're thankful to give you
the news that Sister Connie Pemberton She got the results back and
she has no more cancer. And we're really thankful for
that. And we rejoice in the mercies
of God to her. Others, there's some away from
us this weekend traveling. Pray that they'll have safety
as they make their way back. And others of our congregation
are having various sicknesses. We pray that God will strengthen
them according to his will. This morning we read down to,
including verse number 12. I'd like to re-read verse number
12 of 2 Timothy chapter 1, where we read, For the witch calls,
I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed. and persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Then
he says to this young creature, hold fast. That is, hold tenaciously
to that form of sound words that is the gospel which thou hast
heard of me in faith and love. which is in Christ Jesus and
that good thing, that gospel which was committed unto thee,
you keep it, you guard it as you would guard a treasure by
the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. We're going to begin the
service, our first song is 224 and it is based upon 2 Timothy
chapter 1 verse 12, I know whom I have believed. I know not why God's wondrous
grace To me He hath made known, Nor why unworthy Christ in love
Be in me for His own. But I know my happy leader, and
I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. But how this saving faith to
me He did impart, Nor how believing in His Word brought peace within
my heart. And although I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I commit unto
Him, I miss that day. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word, creating
faith in Him. But I know Him, my happy Leader,
And ever straighter that He is able To keep that which I committed
Unto Him, I guess, that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me Of weary ways or golden days before this
place I see I am believing and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him
against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or noonday fair. Nor if I walk the veil with Him
or meet Him in the air. But I know my happy leaver And
am persuaded that He is able To keep that which I permitted
Unto Him against that day. Take 145, please. 145. Hail, thou once despised
Jesus. We'll be singing this to the
children of the beloved divine. Stand with me as we sing, please. Hail Thou once despised Jesus,
Hail Thou Galilean King! Thou didst suffer to release
us, Thou didst preach salvation, pray. Hail Thou agonizing Savior, Bearer of our sin and shame,
By thy merits we find favor, Life is given through thy name. O Lamb of God, unappointed, all
our sins on Thee were laid. Thy almighty love anointed, Thou
hast full atonement paid. All thy people are forgiven,
through the virtue of thy blood. Open is the gate of heaven, peace
is reigned which then Jesus, fill him from Him glory,
there forever to abide. All the heav'nly hosts adore
Thee, seated at Thy Father's side. Wherefore sinners have
our pleading, Where thou dost our place prepare, Ever for us
interceding, Till in glory we appear. Worship on earth power
and blessing, Thou art worthy to receive. Thou dost raise us without ceasing,
Begin it for us to give. Help ye, bright and jelly spirits,
bring your sweetest, noblest praise. Help to sing our Savior's
praise, help to chant Emmanuel's praise. Our scripture reading tonight
will be Psalm 85. Psalm 85. Thank you. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sins. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Will thou be angry
with us forever? Will thou throw out thine anger
to all generations? Will thou not revive us again,
that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak. For he will speak peace unto
his people and to his saints, but let them not turn again to
folly. Surely, his salvation is nigh
them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy
and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the
Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield
her increase. Righteousness shall go before
him, and shall set us in the way of his steps. Our Father in heaven, altogether
holy and righteous, we are so thankful that you are also gracious
and merciful to undeserving sinners, such as we whom you put into
Christ and therefore loved before time began. That alone is the
reason we can call you our Father. We've come here tonight for the
express purpose and with the desire to reverence and praise
you and your beloved Son, our Savior. All honor and praise
are due to you and Him alone, and it is our desire and joy
to render them unto you. Our Father, your word reveals
that we can have boldness to enter into the holiest, that
is, into your presence by the blood of Christ, our righteousness
and redemption, whose substitutionary death satisfied all requirements
of your holy justice and put away forever our sin. And so
