Well I want to come back with
you to Isaiah chapter 25. Isaiah 25 and we're going to
be looking primarily at verses 6 to 8. Isaiah 25 and verses
6 to 8. And there we read this. In this
mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast
of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full
of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. and he will destroy
in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people,
and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow
up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away
from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it. Well, that's
the subject of our meditation this morning, which is heavenly
treasure here and now. It's heavenly treasure, but we
experience it as believers here and now. Now, the Bible, to unbelieving
eyes, when the natural man reads the Bible, it seems like a mystery. Its truth is hidden in cryptic
clues. Do you know what cryptic clues
are? They're not direct clues, there's the cryptic crossword.
in newspapers. They're not direct clues. It
isn't just find another word for such and such a thing. There's
a bit of mystery behind it. There's a quiz on the radio that
some of you might listen to on BBC Radio 4 in this country.
It's been running, apparently it's the longest running quiz
ever and it's called the Round Britain quiz where teams of clever
people, smart people representing the regions, they compete and
the questions are all cryptic. I'll give you an example. A pedestrian
crossing a Dorset beach, and a tree in Hyde Park. What do
all of these have to do with false suppositions of death?
Now, I haven't got a clue what the answer is to that. Not a
clue. Not a clue. But, the panellists, when they
get a question like that, they probe away, and they think, hold
on a minute, you've heard of lateral thinking, you know, not
straight down the... Think sideways. What could a
dorset beach, chesil, chesil beach, and they'll, I'm not saying
that's the answer, but they'll then get onto something which
will lead to something else which will lead to something else.
And they probe away until they find a key to unlock the mystery
of the cryptic question. If they were given Isaiah 25,
verses six to eight, I wonder if they would find the key. What
does it mean? What's the message behind it? To whom is it addressed? We know
that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for building you
up in godliness. That's what Paul wrote to Timothy.
All Scripture is profitable. It's given by inspiration of
God, which means man didn't think it up, as Peter wrote. Scriptures
of no private interpretation. No, the prophets, the people
that wrote the scriptures were moved by the Spirit of God. They
were borne along by the Spirit of God. It's the, through the
character and the style of the writer, it's actually the Word
of God. This is what this book is that
we have in front of us. And the key to it, as I keep
telling you, and as you know well, but so many miss, so many
religious folk miss, the key to it is Christ. It is all to
speak of Christ. A relationship with God, acceptance
with God, the blessings of God in eternity, are all dependent
on one and one alone, and that is a person, and that is the
person Jesus Christ, on Him. It's not on how good a person
you are, it's not on what you have been, or which connections
you have, or where you go to, or what your family believed,
it's got nothing to do with that. It's Christ. Are you in Christ? Are you in Him? Do you trust
Him? Is He your Saviour and your Lord?
He is the key to this book. He is the one by which the mystery
of God's salvation from sin is revealed. I'm a sinner, what
must I do? What must I do to be saved? I'm
a sinner, how should a man be just with God, not counted a
sinner in the sight of God? How should this happen? It's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all in him. He is the key. The key to the scriptures is
a person, not a formula. It's a person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the mystery, the mystery
that the scripture talks of, that is divinely revealed, comes
from God himself. And when it's divinely revealed
in a human heart, your heart, my heart, it doesn't leave you
impassive. It's personally experienced.
You feel it. It affects your emotions. It
moves you. You know what it is. To know
the blessing of knowing, when you hear God in his word, talk
about your sins being forgiven, what a blessing that that is.
And how do you experience it? How do you have this personal
experience? It's through the channel of faith. And that, as Paul says, is not
of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. It delights the mind, oh yes,
yes. It's intellectually stimulating.
The epistles of the Apostle Paul are amongst, if not the, most
profoundly glorious writings that the human mind and human
hands have ever put down on paper. Yes, it delights the mind, but
oh, it's so much more the emotions We saw last week, didn't we?
