Well we come this week to Revelation
21. I think now this is just the
third before the end message of this series but we'll see
how it works out. So we're coming to the climax
of the seventh vision of the book of Revelation and we're
indeed coming to the end of the book of Revelation. John is shown
the conclusion of this sin-cursed space-time creation. And it's
complete renewal. It's a complete renewal. He's
shown the completed purposes of God in electing grace. Because right from the beginning,
before time was, God had a purpose to save a people for his glory. His purposes of electing grace. And we're shown here the completion
of God's purposes of electing grace. We're shown Christ's redeemed
people, this was his objective, Christ's redeemed people in a
state of eternal bliss. And here we are. beset with the
flesh and sin, and our very best thoughts are clouded with sin,
and yet here we have words that speak of that which is sinless
and perfection, in eternal glory with God. Let me remind you,
I don't want to spend all of the time recapping, but it's
necessary just to remind you where we are. We've seen seven
visions of created time throughout the book. Seven perspectives
of created time, of history, of the history of this world.
And you know what history is? History, his story. That's what history is. It doesn't
just happen. It isn't just random. It's what
God has ordained and what God brings to pass. It's his story. We've seen seven perspectives.
Some of the perspectives have been right from the fall in the
Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve fell to the temptation of
Satan. We've seen the seven perspectives
of the end of all things, from the fall to the end. Some of
them have been from the time of Christ to the end, as is chapter
20, which I'll remind you of in a moment. The first one was
the ascended glorified Christ in the midst of his church. Although
he's in glory, he's amongst his people. Here in this world, in
this time, this is what's called the last days, and the last days
started when he went back to glory, and they go on until he
comes again. In these last days, Christ, the
ascended Christ, is in the midst of his people, walking with us,
admonishing, rebuking, encouraging, praising, teaching, leading. Christ in the midst of his church.
The second vision, was Christ opening God's seven-sealed plan. It's a scroll, but it's a plan.
And what's the plan? The plan is a plan for the defeat
of satanic rebellion. It's how God unfolds history
to frustrate Satan. Number three, Christ executing
seven trumpets of providential judgment. What are they for?
Again, they're to frustrate Satan's anti-Christ ambitions, for he
wants to establish a kingdom that has nothing to do with the
justice of God, in which the justice of God is irrelevant.
That's his objective. That's what he seeks to do. But
God comes with his seals and with his trumpets and frustrates
it. In the fourth vision, we saw Christ's church throughout
created history, from the fall in Eden right the way through
to the end. And that church brings forth Christ to redeem his people. That church, all the while, is
suffering satanic persecution, satanic accusation. Satan, the
accuser of the brethren, and through his means that he has
produced, the beast and the false prophet. In the fifth vision,
we saw the seven vials, the seven last plagues of judgment, increasing
in their intensity, increasingly showing us how God will bring
an end to this created space-time that we're in. In the sixth vision,
we saw the woman. We had it revealed who this woman
really is. The woman? The church, surely?
I don't know. But this wasn't the true church.
This was a whore. This was Babylon. This was Christendom. which is really anti-Christendom. We saw that exposed, and we saw
the destruction of it in that sixth vision. We saw the beast
and Antichrist destroyed. We saw the union of Christ and
his people in heaven. And then in the final vision,
this is what we're in at the moment, the final judgment, the
final judgment, when everything is brought to a conclusion, and
the glory of the New Jerusalem. Let me just briefly recap Revelation
chapter 20. It covers the period from Christ's
ascension to the end of time. Satan is bound for a thousand
years, not a literal thousand years, a symbolic thousand years. He's restrained He has a restraint
put on him. He can't do exactly what he wants.
