Revelation 22, verses 1-5, And He showed me, that is, the Lord
showed John, a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the midst of the street
of it, and on either side of the river, there was the tree
of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit
every month, and the leaves of the trees were for the healing
of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face,
and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be
no night there, for they need no candle, neither light of the
sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign
forever and ever." As we venture to look into this wonderful and
delightful scene as of the throne of God and of the Lamb, paradise,
paradise if you will, we notice a three-fold blessing that each
member of the church shall receive or shall enjoy. This paradise,
this paradise in Revelations is infinitely superior than that
of Eden. From that seen in Eden, we see
the fall, cursed and broken. But here, in this paradise, He
says in verse 3, the first section, there and there shall be no more
curse. There, where? This paradise,
this throne of God and of the Lamb. No more curse shall be
found anywhere there. May we gaze with the eye of faith
and behold our glorious God and His throne and the Lamb of Calvary
filling all in all. We behold in this passage the
Godhead, the amazing Trinity of His persons, sitting upon
the throne. One throne, one God, three in
one. And if we're in Him, we're complete
and unified with Jesus Christ, which John chapter 10 tells us,
and Colossians chapter 2 tells us. But I want to look at this
three-fold enjoyment of the saints in glory. And it's found in verse
3 and verse 4. His servants shall serve Him. Secondly, they shall see His
face. And thirdly, His name shall be
in their foreheads. Just to step back and let that
sink in. Now we're talking about paradise.
Not paradise lost, but paradise won for His people. And this is a scene, John got
a glimpse, just a glimpse, of all the saints surrounding this
throne. I can only imagine, and this is what we'll do by faith,
like Christian did at the Celestial City when he was He wasn't there
yet, but he got into a high place and he looked and he could see
just a little bit like Moses. Because of sin, he couldn't enter
into the promised land, but God said, you'll see it. He's an
old man. Somehow, he saw it with his own
eyes. And you know, that was enough. He was encouraged. So we're not
there now. We're going to be there shortly. if the Lord tarries some of us
before others. But let us look with the eye
of faith at what this paradise is going to be like. The first
part, His servants shall serve Him. The last part of verse 3,
there's a scene of the throne and the Lamb of God. The throne
of God and the Lamb of God shall be in it. He's the glory. And His servants shall serve
Him. We shall serve our sovereign. None shall oppress and none shall
distress. There will be no bad news. We
won't be worried about what country is going to nuke another country
or when the economy is going to collapse or when the safety
net is going to break. We won't be worried about any
of that. It's paradise. Let the clay vessels strive with
the clay vessels in this world. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of this world. We're just observers. We're just
passing through. But none shall distress us. With
singular eye and singular heart, we delight to fully and freely
worship and serve the one true God and Savior. Be perfect harmony
with Him without air, without tears, without fault. Now this
Greek word, serve, literally means to be in homage. Well,
that could also mean to be in ministry, to minister or to worship. We understand that one a little
bit better. That's what we're going to be. To respect, to admire,
to esteem are other definitions that would work here. To serve,
yes, this will truly be heaven for all of God's sheep, all of
the bride, every one of the elect, to serve Him day and night. To be owned by Him, to reverence
Him, to joyfully submit and serve Him is our highest aim. In heaven it shall be our only
aim. We get so distracted, it's just
too much stuff. I get on the computer, that's
my TV, you haven't turned that television Television hasn't
been turned on in our house in three months. And I'll look at stuff on the
computer. Usually it's not heavenly stuff, usually it's worldly stuff. But there won't be any distractions.
There won't be any distractions. And that stuff that we count
dear, and we should be our friends and family and these things should
be dear, but it robs us of this heavenly sight. We have jobs
to go to, we have bills to pay, taxes to pay, that's part of
life. But how to do that, I haven't
figured it out, if you figure it out let me know, how to do
that with a single eye looking heavenly instead of vertically.
Way too many things get encroached in our lives. I ask myself this. I ask us this. Do we serve Him
now? Does this even sound like something
that you'd want to do? Nah, I've got too many things
I want to do. Thinking about maybe after church going to do
something. Shame on us. This is a time when the family,
our true family, can gather together and not, at least so far, separation
of religion and state. What a wonderful thought. What
a wonderful concept. Right now, we're not being told
what to do, when to meet, how to meet. We have the freedom
in Christ. Our brethren in old time didn't.
They had to meet in catacombs Feared for their life, they still
met. They still met. Do we love Him above all? Do we desire to glorify Him now? If so, what I'm reading to us
will indeed be paradise. It's so hard to imagine because
sin is in everything we do. Oh, may He soften these hearts
and cause us to bow before His sovereign rule. Because if you
look at the news, any news, any kind, it doesn't matter, the
sky is falling. The people are yelling and hollering
and screaming. But God has not relinquished
His rule, nor will He. He hasn't done it. He won't do
it. We're protected. Are we protected
from harm? If He so chooses. Get the Fox's Book of Martyrs.