we come thanking you for him who is our hope and our peace. and asking you to bless our gathering
this evening as Christ is once again lifted up through the reading
of your word and our pastors faithfully proclaiming the gospel
of your altogether sovereign grace and as we sing hymns that
exalt Christ. Our Father, we know that at the
time you purpose, you will reveal Christ and the redemption he
accomplished unto everyone that you gave him. We joy each time
we hear the testimony of one of your sheep that he or she
had been brought to know Christ as all their salvation. We pray
that you will be pleased to quicken into spiritual life souls who
learn of your sovereign grace in Christ through the witness
of this church, its pastor and its members. We do want to see
Christ exalted in your people coming to know Him. Our Father,
we commend unto your care and help those of your people who
would but cannot be here this evening to join with us in feeding
upon your word as it speaks of the Savior that they have, by
your grace, been brought to know and to love, whatever their need,
be it healing from physical problems or other troubles of this present
world. We pray for your wise and able
help, comfort, and assurance of your love for them in Christ. Now, our Father, we pray that
your Holy Spirit will be with us in the coming hour that we
may truly worship You and our Savior in spirit and in truth. We pray these things in the name
of Christ and for Your and His glory. Amen. Thank you, brother. Let's go
to Revelation chapter 7. Again this evening, Revelation
chapter 7. I would have you to keep in memory
John writes this book when he's in a state of great trouble and
affliction. God to fulfill his purpose to
John, and in order that John would be free from the labors
of the ministry and pastoring, God had him to be exiled on this
island of Patmos. He has undoubtedly been beaten
he and the other prisoners who were there. And I'm certain that
being a man of like passions and feelings as we are, he felt
loneliness. He dreaded the days ahead of him.
Though I'm sure also that he recognized that he was there
by the providence of God. When we think of these writers
of scripture, we must always remember that these men were
just simple men saved by grace like we are. Rebels lost undone. God did something for them by
His grace like He's done for us. And yet they were still,
they had the weaknesses of the flesh. And John, he's given this
vision and I'm sure this vision greatly caused him to greatly
rejoice. And as the letters went out to
the seven churches of Asia Minor after John had finished this
book, and as he sent this word to each of these churches, churches
who were being persecuted, churches that were enduring great tribulation,
I'm just absolutely certain when they read this, it relieved them
and it gave them a fresh remembrance of the fact that things are not
going to be like this always. And as we observe situations
around us, in this vile world in which we live, and maybe any
particular troubles that you might be enduring in the purpose
of God, you should rejoice in Christ
Jesus and remember, things are not going to be this way always.
You're not going to be struggling with the flesh always. You're
not going to be wrestling against sinfulness always. I know there
are enemies of the gospel in this world. I know there are
those who speak lies and they do so in the name of God, but
that's going to come to an end. And there's going to be a day
when all of the people of God are going to be gathered together
in glory. And as we shall look a little deeper into chapter
7 next week, God's going to wipe away all tears from our eyes,
and all of the things that have happened in this life, it'll
all be in the past, it'll all be over. And in measure, in some
mysterious way, I believe God will show us that all of these
things work together for our good. I'm certain that those
who are suffering, suffering illnesses, those who have family difficulties, financial
difficulties, sometimes the days are so dark that, like David,
you refuse to be comforted. But I tell you, be comforted
in knowing this, There is a day coming in which
there will be no night anymore. An everlasting day. And we're
going to be with Christ Jesus. John from his loneliness on the
Isle of Patmos. In this vision, God enables him
not only to hear all of the majestic praising of God by this wonderful
multitude of believers, of which he's really a number. He's one
of the ones as well, but God enables him to see. He sees things
as they're going to be. As they're going to be, and let's
don't ever lose sight of that. I know how it is to endure some
difficult situations and sometimes, especially if you're sick and
you're in the hospital or something, you look at that clock and it
goes so slow. Maybe you're in a nursing home. We spent time with my mother
in the nursing home. Maybe you're in the hospital.