He's restrained. How is he restrained? He's restrained
from deceiving Gog and Magog. That's in verse 8 of chapter
20. Gog and Magog those nations of the earth that have never
ever had any influence of Christendom, I'll call it Christendom even
though the majority of it is anti-Christendom they've never
ever had any of that influence of a Christianizing culture it's
what we would call the heathen nations, you know before the
days of political correctness when I was at primary school
we used to be taught about the heathen nations and what made
them heathen? They knew nothing of the gospel
of Christ. Of course in the nation in which
we live now one of the most terrible things that you can suggest is
that missionaries should go to different cultures with the gospel
of Christ and teach them the truth of God. This turned completely
on its head which is another story. But he's restrained And
that's why, you wonder, with one so powerful, with so much
resource at his disposal, why has he not succeeded in establishing
his universal, worldwide kingdom of Antichrist? The answer is
he was restrained. Who restrained him? Christ. When
Christ came, he bound the strongman of the house. Matthew 12, 29,
I think. He bound the strongman of the
house. He said if you're going to rob someone's house, you need
to tie them up first of all, then you can steal their goods.
He came and he restrained Satan. His gospel has spread. There's
barely a place on the earth where there has not been some influence
of the gospel. In these days, the white horse
has ridden forth. Quite remarkable. But he's released,
at the end of the symbolic thousand years, he's released for a little
season. It is a little season. It's a
few years. How many? I don't know. But it's
not anything in comparison to the thousand years. Are we in
that time now? I wouldn't be dogmatic, because
I'm sure people in the past have been quite sure they were in
the little season, But I really do think we probably are in Satan's
little season. I just look and I just think
everything that God has told us about it is true. You know,
as it were, people that would listen to me that know nothing
of the gospel would accuse me probably of being racist and
xenophobic when I say this. But, you know, the way in which
there is free migration everywhere around the planet. I'm not making
any statement about racism or the ability of people to move,
but it's just a sign of the times. There are no, for all practical
purposes, national borders and national identities have largely
disappeared. It's great for cultures to mix,
but the culture of this country is just completely overrun with
foreign cultures now. And it's happened in the last
30 or 40 years. At the very most it's happened.
It's great that Marguerite came from Germany in the 1950s. Was it the 50s or was it the
60s? Whenever it was, great that you came. But do you know what
I mean by comparison? You were like one in a hundred,
but today there's millions have flooded in, the borders have
gone. It's a sign of the times in which we're living. It's Satan's
little season. The once Christian cultures are
overrun with anti-Christian culture. And the true witnesses, Revelation
11, the churches, the preachers, In our culture, where once the
gospel shone clearly, it's as if the true witnesses are lying
dead in the streets. Look at how we would appear to
the organised church. We're utterly irrelevant. There's
a handful of us. We're lying dead in the streets.
encompassed by the forces of satanic rebellion. Look at verse
9 of chapter 20. They compassed the camp of the
saints about, and the beloved city. This anti-Christian, this
godless culture is all around us, but look what happens. Fire
from heaven falls. It's a little season. It doesn't
go on very long. And the devil is cast into the
lake of fire. Symbolical language, whatever
it is, I don't know, but it sounds absolutely dreadful. Jesus again
and again speaks of weeping and gnashing of teeth. There shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. All of this is happening. and
we saw towards the end of chapter 20 the final judgment because
there is going to be a final judgment of all of the bizarre
stories that you will hear about the return of Christ you'll hear
he's coming again in a while and then there'll be a rapture
and then there'll be a thousand years and he'll sit on a throne
in Jerusalem and the world will still be full of sin but Christ
will be reigning from it's absolute rubbish it's nonsense it just
doesn't tie up with with reality it's just absurd nonsense and
yet the majority of the so-called Christian world believes that
rubbish They really do. Be in no doubt, call a spade
a spade, I will. The vast majority of Presbyterianism
believes pre-millennialism. It's complete rubbish. It's not
supported by what the scriptures state. There is going to be one
return of Christ, one final coming of Christ. And when he comes,
he will take his people, his saints, to be with him. He will
raise those from their graves, the bodies from the graves, the
dead that lived. He will reunite them with the
spirits that we saw in verses 4 to 6 of Revelation 20. He will reunite them. He will
take the living, if we're living when he comes again we'll be
caught up to meet him in the air, so Paul tells the Thessalonians. and he'll come and he will execute
strict legal judgment. There will be two books. Two
books. One book is the record. Again, symbolism. But God remembers,
God knows absolutely perfectly everything that any of us have
ever done in relation to his perfect holy law. And there will
be a judgment of all men and women according to their works.
