Well, we come to the passage
that Peter read for us earlier, the end of chapter 20 and into
chapter 21. Let me remind you that chapter
20, that we looked at two weeks ago, has shown us a perspective
of the history of the New Testament age. Basically, from Christ accomplishing
redemption at Calvary and returning to eternal glory, Satan has been
restrained. In those verses in the first
part of chapter 20, Satan has been restrained. He's been shut
up with chains. The symbolism is that of restraint. His liberty to do what he wanted,
as he had done in Old Testament days, in deception of the nations
regarding the truth of God, that was restrained in the New Testament
age. a symbolical thousand years,
I think literally, more like a literal eighteen hundred and...
no, sorry, nineteen hundred and eighty years, literally, something
like that, anyway. He's restrained, and during that
time, you know, remember the seals of the seven-sealed book
in chapter five of Revelation, the first of the seals was opened,
and a white horse was summoned forth by Christ, because it's
Him that had the power to open, He was the one who was worthy
to open the seals. And the very first one He sends
forth is the white horse, and the white horse is the horse
of God's gospel truth going out into the world, and having a
wide effect. When you think that white horse,
not only is the true Church called out of the darkness of sin, and
of the lack of the knowledge of God, into the marvellous light
of the knowledge of God, that light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But Christendom, wider
Christendom, I know it ultimately ends up showing to be anti-Christendom,
as we saw in chapter 17, but nevertheless, that which calls
itself Christian, that which affects the morals and the justice
system of the civilized world, is the truth of God. And it's
because of this white horse going forth. And this is because Satan
was restrained in his ability to deceive the whole of humanity. There were many that were not
deceived. There were even some called into the Kingdom of God
by the preaching of the Gospel, out of the kingdoms of what the
scripture calls Gog and Magog. You see it there in verse 8 for
example. It means the heathen nations of the world where there
has been no influence of the Christian gospel. And through
missionary work and others, what did God say? Who would form his
kingdom? People from every tribe and tongue
and kindred and language. Every one of them, without exception.
There are even people from those godless, unbelieving nations,
heathen nations, that are called into the kingdom of God. But
just before the end of time, we read there in chapter 20,
verse 3, After all those things are fulfilled, he must be loosed
for a little season. After he's been locked up for
a symbolical thousand years, not to deceive the nations, he
must be set free for a little season. I've said many times
that I believe these years in which we're living now, maybe,
I don't know, in the last 30 years or so, it becomes more
and more intense day by day, but that this might well be that
little season of which Scripture speaks. Why do intelligent people,
you might ask, fall for this deception of Satan? Satan says,
there is no God, there isn't any justice of God, you don't
need to bother yourself about things like that, there probably
isn't, don't bother about that. Why do so many intelligent people
seem to fall for the deception of Satan? Because that's what
it is, the scripture tells us. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse
14. Some of you know it well. It
says this, for the natural man, man as he is, receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God. Why not? They're foolishness
to him. Neither can he know them. Why
are they foolishness to him? Because those things of the Spirit
of God are spiritually discerned. And who is it that grants spiritual
discernment? Ye are saved through grace by
faith. sorry, by faith, by grace through
faith, and that faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. This spiritual sight is the gift
of God, and He gives that sight to His people. has unbelief in
this world, has deception regarding the true God, oh people believe
in gods of all sorts, they even call them the Christian God,
but they're false, but has unbelief and deception regarding God ever
been greater than it is in these days? I don't believe so. Satan's
aim is to gather the deceived nations for war against what
looks like God's kingdom today, against Christendom. That's what
we've been seeing in Revelation. And what's the evidence that
I think we're in that season now? Well, practically speaking,
there are no more borders between countries. You know how borders
came about? Tower of Babel. The people were
all of one language. They sought to build a tower
to get to heaven without the justice of God being satisfied.
