Well, good morning again. If
you would open your Bibles with me to Psalm 84. Psalm 84. Lord willing, tomorrow morning,
Janet and I will be traveling to Lexington. I'm going to preach
in Danville, Kentucky on Tuesday evening. I covet your prayers.
We travel and preach. Also, you may have noticed as
you entered the building today in the the past couple services,
how much better the front of the building looks, how good
it looks. Earl and Peg have done this all by themselves. So everybody
give them a hug around the neck. Tell them thank you. They've
done such a good job. We appreciate you. And also Rick
Dillon's father, he had a heart attack. I think it was Thursday
or Friday. They put him in hospice care
in the hospice house in Huntington. and he passed away this morning.
I got word of that on my way here this morning, so let's remember
that family, hold them up in prayer. All right, Psalm 84. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a
house, and the swallow a nest for herself. where she may lay
her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house. They will be still praising thee. Blessed is the
man whose strength is in thee and whose heart are the ways
of them, who passing through the valley of Baca make it a
well. The rain also filleth the pools.
They go from strength to strength, every one of them, and Zion appeareth
before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my
prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold, O God, our shield, and
look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For
the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory, no good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. All right, let's stand together
as Chris leads us in singing our call to worship. All right, we'll be singing to
the tune of Rock of Ages. Sons of peace redeemed by blood,
raise your song to Zion's God. Made from condemnation free,
Grace triumphant, sing with me. Calvary's wonder, let us praise. Justice magnified in grace. Wrath divine no more we dread. Vengeance smote our surety's
head. Legal claims are fully met. Jesus paid the dreadful debt. Sin is lost beneath the flood. Drowned in Redeemer's blood. Alright, you can be seated now.
And if you would, take your hymnal and turn it to page 70. Holy,
holy, holy. Holy, holy, God Almighty. Early in the morning our song
shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, ? Merciful and mighty ? ? God in
three persons ? ? Blessed Trinity ? Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adore thee. Casting down their golden crown
around the glassy sea. ? Cherubim and seraphim ? ? Falling
down before thee ? ? Which word and art ? ? Evermore shall be
? ? Holy, holy, holy ? Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sin foment, thy glory may not see. There is none beside Thee, perfect
in power, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. All thy works shall praise thy
name in earth and sky and sea. holy, merciful, and mighty, God
in three persons, blessed Trinity. All right, if you would turn
your Bibles to Revelation chapter seven. Pastor has asked us to read verses
nine through the end of the chapter. After this I beheld and lo a
great multitude which no man could number of all nations and
kindreds And people in tongues stood before the throne and before
the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. And
cried with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God, which sitteth
upon the throne and unto the lamb. And all the angels stood
round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts,
and all fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped
God saying, amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor power and might be unto God forever
and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answers
saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in the white
robes and which came they? 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. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither
shall the sun light on them, 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 waters, and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you this morning, Lord, what a blessing it is to us that we
should read these words and we pray, Lord, let us be among those
in whom these words speak. Let us be counted, Lord, among
those in whom this passage speaks of. let us be among those in
whom thou hath chosen. Elected and chosen in Christ,
Lord, only in Christ can and will we receive the true blessings
of Christ. And that's our prayer this morning,
Lord, that we could come in this place of worship, this true place
of worship, and have salvation preached to us in a way in which
only you can send forth, and that's in power and spirit. Let
your spirit, Lord, be upon us. Your spirit be upon our pastors.
He teaches and preaches us these things. Bless him, Lord. Oh,
how we want you to bless him in your word that we also would
be blessed and can sing and praise glory to your name. That's our
that's our prayer today, Lord, and we pray these things not
only for ourselves. We pray these things, Lord, if
anybody be among us here this morning that may not know these
things whom you have not yet called to this gospel. We pray
this blessing upon them. And we pray for our families,
Lord. Oh, how we pray for our loved ones. We want them to know
this, Lord. This blessing, we know, only
goes out to those in whom you choose to give this blessing.
