Book of Philippians, Philippians
chapter 4, Paul says, Therefore my brethren,
dearly beloved, I love you my brethren, dearly beloved brethren,
long for, I long for you. You're my joy. You're my crown. If I've got a crown in this world,
you're it. hear my prayer. So stand fast in the Lord. Stand
fast right there. My dearly beloved, I beseech
you, Odius, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind
in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true
yokefella, help those women which labored with me in the gospel,
with Clement also, and with other my fellow labors, whose names
are in the book of life." That's what I want to talk about. Names
in the book of life. Whose names are in the book of
life. Paul, the apostle, he was a wise master builder. Said he
was. God said he was. He was a wise
master builder. He was a man. He was strong in
his convictions. He knew what he believed, very
strong in it. And he was strong in purpose.
Whatever his purpose was, I mean, he put his whole heart and soul
into it. Strong, he was very strong in
the doctrine of Christ. God gave him revelations, taught
him the gospel. Wrote 13 books in the New Testament
used of God. Strong in the doctrine of Christ.
Strong in the grace of God. strong in the grace of God. He
said this about himself. He says, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. Most people quote it wrong. They
say, I am what I am by the grace of God. But Paul starts out with
the grace of God. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. And yet, on the other side, he
was a gentle man. For those who loved Christ, loved
the gospel, those that he was Pastor too, father too in the
faith, he was as gentle as he was strong. And he was considerate
in his character towards those who labored with him in the gospel.
Called him his true yoke fellows, his true labors, fellow labors
in the gospel. And here he mentions those who
he called fellow labors. Ain't that what he says here?
Jodeas and Tentaki, Clement. Calls them by name, fellow labors
in the gospel. But look what he says about those
he doesn't mention by name. He says, my other fellow laborers,
whose names are in the book of life, he calls them fellow laborers,
but lest they be offended because he didn't mention their name,
he says, you know, it doesn't make any difference if I mention
your name or not, because you're names. or in a much better book than
any book I could put you in. If I don't mention your name,
God's got your name in a book. He knows your name. He knows
where it's written. And He says, you know, so if
I don't put your name in a book, that don't matter to anything.
He says your names are written in the book of life. And oh,
what a consolation. What a consolation for people
who are obscure and only known and loved in very few hearts. But they have their names inscribed
in the book of life. Ain't that what David said over
there? He said, you know, everywhere I go, and he says, the reason
everywhere I go I'm with you because you wrote my name in
your book before you fashioned me in your book before I ever
was. When I was secretly wrought, over there where I read this
morning, And their names are inscribed. And you go through
the scriptures, there's an awful lot said about the Book of Life.
An awful lot said about it. I want you to look with me in
Psalm 56 just a moment. Psalm 56. You know, there's so many things. You just look it up sometime
yourself. How many times it's mentioned? The Book of Life.
The Lamb's Book of Life. And I read about, you know, the
book of life here. Look what he says here in verse
6. Psalm 56, excuse me, verse 8. Psalm 56 and 8. Thou tellest my wonderings. You
put my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? In
thy book? And all my tears even are in
your book. You remember when Moses came
down off of the mountain, and they were dancing around that
golden tab, and God was angry. And Moses says, Lord, forgive
them of thy sin, and if not, blot my name out of thy book
of life. God says, I'm not going to blot
it out. I'm not going to blot it out. And there are so many
times it's mentioned, it's called the Lamb's Book of Life. It's
called the Book of Life written from the foundation of the world,
and it's called the Book of God's Book, and it's written throughout.
And we'll look at several of them today. But what it is, it's
called the Lamb's Book of Life, and the Lamb's Book of Life is
the same or equivalent to be called in the child of God. You
know, when Paul says your names are written in the Book of Life,
that's what he's saying is you're children of God. You're known
of God. You're loved of God. You're chosen
of God. And God knew you before you ever
was. He put you in His book before you ever existed. That's what
David just said when I read over to you in the 139th Psalm. And
so when he talks about the Lamb's Book of Life, he said, that's
just the same as being a child of God. And what does it mean? What does it mean to have your
name, your name, in the Book of Life? What does it mean? I'll
tell you the first thing it means. It means citizenship. Citizenship. Israel kept a census. You know,
you go through the book, especially in Numbers, and go through Chronicles,
and you go through the first two books of the Bible,
Matthew and Luke. They just got this great genealogy.