We spent time in the hospital with my dad when he was sick
with pancreatic cancer and you just think, will these days ever
ever end. Will the sun ever come out and
shine on our families ever again? I tell you, it will. It will. And rest assured of this, God
is doing that which is best for all of his children. For John,
John on the Isle of Patmos, no, he's not out preaching, he's
not pastoring, he's not fulfilling his duties as an apostle of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The enemies of gospel, they think
they've shut his mouth. And yet, God's got him exactly
where He wants him to be. And I'll tell you, God's got
you exactly where He wants you to be too. His will is being
fulfilled. And in the midst of these things,
we remember that God is ruling. He is bringing to fulfillment
that which is purpose for each of us. All of these difficulties
are meant to draw us to Christ Jesus, even drive us to the Lord. And in the midst of these things,
we remember there's coming a day that's going to be absolutely
glorious. And John sees, John sees the
end. The Lord takes him all the way
up to the end. Oh, he has in chapter 6, he's
seen the judgment. He comes right up to the judgment.
The Lord shows him those who cry out for the rocks and the
mountains to fall on them. They want to avoid the judgment.
And then John who's taken by the Spirit of God, he's taken
even further than that to see the glories. of the kingdom of
God, to see the wonders of God's grace. He's taken to see this
vast multitude. And to see that God's eternal
purpose of grace, it is going to be fulfilled. It is going
to be accomplished. And so he says this in the ninth
and tenth verses of Revelation chapter 7. After this, John says,
I beheld. I beheld a sight. Well, all around
him, he's been looking at a dismal, dismal situation. But God takes
him up to glory in this vision. He's in the Spirit on the Lord's
day. And he says after this, I beheld
in lo, a great multitude which no man can number. of all nations
and kindreds and people and tongues. They stood before the throne
and before the lamb clothed with white robes, and they had palm
branches in their hands. And then he hears their saying
something. Oh, they're crying out. They're
lifting up their voices. It's a loud voice. A loud voice. In fact, it goes forth as though
it's one voice. You notice that? They cried with
a loud voice. All in unison. Everybody is saying
the same thing. What do they say? Salvation to
our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. Oh, there is coming a glorious
day. That unending day when all of
the saints of God will be gathered together in glory. All of those
whose names were written down in the Lamb's Book of Life will
all be here. We'll all be right here, this
multitude that John sees. All of those that our Father
gave to the Lord Jesus in covenant mercy, He gave them to Him, gave
us to Him, and He stood as our surety, as our representative,
as our bridegroom. And the Father said, this is
your bride. This is your bride. These are your people. He stood
as the shepherd and the father said, here are the sheep. These
are my people. I entrust them to you. I tell
you, the very first one who trusted the Son of God was the father. The Father chose this vast multitude
which John sees here in this passage of Scripture. God chose
these in love, chose us in love, everlasting love, everlasting
affection, free and sovereign grace. And immediately upon choosing
us, having selected first of all the Savior, He chose us and
gave us to His Son and said, now these are yours. Bring them
all safely home to glory. These are your responsibility,
and the Father accepted full responsibility as the surety
of the sinners whom the Father chose. And our Lord Jesus, 2,000
years ago, He came into this world and He redeemed us by His
precious blood. The Spirit of God upon the fulfillment
of our Lord Jesus, keeping His covenant obligations, having
reconciled us unto God, having wrought out for us a perfect
righteousness, having in full removed all of our sinfulness
and our sin debt. The Son of God went back to heaven.
He sent His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father.
The Spirit of God throughout these last two millenniums He's
been revealing the Lord Jesus to those chosen, redeemed sinners,
just like He revealed Him to you, and you saw His glory. And the Spirit of God who gave
you faith, who gave you repentance, He's the one who abides with
you always. He is indeed the The one who
instructs us and teaches us and guides us and directs our steps. He is our intercessor and he
will abide with us all the way to glory. And John in this vision
he sees that which is the full accomplishment of God's purpose.
