Let's read the first six verses.
Revelation chapter 21. And 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. Someone
said seas divide. There'll be no division in heaven.
Nothing to separate God's people from one another or from their
Redeemer. In 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. And 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. 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. And 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. And 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."
Last week's message was from chapter 7 here in the book of
Revelation. And our text then was from verse
14. And the title was, they all came
out. They all came out. But that's not all, is it? They came out of something, yes,
tribulation. All their tribulation. It ended. But they entered into something
as well, didn't they? Look in with me for a moment
in chapter 7 of Revelation. Look at what they came out to. Verse 15, Therefore, because
they've been washed in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they
before the throne of God. And serve him day and night in
his temple, and he that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among
them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on
them any more, nor any heat. For the land which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them." Oh, look what they come
out to. "...shall feed them and shall
lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes." When we read that, and passages
like it. It's no wonder that Paul wrote,
I reckon, Romans 8, I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in us. Yes, they came out, O my soul,
but look what they come out to. They behold the king in his beauty
with a perfect, perfect vision, not marred with sin. Now we just
cannot, we just cannot now, standing where we are, imagine what that'll
be like. We just can't not reach that
far. But we believe it. We believe
it. And we trust that it shall be
so. Many professing Christians I've
heard over the years talk only about what they gave up, what
they left behind. They touch not or taste not or
wear not or go not. How's the old diddy go? I don't
drink or smoke or chew and I don't run around with those who do.
No. That sounds so much like that
fellow that stood in the temple and prayed to himself, Lord,
I thank you that I'm not like other men. I don't, don't, don't,
don't. No, that's not what being a believer
is. We leave something, absolutely. But we enter into something as
well, don't we? A new life in Christ Jesus. Turn back, if you will, to 1
Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Let's read a couple of verses
here together that says this very thing. Chapter 2, I'm sorry.
1 Peter 2. Verse 9. Peter says, But you're
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of
peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness, yes, out of darkness, But that's
not all. Into his marvelous light, which
in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Thank God, look what they enter
to. Verse 4 of Revelation 21 again. 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." The title of my message is the same
as the article in your bulletin. No reason to cry. No reason to cry. We've all spoken to our children
when they were children. at home, little young ones, and
say, why are you crying? Stop that. You really got no
reason to cry. Well, they thought they did.
They thought they did. Oh, but here that we read of
in Revelation 21, this glorious vision that John had, all those
before the throne of God, they'll have no reason to cry. None whatsoever. Again, I closed last Sunday's
message with the words of a hymn. It says, among pastures green
he'll lead his flock, where living streams appear, and God the Lord
from every eye shall wipe off every tear. Imagine that. Let's begin here in chapter 21
at verse 5 and work our way back to verse 4. And it's really a short distance
after all. Because everything that we read
of in verse 4, indeed every promise of God, every promise of the
Lamb of God is dependent upon, is determined by what we read
in verse 5. If verse 5 is not so, then verse
4 will never be so. Look at verse 5. Here's the foundation. This is the hammer, if you will,
that nails the promise in place, that makes it sure and steadfast. Who says so? That's our first
thought. That God shall wipe away all
tears. except for faith, except by faith,
unbelievable promise that there shall be no death, nor pain,
nor weeping, no tears whatsoever. How can that be so? It depends
upon who says so. And look at verse 5. Who says
so? He that sat upon the throne said. He that sat upon the throne said
so. That's enough. Louie, that's
enough. It always has been. For this
one who sits upon the throne is he himself the mighty God. the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the only potentate. His throne, after all, is the
only throne there actually is. Everything else is beneath Him. He's that one who sets up on
the throne that God is highly exalted and put everything, that
includes you and me and everything else, under his feet. Everything
is beneath him. Therefore, whatever he says makes
it so. He that sat upon the throne said,
that's enough. That's enough. That's all he
has to do. Unlike me and you, his saying
so makes it so. I think I'll hear him. I think
I'll listen to him. I'll think by his grace, I'll
believe him. I believe I'll trust him. I believe
I can take the word of He who sits upon the throne as being
sure and steadfast and an anchor for my soul. After all, we read
in chapter 1 of this book, that this is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It was given to John for his
servants, but it wasn't about John or about his servants. It's the revelation singular,
not revelations, but the revelation of Jesus Christ. The same one
we read up here in verse 5 of chapter 21. He that sits upon
the throne. Look back, if you will, The chapter
4. Chapter 4. When John is first
caught up to heaven, we read of that here in chapter 4. Verse
1. After this I looked and behold,
behold, a door was opened in heaven. Now what do you picture
there? Oh no. Not what, but who. I am the door, Christ said. No
man cometh unto the Father but by me. A door was opened in heaven,
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet.
