You can edit that. But I told
him, I said, James, please pray for me, because I'm way over
my head this morning. I always am, regardless of what
text of scripture I may pick or God leads me to, but this
one seems to be especially true. Let's begin reading at verse
1, Revelation 22. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. And in the midst of the street
of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree
of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit
every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse
But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face."
Now I'll be honest with you, much of what I read there in
verse 1 and 2, I don't understand. I don't understand all of what
that might mean. But oh, verse 4, This seems plain. I can understand this. It's hard
to get hold of. Hard to grasp. But oh, look at
these words. And they shall see his face. The one Paul just sang about
Christ is all his people. All of his people. Multitudes
that no man can number will see the face just as truly, just as really as we're looking
at one another right now, Don. Wow! Wow! They shall see His face and His
name shall be in their foreheads and there shall be no more night
there And they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for
the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever
and ever." They will reign with King Jesus as long as He reigns,
forever and forever. In John chapter 17, our Lord's
high priestly prayer, He as the earthly high priest interceded
for the people that he was going to sacrifice himself for. Christ sacrificed himself. I
pray not for the world, but for those you gave me out of the
world, he said to his father. And then he went shortly after
that and laid down his life, sacrificed himself, offered himself
at that spot to God. But in John 17, first of all,
he intercedes. Peter, I pray for you, what comfort. But he says there, among all
those other marvelous things, praying for his people, he says,
Father, I will also Last will and testament, if you
will. I will also that all those you
gave to me, all those that you entrusted into my hands before
we ever created the heavens and the earth and I became responsible
for, I will also that all of those that you gave me be with
me where I am. that they may behold my glory."
And here they are. They shall see his face. One time John the Baptist stood
with two disciples. One of them was Andrew. I'm not
sure who the other may have been. Doesn't tell us. But they were
John's disciples at the time. But Christ has appeared upon
the scene. And John said, he must increase and I must decrease. The sun of righteousness has
appeared, so John's candle begins to flicker out. And he says to
his two remaining disciples, behold the Lamb of God. Jesus
passed by and he said, behold the Lamb of God. That's what
John preached all the time. Behold the Lamb of God. And those
two disciples were told in John 2, heard him speak and they followed
Jesus. And of course Jesus was aware
of it. And he turned and looked down
and said, whom seek ye? What are you following me for?
And they said, Master, where do you dwell? Where do you live?
Where are you staying? Remember what he said, Donnie?
He said, come and see. Oh, children of God, that's what
we're doing, aren't we? We're going to come and see.
Just like Job said, with his own eyes, not another's. I feel like those birds I've
seen on lakes and ponds just sitting sometime, Rob and I will
go out to this lake and sit and watch. And I don't know, you
know, you see those birds and they'll be flying close to the
water and then they'll dip down. I don't know whether they're
getting a bug, a small fish, a drink of water. I don't know
what they're doing. But they're just skimming the water. That's
about all we can do this morning. That's all I can do. I'll just
skim the water. How do you illustrate that? Somebody, Paul, Donny, anyone,
after the service, after I'm done, after I stumble around
with this a while, if you know a way to illustrate this, what
can you compare this to? They shall see His face. What
enters your mind when you hear the word Heaven? I know the first thing that enters
a believer's mind. It's not harps and golden streets. I honestly saw two men arguing
one time. And you know what, they were
both, one was trying to prove he was more spiritual than the
other and he was going to convince him that way and the other way.
And you know what they were arguing about? One fellow said the streets
of gold were pure gold. The other one said, no, they're
just gold plated. That's worth fighting about. Bless their hearts, they didn't
know nothing better. But when you think of heaven,
glory, harps, streets of gold, pearly gates, a mansion next
door to mother. Isn't that special? Give my crowns
to mother. Oh my, so rubbish, rubbish. No,
no. The heaven of heaven. The glory
of glory. They shall see. His face. Oh, with this blessed, blessed
certain prospect, certain prize before us. As Paul said, oh,
I see Him. He's at the finish line and I'm,
oh, forgetting everything behind, reaching forth for that prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Look what's waiting
for us through eyes of faith. What an encouragement with that
being so. to forget about those things
which are seen. And look at that which is unseen,
where there waits for us that eternal weight of glory. My soul, I suspect that the first
glimpse of Him, these trials, these heartaches, these troubles
that cause us to weep and worry and fret, It won't be a consideration. This that we read, they shall
see His face, His glorious promise, this is one of those must-be
things that the angel, the elder told John must happen. Remember? In chapter 4, John
heard a great voice from heaven saying, God says, not the elder, but
the Lord Jesus Christ, that I'll show you things that must be Child of God, I like the sound
of that, don't you? He didn't say might be. Hope there'll be. Somebody lets
them be. Allows me to let them. No, no,
no. John, I'm going to show you things that must be hereafter. There's no doubt about that.