This mercy of grace is only on the mercies in whom you will
give mercy. But we pray, Lord. Oh, how we pray your blessings
be on them, each and every one of them. All these things we
ask in Christ's name and for his sake we pray, amen. All right, keep your Bibles open
there to Revelation chapter 7. Lord willing, this will be the
last message in our series looking at questions in scripture. At
this present moment, I intend next Sunday to start in the Book
of Acts, and I'll tell you from the get-go, it will not be necessarily
a verse-by-verse study in the Book of Acts. As I've read through
it, there's some things that I clearly don't have understanding
on to preach from, but it'll be, maybe we'll call it a survey
in the Book of Acts. We'll see where the Lord leads,
but that's for next Sunday. This morning I've titled the
message, who are these that are arrayed in white robes? That's
the question that the elder asked in verse 13. One of the elders
answered saying to me, what are these which are arrayed in white
robes? And whence came they? Who are
they? Who are these people? And where'd
they come from? John saw this innumerable. multitude
in heaven. And the elder asked him, now
where'd all these people come from? Who are they? Well, our
text gives us several descriptions of them that I want to look at
this morning. Number one is this, all these people that John saw
in heaven, they're all God's elect. Verse nine, after this,
I beheld and lo a great multitude, which no man could number of
all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. stood before
the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes, with
palms in their hands. Now all these people that John
saw, they're the people that God chose to save in his electing
love. He chose to save them before
time began. This is such a gracious, loving
act of God that God would choose to save sinners. Sinners who
will never do anything but sin against them. And God chose to
save some of them by his grace, by the sacrifice, by the obedience
of his son. That's electing love. I always
try to talk about God's election of a people in terms of electing
love, because that's what it is. It's love. God's election
of a people is not mean and cold-hearted keeping people out, you know,
who want to be saved, said, well, I'm sorry, you know, you want
to be saved. You want to come to Christ. You beg Christ for
mercy, but I'm not going to give you any because when I look at
the list here, people that God chose to save, you're not on
it. God's election of a people doesn't keep anybody out. God's
election of a people is the only hope that we have of salvation
because we'd never choose him unless he chose us first. It's
his electing love. I know people here on earth like
to argue about God's election of a people. And you know, that's
one of the things that people bring up and say, Oh, I can't
listen to your gospel. I can't listen to you preach
because it, you know, y'all time telling me I'm a sinner and God
elected a people. And now wait a minute, you know,
I, I got my chance to be saved. I got my rights, you know, let
me tell you something, everybody who's in glory, believes in God's
electing love, every one of them, without exception, because that's
the only way that they got there. And there's a bunch of them.
I mean, there's a bunch of them. John says, it's a number no man
can number. Maybe he wrote that because it
kind of surprised him. This is a number no man can number.
On earth, we were few. We were few. When we gathered
in that upper room after the Lord died, there was just a few
of us. I mean, there couldn't have been 20 of us there, counting
the disciples and the women that were there. There wasn't 20 of
us. It's a few. Scripture describes them as a
remnant. That remnant got down so low
one time, Elijah said, I'm the only one left. I'm the only one
left, he thought. And our Lord said, straight is
the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. And
few, few there be that find it. There's just a few, just a remnant
scattered here and there. But now what John saw, they're
just exactly like God promised Abraham they would be, more than
the stars in the sky. You can't count them all. And
they're from every nation, from every tribe, from every kindred,
from every language. They're from all over the earth.
And that made me think of two things. The first one is this,
it's the power of the gospel. The Lord commanded his disciples
before he ascended back to glory, and he commands us the same commandment
is to us, go into all the world and preach the gospel. And the
disciples did that. We've done it, people in this
day and time, we've gone into all the world and preached the
gospel, haven't we? And God has seen to it that every
one of his elect have been reached by the gospel. They've been reached,
and God gave them, God the Holy Spirit gave them ears to hear
it, faith to believe it, a heart that loved it, and he called
them all to Christ by the preaching of the gospel. This gospel that
God's given us to preach is so powerful, It's the power of God
unto salvation. We just don't need, a believer
doesn't, we just don't need anything but this gospel. It's got the
power to call all of God's people to faith in Christ. And the second
thing that made me think of is God's love and pity. This is also talking about babies.