The verse one, Oh Lord, thou art my God. That's just not a
sort of a statement of fact. Oh Lord, thou art my God. That's
a lover with the one that they love. Song of Solomon, the lover,
the Shulamite, you know, it's really felt. So here, in these
verses, we have divinely revealed aspects of the blessing of salvation
from sin. What do I mean by the blessing
of salvation from sin? This is what I mean. It's the
revealed fact in the Scriptures of redemption from the curse
of the law, because the law brings a curse. Cursed is everyone who
does not continue in all things written in the book of the law
to do them, without fail, every moment of every day. And if you
keep it all and you fail in one point, says James, you are guilty
of all. But in the Lord Jesus Christ
there's redemption from the law's curse. How? By Christ himself
coming and being made a curse for us and dying on that cursed
tree and shedding his precious blood which the law, the offended
law, demands for the forgiveness of sin, for the payment of the
debt of sin. He shed his blood and thereby
he pays the ransom. Release him from going down to
the pits, says God. I have found a ransom. What's
the ransom that God has found? The precious blood of his own
dear son. That's the ransom that he has
found. And that ransom procures the release from the captivity
of sin, from just condemnation, into enjoying the good of eternal
life. And we enjoy it as believers
here and now. Let's try with the aid of God's
Spirit to unwrap these cryptic blessings. Verse six. In this
mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast
of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full
of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. A feast of fat
things. Where is this feast? What does
it say? Remember, cryptic clues. Remember,
round Britain quiz. In this mountain. In this mountain. Which mountain are we talking
about? We've got to go and do a bit of lateral thinking, haven't
we? We've got to think, in this mountain, in which mountain?
Do you remember, over two years ago now, when we were going through
the book of Revelation and we got to chapter 13, Revelation
13? And Revelation 13 is a pretty
alarming place to be, it's a depressing place to be, because it's all
about the kingdom of Antichrist, of Satan, and the terrible world
in which we live in the flesh because of sin and because of
the corruption of Satan and because of his beast and his false prophet
and his antichrist and you would think that it's hopeless and
we read of believers, those who have the mark of God's salvation
in their forehead that they are not able to trade, they can't
go to work, they can't do business and we saw how much that is being
lived out and worked out in the days in which we live as this
world becomes more and more contrary to the principles of the truth
and the law and the righteousness of God. And you would despair
were it not for Revelation 14 and the first few verses. And
verse one, Revelation 14 verse one, John says, in the midst
of all that despair, I looked, I looked. In this terrible world
in which we live, I looked and lo, a lamb stood on Mount Zion. And with him, 140 and 4,000,
having his father's name written in their foreheads. Do you know
what I believe that pictures? That's the church. The 144,000
are God's people in this world at any one time. And in this
world of satanic antichrist apparent rule, I looked and a lamb stood
on Mount Zion with him his people. In this world, the Church of
God has got the Lamb of God standing on Mount Zion, and in this mountain,
Shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat
things. This is Zion, this mountain is
the church of the living God. This mountain is the kingdom
of God. Thy kingdom come, it's the kingdom
of God. The church of God, his kingdom.
In this world and on into eternity, that's his kingdom. God is not
trying to get the whole world without exception to hear his
message. But his church called out of
the world, without distinction, it's here. that he makes his
feast unto his 144,000. And it's rich food, and it's
the best wine, and it's nourishing, and it's comforting, and it's
satisfying, and it's gladdening. Jesus used our Lord Jesus Christ
in his ministry. He used the metaphor, if you
like, or the simile, I'm not sure, maybe one or the other,
of a feast, always. He's talking about a meal, about
it being, the way in which food satisfies the body, the way in
which wine gladdens the heart. He spoke of feasts and he spoke
of his salvation, his kingdom, culminating in a feast in heaven. Go out into the highways and
byways and bid them to come in, compel them to come in. And the
house was filled and they came in. Do you remember that parallel? It's a picture of Salvation being
accomplished, being finally achieved in eternal glory in the marriage
supper, the marriage supper, a feast, a meal of the Lamb. Heaven is a perpetual marriage
supper. He used eating and drinking as
symbolical of spiritual blessings. Now I'm going to be getting you
to dart around the Scriptures a little bit now. If you can,
keep up with me. If you can't, don't worry, just
listen. John chapter 6, verse 48. John chapter 6 and verse
48. Jesus said this. Now remember,
we're thinking about a feast in this mountain. We're thinking
about a feast in the mountain of Zion, of the church of the
living God. What's the feast? Jesus said,
I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness. You know why it's called manna?