That's the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. And God came down
and confounded the languages, and the nation-states with their
strict borders were formed. And that lasted for thousands
of years. The Old Testament empires grew up as Satan again and again
tried to re-establish a worldwide globalist kingdom. But God frustrated
it again and again. But now, in the days in which
we live, this globalist, godless empire seems to be advancing
apace. Practically, there are no more
borders now. Are there? Western Christianized society
is overrun with anti-Christian culture. You say, oh, that's
racism. Well, you call it what you like. It's what the Word
of God says. God's two witnesses that we saw in chapter 11, God's
two witnesses, his ministers and his people, are lying dead
in the streets of the great city. They're lying dead because this
world, this kingdom of Satan, has killed them. Symbolically,
it's symbolical, compared with what the Church has been in the
past, what it was 200 years ago. Little groups like we are, meeting
in a home, lying dead in the streets for all practical purposes,
it seems to me like we're in this little season. It seems
like the imminent destruction of the Kingdom of God is at hand. But look, They're encompassed
around, it says in chapter 20 and verse 9. They went up, all
these forces of Satan went up on the breadth of the earth and
encompassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city. Seems
like the kingdom of God, the people of God, are about to be
devoured and swallowed up. But look. They hadn't reckoned
on who they were dealing with. Whose people are the people of
God? They're, in the name, the people
of God. God is sovereign over all. And
it says in the second half of verse 9, fire came down from
God out of heaven and devoured them. It's symbolism, it's all
symbolism, but it all speaks of the triumph of God and his
kingdom. Many people will object, many
intellectuals will object that surely this is all medieval nonsense
that you're speaking. How on earth can you expect people
to believe this in this day? Surely it's all contrary to physical
appearances. I don't know if you saw the other
day, but this new telescope out in space a million miles from
Earth, and it's taking pictures of billions of galaxies, we've
got such a massive universe, we've got billions of galaxies,
we've got such advancing knowledge. How on earth can you talk about
things that are in this Word of God? It's because God is over
all. And I'll tell you, Satan is an
exceptionally good deceiver of people. He's an exceptionally
good deceiver. But his destiny, you know what
his destiny is, verse 10, in the lake of fire, that's where
he's going. The eternal judgment of God,
final judgment. So let me think just for a moment,
and I know people don't like to think about this, but I want
to spend some time thinking about the judgment of God, the final
judgment. It's in verses 11 to 15. where
John, in his vision, sees a great white throne and him that sat
on it. He sees God on his throne, God
in his triune persons, God who is the eternal God, the source
of all life, the one over all, and Christ who manifests God. He sees them on the throne, and
the sight is so awesome that the earth and the heaven flee
away, and no place was found for them, no place to hide, they
were seeking to hide. and a judgment's coming, and
all the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books
were opened. Symbolical, no literal books,
but the truth about everything that we are as sinners, and all
the sin we've committed, is opened before God. And another book
was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead, those
who have died, were judged out of those things which were written
in the books, according to their works. Why must sin be judged
and punished? You know that's the lie of Satan.
The lie of Satan is that sin doesn't need to be judged and
punished. This is a silly notion that we've become more sophisticated
and moved on from that. God doesn't, there's no God to
judge sin and to punish sin. That's Satan's lie. The fact
is, the word of God, which is the truth of God, come down from
heaven. and ministered via those that
he chose to write it, his prophets and his apostles and his son
himself. He sent down his son himself
from heaven to reveal heavenly things and his word says this,
Isaiah 34 and verse 2, the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations. God who made all things And you
say, oh well, yeah, we don't need to bother about that because
God didn't make all things. All things evolved, didn't they?
Look at the television. Look at everything that we hear all of
the clever people telling us. There wasn't any creation. No,
it all happened. If you believe that, you believe
in fairy stories. That is absolutely untrue. God
created all things. Things cannot possibly put themselves
together. Why do so many clever people
believe that things put themselves together? Because they did not
like to retain God in their knowledge. That's what Romans chapter 1
says. They didn't like to retain God in their knowledge. but they
can't avoid it, they can't duck it. God is true, there is no
other explanation for life. God created all things, and the
indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, on all peoples,
and His fury upon all their armies. Psalm 7 verse 11 says, God is
angry with the wicked every day. Who are the wicked? Oh, people
that do wicked things. I'll tell you who the wicked
are, as far as the judgment of God is concerned. The wicked
are those who will refuse to believe in the Son of God. Those
who refuse to believe the testimony of God. What must we do to do
the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. In Romans chapter 1, we
see the indictment against humanity. Verse 18 of Romans chapter 1,
for the wrath of God. Do you know what the wrath of
God is? It's the holiness of God set in the context of the
sin of mankind. It's that balancing justice of
God. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
hold the truth because they know it in unrighteousness, because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them, the creation
all around and in us. For God has showed it to them,
for the invisible things of Him, of God, You can't see them with
physical eyes, but the invisible things of Him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen. How? Being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. Where
does that leave us? Without excuse. Without excuse. It's not your intellectual superiority