It's a census. They had a census. They counted
the people. They kept a genealogy. They had
a book. genealogy. They had a book. And
over in Isaiah 4, you know, it talked about, you know, the book
of the living. Book of the living. And that's
what he's talking about here, you know, it's a book of life.
And America keeps a census. And they count people that are
living, how many people are alive, how many people exist and all
that. But that only citizens, now listen
to me, in Israel, only citizens are in the book. But before that,
you and I were aliens. We were foreigners. Look over
here in Ephesians. Now, you back in Philippians,
turn back to your left one time and look in Ephesians chapter
2 with me. You see, only citizens were in that book. The book of
the living. But we were aliens. We were foreigners. And that's what Paul said here
in verse 12, Ephesians chapter 2. That at that time, we were
without Christ. being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus,
ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. Now look down in verse 19 of
Ephesians 2. Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and the household of God." Oh, we're citizens now. Oh, that's
why it says, we've come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living
God, into an innumerable company of just men and spirits who are
made perfect. That's where we've come, the
church of the firstborn. And we live in this world. And
where we live in this world, we live in America. We're citizens
of America. We're under the system of America.
We're under its politics, its economics, its culture. But our
real citizenship is in heaven itself. We're just strangers
and pilgrims passing through here. Paul said, my citizenship
Our citizenship, our conversation is in heaven from which we look
for the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Back over in Philippians
1, verse 27. Oh, I may be a citizen here,
but beloved, I'm an American and I'm grateful to be an American.
I'm proud to be an American, but I tell you my real citizenship,
where I'm telling you where my citizenship, where my real home
is, is in another world and I'm a citizen of another country.
That's what Abraham said. He was looking for a city whose
builder and maker was God. He was not looking for a place
to live on this earth. He was not looking for a place.
He lived in a tent all the days of his life. And everywhere he
went, he said, I'm going to find that city one of these days.
I'm going to find that place where God is. David said, when
I awaken thy likeness, then I'll be satisfied. But look at here,
Philippians 127. Only let your conversation, let
your manner of life, your lifestyle, be as it becometh the gospel
of Christ. And that's what he's talking
about. You know, we act like Americans. Well, what Paul said
is, act like you're citizens of heaven. Act like you believe
the gospel. And our names are there. That's
where my name's at. I'm in that book up yonder. I'm
in a census here. But my name's up here under two.
And it was up there before it was ever here. Ain't that right? I have a birth certificate. I've
got one, you know, the day I was born, February the 9th, 1950. Dr. So-and-so brought you in
this world. Your daddy's name's on there, your mama's name's
on there. Born, born, born. Time of day. But I ain't got
a death certificate, and I never will have one. You know why? Because I'm a citizen of another
country. And all we love, and listen, what if the world doesn't
like us? Does that matter? Their opinion's
not good toward us. But what's God's opinion? Are
we well-pleasing? Do we live as citizens of His
country, of where He's King, where He rules, where we belong
to Him? And that's what He's talking
about. Our citizenship is from another place. Do we live like
our citizens, citizens of another place? And oh, let me tell you
something else about it. If we have our names written
in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings, now I want you
to look at it, but when you get home, you go back and look at
this. You look in 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, and all they
are is what they keep the genealogy of the Kings, the Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel. And beloved, you know, and our
names are written in that. And you know, and that's why,
you know, what Christ did, see, He's the King of Kings, and what
Christ did is in the book. They got David's name in there,
they got Hezekiah's name in there, and you open up 2 Chronicles
with Solomon. And he said, Behold, a great
and a Solomon is here. Christ is the son of David, the
rightful king over Israel. And beloved, what Christ did
was written in the book. And all the acts that he did.