No man ever spake like him. Talking with me, which said,
come up hither, and I will show these things which must be hereafter. And he no sooner says it than
it's done. Immediately, immediately, that
quick, that quick, I was in the Spirit and behold, a throne was
set in heaven and one sat upon the throne. One throne and only
one setting upon that throne, the eternal I Am. that one that God has decreed
every knee shall bow to. Yes, yes, may God give us grace
to hear Him. Because every word spoken by
Him who sits upon the throne, we read in verse 5, is true and
faithful. He's the true and faithful witness. He cannot lie. He cannot be mistaken. He cannot lack any power to carry
out his will. Therefore, when he says, there
shall be no more tears in heaven, we can count on it. Everything
depends upon him, doesn't it? Because the word spoken by him
carries with it the power of the sovereign of the universe,
Jesus Christ himself. God's people don't have a problem
with the truth of God's sovereignty. We don't have any issues with
that, do we, Don? Now rebels, they have an issue
with that. They don't like it. Free willers
try to deny it, but it's not so. Whether they deny it or not,
whether they like it or not, whether they believe it or not,
He that sits upon the throne is our sovereign God. And we
rejoice in this blessed truth, don't we? Don't we, child of
God, don't we rejoice in the fact that our God is in the heavens
doing whatsoever He had pleased? We don't have a problem with
that, do we, Lester? Oh, no. That's the very foundation of
every promise. That's the very comfort, the
very hope that we have that we are in the hand of one that there
is no power in earth or hell by devils or men that can ever
pluck me out of the hand of my sovereign great shepherd. No,
I don't have a problem with that one who sits upon the throne.
On the contrary, it gives me comfort knowing that this is
so. that everything depends on Him,
not you and not me. Let me read you a part of an
article from a bulletin by Brother Joe Cherrill. He said, all God's
people, they were all in Him, that is in Christ, when He died. They were all in Him when He
arose, in Him when He ascended, and seated with Him in glory
now. That's what the scripture teaches.
In our experience, we may follow him into the tomb, but we shall
surely follow him out of it to glory. I like that, don't you? Yes, we may surely go by the
way of the grave as he did, as our representative, but he didn't
stay there, did he? He came out, and every one of
his that follow him into the tomb shall follow him out to
be where he is forever in glory, because these are they that follow
the Lamb wheresoever he goeth. It cannot be, Joanna went on
to write, It cannot be that those for whom he went into the grave
for shall not come out of it with him and be glorified with
him forever. Amen. I like that, don't you? Look again at verse 5. And he
that sat upon the throne said. Look at this first word. Behold. Behold. That reminds me of that
little word we find in several of the Psalms. Sela, Sela. Stop a minute. Pause. Slow down. Slow down. I dare say we all have a need
to do that, don't we? Our Lord told the disciples one
time, because there were so many people coming and going, they
didn't even have time to eat, let's go into a desert and rest
a while. Let's pause. Pause. Slow down. These less important
things can wait. I want to set at the feet of
my master. like Mary. I want to catch every
word that's coming out of his mouth. I need to hear from him. He deserves my undivided attention. These other things don't. They
can wait. Selah. Selah. Pause. Pause. Behold, this introduces
us to some sweet music. Catch this first note. I make
all things new. I make all things new. Not, I'm trying to make all things
new. Or I hope to make all things
new. Or I'll make all things new if
I can find someone to help me do so. Oh no, no, no, no, no. We're looking at the words of
Him that sat upon the throne. No, he doesn't speak that way.