All of God's elect. All of God's redeemed. All of
God's quickened people. with Christ Jesus in everlasting
glory. John sees the whole group. The
whole group. From the very first believer
who died, who was murdered, even Abel. He sees Abel. He sees all of those who followed
Abel. All of those who believe the
Lamb of God, He sees all of the saints of God gathered together
as one. And He hears us all singing praises
to God. You say, I tell you pastor, I
just can't sing a lick. I can't carry a tune. Well, I'll
tell you in that day, you're going to sing beautifully. You're
going to sing beautifully. And even if you don't think you
have a beautiful voice now, I say sing anyway. Sing anyway. Sing praises to our God for His
redeeming grace. So this is the group that John
sees. From Abel, the very first believer, all the way to the
very last one who's believed on the Lord Jesus Christ by the
grace of the Spirit. brought into the fold of salvation
and we firmly believe, I firmly believe that's when the end's
going to come. And here they all are. Nobody's missing. Nobody's absent. This great multitude. All of the elect are there. And
all of those redeemed are there. Redemption is no broader, no
wider than the election. It's the same size. And regeneration,
it's exactly the same size as election and redemption. All
those the Father gave to Christ Jesus, He redeemed. All those
redeemed by Christ Jesus, the Spirit of God calls. And here
they all gather together, a numberless multitude. They're with Christ
Jesus the Lord. From the very first one, Abel,
all the way to the end. Abel. Go back to Hebrews chapter
11. Let me tell you just a couple
of things about Abel here. Hebrews chapter 11. When the Spirit of God moved
this inspired writer, we're not sure who this was. Perhaps it
was the Apostle Paul. Perhaps it was somebody else.
I don't think it makes any difference because ultimately it's the Spirit
of God who wrote this passage of scripture. But when the Spirit
of the Lord had the inspired writer to put his pen to paper
and write of those who died in faith, of course the very first
one he would mention is Abel. Abel and then a few others are
noted, and these are not all the believers. God has selected
according to His sovereign purpose a few to be listed in the Word
of God. A few of the saints who are set
before us as examples of men and women who believe God. And of all of these it is said
in verse number 13, these all died in faith. That's how I want
to die. I want to die in faith. You want
to die in faith? Live in faith. Because those
who live in faith will die in faith. And those who die in faith
have lived in faith. But you can't muster up this
faith. It's got to be given to you. Because faith is a gift
of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And among these who died in faith,
there's Abel. Verse 4, by faith Abel, Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, vastly superior. by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being
dead yet speaketh." Abel offered a more excellent
sacrifice than did Cain, his brother, his older brother. The Lord had said to Adam and
Eve that the seed of the woman was coming. He would crush the
serpent's head and that serpent's head or the seat of the serpent
would crush the heel of the seat of the woman. Well, then Eve
had her, she became pregnant and she bore a son and she said,
I have got to the son, the Lord. She thought she had the Messiah. No, this is not the Messiah. This is actually a child of the
devil that she bore. His name was Cain. And then she
had another son who was Abel. And there both of them were worshippers.
One was a true worshipper and one was a false worshipper. Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than did Cain. Cain
was wroth because God had respect unto Abel's sacrifice. You see,
Abel, he looked at that sacrifice, at that animal that he took from
the flock. He looked at that animal and
he looked through that animal and he saw Christ Jesus. He saw
the Lamb of God. And he believed the Lamb of God.
On the other hand, Cain was a self-righteous man. And he brought the works
of his hands. Abel is a believer. Abel is the
first one to go to glory. And I made mention of that this
morning. And one of y'all said you never even thought about
that before. Neither have I. Neither have I. He's the first
one who fell asleep in Jesus. And he's numbered in this group,
this vast group over here in Revelation chapter 7. There's
Abel there. There's Abel. He's been there for 6,000 years. You say, well, I don't think
they count time in heaven. Well, I'm not sure about all that. Because I do know this. Go back
to Revelation chapter 6. When the fifth seal was opened.
Revelation 6 verse 9. When He had opened the fifth
seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain
for the Word of God, for the testimony which they held. I
believe Brother Abel was there. Wouldn't you think? Brother Abel
was there. I tell you, his blood was shed. Because he believed grace. He's
a grace man. He believed the gospel. He believed
substitution. He believed satisfaction. He
believed there is no life unless there's a death. There's got
to be the death of an innocent victim who dies in the stead
of the guilty. That's what Abel believed. And
because of his belief, he was murdered. His blood still cries
out. God said His blood cries out
for vengeance. And right here in Revelation
chapter 6, this is Abel. It's Abel and the other martyrs.