And the first thing John saw was a throne. And he said there
was one sitting on the throne. And he said these things must
be. Let me ask you this. Who's going
to stop them? Don't say the devil. The devil's
no rival to the Lord God Almighty. And this blessed promise, this
heaven of heaven, is one of those must-be things. Based on God's unchanging purpose,
His omnipotent will, based upon the purchase of the church by
Jesus Christ, their bridegroom, with his own precious blood. I didn't know that the article
I wrote in our bulletin was going to be in yours today, Donnie. Thank you, I appreciate that.
But I think as I said there in that article, if one of Christ's
sheep Just one would fail to be with Him in glory. It's just
one of His sheep that God Almighty put in His hands and He became
responsible for. Just one. Doesn't reach glory. Doesn't bask in the sunlight.
of the gaze, the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, just one perishes
and is lost. It won't be the sheep's fault. No, no. They're not responsible
for their own keeping. It would be the fault of the
shepherd. He would be the blame. Oh, you see why these things
must be, my soul. That can never, never happen. The Lord Jesus Christ said, fear
not, little flock. And we are fearful, my soul.
Fearful of so much, so much. Fear not, little flock. It's
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. God's pleased
to do it. And Donny, as you read a moment
ago, our God's in the heavens. He does whatsoever He pleases.
And it pleases Him. Imagine that. Takes pleasure. in bringing all the Lamb's sheep,
all the redeemed, all His chosen to the throne of God, where they
shall see His face. First, and I'll be brief on these
things, a couple of points, two or three. First, let's ask this
question, and we've answered it in part already. Who are these,
these that are so favored? so blessed, that have been kept,
called and kept, and brought to this place, who through many
dangers, toils and snares, they come out. As in Revelation 7,
who are these, John, before the throne, the elder asked. And John said, I don't know.
You tell me. Thou know'st. These are they
which came out of great tribulation. In the world you'll have tribulation,
but you're going to come out. You're going to come out. By
the grace of God, you'll come out. And when you come out, on
the other side, look at that. Jesus Christ. Oh, who are these? Who are these? I mean, we read
across the page there, look, in chapter 21. concerning these
blessed individuals, what God will do for them in verse 4.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall
be no more death. We just can't get a hold of that
much, can we? And neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain. I have a dear brother,
he's not even able to come to services anymore. There were
a pastor and, oh, he suffers with depression and emotional
problems, but I talk to him two or three times a week. One time,
not long ago, he said, Larry, he said, I can't help it, but
I just wonder why I'm this way. I said, old buddy, I don't know.
I don't know. But you're not going to be this
way much longer. No more pain of any kind, for the former things
are all passed away. And if that weren't enough, my
soul, I mean, imagine that. Those that God does that for. But the best is yet to come.
Look over. They shall see His face. Oh my. The face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are they? What did they do
to deserve such a thing as this? Nothing. Ask any one of them. Ask any
one of that multitude. Anyone you want to. What gives
you the right to be here? What did you do to earn this
place? Shut up! No, no, no, no, no. God made
me to differ. God chose me. Christ lived for
me. And Christ died for me. And Christ
called me by His grace, giving me faith and life in Him. And Christ has kept me till this
day. And Christ has brought me here,
oh yes! We've done nothing, or have nothing,
that we didn't receive. Who are they? Well, let me answer
it in a two-fold way, briefly. First, among this innumerable
multitude of redeemed sinners, that's the first thing. There
is not one there, not one exception to this. They're all sinners. All sinners. Christ came to save
sinners. He passed by those who professed
themselves to be righteous. He called the harlots and the
publicans. The Pharisee says, well, lookie
there. They look down their self-righteous nose. This man receiveth sinners. Luke 15, instead of denying it,
the Lord said, you're exactly right. I don't only receive them
like a shepherd and his sheep. I go out looking for them. And
I look until I find them. And when I find them, I put them
on my shoulders. And I bring them home. I bring them all the
way home. Every step of the way. And I
rejoice to do it. joy in heaven over one sinner.