what they've done and that which falls short of the standard of
God which is every one of us will be judged and will receive
its just reward according to the justice of God of that being
no doubt being no doubt whatsoever if there is nothing else that
you believe in this life believe this there is a judgment coming
and there's only one way of escape of that judgment and that is
to be found with your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life How
do you know you're in the Lamb's Book of Life? You believe the
Gospel of His Grace. For those He wrote there, His
Spirit brings to believe the Gospel of His Grace. Those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, He fills them. He continually
fills them. He draws them. He brings them. He takes their burden from off
them. He says, My yoke is easy, my
burden is light, for He has borne the burden of their sin. so that's
what chapter twenty was about and what we see there is the
end you know we've had these pictures running through and
through verse fifteen of chapter twenty that is it that is the
end of history it's the end of sin everything we do as I've
already said is tainted by sin Sin is ended. At this point in
the vision, sin is ended. It's the end of everything we
experience in this life, in this world. The end. Let me just say
a bit more about this end. The end. You know, if you talk
to the average person in the world who has nothing to do with
the things of God or the gospel of his grace, they will tell
you that to have any concern for the end of things is just
superstitious rubbish and everything is going to go on exactly as
it always has done. You read Peter's epistles. Peter
two thousand years ago was writing that people were saying exactly
the same. Where is the hope of his coming? Things go on like
they've always done and they always will do. Oh, you know,
there's nothing to be afraid of. Things are not going to end. No, things will just carry on
like they always have done. No, there's an end coming. There
is. Do you know something? Even cosmology,
cosmology is the science of the universe, the physics of the
universe. The stuff that Professor Stephen
Hawking and the great astrophysics community, cosmological community
look at. Even cosmology expects an end. Even that, scientifically. They
say everything started from a singularity, a single point, and it will all
go back to a single point. Their view of time will be quite
different. But even cosmology expects an end. The book of God
throughout expects an end. Let me read you from Isaiah 34.
Isaiah 34 and verse 4. Now, this is Isaiah's prophecy,
800 years or so before Christ came. You wouldn't think that
he's going to have much to say about the end. And all the host
of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled
together as a scroll, and all their host shall fall down as
the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from
the fig tree. It's just going to end. That's
what Isaiah said. the prophecy of God. Isaiah said
that. Revelation chapter 6, at the end of one of the visions
earlier on in the book, Revelation chapter 6 and verse 14, And the
heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every
mountain and island were moved out of their places. these great
immovable objects as they seem just rolled up like a scroll
of paper uh... second peter chapter three second
peter chapter three and verse ten you see that verse i was
talking about verse nine of chapter three the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise as some men count slackness but is long-suffering
to usward not willing that any of his people this is should
perish but that all should come to repentance he says earlier
on he says that they say Where is the promise of his coming?
Verse four, where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning. But he says, no, the day of the Lord will come, verse
10, as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. There is an end coming. And God
is going to roll up this creation as easily as a scroll of paper
is rolled up. God says this sin-cursed creation
will be ended. It will be ended. And for those
who don't believe him, there will only be an eternity of hell.