And in verse number 10, they cried with a loud voice, How
long? How long, O Lord? How long? And for Abel it had been 4,000
years. If they number years in heaven, I know there's a song that says,
they count not time by years by years, and there is no night
there. I know there will be no night
when eternity begins. And I know there will be no such
thing as years or time when eternity begins, when it's all over. But
these saints of God, these saints of God, they're saying, how long?
So there must be some measure of time. You have to admit that. There's some measure. I don't
know what it is. It's, uh, how long, O Lord, holy
and true dost thou judge and avenge our blood on them that
dwell on the earth? Verse 11, white robes were given
unto every one of them that was said unto them, rest for a little
season. A little season. How long's Abel
been in glory? A little season. A little season. Oh, don't worry, his time's well
occupied. Worshipping the Lord. So I'm
sure that whatever, if there is in whatever time is, ever
how that's numbered in heaven, if it is, and I don't know, so
I wish you'd explain that to me. I'm not in the explaining
business, I'm in the proclaiming business. I'll tell you what
I know and what I don't know. It's a whole lot more I don't
know than what I know. That's the reason I try to maintain
telling you what I know. And here's what I know. The saints
of God, Abel has been there. And he's resting a little season.
Like all the saints of God who've gone before us. We'll go soon. They're all resting. Resting in Christ Jesus. A perfect
rest. We're resting right now in the
Savior, aren't we? We've ceased from our labors. We're resting in Christ Jesus. But our rest in this world is
nothing compared to the rest we're going to have in glory.
Resting in the Son of God. So in Revelation chapter 7, Abel's
the very first one who fell asleep in Christ Jesus. He's numbered
in this group. As will be the very last child
of God who's sealed by the Spirit and brought to faith in Christ
Jesus, the last sinner that God washes and bathes and robes in
the righteousness of Christ. When that day arrives, all of
our earthly days will be ended forever. And the children of
God will enter into an everlasting day, standing in the presence
of God. All of God's Abel's, all of God's
Enoch's, all of God's Noah's, all of God's Abraham's, all of
God's children. And it's a vast multitude. All
of them redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb. They're in the very
presence of the Lamb. Such a key word in the book of
Revelation. Used of the Son of God 28 times. And here He is, the Lamb of God
on the throne. And He will be in the midst.
And He will dwell with us. and we will dwell with Him forever. Often times a question is asked
me, where is heaven and where is hell? Well, I don't know where
hell is and I don't know where heaven is. And the Bible is generally
referred to as up and hell is referred to as down. Maybe it's
in another dimension. I don't know. Maybe it's in the
heart of the earth. I don't know. I can tell you
this about heaven. Wherever the Son of God is, that's
where heaven is. Because the Lord Jesus makes
heaven to be heaven. It wouldn't be heaven without
Him. It wouldn't be glory without the Glorious One. It wouldn't
be ever light there unless that one who is the light of the world
is there. We're going to be with Him. To
be with the Lamb of God. Notice these people. Let me give
you a couple of things here. First of all, these people are
standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb. First
of all, they're clothed with white robes. White robes. We stand, all of these people,
and we're in this group, because this is all the people of God.
If you're a believer, you're in this group that John sees.
We stand before the Lord in our royal, regal, priestly garments. We have the garments of priests.
And we don't have this robe by nature. We didn't manufacture
these dressed in white robes, all of us. We don't manufacture
these robes ourselves. It isn't by our works that we
weave a robe of righteousness. In fact, we didn't even have
any interest in a robe of righteousness to the Spirit of God. made us
aware that without this righteousness, we're not going to be accepted
with God. And thankfully, God has made Christ Jesus to be our
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. I tell you, in our native dress,
our native dress, The rags of self-righteousness. That's our
native dress. That's pictured by the fig leaf
aprons made and worn by Adam and Eve. And as we inherited
from Adam our sinful nature, so we inherited from Adam and
from our mother Eve our innate mindset that we can manufacture
our own righteousness. Why won't men come to Christ
Jesus? Because they think they can establish
a righteousness of their own. That's why men don't come to
Christ. And that's the way we were before God saved us by His
grace. What audacity to think you and
I could ever do anything to make ourselves acceptable unto God. That's audacity. We are defiled. We are rotten. We are filthy.