I delight to do thy will. O Lord, I come to do thy will. I find great joy in doing thy
will. So what Christ did is written
down in the book. And what he did, beloved, he
did for us, and our names is with him in the book. Oh, and who He did it for, there
in the book too. What an honor! What a privilege! And all that men call honor here
are nothing. Nothing compared to having our
names in the book of life. You know, our Lord sent His disciples
out, and they went out casting out devils, doing all kinds of
things. And our Lord said, I give you
power to tread on scorpions, cast out devils, do many wonderful
works. But He says, don't rejoice over
that. He said, I will tell you what you mean. They all come
back and say, oh, you wouldn't believe what we did. Oh, my,
I mean, we spoke to the devils and they just run from us. He said, but don't. He said,
don't rejoice over that. Just tell me what you need to
rejoice over, what you're going to rejoice over. Rejoice rather
that your names are written in heaven. If the Lord says rejoice over
your names written in heaven, that's what we need to do. And
let me tell you something else. Not only does it mean citizenship,
but those whose names are in the Book of Life possess life. That's why it's called the Book
of Life. Because in that book, they possess life. They really
do possess life. And that's what he's talking
about here. That's why it's called the Book of Life, because they
actually possess life, which is life indeed. It's called the
Book of the Living. Over in Isaiah 4 and verse 3,
that's why it's called the Book of the Living. And what it is,
it's the register of those who are truly alive. And what it
is, beloved, it's the life of God in us. It's a new birth. You know, you who were dead in
trespasses and sins, hath He quickened together with Christ. Our Lord told Nicodemus, you
must be born again. You must be born. You must be
born from above. And Nicodemus didn't have life.
He was a natural man. He was flesh. And our Lord said,
except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God. And he says, the wind bloweth
where it whistleth. And so is he that's born of God.
And what he's talking about here, we have to have, you know why
we're in the book of life? Because we're living. And God
put our names in there because God put our names in there. That
guaranteed us having life. It don't say the book of those
who are going to live. It don't say the book of those
who hope to live. It don't say the book of those
who want to live. It says the book of life. You know, to as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God which
were born, not of blood, not of the will of flesh, not of
man, but of God. And you see, beloved, this book
of the living is the life of God. It's the new birth in us.
And life is more than just being. Life is more than just being.
You know, you see people that they just have existence. They
live for the next drink. They live for the next pill.
They live for the next paycheck. They live for the next something
or another. But that's just existence. And
they only find their happiness, or they only find their reason
for existence for this next thing that they have, the next thing
that they get. But life is more than being, it's more than having
just a physical existence. Our souls, our very souls have
the life of God in them. And we're conscious of God in
us. That's one thing that the new birth does, that the Holy
Ghost does in us. He makes us conscious of God.
That was a time we weren't conscious of God. God was not at all in
our thoughts. But now, beloved, because of
this new birth, because of this book of life, because we're in
the book of the living, the Holy Ghost comes and makes us conscious
of God. Are you ever unconscious of God? We're conscious of Him oftentimes
in our sleep. We're conscious of Him when we
wake up in the middle of the night. We're conscious of God,
conscious of our need of Him, conscious that we want Him, conscious
of His righteousness, conscious of His presence. Where am I going
to get away from you? If I go to heaven, there you
are. If I go to hell, there you are. If I'm up in my soul, you're
there. If I'm down in my soul, you're
there. If I go into the night, into
the dark, and I say, I get some place to hide from you. He said,
I can't do that. You know why? Because in David's
mouth, saying, I'm trying to get away from you. He said, he's
rejoicing. He's giving thanks that everywhere
he's at, God's with him. God's keeping him. God's preserving
him. He's conscious that God is everywhere,
all the time, watching him, keeping him, preserving him, and leading
him, and guiding him. And oh, and beloved, because
of us conscious, this life of God in us, we surrender to Him. Every day we surrender to Him.
