Turn back in your Bibles to Philippians
4. I hope you'll pray for me this
morning. I'm like Paul in some of his
writings to the churches. He said, I was with you in weakness,
much trembling. That's certainly me this morning.
But I want to reread a few of those verses in Philippians 4,
beginning in the first. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the
Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech Jodeas and beseech
Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I
entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which
labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other
my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. I do not find in this man, the
Apostle Paul, the spirit that I find in some preachers. Some who would desire to be lords
over God's heritage. Some who, it seems, would rather
have men and women fear them rather than the fear of the Lord. It seems to me that if we are
going to preach grace, we have to be gracious. And the Apostle
Paul, rather than exalting himself over other believers, he speaks
of them in the most encouraging, loving, humble terms. He calls them what they are,
brethren. He refers to them as being dearly
beloved. He speaks of them as being longed
for. He didn't run and hide from them.
He longed to see them. And He refers to them as His
joy and crown. They were his epistle, as he
says. And he also uses words to make
them and us know the importance of all believers in the church. The importance of all believers
in the ministry of the gospel. He calls some yoke fellows. fellow laborers, and he encourages
and commands all those that labored with him, even those who did
not preach the gospel. As a matter of fact, most of
these he mentions here are women. And we know that he wrote in
another place, saying, I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to
usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence or quietness. But they all were, as all the
Lord's people are, who believe on Christ, male or female, young
or old, they're yoked together like a team of oxen to Christ. They're joined to Him. And they are joined to the same
gospel. They're yoked together to each
other as members of the same body. members in this one church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these terms are encouraging
and uplifting. They're not scolding. But then
he describes these people and sets them among all of God's
people in what I believe is a marvelous way. in the latter part of that
third verse. He says, their names are in the
book of life. Their very names. Not with Paul's
name up here and another one's down here, but their names all
being written in the book of life. I love the sound of that. The book of life. And it may be that the book mentioned
here is like the book that used to be in the old ancient cities,
so that if you were a citizen, a living citizen in that city
and of that city, your name would be in that book. It would be
written in the book. But this book is not on earth. And its citizens are citizens
with a heavenly citizenship. Turn back over to Luke's Gospel
and the 10th chapter. I'll just give you a Bible drill
this morning. Because it doesn't really matter
what I say about what God says. What matters is what He says. And so on one occasion, his disciples
had come back and they were all excited, if you remember, because
the spirits were subject to them. They were able to cast them out,
rebuke them. But look down in verse 20 of
Luke 10 at what our Lord says to them. He says, notwithstanding
in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you,
but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. He said that's not a matter so
much to rejoice in, Here's where the real rejoicing is, that your
names were written in heaven. And every time you find a reference
to this, that reference signifies a definite number. Not like Jimmy Swagger said one
time, he said, if you'll accept Jesus, God will write your name
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Oh no! This is a definite number
of individuals on the earth whose names were written in heaven. And these are not the only times
that the Bible speaks of names being written in heaven or names
in the book of life. If you notice in our very text,
first of all, he tells us something about this because he describes
it as the book of life. You and I are everything about
death, and there's only one remedy for death, and that's life. He says this is the book of life.