But those who are found in the Lamb's book of life, there will
be a new heaven. and a new earth. What do I mean
by those that don't believe him? Job wrote this. Do you know Job
is the oldest book in the Bible? And Job spoke of people in general
in our day. Tell me, have you ever come across
anybody that thinks like this? This is Job 21 verses 14 and
15. He's talked about them like Psalm
73. He said, they just seem to prosper.
Everything they do seems to go well. Their cattle are very fertile,
they have lots of calves, and they get richer and richer. And
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 do you know
anybody around about us that thinks like that of course you
do everybody everybody who is not a believer in the gospel
of christ that is their philosophy depart from us we don't desire
any knowledge of your ways as paul wrote to the romans What's
the thing? What is it about why people believe
as they do? They didn't want to retain God
in their knowledge. That's it. No, for them, this
book speaks of hell. It speaks of weeping and gnashing
of teeth. But for those who are in the
Lamb's Book of Life, a new heaven and a new earth. Look at chapter
21 and verse 1. We've come to the end of all
things, but what's beyond the end of all things? I saw a new
heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea, a
new creation. God is going to make all things
new. John saw in vision a new creation. There was no, in what
he saw, there was no trace left of the old one, this current
one. No trace whatsoever. You know you can go to places
in the world, you can go to scenes that are just absolutely, you
know that the hand of an almighty God made it, because it's so
beautiful. You look into a flower, you look at the birds, you look
at things just in our garden out there, and you just see the
hand of God in everything, but then, you look at this world
in which we live and you just see such sin and its effects
and you look at the news and it's just dreadful and everything
about it is marred by sin but this that John saw is a new creation
and there's no trace left of the old one, this current one
there's no more sea what does the sea speak of? it speaks of
turmoil you remember in one of the earlier visions that was
where the beast satan's beast came from that was where satan's
beast of worldly opposition to god of political opposition to
god that was where it came from the sea symbolically speaks of
turmoil it speaks of separation doesn't it between believers
we have friends three thousand miles away across A big, big
C. And there's going to be no more
C. You know, as now, there's separation,
isn't there? Between believers and those they
love. And there's going to be no more
separation. no more sea, no more source of turmoil, no more source
of the beast of worldly opposition to God. This is a new heaven
and a new earth in which dwells righteousness. Look at 2 Peter
chapter 3 again and verse 13. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. It's what was promised in Isaiah
chapter 65. Let me read this to you, Isaiah
65 and verse 17. For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come
into mind. Again, the book of Isaiah. A
new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be brought
to mind. The whole creation, we read in
Romans 8, that the whole creation is groaning with longing to be
delivered from the bondage of corruption, the bondage of corruption
of sin. a new creation. When all things
have ended, God is going to create all things new, a new heavens
and a new earth. Verse 2, I, John, saw the holy
city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. Remember, this is a vision, this
is symbolical, this is not literal. as we count literal things in
this space-time creation. Don't try to think in concrete
terms. This is a vision, this is symbolism of what God is going
to bring about. What is this city? What is this
bride? What is this New Jerusalem coming
down from God out of heaven? It's the church. It's the Church
of Christ. The Church victorious. The Church
in glory. Everyone that was redeemed by
the Lamb. The redeemed people of God. The
Bride of Christ. This is who it is. They're spoken
of throughout the scriptures as a city. Jerusalem literally
pictured them in the Old Testament. Doesn't now. It's got nothing
to do with it now. It's just a political mess now.
Don't look to Jerusalem in the Middle East for anything to do
with the Gospel of Grace. It's not there, and nor will
it ever be. God's cast that off. But in the Old Testament, it
was a symbol of the people of God. Zion, Psalm 48, verses 1
and 2, beautiful for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great
king. Zion, it's the city of our God. Galatians chapter 4,
verse 26, New Testament now. Galatians 4, Paul speaks about,
oh, you must all come to Jerusalem, that great, no he doesn't. He
says, Jerusalem, which is above. Jerusalem, which is above the
city, the dwelling place of God, which is above. The people in
the faith gallery of Hebrews chapter 11, remember the faith
gallery? All the Old Testament saints
who saw with the gift of God, they saw the gospel of grace
and they looked for, what were they looking for? A nice place
to settle down and dwell. No, he says, verse 10 of chapter
11 of Hebrews, they're looking for a city which has foundations
not in this world whose builder and maker is God they're looking
for a heavenly Jerusalem let me read you another verse from
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22 but ye are come unto mount
Zion and unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem
and to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly
lovely words but you see it's a spiritual thing it's the spiritual
representation of the people of God. This is the new heavens
and the new earth in which dwells the righteousness of God. This
is the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
This is the church, the redeemed people of God, the bride of Christ,
made ready. Do you remember in an earlier
vision it said that the lamb's wife, verse 7 of chapter 19,
his wife hath made herself ready. She's made ready. She's made
ready. This prepared bride, adorned
for her husband, she's got ready. You know like the bride puts
on her dress and her adornments and her jewels and her veil and
her flowers and all of this sort of thing. It's made ready. How
is the church made ready? With righteousness, for they're
made the righteousness of God. What righteousness do you need
to be accepted in heaven? You need the righteousness of
God. They're made ready, adorned with the righteousness of God.