I get up every day and say, Oh God, please take me. I say, Lord,
I get so disgusted with myself because I get caught up with
me sometimes. And listen, we want to surrender
to Him, love Him, obey Him, and aspire to Him. Everything else
is death. Let me show you something over
here in Revelation 3, just a moment. You know, there are people, our
blessed Savior came into this world, and by His work, He breathes into these old, dead,
dry, cold, lifeless bones. And for very many, there's very
dry. And He breathed into them the
breath of life. And there's the breath of His
own life. This is the record that God hath given to us eternal
life. And where's this life at? It's
in His Son. You know, our Lord says the hour
is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God. And they that hear, what are
they going to do? They're going to live. Live. And look here in Revelation
3 and verse 5, excuse me, verse 1, not 5, verse 1. And here's
the way a lot of people are. And unto the angel of the church
in Sardis write, These things say of he that hath the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works that
thou hast a name that thou livest, and are dead. You know how many
people have a name that they live and they're dead? Not these people whose names
are in the book of life. We've heard that voice and we
live. It's the life of God in us. And then I'll tell you something
else. Not only is it citizenship, but
we actually possess the life. But the book of life tells us
that God has knowledge of each and every one of us and cares
for each one of us. That's what it tells us. in this
book of life, that God's knowledge of us, tells us about God's knowledge
of us. The Lord knows them that are
His. And not only does He know them, but that He cares for each
and every single one of us. In the Old Testament, it's called
thy book. Thy book. God, you've got a book. It's your book. And, oh, beloved,
in the New Testament, it's called the Lamb's book. But it's still
one and the same book. The Lamb saved all that were
in God's book. And you know, this is what I
love about it. You know, God had the book before the world
ever began. Ain't that right? Christ came into this world. And what He done, He came to
give life to everybody's name that was already in the book. So as far as God was concerned,
we've always had life. That's why I believe in eternal
justification. I wasn't justified when I believed. I was justified because Christ
stood as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
God never did regard me as anything but being in Christ. Then I was
justified when Christ came into this world and died on the cross
and bore all my sins in His own body on the tree. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised for our justification. And then I
was justified in my conscience when the gospel came to me and
made me know what Christ had done for me. Why is all that? Because God
put our name. Before you was ever formed in
the belly, I knew you. David says you had all my name,
everything about me in your book. Everything about me, while I've
been formed in your purpose and in your will. Oh, beloved. And we were in God's
book, and I'll tell you why we were in God's book, because of
the Lamb. God gave us to Him before the
world ever began. They were thine, and He gave
them to me. Each one for whom Christ died, every single one
for whom Christ died. has his name there. He might
have a whole page, I don't know. But he's got his name there.
I've got a book in there. I've got a little old book in
there. Every time somebody makes a confession of faith, I put
their name in it. Every time somebody dies and passes away,
I've got their name in it. The day they die, I kept for my own records for
me to know. But there ain't going to be nobody's
name in this that they're going to put down in their diet on
such and such a day. Passed away on such and such a day. And I
need to quit putting that in my book. I need to say they started
living on such and such a day, fair believers. If they died
on, Ed died December the 18th. Well, I should have wrote in
there, Ed started living on December the 18th, entered into life on
December the 18th. That's what I should have wrote.
I believe I'll go back and change it. You know what it says here, that
God knows each of us. That's what he says, whose names,
names are written in the book of life. Christ calls us by name. What did they say, what did they
say this morning when he called, he so sweetly called my name?
Zacchaeus, come on down. Lazarus, come on forth. Oh, my, that's what, you know,
Mary's there. She's looking for him, looking
for him, but she can't see him in order to hear him just with
his face. He's a gardener. And then all of a sudden, he
said, Mary. Oh, she just fell down on his
feet. She recognized that voice immediately. And our Lord Jesus
says, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them. I call them
by name, and they follow Me. For whom He did foreknow, those
He foreknew, them He also called. Oh, My name. My name. Your name. Our individual standing. B stands there right now in this
blessed book. There sits in the very presence
of God. Christ put my name there. God
put my name there before the foundation of the world. And
the Scripture tells us He's going to give us a new name. Right
now, the only name I know is the one I've got, but God's got
a name there that's known only to Him. And I tell you, He don't deal
with us as one of a crowd. That's not the way it does, you
know. It's like, you know, I'm going to just throw a bunch of
blessings out there and hope somebody catches some of it and
gets your name written down in the Book of Life. Oh no, I can
get some good out of it if I grab it. No, no. He treats us, all
of us, individually. There's just two as far as He's
concerned. You and Him. You and Him. Right this moment, it's just
you and Him. Right this moment, it's just
you and Him. It's just your name that's in
that Book of Life. Clement, your name's in there.
Jonas and St. Ticey, they didn't get along.
Said, I want them to be of the same mind. Yeah, we did have
some little friction there. But he didn't say, he said, because
they had friction, that ain't gonna have any effect on your
name in that book. Oh, he treats us all individually,
just two of us, you and him. And that's why Paul said, I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet it's not me that's living,
it's Christ that's living in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. He told Jacob, he said, Jacob,
I loved you and I called you by name. I redeemed you. Fear
not, you worm. And, oh, Simon, Simon, our Lord
told Simon, Simon, Simon. And old Simeon, Simeon was running
around the temple one day, and he, God done told him, He said,
You're not going to die until you see my salvation. You're
not going to die. And, boy, he took that little
boy up in his arms, took the Lord Jesus up in his arms, and
he said, Now let me depart in peace. And you know what? Psalm 147 verse 4 says this,
that He tells the stars and calls them all by name. Now, if He
can count the stars and names every single one of them, just
imagine what He means to you. Or what you mean to Him. If He
counts the stars, do you reckon He can't count us in His book? Somebody said one time, he says,
boy, you believe just a handful is going to be saved. Well, it's
whose hand is going to be saved, and it's going to be God's hand.