All the people who stood for His Gospel, who burnt and tortured
and beat and hung. Heads cut off. We don't need
to read Fox's Book of Martyrs. Read Hebrews. Wandering about
in sheepskins, goatskins. Because the world was not worthy
of them. The world is not worthy of this place here in Jackson,
Missouri. Let us be a part of this unworthiness for His glory,
for His honor. And His servants, are we His
servants, shall serve Him. Are we His servants this morning?
Secondly, look at this, they shall see His face. No wonder
it's paradise. No wonder it's a joy. We're seeing
His face. whom we love, who is the absolute
love of our life, who is that one pearl of great price. So
says our text. And so agrees with the saints
of old. Turn to Psalm 17. Turn to Psalm 17. And the last verse. Verse 15, David expresses it
this way. He says, As for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with your likeness. We get satisfaction in certain
things. We get satisfaction in our children. We get satisfaction in our grandchildren.
We get satisfaction in our spouses. We get satisfaction maybe in
our jobs. There's nothing wrong with this, but our chief satisfaction. He says, if you don't love me
more than you love your mom and your dad, you're not fit. These
are tough passages. These are tough passages. Now,
we don't hate them. No, we love as the Lord gives
us grace. The love of Christ constrains
us, but He understands that He must have preeminence. He must
have preeminence. David expressed it this way.
John expressed it this way. Turn to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. And
verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. And
it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know,
we know, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is." I've always loved that verse. I've
never been able to quote it. I don't know why. I get a block.
But to see Him as He is. The throne of God and of the
Lamb. This is, we're talking about
paradise for the believer. John exclaimed it thusly, to
see His face truly makes our service a joy and a thrill and
a loving deed. This is the only reward we want
or need. People talk about rewards in
heaven. This is the only one we want
or we need, to be with Him whom our souls love, to be in the
presence of our King, our Brother, our Friend, and our Companion. Moses, even back in the Old Testament,
no man shall see him and live. What was Moses' request? Let me see your face. Let me see your face. What more
could he or any servant of grace ask for? No more veil between
the saint and Jehovah. No more separation, any more
sin or pain or calamity. or clouds of trial and difficulty,
but it's just see Him as He is. See His face. And they shall
see His face. We will truly and totally understand
sweet freedom and liberty found in the God-man for us. I love
that hymn, What more can He say than to you He has said, to you
who for refuge to Jesus have fled. Can't say any more. The world wants more. Show me. Show me, state. Show me. I'm
not going to believe unless I see. Well, you'll never believe unless
He gives you the eyes of faith or faith and you look upon His
face and you serve Him. Serve Him now in preparation
for seeing His face then. Lastly, thirdly, we have this
blessing of and His name shall be in our foreheads." This signifies
God and the Lamb's complete and satisfactory ownership of His
dear people. We confess Him and He confesses
us. We have this seal upon our brow.
We will be acknowledged by God to be His darlings, the apple
of His eye, His lambs, His chosen, redeemed and loved ones. That's going to be in our foreheads. His name. He owns us. We do know we're bought with
a price. I think, and Melinda said it years ago, and I believe
it, self is the great evil. It's pride. You know, you could
name it but self. And if this world was more selfless,
it would be a better place. But everybody Politicians, school
board members, teachers, workers, we all think about self first. And Christ, what if He had done
that? There would be no churches, there
would be no need to be here. Now, there would be churches
because man, He likes to do babble, He likes to work His way up to
heaven, but God destroys it. God has one way, one Lamb, one
sacrifice, one faith, one baptism, one Lord, and we'll serve Him,
or we'll spend eternity in hell. It's like Bruce was talking back
there, the men back there. If everybody's going to be saved,
why is there a hell? Why is there a hell? There is
a hell, and there will be people in it. some good people, some
wonderful preacher, some Bible class teachers, some preachers. If we're not resting in Christ,
we of all men are most miserable. The same ones, these ones that
the name shall be in their foreheads, these chosen, these loved of
God, these same ones who are protected and He shed His blood
for. The same ones that He calls His
plucked out ones, His lowly ones, helpless and humble ones. These
same ones that sought Him not and are now said to find Him
and worship and bow to all His divine and natural claims. How
can that be? Because sovereign free grace
found us. Found us. We are owned by God the Father
as objects of His everlasting electing love. We are owned by
God the Son in His free and voluntary blood purchase of our souls.
And we are owned by God the Holy Spirit as the fruits of His sovereign
grace. I close and I ask, can we see
this clearly by faith? O saved sinner, look heavenward. Get our eyes off of this world
and the allurements therein. And behold, as he says, behold
the throne of God and of the Lamb now, right now, to the saving
of your souls. Interceding on our behalf, and
be at peace among yourselves and among our God. And lastly,
when you read these verses, if it's just three thoughts, His
servants shall serve Him, they shall see His face, and His name
shall be in their foreheads. If it's just those three points,
be encouraged, not just a little, but know that we have a much
better home coming. Bruce, would you close this?