We are sinful people. And then we think, but we can
pull ourselves up, as we used to say, by our own bootstraps. And we can manufacture a garment
with which God Almighty will be pleased. We are absolute fools. Did you know that? That is what
sin has done to us. It has made us stupid. We're
stupid when it comes to spiritual things. Go to Isaiah chapter
64. Isaiah chapter 64. And I'll remind you these are
the words of an inspired prophet of God. Isaiah chapter 64. And I like the way the Spirit
of God had him to write this. Isaiah 64 verse 6, he says, but
we are all as an unclean thing. He didn't say, but all of you
are an unclean thing. And I'll tell you, he was absolutely
surrounded by idolatrous people. But he didn't say, all of you
are as an unclean thing. He said, but we are all as an
unclean thing. The Bible has a lot to say about
unclean things. Numerous scriptures, especially
in Leviticus and Numbers, dogs, pigs, unclean, dead animals,
touch a dead animal under the law, it rendered you unclean. Lepers. Lepers. A man had a suspicious spot on
his head, let's say. Had to go see a priest. A priest
looked him over. Sometimes he was just losing
his hair. And the priest said, no, you just go and bawl. You're
OK. You're clean. Oh, thank you. Every once in
a while, somebody goes to see the priest, say, I got this little
spot up here. It's just not going away. It's
getting bigger. And the priest looked at it and
said, you've got leprosy. You're unclean. You're unclean. You can't stay in the camp. Even your breath is foul. You
put your hand over your lip. If anybody attempts to come see
you and say, Unclean! Unclean! Stay away from me! I'm
unclean! Isaiah says that's the way we
are. We're like dogs. We're like swine. We're like
dead animals. Unclean. Unclean. Filthy. Filthy. We have the leprosy
of sin. Unclean. All of us by nature,
this is the way we are. And we must be brought by the
Spirit of God to say in essence, unclean! Unclean! That's me, oh God! I'm unclean! That's me, people! Pray for me! I'm unclean! I need cleansing. Nothing can cleanse me but the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm unclean. Let me show you something else
that's unclean. Go with me to Deuteronomy chapter 23. Deuteronomy
chapter 23. You'll find this to be interesting. And I'll go back to Isaiah 64. I should have said keep your
place there, but you can find it again. Deuteronomy chapter
23, look at verse number 12. Deuteronomy 23, 12. Thou shalt
have a place also without the can, whither thou shalt go forth
abroad, and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon. And it shall
be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith,
and shalt then turn back and cover that which cometh from
thee. For the Lord thy God walketh
in the midst of thy camp, as the Shekinah glory. In other
words, God's always in the camp. To deliver thee, to give thee
up, and to give up thine enemies before thee. Therefore shall
thy camp be holy, that he see no unclean thing in thee, and
turn away from thee. You know what's being said there.
There were no bathrooms. There were no restrooms, there
were no outhouses for the Israelites as they traveled through the
wilderness. And just like us, the way God made us, they had
to go to the bathroom. They had to relieve themselves.
They had to pass water and they had to pass dung. And the Lord
instructs the people of Israel that all of their waste was to
be passed outside the camp and buried lest the Lord be offended and
lest there be an offense to somebody else. Easy to see what that passage
is about. Go back to Isaiah 64 now. when the Lord would set before
us just how offensive our awful sinfulness is to Him. How obnoxious our self-righteousness
is to His holy eyes. He says to us through the prophet, All of our righteousnesses are
as an unclean thing. We stink before His holiness. Absolutely repulsive. You take
human waste is repulsive. The Lord said, bury it outside
the camp. And I'm sure everybody else said,
that's a good idea. Huh? That's a good idea? God said, now that unclean thing
that you buried, that's your righteousness right there. That's
your righteousness. Oh, how repulsive. How stinking. How filthy. How rotten. Our righteousness is to God. I tell you what, you've got to
have a righteousness a whole lot better than your righteousness.