He can hold all of them. It's not my hand. God measures
people by His hand. And oh, beloved, and because
our names are written in the book of life, listen to me, our
salvation and our security is as sure as God Himself. They
were written there before we existed. Ain't that right? Everybody
knows where Daniel is. You go to Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
and then Daniel. I want you to see Daniel chapter
12 and verse 1. Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
Daniel. Chapter 12 and verse 1. I want
you to see this first scripture. You know, because our names are
in the book of life, Our salvation and our security are absolutely
sure. It's like Daniel, you know, he
was in the lion's den. And went for away from that lion's
den, he said, told the king, said, don't you be afraid, don't
you worry. Because the king thought a lot of Daniel. And a bunch
of people, he had written a law, and Daniel had not paid attention
to that law. And these fellows talked the
king into writing the law, and Daniel said, I'm not, you know,
I'm not going to obey that law, because I'm going to obey my
master. Well, they put him in the lion's den. He said, King,
oh King, don't worry about it. God, my God, my God, is going
to shut, shut the mouths of these lions. I'll see you in the morning.
You know why he knew that? Because he knew that God put
his name in the book of life. He knew who his God was. Oh,
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they said, well, let's just throw
them in the furnace. Let's destroy them. He said, oh, King, don't
you worry. King looked in there and said,
what? What do you do with them fellows? They ain't burning.
They're not burning. They ain't got a singe on them. Turned the fire off. Out they
walked. He said, there's somebody in there with them. And there's
somebody with us everywhere we go, whether we're in the fire,
whether we're in the flood, whether we're going through the water.
It don't make any difference. He's with you. And that's what
he's talking about here. And look here in chapter 12 and
verse 1 of Daniel. Now watch this. At that time
shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth up for
the children of Ithaca. And there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that
same time. Now watch this. And at that time
thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found
written in the book. It shall be the worst trouble
that the world has ever known. It ain't going to amount to nothing
for you all. Your names are written in the
book. God is going to come and deliver you right then and there.
And our Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps. So let's just, let's
go to sleep. Let's rest. Let's just rest in
Him. He'll watch for us. And it's like the high priest.
When he went before God, only he bore on his breastplate the
names of the children of Israel and bore on his shoulders their
names, showing them that he's in their affections. And He carries
their waver, responsible for them. And Beloved, our Lord Jesus
Christ carries us in His heart, carries us on His shoulder. He's
responsible. He carries us in His affections. He loved us before
the foundation of the world. He loves us now. He loved us
before we were. He loves us before we were converted.
He loves us regardless of what we say, do, or how we act. His
love never wavers. And Beloved, And he says, you
know, he said, will a mother forsake her child? Yes, she will.
But God said, I'll never forsake you. I've written your name right
here. I've been craving it on my hand.
Oh, he's got us. And let me tell you this, knowledge
always means citizenship and living and security and life. And if our names are in the book
of life, we shall someday, we shall someday go to the land
of the living. the city of the great king. I want you to look with me over
here in Revelations right quick. Revelations chapter 20. Revelations
chapter 20. And oh, listen. What a blessed, blessed thing.
Christ got our names He's got His name
on His heart. He's got our names on His shoulder.
He bears us into the very presence of God Himself continually, constantly,
always. Look here in verse 12 of Revelation
20. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And
another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which was in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them. And they were judged, every man,
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. Now there are two different types
of people here. There's those who are in the book of life,
and everybody else. And there it here says they're
judged according to their works. And when men are judged, and
God's going to judge all men, I mean, it's going to be just,
it's just going to, you know, God's not going to parade men
before, you know, and do like that, and say, you've done this,
that, and the other. I mean, God will do it all in their conscience
just in the blink of an eye. But men will be judged by their
works, by the things that they've done, But listen, which book
will your name be in? Huh? All the books are open. These
are the books that will be open by which men are judged. But
there's only one book that has life in it. Men will be judged
by how they acted according to this book, what they believed
about God, about Christ. And all in the Lamb's book, they're
not judged. You notice it says there, they're
not judged according to the works. Only the dead are judged according
to the works. It doesn't say nothing about the live, it says
the dead, those that are dead. Those dead in hell, everybody
that was dead was brought forth. Not the living. The dead are
judged according to their works, not the living. We've already
been judged. Where was we judged at? We were judged in our blessed
Redeemer. We were judged in Christ for
the foundation of the world. That's why God Almighty, when
Adam fell, we were as good as in the Lamb's Book of Life and
God was going to guarantee, that guaranteed our salvation. And,
oh, beloved, we've already been judged. That's why we stand here
right now. We do not fear the judgment.