This isn't a book of people who died, where they were buried,
where they were from. This is not an obituary. He says, this is the book of
life. Their names are written in the
book of life. That is, they're enrolled. I
believe that word actually is. They're enrolled in the book
of life. Life being eternal life. This is the book of those who
will live spiritually and eternally with God. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, and listen
to the apostle in Hebrews chapter 12, down at verse 23. He talks
about them not coming to Mount Zion. He said, we're not come
to Mount Zion, we're not those who find blessing in the law,
but we're those who come unto Mount Zion and unto the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven." Who's the firstborn? That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. And these are those who are described
also in that church, that assembly, that heavenly Jerusalem, that
Mount Zion, that city of the living God, as those whose names
were written in heaven." This book is in heaven. I don't know
all that involves. I do know that God states things
to you and I in order that we might have some understanding
of it. This is a book of names written
in heaven. It's not a membership list as
it was, and it's not a who's who. Book of religion. This is the book of life. Turn
over to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3, and listen
to John in Revelation 3 at verse 5. He says, "...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, but I will confess
his name before my Father and before his angels." This is a
book of overcomers. But not overcomers in the sense
that you and I have been taught and led to believe to be by this
world. These are described elsewhere
as having overcome by the blood of the Lamb. They overcame this
world because God gave them faith to trust that blood, to trust
that One who shed that blood. This is the book of these overcomers. And what's being said here is
that He will never erase or blot out this book because God changes
not. I saw a carpenter this week,
I see him pretty often, and I noticed in his pocket he had his pencil. But on the top of his pencil,
he had one of those big erasers stuck on the top of it. And I
was just kind of kidding him, I said, you must make a lot of
mistakes. He laughed. God doesn't need
an eraser. Number one, he does not ever
change. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And he never ever makes a mistake. When he wrote these names in
that book, which we're made to know, that they are individual
names. When He wrote these names, He
wrote the names of His own particular choice. And the Bible says, the
Lord knows them that are His. He'll never block their name
out. You read that verse in the original, you'll find it's not
in any way casting any doubt or saying there might be a possibility
that he would or could. What he's saying there is just
the opposite. He said, I'll never ever blot
those names out of the book. Why? Because I blotted out their
transgressions. And if you notice, turn over
to Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13, and there
you'll find out just exactly when they were written there.
Revelation 13 and verse 8, "...and all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship Him." Who? These figures that are given
to us in the Revelation to show the false prophet and antichrist
religion, the beast or the dragon, the devil, he said, "...and all
that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not
written in the book of life." of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world." That's a marvelous verse. Because first of all,
this is the book of the Lamb. And if you remember, when the
Messiah came, when the Lord Jesus Christ began His public ministry,
That one who had from old eternity been appointed the forerunner,
John the Baptist, when he stepped forth to be baptized by John,
what did John say? Here comes the King? No, he could have. Here comes the Son of God? No,
He surely was. No, he said, Behold, The Lamb
of God. This is the book of the Lamb.
This is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
This is the book of Christ's glory as the mediator, as the
sacrifice, as our substitute, and as our Savior. This is the
book of the redeemed. God doesn't have any books when
it comes to you or me that do not in some way set forth the
necessity of redemption by the blood of Christ. Peter said,
"...for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot." who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you." You see, before
there was ever a sinner walked on this earth in need of a sacrifice,
here was the Lamb. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And this Lamb is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ, and His name is at the head of this book. And all these names were written
in that indelible ink of God's decree before time, when God
dwelt alone in the total sufficiency of His own self, having need
of no one or no thing. And he wrote their names in this
book. You see, God wrote them down.
You don't write it down when you do something. You don't write
it down when you stop doing something. You don't have a hand that would
in any way hold the pen of Almighty God. He wrote these names down
and He did not write them in this book because He saw that
they would do something. That's how most people define
election. Well, God looked down and He
saw that you were going to choose Him, so He chose you. Absolutely
not. Number one, Looking down for
all eternity left to ourselves, He could never see us do anything
that would please Him. He didn't look down and see that
our names ought to be written in this book because of something
that we are in ourselves. I read an interesting commencement
speech this week. I don't know who that fellow
was, but I just want to take my hat off for him and just wave
to him. He stood up before a whole group
of seniors graduating from high school, and he said, you've been
told all your life, you've been shown all your life just how
special you are. He said, you're nothing special.