How has He made us ready? The Father has made us ready
in election, before the beginning of time. The Son has made His
people ready by redemption, by redeeming us from the curse of
the law. Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. He came and
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. made ready in regeneration when
we who were dead in trespasses and sins children of wrath even
as others just seeming in exactly that way were regenerated made
ready by the spirit of God given a new nature in quickening grace
and she's coming from her father's house you know the traditional
marriage the bride comes from her father's house to meet her
bridegroom at the wedding ceremony. I John saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. This bride of
Christ, this church of Christ, is coming for her wedding, her
marriage to the Son of God from her Father's house out of heaven.
She's coming with Him. As Jude 14 says, the Lord comes
from heaven with 10,000 of His saints in judgment. And she's
coming to this wedding to be permanently united with the son,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, which is why marriage
is a picture of this. You know, husbands love your
wives. I speak of Christ and the church. Behold, says the
son, the son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, behold,
I, and the children which God has given me." This is his objective. This is the fulfillment of all
things. This is the fulfillment of the plan of God. And verse
3, what is the state then? To be with God forever. Look at it. I heard a great voice
out of heaven saying, Behold, 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. Now we
experience the presence of God as believers in this life. You
have times when you're particularly conscious of the presence of
God, of the voice of God speaking to you, but it's fleeting. because
in this life it's marred by sin. We know, Jesus promises, John's
Gospel, that the Father and the Son will come and make our abode
with his people. They'll come and live with his
people, but it's not always felt. We don't always feel it because
of sin, we drift in and out of the consciousness of the presence
of God with us. But then, here, in this new creation,
It will be uninterrupted. It will be perfect communion,
unmarred by sin, beyond imagination. We don't know what it will be
like, except it will be glorious. Beloved, says John, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be. We don't know the full detail of it, but we know that when
he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him
as he is. Verse four, 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. Is that not a picture of
eternal bliss? With sin removed, every trace
of sin removed, everything that causes pain and sorrow, removed. Former things passed away. You
know in Hebrews 11 is that list of the patriarchs who saw it
by faith. Abel saw this by faith. Abel. I'm sure Adam and Eve did
when they were redeemed. Abel saw it by faith. Seth saw
it by faith. Enoch, who walked with God, saw
it by faith. Noah saw it by faith. Noah built
an ark by faith. Why did he do it? He was looking,
looking, looking. Abraham saw it by faith. When
God said, come out of Ur of the Chaldees. Isaac and Jacob saw
it by faith. They all saw it. Samuel, the
judges, Gideon, Samson, they saw it by faith. They saw it
by faith. Samuel saw it by faith, David
saw it by faith, Solomon saw it by faith, and so on. Down through the prophets, Elijah,
they saw it by faith and longed for it. They longed for God's
eternity. Anyone feeling the curse of sin
and the just condemnation of God on their sin hopes for it. Do we not hope for it? You know,
there's false doctrine. There's the false Catholic doctrine
of purgatory. We like our choral singing, as
you know, but we're not doing choral singing this term because
the piece they were going to sing was Elgar's Dream of Gerontius. And it's beautiful music, but
when we saw the words of that poem of John Henry Newman, there's
no way we could stand there and sing it. because when you sing
it in the chorus you have to pray to Mary to let the saints
out of purgatory. What a lie. What an absolute
lie. An evil lie of false doctrine. There is no purgatory. This doesn't
speak of purgatory. There are no degrees of reward.
God said to Abraham, I am your exceeding great reward. There's
no sorrow. You think, what am I going to
think about those that are not here, that were my loved ones
in this life? There won't be any sorrow over
it. I can't explain it. My heart breaks when I think
about it, but I don't I don't know how, but there will be no
sorrow over the lost, there will be no looking back, there will
be nothing but everlasting glory and joy. And how do we know? Does that seem beyond belief?
Does it seem incredible? Does it seem too good to be true?
It's promised by God. Verse 5. He that sat upon the
throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto
me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. This is the
sovereign God speaking. All things new. Whoever's in
Christ is a new creation, says Paul. Does it sound too good
to be true? does it you know they say if
it sounds too good to be true it probably is too good to be
true it's probably a lie it's probably a scam that's in this
world of sin but it isn't this world of sin that said it it's
God behold he that sat upon the throne said behold I make all
things new God has said it. You have God's solemn word of
truth, that everything John saw is true. This is a true record.