and cleverness that gives you the right to say, oh, I'll choose
not to believe God. You're without excuse. They are
without excuse. Could that be clearer? There
it is. They are without excuse. This is the indictment of God
against the society all around. I'll just spend a moment in chapter
3. Look at chapter 3 of Romans.
Verse 10. This is the charge sheet against
all of us by nature. As it is written, there is none
righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. True, isn't it? They're all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat, the things they
say, is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes. What's the fear of God? The beginning
of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now
we know that what things soever the law saith, the law of God,
the righteous standard of God, we know that what things soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped. What's your excuse? Come on,
you're standing before the court of divine justice, and you're
a sinner, and what are you going to say? Every mouth may be stopped. For there is nothing, there is
no excuse, there without excuse, every mouth may be stopped, and
all the world, that's you and me, may become guilty before
God. Therefore, by the things that
we try to do, the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified
in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin, that I'm guilty before God. He is of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity, and all sin must be balanced with the wrath
of divine holiness. as when Jesus bore his people's
sins on the cross. Have you ever thought about how
shocking this is? I'm struggling for words. But
God's hatred of sin and his absolute necessity to balance all sin
with his holiness and his wrath meant that His Son, His dearly
beloved Son, God Himself as a man, God incarnate, that when He was
made the sins of His people, when He who knew no sin was made
the sins of His people, the wrath of God, this very same judgment
of God, fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore the sins of His
people in His own body on the cursed tree. If God's justice
must punish God incarnate, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, loaded
with the sins of his people, made sin for us, if God's justice
must do that for sin, surely all sinners outside of Christ
must bear divine punishment. Look at verse 11 of chapter 20
of Revelation. I saw a great white throne. It's all symbolical language,
but the truth of this is, The truth of this is that there is
a dreadful throne of God, and the one that sat on it is Almighty
God, from whom heaven and earth flee away. This is, again, symbolism. The sight is so awesomely terrifying. And these heaven and earth, you
know, as inanimate objects fleeing away from God, trying to find
somewhere to hide, but there's nowhere to hide. And here's all
that have ever lived. I saw the dead. They're not dead
any longer. They're raised to consciousness before the throne
of God. The greatest of them, the kings, the rulers, The great
potentates, the rich ones, right the way down to the smallest
of them. The poorest and the smallest, they all stand before
God. And the books were open, not
literal books, but God is infinite and nothing can be hid from Him. all the record of what we are
as sinners, it was 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 were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. That's from Verse 5, the rest
of the believers, it says in verse 4, they go straight, this
day you will be with me in paradise, said Jesus to the thief on the
cross. They go straight into the presence of God. To be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord, but those who
die outside of Christ, they live not again until the thousand
years, the symbolical thousand years, were finished. This is
the first resurrection, and they're all raised for the judgment.
They saw them all stand before the throne of God, and they judged
according to their works. They judged according to the
standard of law against which they have lived their lives and
performed as the creatures of God. 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. all assembled before the throne
of judgment at the end. It doesn't just say it here,
it says it again and again throughout the Scriptures. Old Testament,
Gospels, Jesus said a lot in Matthew 25 about this. We must
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. It says that
twice in the New Testament. In Hebrews 9 verse 27, it says
that you have an appointment. I have an appointment. We all
have an appointment. It's just a question of time.
And the time is determined by God. For my times are in his
hands, says the scripture. And it says this, it is appointed
to man to die once. And then what? The judgment.