What a sad, miserable tune it would be if he said, I'm trying
to make all things new. That would be no music to our
souls, to our hearts. Oh, but this sweet note says,
I will make all things new. I'll make all things new. That
is spoken by the same one that we read of in the first book
in the first verse of the Word of God. In the beginning, God. God created. That's Him. He that sits upon the throne.
That's what we read. In the beginning, God created. The heavens and the earth. No
apology. No explanation. No offer to consider
another point of view. No, there it is. In the beginning,
God. That's it. There's one local
station on their evening news. They always have a moment after
they give a story. They'll say, now we'd like to
hear what you think. go to our website, or on Facebook,
or on Twitter, or Skitter, or all these other things, blah,
blah, blah. We want to hear from you. Well, God doesn't do that. He doesn't give elbow room for
our opinions or what we think. He already knows what we think.
He already knows our thoughts are all wrong about him. He said,
you thought that I was altogether like you. I'm not like you. No, this one that sits upon the
throne, who says, behold, I make all things new, he's that one,
as we said, we read of in Genesis 1, who in the beginning created. That same one that John tells
us in the first chapter of his gospel, that without him was
not anything made, that was made. Well, what about the evolutionists?
They can believe evolution until they open their eyes in hell.
But he who sits upon the throne says, behold, lift up your eyes
on high and behold, I, the Lord, created all these things. And
the child of God says, Oh, how wonderful are thy works, O God. How wonderful are thy works.
They proclaim thy majesty. Now catch this second sweet note.
Behold, I make all things new. New. Look again at verse 1. And
I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Because there was sin
in the old heaven and the old earth, Satan rebelled in heaven. Man rebelled on earth. Therefore
God creates a new heaven and a new earth. In verse 11 of chapter
20, And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was
found no more place for them as a vesture He that sits upon
the throne shall fold him up just like I do that handkerchief
and lay it aside. God shall destroy and make a
new heaven and a new earth. wherein, Peter writes, dwelleth
righteousness. Seeing these things, Peter writes
in 2 Peter chapter 3, seeing all these things shall be dissolved.
What kind of persons ought we to be? For we look for a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Peter
says we look for that. That is God's people. Behold,
I make all things new. A new creation for all of his
new creations. If any man be in Christ, Paul
wrote, he is a new creation. Heaven is a prepared place for
a prepared people. Behold, I make all things new. Look at verse 2. Look at verse
2 here in chapter 21. And I, John, saw the holy city
new Jerusalem. This is the picture of the church
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned
for her husband. Our Lord said, I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare that
new place for my new creations, I'll come again and bring them
together. New heavens and a new earth for
the new Jerusalem, the perfect bride of Christ. Oh, behold her. Behold her. Coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Look at her close. Look at her
close. Look as close as you want to.
And you'll not see a flaw, Joe. Keep looking. Keep looking. Scrutinize her. Look at her from
head to foot. There is no blemish in her. Oh, my soul. Husbands, love your
wives. Even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might present it to himself. A glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. Behold, I make all things new. Look in chapter 14 of Revelation. Among the blessed description
that we have of the church of God, we read this in verse 4
of chapter 14. These are they which are not
defiled with women. They are virgins. These are they
which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed
from among men, being the firstfruits of God unto the Lamb. And in
their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before
the throne of God. even looking through the microscope
of God's holy law. No fault. No fault. She's perfect. Now notice also in verse 5, He
that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said, Write. Write, John. Write this down. I want my people
to know this. They need to be reminded of this. They're still in the world. Remind
them, John, that I'll bring them out, that they shall see the
king, that I'll gather them around my throne, a new heaven and a
new earth. John, remind them my words are
true and faithful. This is no fairy tale. This is
no fairy tale. The world believes it is. That doesn't trouble us. Remember
what Peter wrote again in his second epistle, that last chapter?