Babies who die, as we feel like the scripture plainly teaches,
the infant who dies, is taken to glory. Scripture bears that
out. And I believe that's how this
comes from every nation and tribe and kindred, it's babies. I read
recently, this fascinated me, that there's an island, I wish
I could remember where it was, but there's an island somewhere,
and there's a tribe that lives there. And they have made it
plain, they want no contact with the outside world. probably pretty
smart. I mean, you know, you come there
and try to go in there. I mean, they'll kill you. They
want no contact with the outside world. And they've made it illegal,
whatever powers that be over that area, made it illegal for
anybody to go there and try to make contact with them. Some
guy rode up there on his kayak or something and left him a can
of Coke and just leaving them a can of Coca-Cola. The guy got
arrested. He's thrown in jail. You don't make any contact with
these people. And it's been that way for 1,000 years or something.
Well, it seems unlikely that the gospel's being preached there.
Who's going to preach the gospel there? But every baby that's
been born to that tribe who's died in infancy, the Lord's taken
him to glory. There's somebody from that tribe
right now in glory, because these babies. God's mercy and grace
is just astounding to me. And this host that's in heaven,
John said, they're from many different nations. But in glory,
they're going to be one nation. They're going to be the kingdom
of Christ. Many different languages. There, they're all going to speak
the language of grace. They're all going to speak the
language of praise in God. They're all many different bloods
and come from many different areas, but there's going to be
one blood there. They're the blood of Christ. God chose them
and he saved them. And now they're glorified together
with him. That's who they are. Second, who are these people?
They're arrayed in white. They've been made righteous.
They got palms in their hands. It's a symbol of peace. They've
been made righteous. They're at peace with God. Who
are they? Where'd they come from? These
are all people who know God saved them. Look at verse 10. And they're
all crying with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God,
which sitteth upon the throne and under the land. Everybody
in glory knows they don't deserve to be there. That they didn't
deserve God's salvation. Nothing that they did could have
ever made them worthy of God's grace to them. That's why they're
praising the Lord. Because they didn't deserve God's
grace to be as gracious to them anyway. They deserve God's wrath.
But he saved them by the doing and dying of his son. He gave
his son the wrath that they deserve so that they could be saved,
they could be there. They're praising the Lord because salvation's
of the Lord. He saved them. You know, if someone
gets to glory and they got there by what they've done, they got
there by their works, they got there by their obedience to law
and so forth, then they're gonna be praising themselves, aren't
they? Nobody there's praising self. They're all praising the
Lord because he saved them. It's the testimony of everyone
in heaven without exception. He saved me. The Apostle Paul. This is just one example. The
Apostle Paul and the thief on the cross have the exact same
testimony. All of the preaching that the
Apostle Paul did, all of the writing of scripture that he
did all the traveling that he did in preaching, all the sacrifices
that he made to do that, all the beatings that he took, the
scourgings, the shipwrecks, the, you know, finally he martyred
for the cause of Christ. And there's a thief on the cross
who never did one, one thing for God. He never served God's
church. He never washed him by his feet.
He never went out and witnessed and, and gave and did all these
things that the Apostle Paul did. Everything that the Apostle
Paul did in the service of God, and he did, he loved God, he
served God, this is from his heart, this is what he wanted
to do and he did it. Didn't make him any better than
the thief on the cross who never did one of them things. Because
salvation is in Christ. They're both perfectly righteous,
equally loved and accepted and saved in Christ. It's all because of what God
did for him. Nobody deserves, nobody is good enough and does
anything that makes it so that we deserve for the father to
choose me out of the lump of Adam's fallen race, to reach
down and just get me a brand out of the fire and pluck me
out of it. Nobody deserves that. Nobody deserves for the son of
God to be made flesh and die in my place. taking the punishment
that I deserve. Nobody deserves for him to do
that. Nobody deserves for the Holy Spirit, he blows where he
listeth. Nobody deserves for the Holy
Spirit to blow and give me faith in Christ and dwell in my heart.