You know the stuff that was like coriander and came down on the
ground and it fed the Israelites for 40 years in their wilderness
wanderings? It was there every day and it fed them. Do you know
why it's called manna? Because it says, they wist not
what it was. They didn't know what it was.
So they called it, we don't know what it is, manna. That's what
they called it. They called it, we don't know
what it is. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and
they're dead. This is the bread, he is saying,
which comes down from heaven, that any man may eat thereof
and not die. Do you hear what we're talking
about? In this world where we see death all around us, people
are living longer, but hey, do you know something? Every single
one of them dies. Every single one of them. How
old is the oldest person on the planet, do they reckon? About
130 or has she just died? You know, that's extreme, that's
extreme. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that
a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread. This is Jesus speaking. I am
the living bread which came down from heaven, like the manna in
the wilderness. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except unless ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and
I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. as the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat, manner, and
are dead, for he that eateth of this bread shall live forever."
Now then, he wasn't speaking literally, he wasn't speaking
about cannibalism, he wasn't speaking about literally eating
his flesh and blood, because in verse 63 he says, the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit. and they are life. These
were spiritual truths. At the end of this service, we're
going to hold the service of communion, where we share bread
and wine. It is just an ordinance of the
church, one of the two, the other being baptism. Its purpose is
simply this, to remind us. I love Don Faulkner's little
illustration, and the more I've thought about it, the more I
see the point of it. You see, and he was talking about
somebody else giving a little pocket knife to somebody, but
four or five years ago, when they came here, Don gave me a
little pocket knife. Now then, every time I pick up
that little pocket knife and put it in my pocket, obviously
I've got to be aware of not getting arrested and prosecuted for carrying
an offensive weapon, it's only a tiny little pocket knife. Every
time I pick up that pocket knife, guess who I think of? Can't fail
to. Every single time I think of
him. The bread and the wine, this do in remembrance of me,
said the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the truth symbolized by
the manna. To eat his flesh and drink his
blood is not for bread and wine to be changed literally into
the body and blood of Christ, not at all. Not as Catholics
and high Anglicans teach. That's cannibalism, that's not
what the Word of God teaches at all, no. It's symbols of remembrance. To remember, to discern, that
your salvation and your peace with God is entirely dependent
on that which Christ has accomplished in his flesh. When God became
man, to stand in the place of his people as surety and substitute,
to bear their sins in his own body on the cursed tree, that
they might receive the forgiveness of sins, that they might live
forever in him. That's what it is, to discern.
You know, you eat unworthily if you don't discern the body
and blood of Christ as the price of redemption. And you partake
of it by faith. Communion symbols of remembrance
is all that they are. They're just symbols of remembrance.
But the analogy is very clear. When you're physically hungry,
When you're physically hungry, oh, food, a lovely meal, a tasty
meal and good wine. Is it not satisfying? Is it not
pleasing? Is it not comforting to the body?
So spiritually, soul hungering and thirsting for righteousness
finds its satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in
the Sermon on the Mount, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst
for righteousness, the righteousness of God. How righteous must you
be to go to heaven? You must be as righteous as God.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why?
For they shall be filled. And in him, and in all that he
is, and all that he has done, we are filled. Look at Psalm
36. Psalm 36 and verse seven. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make
them drink of the river of thy pleasures, for with thee is the
fountain of life. In thy light shall we see light. Is that not what this is talking
about? This is the feast of fat things that Isaiah talks about
in Isaiah 25 verse 6. In Mount Zion, in this mountain,
there's a feast of fat things, and those fat things are all
that Christ has accomplished for the peace of my eternal soul.
that I might have peace with God. Psalm 63, Psalm 63, and
verse 1. O God, thou art my God, early
will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my
flesh longeth for thee. Hunger, thirst, in a dry and
thirsty land where there's no water, so often that world seems
like it. But verse 5, my soul shall be
satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise
thee with joyful lips. This isn't airy-fairy mysticism.