In your consciousness, outside of Christ, you die and the next
thing you're aware of is standing before this judgment throne of
God. And the standard for the judgment is the books, the records
that are kept, versus divine law. Works versus the righteousness
of God. And as we read in Romans 3.19,
all the world is found guilty before God. Found guilty. Debtors to divine justice. Deserving
of wrath. Deserving of that retribution
to balance the offense, it must all be balanced, it must all
receive its double in terms of the justice of God. In verse
14, death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, i.e. those
that were held by death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
These are serious words, aren't they? These really are serious,
this is the Word of God that is speaking to us here. Verse
5, they're all judged worthy of hell, those ones that died
outside of Christ, judged worthy of hell. It's symbolism, but
it's horrendous because sin is horrendous to God. They're all
judged in accordance with the books of works, but there's another
book opened, there's another book opened. which is the book
of life, verse 12. Another book was opened which
is the book of life. Whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. In verse
15, that's the book of life, the book of the names of the
chosen of God, the elect of God, the Israel of God, the people
of God, the ones that He chose out of all humanity before the
beginning of time. So that when the fall came, he
had his people down all history, and he preserved them. And how
were they judged? Jeremiah 50. Look at this. You
know that's a horrendous scene of judgment, isn't it? Of all
being judged according to their works. But Jeremiah chapter 50
and verse 20. In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for.
What day is it talking about? It's talking about, you see,
there's a historical context, but in actual fact, this is God
speaking about this final judgment. And in those days of that final
judgment, in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of the
Israel of God shall be sought for. What's the Israel of God?
We're not talking about that country in the Middle East and
all the turmoil that's there at the moment. We're talking
about the people of God, who believe Him, who trust Christ,
who look to Christ alone for their salvation and their eternal
security. He says, the sins, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, that against which the justice
of God would judge them, and there shall be found none. And
the sins of Judah, another name for the people of God, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve. Who are the people of God? The
people of God are those who are the children of Abraham by faith,
not by physical descent, but by faith. The people who have
the same faith that Abraham had. God's children by faith. You
can see it in Galatians chapter 3. And verse 7, know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, do you have the faith of God's
elect? Do you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Then you are
the children of Abraham. You say, but only Jews are the
children of Abraham. No, according to the scriptures,
they which are of faith, the same faith as Abraham, are the
children of Abraham. They're the true Israel of God. Why are they the true Israel
of God? Because Galatians 3 goes on to tell us, cursed is everyone.
who does not continue in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them. So what are we going to do? Go
on to verse 13 of Galatians chapter 3. But Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, God himself, In human flesh, Christ has redeemed us,
has paid the purchase price, redeemed us, satisfied the debt
to the justice of God. He's redeemed us from the curse
of the law. What's the curse of the law?
The soul that sins, it shall die. That's the curse of the
law. He has redeemed us, His people, from the curse of the
law. How has He redeemed us from the curse of the law? by being
made a curse for us, by being made a curse as our substitute,
by being made a curse in our place, that we don't have to
bear that curse because He has already borne it. It's like the
fire in the forest. Do you know the safest place
in a forest fire? We read a lot with the climate
zealots about forest fires becoming more common and so on and so
forth. Do you know what the safest place
is in a raging forest fire? It's where the fire's been and
has gone out, because it won't burn there again. And if you
stand where Christ has borne the justice of God for your sin
in your place, that justice of God is not going to fall on you
anymore, because there is no more material to burn, for Christ
has burned it all up. He is the Lamb, as Revelation
13 verse 8 says. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. The justice of God is satisfied.
You're standing on burnt ground. So for the multitude of every
tribe and tongue and kindred, which are the people of God,
for the multitude who, as Jeremiah says, are loved with an everlasting
love, for the objects of divine grace, you say, well, this isn't
fair, is it? Why punish people for being what
they can't help being? Well, let me just respond with
this. There's an open door. There is. There's an open door.
Look, turn over a page in your Bibles to Revelation 22 and verse
17. You see, you're saying, well,
I can't believe this because I might not be one of the elect.
You tell me anything in this verse that keeps you out. The
Spirit and the bride say, come. The church tells you to come
to Christ. And let him that heareth say,
come, come. And let him that is athirst,
come. Athirst for what? The life of
God. The forgiveness of God. Acceptance
with God. Athirst for the truth of God. Let him that is athirst do what?
Come, come. Just come to Christ. And whosoever
will. Do you will? Do you want to be
in God's kingdom? Whosoever will, Let him take
of the water of life freely. Let him come. There's nothing
keeping you out. If there was no other text, you're
without excuse. But listen, there's plenty more.