Nobody deserves that. And that's what these people
are saying. We never did deserve the least of God's mercies. We
didn't deserve God's grace. What we deserved is God's wrath,
but God saved me. And that's why they're saying
salvation unto the Lord. They're rendering, just like
in our Sunday school lesson this morning, they're rendering unto
God the things that are God's. Salvation unto God. He saved
me. And that's why they're worshiping.
Verse 11, all the angels stood round about the throne and about
the elders and the four beasts and fell down before the throne
on their faces and they worshiped God. They worshiped God by rendering
unto God the things that are God, saying amen. Blessing, that
belongs to God. Glory, that belongs to God. Wisdom,
Thanksgiving, that belongs to God. Honor and power and might,
that belongs to God. Be unto our God forever and ever,
amen. That's worship. It's rendering
unto God the things that are God. It's calling it what it
is. God saved me. Everybody in heaven,
that's their testimony. God saved me. Now, thirdly, who
are these people? Where'd they come from? Well,
they're a tribe people. Look at verse 14. And I said
unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation, and they've washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the land. Now,
every believer is gonna be a tribe person. One time or another,
we're gonna go through great trials of our faith. I mean,
I grant you, it does seem like some people go through more than
others, but every believer, their faith is gonna be tried. It's
got to be tried. This is one thing that the Lord
promised his people in the world, tribulation. In this world, you
shall have tribulation. And I know we don't like it.
We don't like suffering trials. The flesh is always gonna buck
against that. The flesh is never going to like
it. How can this flesh like pain?
How can it like suffering? How can our minds like doubt
and worry and fear? But you know what? For the believer
now, trials are good for us. They really are. When God sends
us a trial, you know one thing he always teaches us is our dependence
on him. Trials teach us how little we
can control. And how little we can control
means nothing. We can't do anything without
Him. I mean, we say that, and then
the Lord puts us flat on our back and really teaches us that,
I can't do anything without Him. Trials teach us how weak we are.
And only when we are weak are we strong. Because when the Lord
teaches us our weakness, we lean on the faithfulness and the power
of our Lord. It's shameful that this is true,
but it's true. The Lord has to knock us off
our feet often before we're worshiping. But we keep learning this lesson
over and over and over again. Tell you something else about
trials. They give us something to look forward to. Trials make
us willing to leave this place. Look at Acts chapter 14. You
know, this world is ruined by sin, isn't it? We're forced to
deal with this sin nature that we carry around with us, and
it's just awful. It ruins and mars everything. But that being said, especially
to the believer, there's a lot of sweetness in this world, isn't
there? There is. I mean, everything
that's in this world, God made and gave to us for our enjoyment. Time with your family. Now, when
are you ever going to say, yeah, I've had enough time with my
family. I just, you know, time with your family. Enjoying a
beautiful sunrise or sunset. Just being able to, maybe not
today, but in the cool of the evening. I don't doubt it's going
to be cool this evening, but you can go out and enjoy a walk.
Jay and I don't walk as far as we used to. Or as often as we
used to, every once in a while, we'd take a walk around the block,
and we'll hold hands. Now, I'm telling you, I like
that. I mean, what are you going to say? I've had enough of that.
But trials are what makes us willing to leave this place.
And you've got to go through them. As much as we don't like
them now, you're going to have to go through them before we
go there. Let me show you that. Acts 14,
verse 21. And when they had preached the
gospel in that city and had taught many, they returned again to
Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, places where they had preached
before. They went back and preached the same message, confirming
the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in
the faith and that we must, this is not optional, we must, through
much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. And that's
the way they entered the kingdom of God. That's the way if we're
going to enter the kingdom of God, you and I are going to do it
too. It's going to be through tribulation. Here's another good
thing about trials. Look at Romans chapter five. You know, the, the apostles went
and they exhorted them to continue in the faith. Well, the Lord
uses trials to strengthen our faith. Romans five verse three. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given to us. Now, Paul's not saying there
that we glory in tribulations, like, oh, I love this suffering
and this pain and this trial. We don't glory in tribulations,
but the believer sure does glory in the result of them, doesn't
he? when they teach us patience. We learn a little patience. It
gives us more hope in Christ. We glory in what they teach us,
don't we? Then look at 2 Corinthians chapter
one. Here's something that every believer
is interested in. Being more useful to our brethren.