This is reality. What will make my soul satisfied?
To know that the debt of my sins has been paid for. If you've
got a big debt at the bank, or from some loan shark organization,
and it's a horrible feeling, and it burdens you down, and
it gives you no peace, and can you imagine the feeling of being
able to go and clear that debt, to have the resources provided
to you to go and clear that debt, and the burden that is lifted,
and the wonderful feeling of having that burden of debt. Well,
so it is with sin, and so it is with righteousness. And in
what Christ has done, He gives a feast of fat things for His
people. Secondly then, verse 7, And He
will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast
over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.
The second blessing, heavenly treasure, here and now, is divine
enlightenment. You see, There's a natural covering
over all people by nature, blinding everyone to the truth and light
of God. You say, well, I'm just like
everybody else. Nobody else knows anything about the things of
God. Nobody else says there's any truth about the thing. Well,
that's because the Bible says you're in darkness. You're naturally
in darkness. The people that walked in darkness. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 2.
The people that walked in darkness, praise God, he says, have seen
a great light. Oh, he does enlighten his people.
But in general, the people walk in darkness. They walk in darkness
having no knowledge of the living God. There's a natural covering
over all people without distinction by nature, blinding them to the
truth and light of God. We read earlier, 2nd Corinthians
chapter 3, And in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 14 it says
of the Jews of old, but their minds were blinded. The prince
of this world has blinded them. For until this day remains the
same veil which stops them seeing clearly, untaken away in the
reading of the Old Testament. The Old Testament Jews read the
Old Testament and the majority did not see because there was
a veil over their eyes. That veil is done away, where? Where is that veil done away?
In Christ. In Christ, that veil is done
away. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, those Jews,
and you can see it today, you go down to Golders Green and
where there are Jewish communities here, and Moses is read, but
a veil is on their heart because the veil is taken away in Christ.
Nevertheless, if they turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken
away. That's it. People naturally walk in darkness
regarding the knowledge of God. They naturally do. And in their
own foolishness, the natural man, Romans 1, 22 says, they
profess themselves to be wise, don't they? Don't today's philosophers
and scientists, falsely so-called, don't they profess themselves
to be so wise? They've proven that there's no
need for God. So you get an arrogant man like, I've forgotten his
name, but you know the one I mean. He wrote that book, The God Myth.
What an arrogant man. What an arrogant, blasphemous
man. Professor of public understanding of science. No, professor of
blasphemy is what he is. Public professor of blasphemy.
Paid out of the exchequer of this country to spout lies concerning
the truth of the living God. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. That's what they became. thinking
themselves so clever they became fools. 1 Corinthians 1, 20 and
21, has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, its own
wisdom, knew not God. They didn't know God by their
own wisdom. In their own thinking, in their own natural abilities,
there is no way of knowing God. You know, this veil that we were
reading about in 2 Corinthians 3, If you turn to Exodus 34 and
verse 29, it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai
with the two tables of testimony in his hand, He came down from
the mount that Moses didn't know, he wist not, that the skin of
his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and
all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his
face shone. Because he'd been so, he'd been
communing face to face with the living God. And they were afraid
to come near to him. And Moses called unto them. And
Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him.
And Moses talked with them. And after, all the children of
Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that
the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. Until Moses had
done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. He put a
veil on his face because they couldn't bear to look at it.
When Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took
the veil off and he put the veil over his face. The children of
Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face
shone, and Moses put the veil on his face until he went in
to speak to him. They were frightened to look
upon him. The Holy of Holies was barred to them by a thick
veil. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, what does it say in Isaiah 25
and verse 7? That he will destroy the face
of the covering cast over the people and the veil that is spread
over. He will destroy it. He will take it away. God has
promised to take that veil away. And where does he take it away?