The time will come that scoffers and mockers will point a finger
at you, child of God, and say, ha! Where's the sign of his coming? We've been hearing that all of
our life. You're foolish to believe that.
And Peter says, pay them no mind. God's not slack concerning his
promise that some men like them count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward his people, not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. In other words, the reason this
world continues is because the great sheep, shepherd rather,
is yet calling out his sheep. And when he calls the last one,
time shall be no more. I've noticed that even Hollywood
is getting into the act. Making movies supposedly based
on the Bible. Don't you believe it. Don't you
believe it. Don't waste time looking at it.
Read the book. Read the book. Hear what God
himself says, not what some ungodly person in Hollywood says just
to make a dollar. Oh no. Don't be influenced by
that. Now secondly, secondly, look
at verse 4 again. With the foundation of verse
5, we can surely believe every wonderful thing we read in verse
4. And what we read there tells
us we'll have in heaven no reason to cry. Crying, after all, is
a symptom of something else, isn't it? It's just the expression
of something else going on. A broken heart, for example.
That'll bring a tear. That'll cause weeping to endure
through the night. But our great physician, he that
sits upon the throne, said, I come to bind up the brokenhearted. I've come to set at liberty the
captives. Those things that make us weep
now would not exist in heaven. Now think about that. Everything
that makes you weep now will not exist in heaven. God takes
away the cause of our weeping now. It won't exist then. We've all wept bitter tears at
the grave, at the graveside of a family member or a dear departed
friend, a brother or sister in Christ perhaps. But we'll not
do that in heaven because there'll be no more death, Mike. We won't
cry over someone's grave because there won't be any. Think about
that. In the vast expanse of heaven,
not one grave marker There'll be no more death. We see God's
children now suffering body, as some of our dear friends are
doing. We see them suffering mind, as
some are doing. I talked to Brother Kenny, and
he said, I could tell he was down. I said, Kenny, what's the
matter? He said, oh, Larry, I've just looking at my life and just
wondering why things have been like they
are. I said, Kenny, I don't know.
I can't tell you that, but I know if you're one of His, He's loved
you with an everlasting love. And one day in glory, it'll all
be made plain. It'll all be made plain. In glory,
there'll be nothing to make us sorrow or cry. We'll have nothing
to cry about. When I first visited Brother
Lowell three weeks ago, you remember on that Sunday, the last one
in March, we had the baby shower for Abby and Joe tied the lawn. But that was the same Sunday
that my brothers were driving down, you recall. I went and
visited Brother Law that afternoon, that evening in the hospital,
and made mention of it, that they had come. And he said, and
this won't surprise you, coming from dear Brother Law, he said,
oh, Larry, I'm sorry you're taking time away from your brothers.
And I said, Law, you're my brother. You're my brother, Law. You're
my family. As a matter of fact, There's
a greater bond that binds us, me to you, you to me, than what
binds my natural family. We've been redeemed with the
same precious blood. We serve the same glorious Redeemer.
We're all going to the same place to be with Him forever. Believers
are united to Christ, therefore they're united to one another.
We won't turn there, but as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, we're the body and Christ is
the head. We're all members, one of another. If one weeps, they all weep. If one rejoices, they all rejoice. And it's true, it's true, that
here we do spend much of our time weeping. We do shed tears. As our Lord told his disciples
that night before he went to the garden and Judas brought
the mob, he said to his disciples, tonight You'll weep and lament. The world will rejoice. The world's
going to rejoice. My soul... It was a carnival on Calvary
that day, wasn't it? Laughter, mockery, jokes. Come down from the cross. You
claim to be the Son of God. Come on down from there. Yes,
the world shall rejoice, but you shall have sorrow." And oh,
how their heart broke, because as yet they knew not the scripture
that he must rise from the dead. Remember that? But that's not
all he said, did he? You shall have sorrow, but your
sorrow shall be turned into joy. The greatest reason in heaven
Why we'll never cry again is this. There'll be no more sin. That's why there's sickness,
John. That's why there's sorrow. That's why there's hurt. That's
why there's pain in body and mind. Oh, but there'll be no
more sin. In glory, sin's removed from
us and in us. Imagine that. Among that multitude
of sinners, How many, Larry? I don't know. John couldn't count
them. There were too many to count.