Trials make us more useful to our brethren. 2 Corinthians one
verse three. Blessed be God. Even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God
of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation. God
comforts, he puts us in this trial and he comforts us in it
that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. When the
Lord puts you through a trial and he comforts you, he brings
you out of it. And then you see one of your
brothers or sisters going through the exact same thing. Boy, don't
your heart break for them? I know exactly what you're going
through. Let's talk about it. Let me tell
you how God comforted me. Let's talk about, it makes you
useful. Then look at 1 Peter chapter
four. Here's another good thing about trials. Since trials are
the lot of every believer, We can rejoice in trials because
those trials are the evidence that we are the sons of God.
1 Peter 4 verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened to you. Don't think it's strange when
God sends you this trial and it's fiery, it's hard, it burns,
it hurts you, but rejoice in as much as you're partakers of
Christ's sufferings. that when his glory should be
revealed, ye may be glad with exceeding joy. And if you be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. You ought to be
happy about that. For the spirit of glory and of
God resteth upon you. On their part, he's evil spoken
of, but on your part, he's glorified. Somebody see you going through
that trial and say, I'll see. They'll say, see, God doesn't
love him. He wouldn't be going through
that if he really believed God. but you glorify God that he sent
this to me because I'm a son to teach me and give me more
patience and enable me to be more of a help and an encouragement
to my brethren. But I think this is worth pointing
out verse 15, let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a
thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffers a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on his behalf.
Don't be glorifying God because you're going through a trial
and people treating you because you've just been a horse's hind
end. That's not a trial sent by God. That's us getting what
we deserve. This is trial sent by God. You can rejoice in those
things because it shows you're a son, not a bastard. That's what the writer of the
Hebrews said. So anyway, all these that John saw, they all,
every one of them came through great tribulation. Every one
of them there, they were tried. I mean, they were tried hard.
It was a fiery trial. They suffered. But that suffering's
over now, isn't it? And that's helpful to us. As
we go through these trials and things that the Lord sends us,
it won't always be that way. There, that number that John
saw, not one of them was crying. Not one of them was in pain.
Can you imagine that Bill? Living never in pain, never in
pain again. Not one of them is afraid of
anything. Not one of them. Because they
did suffer, but the Lord brought them through it. The Lord delivered
them from them and he wiped away their tears with tenderness. He wiped away their tears. So
all that's left for them is joy. They forgot what it felt like
to suffer, like trials, like they did when they were here
on earth. All right, fourthly, who is this great number now
that no man can number? Who are these people? Where'd
they come from? Every one of them had been washed white as
snow in the blood of Christ. At the end of verse 14, the elder
says they came out of great tribulation and they've washed their robes.
and made them white in the blood of the lamb. They washed them,
the elder says. Now, here's what I know. Christ is the one who's washed
his people from their sins. He's the one who washed us in
his blood. He did that, washed us and made us white as snow
by the blood of his sacrifice. The blood of Christ's sacrifice
has left all of his people with no trace of sin. Not a single
trace. Perfect. They're perfect. They
don't have a sin nature. They don't commit sin. They don't
want to commit sin. That's just hard for sinners
like us to lay hold on, isn't it? Because all we know is sin. Christ did that for his people.
But here, the elder says, they washed their robes in the blood
of the lamb. They made their robes white in
the blood of the lamb. Now, what's he talking about
there? He's talking about faith in Christ. When the elder says
they washed their robes in the blood of Christ, he's talking
about faith. He's talking about putting all
of your hope of cleansing, all of your hope of righteousness,
all of your hope of salvation, acceptance with the Father. He's
putting all of that on Christ alone. I don't want any other
hope but Him. That's saving faith. Saving faith
doesn't have any other hope but Christ. You know, I doubt a lot
of things. I mean, I do. I doubt a lot of
things, but here's one thing I never doubt. The only hope
of salvation I or anybody else has is Christ. He's our only
hope. Saving faith reaches out and
lays hold on Christ. Just like that woman with the
issue of blood. She went through some effort here, didn't she?