Because your righteousness before God is just like dung. That's
what it is. No wonder in Philippians chapter
3, you remember what the Apostle Paul said? He said, all those
good things that I've been looking to, he said, I count it but what? Dung. That's exactly what he
said. And you're going to have to do
that too. That's all your Bible reading, all your prayers, all
your attendance, all your gifts, all those good works, all those
nice things you do for your neighbors. Before God, if you think that
goodness earns you some kind of respect from God, and acceptance
with God, you are absolutely wrong. Because if you rely on
it, God says, it's just done. And you better see that's what
it is too. Because He is going to reveal
that to us. that all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy wrecked. It's like dead animals, it's
like dogs, it's like pigs, it's like, it's like an ant. Where
were we the other day? We was going some, oh, we was
going, the fellas were going out to eat and we was going down
52 and there was an animal dead on the side of the road and his
legs are up like this, you know. That's unclean. Well, let's go
over there and have some road kill, what do you say? Let's
take it home. We say, no! No, no, no. It's
already swelling up. It's stinking. That's your righteousness. And if that doesn't go far enough
for you, God says, all of your dumb, all of your waste, that's
your righteousness before me. Isaiah 64, 6, but we're all as
an unclean thing. And all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Filthy rags. It's a reference
to those cloths used by women once a month during their natural
cycle, which absorb blood and are then discarded. Offensive. Must be put away. There's your
righteousness. Like filthy rags. That's man
in his best state. And like the rag, they used to
take rags and put it over a runny sower and keep it on there and
put some kind of stuff on it to try to draw out the poisons
of it. And then take that rag off. Oh,
goodness. Putrid. Putrid. There's your righteousness right
there. It's all those filthy rags. We all do fade as a leaf,
like a leaf It falls from a tree and the wind blows it away. That's
us. That's us. Well, that begs the question,
how can a man be righteous before God then? You better give up every idea
of becoming righteous on your own and find out from the Word
of God how you can have a righteousness God approves of. And only righteousness
God approves of, the righteousness of His Son. And that's freely given to us,
freely imputed to us, freely charged to us. How can man be
just with God? Only through the sacrifice of
Christ Jesus. That's the reason in Ezekiel
chapter 16, the Lord says, you became beautiful through my beauty. You became beautiful through
my comeliness, He said. Well, that's our righteousness. White robes. Big difference between
white robes and all that other stuff. A big difference, isn't
it? Here's the white robe of the
righteousness, the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus.
That's the robes that we wear. These people have washed their
robes in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you go ahead
and if you want to, if you're foolish enough to do it, you
go ahead and pull on your self-righteous rags and just pull them a little
tighter around you and say, I think I'll be alright because I'm a
good person. You go ahead and stand before God in your dung,
in your filthy rags. See how far that gets you. And
you know what? That's the religion of most all
of this world right there. Do you want to know what the
difference is between the true gospel and the false gospel?
Here it is right here! The righteousness of the Son
of God or the self-righteousness manufactured by the sinner. Well, let me show you this one
other thing, and I'll quit. Back in Revelation chapter 7,
He says they had white robes and then they had palm branches
in their hand. Palm branches. That's what this stands for.