How would I fear the judgment? I don't have nothing to be judged
for. I don't have any sin. Christ put it away by the sacrifice
of Himself. I don't have any works. I have
His. I don't have any obedience. I have His. I don't have a righteousness
of my own. I have His. I'm not accepting
it in myself, I'm only accepting it in the Beloved. So you know, listen. Sheep over
here, goats over there. Have you blessed them, my Father,
into the Kingdom which He hath prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. And oh Beloved, our names are
there as citizens. Our names are there in the book
of the Acts of the King, just like they were in the Chronicles. We have the life of Christ in
them. And, beloved, God knows each
and every one of them. Christ knows them. He has His
marks in His hand. He marks them that He loves.
And you know they overcome. Look over here in Revelation
7 with me, and they overcame. How did they overcome? Look over
here in Revelation 7. I just went through my whole
outline in those things. Their name are there as citizens.
We're in the books of the Acts of the King. We have the very
life of Christ as the book of the living. And God knows each
and every one of them. He's the one who put their name
in there. Christ knows them. He loved them. He has their marks
in His hands. He has them on His heart. He
has the marks of love for him, the stars in his head, the prince
in his hand, the ribbon side. And oh, and they overcome. Look
what it says in verse 13. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes,
and where came they, and where did they come from? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them." Now listen, they shall hunger no
more, thirst any more, the sunlight is not going to be on them any
more, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them. and shall lead them unto living
fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes." Who says that? The people in the book of life. And, oh, beloved, only those.
I've got to show you this again. Romans Revelation 21, we're over
here. I told you there's lots of things
about to look. Only those in the Lamb's Book of Life are allowed
into new heaven and the new earth. Only those whose names are in
the Lamb's Book of Life are allowed into it. Look what it says here
in Revelation 21, verse 1. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away, and there was no more sea. You know why there ain't no more
sea? Because God said He'd cast all their sins into the depth
of the sea. And so he's going to do away with the sea, where
there ain't even no sin left in the depths of the sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven,
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with me, and that's Christ our Lord. And
he, he, the tabernacle is a he, and he shall dwell with them,
and they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with
them, and be their God. Now look down at verse 27. And there shall in no wise, or
under any circumstances, any way, there shall in no wise,
in or indeed, anything that defieth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the land of the
blind. And what if our names were blotted
out? Let me show you this, and I'm
done. Revelation 3. What if our names are blotted
out? What if they were blotted out?
There's people that believe you can blot them out by the way
you live, blot them out by some deed you do. If you could write
it there, it could be blotted out. Now, look here in Revelation
3 and verse 5. He that overcometh, the same
shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name
out of the book of life. Listen now. But I will confess
his name before my Father and before his angels. My, my. Who's this? It's Don Bell. Boy, he's done some awful things
in his life, even as a preacher, as a pastor. He's said things
he ought not say, did things he ought not do. Oh, he's committed
some awful sin. I'm going to confess him. Why? Because I've got his name in
the book. I put his name in the book. I
shed my blood for him. I loved him. I'm not going to
put him out. And oh, beloved, is your name in that book? How did Paul know those people's
names were in that book? He loved them. He preached the
gospel to them. And he believed the gospel that
he preached to them. They were fellow laborers. In what? In
the gospel. In the gospel. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious
name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, bless Your
name for this glorious, blessed, Salvation that gives us such
security, such rest, such assurance, such a blessed hope. And truly,
truly, Lord, we have life, the very life of God in us. We're
citizens of another world. And Lord, You put our names. You knew us and loved us before
we ever were. And we bless You for that. And
so, Lord Jesus, I ask you to give assurance to those today
that's always been afraid, been frightened, don't have the assurance
that their names are in the book of life. I pray that they've
seen it today, they've felt it today, they've experienced it
today, they've believed it today. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.
Girls, I want you all to do