She crawled, Down, you know, around everybody's feet and got
up, and she reached out and touched the hem of his garment. That's
saving faith. She did that because she believed
Christ had the power to make her whole. Saving faith lays
hold on Christ and plunges in head first. Just no reserve. Plunge in, trusting Christ. Faith
actively believes Christ. You know, this world and our
old man, they're constantly trying to get us to not believe Christ,
aren't they? Constantly trying to get us to trust in ourselves.
Faith actively says, nope, I'm not doing that. I believe Christ. Faith actively lays hold on Christ
and won't let go. Now I know this. I mean, Dan,
if I know anything, I know that my, the security of my salvation
is that Christ is holding me in his hand and no man is able
to pluck them out of my hand. His father's in, no, I know that.
I mean, I know the security of my salvation in no way depends
upon what I'm doing, but I'm still hanging on for all I'm
worth. Faith lays hold on Christ and refuses to let go. And those
in heaven, those who got there, they were active in earth and
their faith in Christ. They believed Him. They trusted
Him. Now it was faith in Christ that made them completely sinless. Christ made them sinless and
faith reaches out and lays hold on that. It was Christ that made
them fit to be in the presence of the Father. And they're sinless. Christ made them. If they weren't,
they couldn't be standing there in the presence of God, could
they? If they were not made sinless, they'd be destroyed. Christ did
that for them. Let me show you that in Psalm
24. Christ did it for them, but now
they lay hold on him by faith. Psalm 24. Verse three. Now who shall ascend into the
hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? Who is it that can ascend into
the very presence of God? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity nor sworn
deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
He'll receive salvation from the Lord. He'll receive righteousness
from the God of his salvation. Because he's earned it. He's
earned it by having clean hands and a pure heart, by never lifting
up his soul into vanity nor swearing deceitfully. Now you know good
and well the only person that's describing is the Lord Jesus
Christ, don't you? He's the only one that ever earned
a righteousness, a perfect righteousness by his obedience under the law.
He's the only one that didn't have a sin nature. He's the only
one who never swore deceitfully, who never said anything that
wasn't true, who always pleased his father. He shall receive
salvation and righteousness from the God of his salvation because
he earned it. He earned it. But look at verse
six. This is the generation, and that
word is description. This is also the description
of them that seek him, that seek thy face, oh God of Jacob. However it is that Christ is
right now in glory, That's the way we are. That's the way His
people are right now, made just like Him. And those people who
are in glory, they've been made just like Christ. Now Christ
did that for them. He made them like Him, but they did reach
out and lay hold on Him by faith, didn't they? And they're in the
presence of God. If I would try to describe that, I mean, I don't know, I can't,
is it wrong to say I sound like an idiot? I mean, I don't know
what I'm talking about. They're in the presence of God
and they're accepted. They're worshiping him. You know
why? Christ made them worthy. Christ
made them worthy. Look at Colossians chapter one. Colossians 1, verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. Now, right now on earth, all
of God's people Everyone who believes Christ everyone who's
been born again every one of them right now They're fit to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light right
now. They are here on earth they are and with this body I Called
a clay prison something you cannot escape this flesh, but when this
flesh finally dies I That new man who's been made meet, fit
to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, will
immediately go into the presence of the father and worship him
perfectly. There, we're gonna be liking
perfect body and soul because he made us meet here, fit to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. What
grace, I mean what grace and what power What power to, by
faith, enable us to lay hold on Christ and make us sinful
men and women now, fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in glory. Fit right now. That's who they
are. All right, here's the last thing
about these people. John sees this number that no
man can number. Now, where'd they come from?
Who are they? They are an eternally blessed
people. Verse 15 says, therefore, they
before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
should dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sunlight on them nor any
heat. For the land which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them and shall lead them unto fountains and the living
fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." You know, heaven is a place of rest, isn't it?