It is faithful. It will be faithfully done. Verse
6, He said unto me, It is done. It's as good as done. I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him
that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
There is no possibility of it not happening, as John saw. For
God is the beginning and the ending, the Alpha and the Omega
of all things. And He has said it. And if He
has said it, everything that exists exists because He has
said it. If He has said it, not a word of it shall fail. Not
a word of God fails because All things are of God, as 2 Corinthians
5.18 says. All things are of God. Now, let
me get to the conclusion. There's a great divine. Let me
read these verses, 6 to 8. He said unto me, it is done.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto
him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son. but the fearful, and unbelieving,
and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers,
and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the
lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death. Let's bring this right up close. Does it matter to you and me?
Does this fact that there is going to be an end of all things,
that Christ is coming again this space-time creation is going
to end there's going to be a judgment there's going to be eternal bliss
for those who are in the Lamb's Book of Life does it matter to
you and me? Can I opt out? You see a universal divide is
coming if you hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 Verse
31. He said this, When the Son of
Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before
him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from his goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
And I'll miss a few verses out and down to verse 41. Then shall
he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. In the middle of faithful and
true words regarding the bliss of heaven there is a warning
not to presume. We need to pay attention. We
need to hear the warning not to presume. Those who inherit
heaven are thirsty for the things of God. He that is a thirst,
he that is a thirst, they're thirsty for the things of God.
They're thirsty for the presence of God, for the righteousness
of God, for perpetual communion with God. They're those who overcome. Verse 7, he that overcometh.
They overcome. What do they overcome? Not in
their own strength, but they overcome by their faith. They
overcome this world and the opposition of Antichrist. They persevere
in faith to the very end. And despite the failures, and
the falls that they have in this flesh, they keep coming back
to this position and they never stop coming back to this position
of looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Their
thirst is quenched, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount,
are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why? For they
shall be filled. A constant hungering and thirsting.
That's the life of the Christian. A constant hungering and thirsting
for the things of God. And what else? A constant satisfaction
of that thirsting and of that hunger. Constantly being satisfied. How does he satisfy the thirst?
The fountain of the water of life. What is water? I'll tell
you what it's not. It's not a luxury, is it? You
know, the thing that you most need is air. You need air to
breathe. If I stopped you breathing air
for five minutes, you'd be dead, wouldn't you? You really would.
You'd be dead. If I stopped you having water
to drink, you'd be pretty close to death tomorrow. You'd be pretty
close. You really would. You'd just
dry out. You need it. It's a necessity. It's not a
luxury. It's a necessity. Well, what's
this water of life? It's the necessity of spiritual
life, which is the Holy Spirit coming and ministering the things
of Christ. As Jesus promised, John 7, 37,
in that great day of the feast, the last day of the feast in
Jerusalem, If any man thirst, he said, let him come unto me
and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Those shall inherit all things. Those that thirst for the things
of God, those that overcome the error and the falsehood of Antichrist
by faith, they inherit all things. What are the all things? All
that is Christ's. Everything that is Christ's.
For elsewhere in the scriptures we're called, those who believe,
are called joint heirs with Christ. Every privilege of being the
sons of God is what we inherit in Him. But, but, but, verse
8, lest we presume, lest we presume that we will be there when we've
no reason for it, and that's why I had that second hymn. Read
it again. What think ye of Christ is the
test. Read it again. Read it again.
Let a man examine himself. The fearful. Fearful of what?
Well, it suggests those who profess Christianity but are ashamed
of God's gospel and are fearful of worldly opposition and are
ultimately unfaithful to Christ. That's what that's suggesting.
The unbelieving. What is the unbelieving? Let
me remind you of what Job said. Therefore 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? and everything that flows
from that unbelief. What's its destiny? Hell. They're part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death, the
final death. My friends, hear what the word
of God says. Look at it again. Revelation
22, verse 17. The spirit and the bride say,
come. And let him that heareth say,
Come. And let him that is athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life freely. Freely. Amen.