Isaiah 55 verse 1. Ho, everyone that thirsts, come
to the water. Come, buy without money and without
price. There, open door. Nothing keeping
you away. The election of God isn't keeping
you away. If you hear it, what do you do? Come. Come. How do
you come? By face. By looking. by trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 11, verse 28,
Jesus himself, the man, said this. He said, my yoke is easy,
my burden is light. He said, come unto me, all you
who labor under heavy laden. With what? With sin. And with
your knowledge that you must stand before the judgment seat
of Christ. If you're heavy and laden and burdened with sin,
ho, come to me, all that labor and are heavy laden with sin,
and what? I, Jesus says, I will give you
rest for your souls. I'll take that burden away from
you. And he has on the cross. In John chapter six, turn over
to John chapter six and verse 47, look, Verily, verily, says
Jesus, I say unto you, truly, truly, I say to you, he that
believeth on me has everlasting life. What, is that all? Yes,
that's all. He that believes on me has everlasting
life. He that trusts me and seeks to
follow me. Go over a chapter, chapter seven
of John, verse 37. He said, there in Jerusalem,
in the midst of that feast, in the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
for what? If any man thirsts for righteousness,
for acceptance with God, for the forgiveness of sins, if any
man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly, out of
his inner being, shall flow rivers of living water. This is the
life of God in the soul of man. If you come repenting of sin
and believing on Christ for salvation, trust and follow him. and you'll
show that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, because
as Paul said to the Thessalonians, we are bound to give thanks to
God always for you, beloved of God, for God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. How do I know you're chosen of
God? You believe the gospel of grace. By belief, by trust, by
following and obeying the gospel call, Saints make their calling
and election sure, that's what Peter says. You rest confident
that your name is in that blessed book of the Lamb, that you will
not hear the curse. In Matthew 25, in Matthew 25
and verse 41, Let me just turn there, Matthew
25 and verse 41. Then shall he say unto them,
he's talking about dividing the sheep from the goats. He says
to the sheep, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. But to those who
are on his left hand, the goats, he says, depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
If you follow Satan's deception, if you shrug all of this off,
as many do, you know, it's been going on right since the foundation
of the world, since the fall. Hear what Job says. Job is probably
the oldest book in the Bible. In Job 21 verse 14 and verse
15, he talks about people who disbelieve God. He says, they
say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge
of thy ways. What is the Almighty that we
should serve him? And what profit should we have
if we pray unto him? But if you hear and believe the
testimony of God's Son from heaven, you will not rest until you're
certain that your name is in that Lamb's Book of Life. Because
judgment is certain, and judgment is coming soon. In John chapter
5 and verse 28 and 29, we read this. marvel not at this for the hour
is coming this is Jesus he says this marvel not at this don't
be amazed for the hour is coming in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice God's voice and shall come forth
They that have done good, and what is it to do good? It's to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto the resurrection of life.
And they that have done evil, what is it to do evil? It's to
not believe on the Son of God. Unto the resurrection of damnation.
So what awaits the sheep? That's pretty severe, isn't it? And don't worry, we're coming
back to spend a lot more time in the next two or three weeks
until we've finished Revelation. But I want to just finish by
lifting your spirit, believer, with chapter 21 and the first
few verses that were read to us earlier on. That judgment
is finished and now in John's vision. This is eternal reality
that's revealed to him. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away. This, that we see now, will be
rolled up, it says, as a scroll. Just like you roll up a scroll
of paper and put it away. God will roll up this creation.
Oh, it's too big for God. God's so much bigger than anything
we can see. The first heaven and the first
earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. Why is this
creation being rolled up? Romans 8.22 tells us that the
whole creation groans with longing to be delivered from the bondage
of corruption, the corruption of sin in this world. It longs
for it to come so that there'd be a new creation. This is a
vision of a new creation. There's no trace of the old creation
left. And look what else. There is
no more sea. What is the sea? Do you remember
chapter 13 and verse 1? John saw a beast. coming up out
of the sea. What was the sea? It was symbolical. It was symbolical of the turmoil
of sinful humanity. The beast is the kingdom of Antichrist,
the kingdom of Satan, coming up out of the sea of sinful humanity. But there's no more sea of sinful
humanity. What else is the sea? It's a
picture of that which separates us. We've got deer, Believing
friends in Australia and the United States, and we're separated
by an awful lot of sea. There's an awful lot of sea between
us, but it's going to be taken away. God's people are not going
to be separated from one another. That sea is going to go. There's a new heavens and a new
earth, as we read at the start, in which dwells righteousness.