Yes, they're all sinners. They'll tell you that. They're
there by the pure, free grace of God. They all confess, as
we sang Friday night. This is my story. Do God be the
glory? I'm only a sinner saved by grace. I love and I know you've heard
this. But old John Newton said, the writer of Amazing Grace,
that old, was a slave, a captain of a slave ship, rather, one
time before God saved him over. He heard someone say these words,
repeat these, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. He's
old now, up in years, and he sits and he thinks about that.
He said, yes, yes. He said, my memory is nearly
gone, but two things I remember. I'm a great sinner, and Jesus
Christ is a great Savior. Yeah, and so says everyone before
the throne that sees his face. But this is also true concerning
them. Who are they? Sinners, everyone.
Redeemed, called, kept, brought to glory. But this is also true
of every one of them. Sinners, yes. But every one of
them are the elect of God. Oops, there it is again. There's
that word again, elect, elect. Oh some people, can't stand that,
can't stand that. Well, I can stand it. I love
it. Oh, God opens your eyes to behold
his son. If he saves you, you won't have
a problem with election. Or you'll be glad. You'll be
glad that you didn't choose him but he chose you. You'll be glad
that it's not of him that willeth. Or if anyone here this moment
that doesn't know Christ, you better hope and pray That God
doesn't leave you to your so-called free will. God doesn't leave
you alone. I hope He intercepts you on your
road to hell. If He leaves you alone, you're
going to hell. Oh, God have mercy on you. Don't
allow that. Don't allow that. Paul, I know
you, and all God's people. I'm so glad that He didn't let
me have my way, Donnie. Yeah, God first began to deal
with my heart, leave me alone, leave me alone. My idea of a
believer was what few people I knew professed to be one and
they always looked like to me they were in misery, like their
shoes were too tight or something, sucking on lemons. And I said,
man, I don't want no part of that. I'm thinking of a very
dear, dear lady, but I won't tell you who it was, but I saw
a relative profess to know God for years and years and hardly
ever seen her cry a smile. I mean, just misery, misery.
Went to church with her one time and Just her and a bunch of other
old ladies. They'd run off, all the men.
This lady owned the building and she, you know, nobody in
front. You know, she thought it was touch not, taste not,
handle not, and every man tried to go in their bathroom, she'd
run them off. But at the end of the service, I'm serious,
at the end of the service, they start singing, Have Thine Own
Way, Lord. And I'm sitting there, I was
asked to come. And they all get up out of the
pew, about 12 or so elderly ladies, and man, they're going up and
out to their altar. It was like a funeral procession.
And I'm sitting there, I don't have a clue, I'm lost. And I
thought, my soul, she wants me to join this? No thank you. Oh no, there's joy. There's joy
in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. There's joy, humbling. at the same time to think, he
chose me. I'm one of those that the angel
told Joseph to give him the name Jesus for. He shall save his
people. My soul, and I'm one of his people. I didn't know that until he called
me by his grace. But he came here on purpose for
Larry Criss. He was made like Larry Criss.
Bless you, my bless you, and bone to my bones. He was made
like his brethren, and then he was made sin for me. Oh, my soul,
and he did it all on purpose. My soul, how could God act otherwise? I mean, people here at Lexington
say, oh, no, no. Well, what do you think? I mean,
God gets up in the morning like you and me and He has a new idea?
I mean, He thinks of something that He never thought of before?
What kind of God is that? I mean, if He saves a sinner
this morning, He purposed to save that sinner. He's the God
that changes not. Any purpose to do it today, he
must have yesterday all the way back before the foundation of
the world. And when God reveals that to
him, oh, it won't puff you up. It'll bow you down in humble
adoration and worship. Worship at the throne of such
a God as that. The very same people God chose
in Christ are the very same people Christ's redeemed Father. He
said, I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the
will of Him that sent me. And this is the will of Him that
sent me. Of all which He hath given me, I should lose none. Don't you like that? Oh, he speaks
so matter-of-factly, so assured of himself, assured. He cannot
fail. I'll do all that the Father sent
me to do. I come to do thy will, O God,
and he did it. I finished the work you gave
me to do, he prayed. lay down his life for the sheep."