He said, if you're one in a million, That's what every mom thinks
their kid is. Oh, she's one in a million, or he's one in a million. He said, with there being 6.8
billion people on the earth, that means that there's at least
7,000 just like you. Well, he's perfect. Well, that
means there's 7,000 perfect people. He's an achiever. Well, there's
7,000 achievers. God didn't look down at this
book. and look down at this world, and those who'd be in this world
and say, well, they're kind of special. There ain't but one
place to be special, friends, and that's in God's special Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He wrote their names because
Christ stood in that hour, and as He's described here, as the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that is, the very
basis for them being included in this blessing, had already
been ordained and established and in the mind of God accepted. And therefore, they're accepted
in Him. Isn't that what Paul says in
Ephesians 1? He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved, slain from the foundation of the world in the decree and
purpose of God, by which it says He was set forth, or foreappointed
to be the propitiation for our sin, and He was foreordained
before the world was. to redeem his people by his blood. Ancient books. There are some
people who love ancient books. Old books. I saw where someone
was lauding a book that was handwritten long, long years ago. This book
was written before the world began. And it has to do with
all who will be brought to worship Christ, who will believe on the
true Jesus, who will not hear the voice of a stranger, who
cannot be deceived, and who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes,
they will not bow to antichrist. Oh, they may be born into the
midst of idolatry, like Abraham was. Or they may be born in the
midst of self-righteous religion, like Saul of Tarsus was. But God's going to save every
one of them. He's going to deliver them. There will be no vacant
seats in His holy heaven. There will be no names drawn
through, scratched out in that book. Every one of them will
be there. Now, I've never cared too much
for that. For that old song, when the roll is called up yonder,
I'll be there. But if understood in the light
of what he's saying in all these places, you can count on it,
when that roll is called up yonder, every one of them will be there.
Why? Because God's glory depends on
it. Salvation is not, first of all,
about us. Do we understand that? It's not
about us, it's about God. We sometimes imagine that if
we fail, we'll be lost. God knew you'd always fail. But He never failed. He'll never
fail. Turn over to Revelation 17. Revelation 17. And all through
these verses there's so much talk about harlot religion, mystery
Babylon, the great mother of harlots, the abominations of
the earth, deceiving, making the saints drunk on her wine. But look down at verse 8. The
beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out
of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition, and they that
dwell on the earth shall wonder." They'll be amazed. They'll be
amazed. "...whose names were not written
in the book of life from the foundation of the world." They'll
be amazed. There'll be these people... You
see, religion deceives people to always be looking to a future
time when all these speculated things that they take out of
these contexts and set before men and warn them about, it's
coming, it's coming, do something for God. When in truth, they're
the very ones he's talking about here. idolatrous false religion. That harlot that decks herself
out, that deceives and deludes. You can read in the book of Proverbs,
the most wonderful illustration and explanation of all that. But it says this in the end,
but the way to her house is the way to hell. How much deception
is there? How much counterfeit Christ is
there? So much so that Christ Himself
said that they would be deceived, even the elect of God would be
deceived, if it were possible. It's not possible. Because their
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation
of the Word. And they're not in the majority,
rather they'll be in the minority, just like you read about in Matthew
7. In that narrow way, they'll not
be deceived by all this wonder worship. They'll be taught of
God, with the Word of God, to believe on the Son of God and
only Him. Look over in Revelation 20. Revelation 20 and verse 12. 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. Wait a minute. Oh, I think I
see it. They're judged out of the books
according to their works, but not God's people. They're sentenced. These people are sentenced. That's
what that means. It doesn't mean that God's going
to take them, open the books and say, well, look here on this
page, it says that he did this, he gave to a poor person, or
she did this, she went and helped her neighbor or something. No.