It's as promised in Isaiah 65 verse 17. Even there, 800 years
before Christ came, God said, behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth. This isn't a new idea. There's
a new Jerusalem. A new Jerusalem. Remember, this
is vision. New Jerusalem is the church of
God. It's the bride of Christ. It
comes down as a bride adorned for her husband. This is the
redeemed people of God. The multitude which no man can
number. I saw Much people in heaven,
says John in chapter 19 of Revelation, verse 1. This is that people
of God. This is Zion, city of our God. Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God. It's what Galatians 4.26 calls
Jerusalem, not that pile of bricks and stones in the Middle East.
But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother
of us all. It's that city that was sought
by believers from Abraham. Abraham looked for a city. He
came out of his birthplace and he went to the place that God
told him to go to. And he looked for a city, not
a physical city in this world, but a city which has foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. He came to the heavenly Jerusalem. You're not come to Mount Sinai,
says Hebrews 12, you come to the heavenly Jerusalem. A city
pictures a place of permanent residence, with many people,
of security and safety. And here's a bride, which is
that same people, made ready and adorned with righteousness,
which again we saw in chapter 19. Remember, these are different
perspectives of exactly the same thing. In electing, redeeming,
regenerating grace, coming from her father's house, out of heaven,
The Lord comes with 10,000 of his saints, says Jude, to be
permanently united with the Son. In Hebrews 2 verse 13, Jesus
is heard saying, Behold, I and the children which God hath given
me. and with God forevermore. Verse
3, I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, the tabernacle
of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall
be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,
with God forever. Now our experience as believers
in this world is fleeting because all is marred by sin in the flesh,
but God makes his abode with the believer. It's not always
felt, but then in heaven, when we get there, It will be uninterrupted. It will be on a level that's
beyond anything we can imagine. Perfect communion, unmarred by
sin. Beloved, says John in his epistle,
his first epistle, now are we the sons of God. And it does
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as
he is. This will be eternal bliss. Look
at verse four. Look at verse four. in this veil
of tears, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away." What a glorious picture. What
a glorious truth. Can you see, can you feel something
of that, the promise of God? The patriarchs, the Old Testament
patriarchs, saw it by faith. Hebrews 11 is all about them
looking beyond their current experience. And terrible things
happened to them in this flesh, but they all set their hearts
on that glorious situation. Anyone feeling the curse of sin,
and just condemnation hopes for this situation. There is no purgatory,
that's error. There are no degrees of reward.
There is no sorrow over loss. There is no looking back. There
is nothing but everlasting glory and joy. And how do we know?
Because it's promised by God. Verse 5, And he that sat on the
throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto
me, Write, For these words are true and faithful. This is God
who made you. He's telling you that this is
the truth. You say, is it all too good to be true? You have
God's solemn word of truth, that everything John saw is true. It's as good as done. He's the
Alpha and the Omega, verse 6. We've run out of time, but we'll
come back to it again, obviously. But this is such a glorious prospect.
There's a judgment coming, and that's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Our God is a consuming fire. but he has a people, and he has
the door wide open. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What is it to
do the will of God, the work of God, to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ? In this life, we're all of us
in the midst of death. Some feel it closer than others,
but it's near to all of us, from the oldest of us to the youngest
of us. You have to admit that that is true. Will you take this
seriously? You know, there are things in
this life that you value very highly and you put a lot of store
upon them and a lot of, you want to protect them and keep them
and you value and treasure them. Oh, my friends, the day will
come, the day will come when the things of this life will
be of absolutely zero value to you whatsoever. And the only
thing that will matter is my name written in the Lamb's Book
of Life. Is it written there? Prove that
it is. Make your calling and election
sure. Come to Christ. Believe on him.