A place of rest. But it's not a place of laziness.
It's not a place of inactivity. The people there are serving
the Lord, day and night. They're serving Him all of the
time. Now they're serving Him. What all are they doing? I mean,
I know they worship. I know they sing his praises.
I know that. But what else are they doing?
I don't know. All I know is that this says they're serving him
day and night. So they're busy. They're active,
aren't they? But there's some things they're
not doing. They're not hungering anymore. Oh, they hungered here
on Earth physically. Some of them suffered hunger,
and all of them were hungry spiritually. I hunger and thirst after righteousness. I hunger for it, but not there. Christ feeds them. They're in
these white robes. They're made perfectly righteous.
They're not hungering for righteousness anymore. And they're not thirsting. Now they thirsted here, didn't
they? Some of them physically, they thirsted, and all of them
spiritually thirsted. As the heart panteth after the
water brooks, so my heart pants after thee. I thirst to be in
His presence. I thirst for His, to be with
Him, to worship Him. I thirst for it. They're not
gonna thirst anymore. Christ's gonna fill them, leads
them to living fountains of waters. We mentioned earlier how they
all suffered trials. Every last one of them, they
suffered trials, but no more, no more. That's over. And there's
no more crying, no more crying. because the Lord has wiped away
the tears from their eyes. It's not like we're constantly
crying, remembering our sins and our failures, or remembering
the things that we're ashamed of, and remembering the sufferings
of this life, and the Lord's always wiping our eyes. No, once
is enough. He wipes our eyes, and we'll
have no more reason to cry. No more reason. No more sorrow. No more goodbyes. No more funerals. No more crying. All of the consequences of sin
are gonna be gone. No more pain, no more sin, no
more separation from God, no more heartache, no more death. All the effects of sin are gone
forever. And in closing, look back with
me to Isaiah chapter 51. Isaiah prophesied of this and
told us this would happen. Verse 11, Isaiah 51. Therefore the redeemed of the
Lord shall return and come with singing and desiring, and everlasting
joy shall be upon their head. Now you know he's not talking
about that place over there in the Middle East. He's talking
about his presence in glory. Everlasting joy shall be upon
their head. They shall obtain gladness and
joy and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Now I'll close the
message just like I closed the Sunday school lesson. That tells
us about the glory of the future of every believer. That tells
us what every believer is going to be doing eternally in glory. I want to start learning the
words now. I don't want to wait till the end to start praising
the Lord. I don't want to wait till the end to start worshiping
Him. I want to do it now. How about you? I hope so. All right, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for this precious portion of Your Word that gives us a glimpse
of the glory that awaits us. when your purpose for us on this
earth is done. It's just a small glimpse, but
it's a glimpse of the glory of our Savior. Father, we're so
thankful for such a good hope through grace. We're so thankful
that you would take rotten, hell-deserving sinners and by your sacrifice,
by your blood, by your power, make us fit to be in your presence. That you'd translate us, you'd
transfer us out of the kingdom of darkness, the darkness, the
spiritual darkness that our father Adam plunged us into, and that
you'd transfer us into the kingdom of light. Oh, how we thank you. And father, there's a big portion
of us that that praise, hasten, Lord, the day, hasten, Lord,
the day. But until that's your will to
bring us there, Father, cause us to be able to worship you
here, to sing your praises here, to preach Christ here, to be
a help to your people, those that don't believe that they
might hear the gospel and believe, and those that do believe you,
that we might be a constant help and an encouragement one to another.
Father, hear us for Christ's sake, we pray, amen. All right, Chris. All right, in closing, if you
would take your hymnal and turn it to page 40. Great is thy faithfulness. And let's be standing as we close,
please. Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassion
they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever
will be. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath
provided. ? Faithfulness, Lord unto me ?
? Summer and winter and springtime and harvest ? ? Sun, moon and
stars in their courses above ? in manifold witness to thy great
faithfulness, mercy, and love. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Pardon for sin and peace that
endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer
and to guide. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand
beside. Great is thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercy
I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me.