They'll be sentenced. out of these books. Because if
you're in that book, these books rather, then you're already just. He that believeth not is condemned
already. And the sea gave up the dead
which were 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." But
thank you, Lord, for that 15th verse. And whosoever was not
found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake
of fire." Well, what happened if their name was in the book
of life? They went into God's presence. They entered His holy
heaven. They rejoiced in God's Son. These were judged according to
the books. But these over here whose names
were written in the book, the book of grace, they went into
His presence. The books were the books of God's
omniscience, the books of God's remembrance, the books of God's
law. And the dead are sentenced according
to these books, but not those whose names are in the book,
the book of life. Look over in verse 27 of Revelation
21, "...and there shall in no wise enter into it, anything
that defileth, nor whatsoever maketh abomination, or maketh
a lie." In God's presence, in God's heaven, He said there won't
be any of these things. Well, who will be there? But
they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You say,
Hadn't we done some awful thing? Absolutely. But God, having put
His people in Christ, He does not see the sins of His people
in Christ, because they're no more. They're no more. He casts
them away. He pays the debt. That's why
I love legal terms like we find in the Scripture all over it,
because they speak in a language that I can at least humanly understand. I know what a debt is, and I
know that there's only one way to get rid of a debt, and that's
to pay it. Pay it. But if it's paid, it
is no more. And that's why Paul says in Romans
8, Who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. It is Christ that died. That's it. You see, he speaks
in these books, and especially in these chapters here like we're
at now, of new heavens and a new earth, and this new Jerusalem,
this eternal glory in God's presence. Who'll be there? Did you ever
notice that when somebody dies, they all go to heaven. Ask their
family. Ask this paid preacher that they
get to conduct the services. It doesn't matter what he knows. Somehow, hook or crook, he'll
get that fellow into heaven so they can give him a pat on the
back when all of them together they know it's not true. I'll
tell you who'll go there. These whose names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life." Those for whom Christ died. Those for whom He laid down His
life in their place. Those that He purchased their
salvation. Those that God has made them
the righteousness of God in Him. They have no abomination. As He is, so are we in this world. One of my favorite verses in
the Song of Solomon is when the bridegroom says to the bride,
Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee. Every bride
in this place, I think we might find a slight blemish maybe,
Not in Christ, Brian. They're washed. They're clean. They're all fair. Their beauty
is the beauty of the King, and they rejoice. None of those but
those chosen in Christ, predestinated to eternal life, justified by
His righteousness which God imputes to them, redeemed by His blood,
and given the faith through which they believe on Him." That's
who's going to heaven. These whose names are written
in heaven. Now, had to come to this. Is your name written in the Lamb's
Book of Life? Is your name written in heaven? Was your name written in this
book before the foundation of the world? That's a pretty good
question. And I know this. I know you can't
climb up into heaven or to heaven and look into it. No. But I know this too. If your
name is written in the Lamb's book of life in heaven, It's
written in this book. That's right. If your name is
written in that book in heaven, it's written in this book. It's
written in the Bible. Because the Bible on earth is
the book of life. What do you mean the book of
life? I mean it tells where life is. Tells what life is. What is it? To know God in His
Son, Jesus Christ. That's life. That's eternal life.
And it says in this book that God hath given to us eternal
life, and that life is in His Son. It shows us that God's way
of giving His people life is through a death. But I can tell
you this, if you were to see your name written in this book,
the Bible, just the exact peculiar way that you spell your name,
if you could see it written like that in this book, there still
wouldn't be any ground for hope. I kind of grew up, I've always
liked my name. I kind of grew up thinking in
my own little feeble mind that I was kind of a one-of-a-kind
as far as names were concerned. Gary Shepard. I never ran into
anybody that had that name. And then one day on TV they were
running an advertisement for a grocery store, and guess who
the manager was? Gary, just the same way. Shepard, just the same way. And I found out once I owned
a computer, there's a whole lot of those guys out there. That
wouldn't do me any good. What would be to keep me from
believing that that's the Gary Shepherd they were talking about,
that he's talking about, not me. But God has written the names
of those in the Lamb's Book of Life in heaven, in the Bible,
in a very wise and gracious way, unmistakable way. Turn over to
Matthew 18. Let's see if we can find our
name anywhere here. Matthew 18, look down at verse
11. For the Son of Man is come to
save that which was lost. Lost. You know what it is to
be lost. I don't run up with many lost
people. Because a lost person is somebody that God has brought
to the conclusion that there's no way they can save themselves.
There's no way they can find their way out of this wilderness
of sin, and especially there's no way they can find their way
into God's presence. They're lost. I'll tell you who's
not lost. Those Paul describes in this
way. He said, they're busy, they're going around trying to establish
their own righteousness, and they've not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. That's me. I was lost. That's what John Newton said
in Amazing Grace. I once was lost, but I somehow
figured my way out of it. I became found. I wasn't looking
for God. I thought I knew Him. I stood
in the pulpit. I pastored people. I told people
about God. But I was lost. Look over in
Romans 4. Romans 4 and verse 5. Paul says, "...but to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly."