Oh, our Lord shall have a glorious crown. A glorious crown. He redeemed a multitude of sinners. And that same multitude of sinners
will be with Him in glory. And among all of them, you will
never ever hear one pray against thee, and thee only have I sinned,
O God." No. You'll never hear that. There'll
never be such a prayer as that. There'll never be one of that
multitude that shall sin against their God. Never again. You'll
never hear one, not one, among that multitude interrupt their
glorious singing of the worthiness of the Lamb with words like these,
O wretched man that I am. Oh, no. No. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in His likeness. I often feel at a loss to know
what to say or how to say it to God's hurting children. Do
you? Do you? You want to speak a word
of comfort. You pray that you'll say something
that'll be of a help. But oh, I think I feel more inadequate
at those times than at any other time. But not so with our Savior. Turn, if you will, back to John's
Gospel, Chapter 20. We'll bring this to a close. John, Chapter 20. Never a man spake like this man. Yes, I often, as I said, feel
inadequate to speak a word of comfort to a troubled heart.
Oh, but not our Redeemer. Because He that sets upon the
throne can speak peace to troubled hearts. And just the Word, His
will, His saying so makes it so. And when He speaks peace, it produces a great calm. I just know it does. I've experienced
it, haven't you? Every child of God has. I'm at my with sin. I can't bear
this. This is going to kill me. And
the Son of God comes and says, peace, peace. I'm with you. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. And he produces a great Here
in John chapter 20, look at verse 11, Mary Magdalene, that wicked,
wicked sinner that our Lord had saved by His marvelous grace,
had cast out seven devils and she followed Christ, followed
Him all the way to Calvary, watched Him die, helped prepare His body
for the tomb, watched as they put him in that sepulcher and
rolled that great stone to the mouth of it. She comes back to
finish what she had started to prepare his body and Mary stood
without the sepulcher weeping and as she wept she stooped down
and looked into the sepulcher and see two angels in white setting,
the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of
Jesus had lain. Past tense. And they say unto
her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have
laid him. I know not. She believed with all her heart. And when she had thus spoken,
she turned herself back. She turns away from the angels.
And she turns around. She turns around. And look here. She turned herself
back and saw Jesus, standing and knew not that it was Jesus.
And he said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hath borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away." Oh, what a distraught, burdened, breaking woman Mary
was at this moment. And it changes like that. Jesus said unto her, Mary? Oh, she knew that voice. Mary? I'm right here. I'm not in the tomb. I've arrived. Mary? And she turned herself
and saith unto him, Rabboni, master? Master, oh yes, Mary,
never a man spake like this man. And I pray that God would speak the name of our hurting
brothers and sisters even now, just as he did here, and give comfort and peace as
only he can. Verse 17, he said, touch me not. I think what he was saying there,
what it means was, don't detain me. Don't hinder me now, Mary,
because I'm not yet ascended to my father. But go tell my
brethren, I ascend to my father and their father, and to my God
and their God. Oh, but when we shall see him
that sits upon the throne, That one who wipes away all of our
tears and will never have a reason to cry, he'll never say, don't
hold me, don't detain me. I've got to separate from you
for a while. No, no, no. And so shall we ever
be with the Lord. May God enable us to remember
in observing the Lord's table. God, don't allow me to take bread
and eat it, to take the wine and drink it, without thinking
of my Redeemer. That's not to observe the Lord's
table. And at the same time, I know
that's exactly what I'll do. John, I'll just go through the motion and not think of Him. that this
wine represents, that he loved me and redeemed me with his own
precious blood. May God enable us to do that.
Amen. Amen. God bless you.