As we sing, with that good hymn you wrote, Gary, in the bulletin,
I'll be using that at our church. Clothed in his righteousness,
wrapped up in his righteousness, all that he did put on the account
of his people, Long time ago, it's another holler joke. Hollow,
that hollow in West Virginia, we call them hollers. I preached
in Danville several years ago at a conference, and there was
a brother from out in California, and I mentioned the holler. And
he sat next to me at lunch, and he said, Larry, I enjoy that
message, I appreciate that message. I said, can I ask you something?
What's a holler? I said, what about hollow? He
said, what's a hollow? I said, man, where are you from? Never heard of it, but I remember
one time following my father, because we lived in the last
house. And I mean, you got to our house,
you couldn't go no further in a car. That's why if headlights
came around the bend, we knew they were either lost or coming
to visit us because, you know, last house, I mean, just stopped
right there. And I was following my father
one winter through the snow. Oh, man. Man, he took big steps. I was just, you know, 10, 11
years old. But he was in front of me. So, man, I tried to put
my foot right where he'd already made the print, you know. It
took all I could do. following Him. These are they,
chapter 14, that follow the Lamb whether so ever He goeth. Listen to this verse. You need
not turn there, but listen to this verse. This is Psalm 85,
verse 13. Righteousness shall go before
Him and shall set us in the way of His steps. Steps of Jesus Christ. Steps of perfect obedience. Steps from the cradle to the
grave. Steps from the first breath He
drew in that stable in Bethlehem, until He expired upon the cross,
doing always those things that pleased the Father. Perfect,
perfect in word and thought and in deed. And God in His sovereign
grace takes this sinner and puts me in the steps of Jesus Christ. And I'm perfect. How about that? With his holy garments on, as
perfect as God's own Son. The second thing. They shall
see. They shall see. Emphasize see. See. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
now at best, at best, at our very best, we see through a glass
dark lid on. Donnie spoke about these good
times. This has just been so refreshing
to be here with you. So reviving. It's an honor and
it's a privilege. But still, we're looking through
a glass dark. There is so much now that hinders
our sight. Primarily, that which Paul spoke
of. Romans 7. Oh, wretched man that
I am. Not that I used to be, but wretched
man that the Apostle Paul still was. I hear folks, professing
Christians say, well, when I was a sinner, I did that when I was
a sinner, but I don't do that anymore. I don't see how you
could do that. When you were a sinner? When did you stop being
yourself? Oh no, wretched man that I am. And that prevents us from seeing
clearly. Just so much mires my view. I want to see him. I want to
please him. I want to love him supremely. I want to honor him. I tell you,
there's not been a day since God saved me, and it's been a
few years, there's not been one day, one day, one night that
I've not laid down in bed and looked back over that day and
said, oh God forgive me. Sin in thought, sin in words,
sin in deed. Just looking through so much
to hinder. Oh, but then, at this time, children
of God, let's just skim down and get a drink. We'll have the
ability, we'll have the ability to see Him perfectly. To understand perfectly. To appreciate
what He's done for us perfectly. And we can do that now. To be
able to sing as we've never sung before. Worthy is the Lamb. As we were singing there a moment
ago. Oh, forget about yourself. And I thought, man, I hope I
can. Forget about yourself and concentrate on Him. I doubt that
we can. We try, but forget about yourself. I can forget about you. That's
not too hard, but forget about myself. Me? That's a different thing. And
concentrate on Him. But then we'll have the ability. There's no darkness to obscure
our vision. No sin. Oh, when I see thee as
thou art, and love thee with an unsinning heart, then, Lord,
shall I fully know, but not till then, how much I owe. No tears to hinder our seeing,
no more sin. Then we'll know Him as never
before, and we will worship Him forever as never before. We'll not only have the ability
to see, as our text tells us, we'll have the opportunity. We
walk by faith now, not by sight. But then we'll see Him. We'll be with Him where He is. Heaven, glory, my soul, harps
and mansions, how do they compare to that? I will look Into those
eyes, I'm over my head. I'll look into those eyes that
first saw me, way before I saw him. Saw me like the Ezekiel's
deserted infant. That poor aborted baby thrown
out into the field that dies. It's not even washed, still bloody.
That's a picture of what we are by nature. That's what we are. That's what we were. Nobody loved him, that child. Nobody cared for it. Nobody cleaned
it. Nobody wrapped it up. Nobody
took it home and loved it and nurtured it. Just threw it out
in the garbage dump. We hear it every day, don't we?
Happening every day. Let him die, out of sight, out
of mind. That was you and I. And then
we read, God says, oh, but I passed by. Passed by. and saw me. And I loved you. I loved you. And I spread my skirt over you.