In 2 Corinthians 3 we read, the veil is taken away in Christ. In Christ. That's where the veil
is taken away. In Mark 15, the account of Jesus
Christ on the cross, 37, it says, Jesus cried with a loud voice
and gave up the ghost when he died on the cross. And it says
immediately, the veil of the temple, the veil was that great
thick veil that was there to bar the way into the Holy of
Holies, the presence of God, where was the Ark of the Covenant,
where was the innermost sanctum, where only the high priest could
go once a year on the Day of Atonement, and only then, if
he had an acceptable sacrifice, exactly as prescribed by God.
And when Christ died on the cross, the veil of that temple was torn
in two from the top to the bottom. So, what does that do for us?
What does that do for us, that there is an enlightenment, that
God has taken away this veil, has taken away this covering?
Hebrews 10 verse 15. whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them, his people, after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus through that
veil, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for
us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. Through him
coming and dying, his body being broken, which we remember when
we break bread, his blood being shed, which we remember when
we drink the wine, through what he has done, the way is made
open to us. And things are made clear, and
the veil is taken away. The veil which covers and bars
and protects and stops and prevents access to the living God and
understanding the truth of God, that veil is taken away in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has destroyed that veil, that
covering, that mystery, the blinds. He's taken it away over all the
people. That veil that's spread over
all nations, he's taken it away, and he's taken it away in Christ.
So we read in Colossians 1, verses 26 and 27, Paul speaks there
of the mystery which had been hid from ages. It's the mystery
of salvation in the gospel. It's been hid from ages and generations,
but now is made manifest, made plain, made clear to his saints,
to his believing people, to whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory of this mystery, among the Gentiles even. Not just Jews, but among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you. the hope of glory, enlightenment
with divine knowledge, with divine wisdom, for we know that in Christ
dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If you would be
truly wise, if you would begin to be wise, fear the living God,
look to him, but you will find that treasure in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is true heavenly treasure.
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount to those listening to him,
he said, don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, moth and
rust will get at them, they fall apart, they stop working, they
become valueless. Don't lay up treasures on earth,
lay up treasure in heaven, spiritual treasure in heaven. If you're
hearing my words, If you're reading these scriptures, if you're feasting
on this feast that is set before us, you know what I mean. This
is treasure in heaven. You are truly rich. You are blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then verse eight. freedom
from fear, he will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord
God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke
of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the
Lord has spoken it. Do you remember what God said
to Adam before the fall in the garden of Eden about the fruit
that they were forbidden to eat? He said to them, in the day that
you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And thereafter we read again
and again in Genesis about such and such a person. And he lived
this long and he begat this, that and the other. What does
it always say at the end of it? You read it over and over again.
And he died. And he died. And he died. And this is the world in which
we live. We're like the flower of the field. There's the shoot
in early spring, you see the little green shoot coming and
then it grows and you see the bud and there's all the promise
and then it opens up and there's the beautiful flower and a little
while later, sometimes a bit longer, a little while later
it fades and it dies and it produces a seed head and then it's withered
and it's gone and that's what we're like, that's what we're
likened to. You might feel that you're in your prime, at the
peak of your abilities but it won't be long. You ask anybody
that's older, don't think they've got it wrong, they haven't They've
got it right. It's a fleeting, fleeting thing.
It's like a vapour, you know, a mist. You know how this time
of year you get up and they might see a little bit of mist, and
by 10, 11 o'clock in the morning that mist is gone. That's just
what life is like. Here one moment, then gone the
next. Live in the knowledge of that. Live in the knowledge of
it, of the inevitability of ageing and dying. And men and women
in general try to subdue that knowledge because they fear it,
they fear it. The unknown, what happens? You
know, the concept of your body being buried when you're dead
or cremated, and the concept of accountability. What if there
is a God? I know they keep telling me that there isn't one, but
how do they know? What if there is a God? For it's appointed to
man to die once, and then the judgment. And if there's a God,
who is holy, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God, because our God is a consuming fire. That's all
New Testament. That's not Old Testament, that's
New Testament, all of that. And Jesus said, there will be
many in that day who will come and they will say to me, didn't
we do all these wonderful things in your name? Do you know what
he said? I will say to them, depart from
me. You who work iniquity, I never knew you. How will it be for
me? Wouldn't you want to be freed
from the fear of death? Wouldn't you want to know the
truth of this? Hebrews 2, 15, that He, Christ,
came to deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. Wouldn't you love to hear these
words of Hosea chapter 13, verse 14, where God says, I will ransom
them from the power of... What's the power of the grave?