In John chapter 12, and we don't have the time to turn there,
when our Lord made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, that's
what they're waving, palm branches. Palm branches. That was a sign
of joy and victory there, saluting the King, rejoicing in Him who is the victorious
one, who is the conqueror. John sees this multitude as the
victorious multitude. They're victorious in Christ
Jesus. Remember the theme of the book
of the Revelation. It is the victory of the Lamb
and His followers over the dragon and his followers. That's what
this is about. And here are all the saints of
God. We're waving palm branches. What does that mean? We're victorious
through Christ Jesus. He is the conqueror. Do you remember
when the Lamb of God opened up the first seal? He went forth
to conquer. He's the great conqueror. He
conquered sin, and Satan, and death, and hell, and by His omnipotent
grace, He conquered our stubborn hearts! He conquered us! And here we are, dressed in white
robes, waving the palm branches. But this signifies something
else. Let me give this to you quick. Leviticus 23. If you'll
just hang with me a little longer. Leviticus chapter 23. I'll show
you one other thing that I hope will be a blessing to you. Leviticus
chapter 23. And in Leviticus chapter 23,
this section that I'm going to read from is about that which
is spoken of here. It's about the Feast of the Tabernacles.
Three great feasts for the Israelites, Passover, Pentecost, and the
Feast of Tabernacles. This was the last great feast
of the year. And it was, here was the purpose
to thank God for the beautiful crops, the bountiful crops I
should say, that he had given that year because this is the
last feast of the year. This is at the very end of the
harvest. It indeed commemorated that time
when God protected and God provided for Israel during their wilderness
journeys and He gave them everything they needed. This was a celebration
that lasted eight days. Later they would observe this
by living in booths or tents as they thought about what God
did for them. Leviticus chapter 23. Look at verse 39. 23, 39. In the fifteenth day
of the seventh month, when you've gathered in the fruit of the
land, you shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. On
the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be
a Sabbath. I'll tell you what happened on
the last day. The last day, the high priest would stand before
all of Israel. This is what they did from then
on, even up to the time when our Lord was in this world. It's
recorded in John chapter 7, at least a portion of this. The
last day, the great day of the feast, the eighth day, the high
priest would take a pitcher of water and in the view of all
of the Israelites, he'd pour that out. And what that signified
was God gave us water from a rock for 40 years. He gave us water
from a rock. And our Lord Jesus used that
opportunity then to say on the last day, the eighth day of the
feast, he said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
I'll give him the water of life. Out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. And that happened on the last
day of the feast. But on the first day of the feast,
something else happened. Look at verse 40. He shall take
you on the first day of the feast, boughs of goodly trees, branches
of palm trees, boughs of thick trees, willows of the brook.
You shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. Time
of rejoicing. Take him palm branches and wave
them rejoicing. What's the rejoicing all about?
All of the harvest has been gathered in. That's it. That's it. You know what it's about over
here in Revelation chapter 7 when we're waving the palm branches? All of God's elect have been
gathered in! Everybody's saved! Oh, it's been
a great harvest! We've all been gathered into
God's great garner! Into the storehouse! Into the
barn, as it were. That's the end. That's the harvest. And I'll
tell you, we'll be there. We'll be there in that great
and glorious day when all of the harvest, all of God's elect
are gathered in. And we will, as it were, be waving
palm branches. Oh, He's the mighty conqueror! And bless the name of God, He's
gathered into the fold of salvation all of His people. The harvest
is over. We're all safe in Christ Jesus. That's a blessing to me when
I read that, I tell you. I hope it was to you. Let's look
at 478. 478, constantly abiding. 478. I'm thankful to be here
this evening. I'm thankful you're here. Let's
close out the service singing 478, constantly abiding. Let's
stand. There's a peace in my heart that
the world never gave A peace it cannot take away Though the
trials of life may surround like a cloud By the peace that has
come there to stay. Constantly abiding, Jesus is
mine. me. all the world sings Troubles all fled away, and my
life turned to hay. Blessed Jesus, how glorious Thou
art! Constantly abiding, Jesus is
mine Constantly abiding, rapture divine He never leaves me lonely
Whispers of so high, I will never leave thee, Jesus is mine! This pleasure I have In the temple
of clay While here on this wood still I roam But He's coming
today It's a glorious day Over there to my heaven I bring a body, Jesus is mine. Constantly abiding, Threat to
divine. He never leaves me lonely, Whispers
oh so kind. I'll never meet thee, Jesus is
mine.