Let me again, didn't know God, didn't want to know the true
God, didn't have anything the true God would have, didn't have
Christ. You know what a person who doesn't
have Christ, doesn't know Him, you know what they are? They
are ungodly. They don't have a God. That's
me, ungodly. I have no God except the God
who has given Himself to me in the God-Man, Jesus Christ. That's all I've got. Somebody
used to say, said one time, I think it was in Louisiana, said, well,
that preacher, I know it's been said of Brother Mahan a lot of
times. He said, Preacher Mahan, he's made a God out of Jesus
Christ. Whoa! No, he hasn't. But if he knows anything about
Him, which I believe he does, it's God Himself. Apart from
Him, apart from His grace, we're ungodly, ungodly. Look over in
chapter 5 of Romans. Verse 6, he says, "...for when
we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
You know what I found out? I was a sinner before I was even
born. You ever wonder why people just,
that little darling that just squealed back there, my granddaughter
probably, that when I held her in my arms that first day, I
thought, I don't know about this total depravity thing anymore,
but she's shown me. Yep. You see, we became sinners
when our father Adam before we were ever born, stood as that
representative man, and Paul says, in Adam all die. As a matter of fact, in Romans
5, this same chapter, he says, they all sinned. I know who Christ
died for. He died for sinners. I don't
boast in that at all. I'm ashamed of the fact that
I'm a sinner. But why would I go and leave
the one ground, the one square on this earth of standing wherein
God's promised to show mercy and grace to sinners? He loves
sinners in Christ. He doesn't love them outside
of Christ. Couldn't. And Paul in 1 Timothy chapter
1, turn over there, 1 Timothy chapter 1, is led by the Spirit of God.
And by the Spirit of God, he's enabled to say this, what is
the most amazing statement in my mind that maybe ever has been. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Now, he's just said that when
he was a Jew, following Judaism, while he was a Pharisee, Living
and teaching what Pharisees taught. He was all these things. A moral,
religious man. He said, I was before a blasphemer. That's the hardest thing maybe
we can ever be brought to confess. That what we thought commended
us to God. That religion that we had from
the time we were coming to this world, and all those Sunday school
classes, and all those bazaars, and charity work, and all these
things, that rather than not counting, it counts for sin. It's idolatry. But look at verse
15. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. That's whose names are written
in the book of life. Lost sinners. that God purposed
to save, and saved in Christ, and who are made to know by His
Spirit and Word that that's what they are. He makes them saints,
but in this flesh, still sinners. If I stood up and I said, I see
John Brown's name written in that book. God's given me a vision,
you know. He gives these television preachers
visions all the time. I see, I had a vision and I saw
John Brown's name. How many John Browns do you think
there are in this world? They use that procedure, you
know. If there's anybody out there who has a terrible aching
elbow, it just bothers them every day. I've just come back from
the Holy Land, and I've got this cloth and this oil and this water,
and I've kind of patched it up, and if you'll send in a slight
contribution, I'll send it to you." Well, how many do you think
are out there then? I'm one of them. No, these are
sinners, ungodly in themselves, lost. hopeless, helpless wretches. And if you don't believe it,
just ask them. Just ask them. You see, the Apostle
says in Acts 10, to Him, to Christ, give all the prophets witness
that through His name, whosoever believes in Him shall receive
remission of sins. Why? Well, they believe They're
given grace to follow Christ. But to find out really who gets
the glory, you've got to go back to the fountainhead. Where did
it all begin? Because whoever begins it, and
finishes it, and maintains it all the way through, that's who
gets the glory. And if you could see, eternal
God, He wrote a definite number of particular individuals. that He chose and put in His
everlasting covenant, that was dependent altogether on their
surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, the shedding of His blood for
their sins. He's going to save them all,
because that's the Lamb's book of life. Look to the Lamb, only
the Lamb, and your name's in the book. Our Father, we thank
You for Your good mercy to us, for strength when we had none,
but more especially, Lord, for righteousness, salvation, eternal
life, when there's no way we could have gotten it of ourselves.
We look to the Lamb, and we plead His blood, and we're thankful,
Lord, that all the devils in hell and all the enemies of God
on earth, they could never erase these names. And Lord, thankfully,
since it is all by Your grace, nothing that they can do will
even erase their name. We thank You and we pray and
give You glory in the name of the Lamb. Amen.