The power of the grave is sin, the strength of death and sin. We read it in 1 Corinthians 15,
which we'll do in a minute. I will redeem them from death,
says God in Hosea. I will buy them back from the
certainty of death. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15 then.
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 54. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 54. So when this corruptible, that's
this flesh, that decays and dies, when we die, your body rots away,
you return to a skeleton, you return to dust. From the dust
of the ground God made you and to dust you shall return. So
when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption. When the
people of God, when he comes again, they will be given new
bodies that will not go into corruption. And this mortal shall
have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where
did you just read that? Verse 8 of Isaiah 25. He will
swallow up death in victory. Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the
strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's it, that's
it. In 2 Timothy chapter one and
verse 10, we read of our savior Jesus Christ, who has, now these
are staggering words, who has abolished death. Do you hear
that? What a headline in the paper
that would be. Death abolished. Can you imagine it? Death abolished.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has abolished death and he's brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. Revelation 21 verse
4, we know its culmination. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither there shall be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. Is this not wonderful treasure?
Think of terminal illness, think of people you know, relatives
perhaps, or others, who are diagnosed with a terminal illness, and
the efforts that are made to stay alive, and the loss of everything
that comes about except memories, that's all that's left. What
a blessing to rest assured in what Jesus said to his disciples,
John 5, 24, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say to you, he that
hears my words and believes on him that sent me has everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death to life, because If you're in Christ, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in him. How can we be
so sure? Christ has paid his people's
sin debt. God has accepted the payment. How do we know he's
raised him from the dead? He's risen and ascended to glory,
and believers live peacefully in the good of that knowledge
and that assurance. And so Paul says, Philippians
1, 21 to 24, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labour. Yet what shall I choose? I what
not? I don't know. I can't make up my mind. For
I'm in a bit astray. Betwixt two, having a desire
to depart this life and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh and minister to you is
needful. You see, that was the dilemma
from Paul. For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. If I stay alive here, it's Christ,
and if I die, it's even more of Christ. Earthly money can't
buy that liberty from fear. It's heavenly treasure bestowed
by God on his people and enjoyed here and now. We'll be very quick
with this. There's a further promise here.
He will swallow up death, verse 8, in victory, and the Lord God
will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of
his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the
Lord has spoken it. There is a cost to this discipleship
in this world. The world will despise and hate
you. You'll come across it. If you're
truly a child of God and you truly believe the things of the
gospel, then you will find yourself in conflict with this world,
with the values of the kingdom of Antichrist. But God has promised
his people that he will take that despising, that rebuke,
he will take it away. He will protect his people as
they endure it here for a while, and finally in heaven he'll silence
it forever. And no charge shall stand against
God's people. No charge at all. You see, it's
all the workings of Satan. to try to prove that the people
that God has redeemed are not really redeemed and are not really
fit for the kingdom of God, that they're just as bad as everybody
else. But yet God promises, Jeremiah 50 verse 20, In those days and
at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for. You put your name in there. You
put your name where it says Israel, the iniquity of Israel, and later
where it says Judah. You put your name there. The
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none.
And the sins of Judah, you put your name there, and they shall
not be found. Why? For God says, I will pardon
them whom I reserve. There's no condemnation. No one
can bring a charge against God's elect. Why? For Christ has died
for them in their place. It's finished. It's done. He's
accomplished it. The promise is one of eternal,
unending, sinless bliss in the presence of our God and his redeemed
people. Is that not treasure indeed?
When Ephesians chapter one and verse three says this, he's blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
we scarcely scratch the surface in realizing how rich as a believer
you are, the blessing that you have. Oh, he'll keep you now
until he takes you to glory, whenever that might be. But oh,
what a blessing it is to have a hope of eternal life. Amen.