And you became mine. You always were mine, you just
didn't know it. Now I made you to know it. I will look into those eyes who
first saw me. I'm going to I shake hands with
you, brethren. I hug the ladies, I shake hands
with the men. My wife, first of all, she gets
the best hugs. But anyway, shake hands with
the brethren. Fellowship. But my soul, I'm
going to put that hand into the hand of Jesus Christ. Take those hands that were nailed
to the cross for me. Lift it up for me. We shall see His face, the one
in whom we were chosen, who laid down His life for us and was
made sin for us." Listen to what Job said. Now Job, remember,
he wasn't in on that conversation between God and the devil. When
the devil was shouting, take your hand off of him. Let me
at him. Joe wasn't in on that. When all
that he suffered, all that happened, he didn't know why. He didn't
know why. But he knew this. Boy, he lost
his children, property, wealth. And if you'd asked Job, Job,
why, why? Why is this happening to you like you're so-called
comforters? You must have seen Job. We've come to straighten
you out, help you out. And there was so much Job didn't
know, but he said, I know this. I might be sitting inside cloth
and ashes, emblem of my, the pain in my heart, but I still
know this. None of this that I don't understand
or know, changes this, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Nothing can change that. And
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though
after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God, whom I shall see for myself And mine eye shall behold
him, and not another, not another, though my reins be consumed within
me." That's exactly what we're told in this text. They shall
see his face, his face, that part that we recognize people
by, the face. Brother Loyal Rogers dear, helpful,
precious brother was in the church when I went there. And faithful,
faithful man. God called him home a few years
ago. But one evening he came by the
house and we were sitting outside. He said, you know, Larry, I wonder
what we'll do when we first see Jesus Christ. He said, look,
I can't imagine. I said, Lord, I can't help you
with that one. I can't either. He said, will we fall down before
Him? Will we just cry? Will we rejoice? Will we just melt? I said, well,
I suspect we're going to do all that. Oh, what a day that will
be. When my Jesus I shall see, and
I look upon the face of the one who saved me by His grace, and
He takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land, oh what
a day, glorious day that will be. And it will be unchanging. I shall see His face without
interruption, not only clearly and perfectly, but forever. I've probably told you, you know,
concerning Enoch, it said in the Old Testament, it said God
took him, he was translated, he couldn't be found because
God took him. An old preacher said, yeah, it was just like
God said, Enoch, come up and spend the night. And Enoch never
came back because there was no night there. We shall see him
without interruption, never an eclipse. No cloud, no darkness,
no unbelief, no dimness, no distractions. No distractions. Let me wrap
this up. When I was 10 or 11 years old,
I think, pretty young, it's been a while, but I had to go into hospital with
one of my brothers and I both to have our tonsils taken out.
Now, I don't think I'm mistaken in this, but I think we had to
spend the night. I know they don't do it now.
You're in and you're out with a lot more serious stuff than
that. But I think we spent the night.
And I'd never been in the hospital before. I wasn't even born in
the hospital. I was born in that coal camp where my daddy worked
down, they told me at the time, a little house next to a railroad
track. I was on the wrong side of the
tracks. But anyway, never been in the hospital. And I was scared.
They came and told me, you know what they're going to do. And
I thought, man, what are you going to do in there? And my mother, mom's always there,
always there. But before they took me down,
mom said to me, it's going to be OK. It's going to be OK. And
she said, don't be afraid. And when you wake up, I'll be
right here. When I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, When I lie down and close my
eyes for the last time, Jesus Christ said, Larry, don't be
afraid. I'll be right here. When you wake up, I'm going to
be right here. You shall see my face. Let me finish quoting, read a
few lines of a poem. It says, when the weary traveler
gains the height of some overlooking hill, his heart revives if across
the plains he eyes his home, though distant still. When he
surveys the much-loved spot, he slights the space that lies
between. His past fatigues are now forgotten
because his journey's end is seen. No place like home. Thus, when the Christian pilgrim
views by faith his mansion in disguise, the sight his fainting
strength renews and wins his speed to reach the prize. The thought of home his spirit
cheers. No more he grieves for troubles
past, nor any future trial he fears, so he may safe arrive
at last. It is there, he says, I am to
dwell. Tis there, he says, I am to dwell
with Jesus in the realms of day. Then I shall bid my cares farewell,
and He'll wipe all my tears away. Glory to His name. God bless
you. God bless you.