Turn with me to Hebrews, Hebrews
chapter 11 for a moment. Hebrews chapter 11. You've heard
me quote from time to time from Mr. Bunyan's, John Bunyan's famous
allegory, his most famous work. And I suppose it's still true,
but at one time that book, Pilgrim's Progress, had sold more than
any other book other than the Bible. And Mr. Bunyan was in
prison when he wrote that famous book, The Pilgrim's Progress. The entire title of that book
is Pilgrim's Progress, From This World to That Which Is to Come. Here in Hebrews chapter 11, beginning
at verse 13, The writer tells us concerning all those that
he's mentioned before and refers to them as pilgrims and strangers. Now, I don't know whether Mr.
Bunyan may have gotten his title or the thought for his title
from that passage. I'm not sure, but God's people
certainly can identify with it, can't they? There are pilgrims
and strangers in this world, always have been, no matter when
they live. At verse 13 of Hebrews 11, these
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
this earth. They just didn't feel at home
here. And that's good. That's good. God help us never
to feel at home here, because we're just passing through. And
verse 14, for they that say such things declare plainly that they
seek a country, not the one that they're in at present, not the
one they're passing through, but another. Verse 15, and truly,
if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have return. But now, but
now, since they've been called by God's grace, now they desire
a better country. that is in heavenly. Wherefore,
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared
for them a city." A city. Let's look at that heavenly place
again tonight. Will you turn with me to the
book of Revelation chapter 14. Let's take a glimpse at that
heavenly city to where God's people shall all be gathered
one day. The place that Christ said he
had gone to prepare for us and promised that where he is, we
shall be there also. Revelation chapter 14. Let's take another glimpse at
how our journey shall end. And I hope that God will be pleased
to make it a means of blessing to our hearts. We'll read just
five verses in Revelation chapter 14. John had seen so many things,
marvelous things, blessed things. And then as he continues his
tour through heaven, so to speak, he's introduced in verse 1 of
chapter 14, and I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the mount
Zion. and with him a hundred, forty,
and four thousand, having his father's name written in their
foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.
And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And
they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before
the four beasts and the elders. And no man can learn that psalm
but the 140 and 4,000 which are redeemed from the earth. These
are they, that is the 140 and 4,000, redeemed from the earth.
These are they which are not defiled with women, for they
are virgins. These are they which follow the
Lamb, whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their
mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before
the throne of God." What a description. What a description. A true and
accurate description of all God's people. Without fault before
the throne of God. These 140 and 4,000 represent
God's elect. They're an exact number. Exact
number. Very specific. But yet it's a
complete number. They are those our Lord spoke
of in John chapter 6. It's a picture of those that
he said that the Father had given him. Let's turn back there, if
you will. I know you know the passage,
but let's look at it again. John chapter 6. These 140 and
4,000 represent those that our Lord speaks of here in John chapter
6. And notice in these verses the
word all. All. They're all there. They're all with him. John 6
verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. What a glorious proclamation that is. What a
statement. No wonder, they said. And I know
it was the enemies of the Lord that made this statement. No
man speaks like him. But it was yet true. Who else
could make such a statement as this? Who other than the captain
of our salvation? Could anybody other than a Redeemer,
a Savior that's mighty to save, make a claim like this? Look
what he says. All, all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. But what if they don't want to
come? The fact is, they won't want
to come, but they'll be made willing in the day of His power.
He'll change their willer. He'll give them a new nature
and a new heart, and they'll seek Him, and they'll be found
of Him. Therefore, He says, all that
the Father giveth Me shall come to Me. This multitude of redeemed
sinners that John saw in chapter 7 of Revelation, every one of
them shall come to Him, no matter where they are. No matter how
fallen, no matter how far they've wandered from the Father's house,
when grace does its work in their heart, they'll come back to the
Father's house, because they're the Father's sons. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which it sent me, that of all,"
there's that word again, A-double-L, all which he had given me, I
should lose not very many of them. Oh, no. No, again he speaks
as the great captain of our salvation and he says, of all which he
had given me, I should lose nothing. I should lose nothing but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is what we have
a picture of in Revelation chapter 14. That multitude have all been
kept by his mighty grace, therefore he loses nothing. They've all
been gathered around his throne where they sing a song of praise
to him. Not one word about their merit,
they didn't have any. Not one word about what they
deserve, oh no. They sing the praises of the
Lamb, that one who stands before the throne of God's everlasting
glory. The same ones that John saw as
we mentioned in chapter 7 of this book. Turn back in Revelation,
if you will, to chapter 7. Here's another picture of them.
And it too is a glorious picture. And I might remind ourselves
that these things that I'm reading, these promises, these pictures
of His people, the redeemed, these are realities. These are
realities. I was talking to someone this
morning, perhaps Mr. Louis, about these reality television
shows. They seemed to have just about
taken over the air. And I told him, I've not seen
one yet that was any sort of reality that I'm acquainted with.
It's all sort of make-believe. It's Hollywood glitter. Oh, but
these that we read up here, God's redeemed, these promises of God,
these pictures of our everlasting destination, our journeys in,
they're not figments of man's imagination. They're not a story
out of Hollywood. This is the Word of God. These
are all the promises of God which in Christ Jesus are all certain,
are all yea and amen. Verse 4 of Revelation 7, And
I heard the number of them which were sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise, the earnest of our redemption. And I heard the number
of them which were sealed, and there were sealed 140 and 4,000,
just like we read of in chapter 14. Of all the tribes of the
children of Israel, look at verse 9 in the same chapter. After
this I beheld, And lo, a great multitude, which no man could
number. Oh, what a proof of amazing grace. A multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. They
stood before the throne. and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in their hands." And these are the
same ones that we read of in chapter 14 as well. All standing before the throne
of God. This is what Paul spoke of in
Ephesians chapter 2. He said, in the ages to come,
God shall show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus. And here it is. Here's a demonstration
of God's everlasting mercy and grace. Here's our journey's end. We end our journey before the
Lamb. These are they, one of the descriptions
in verse 4. These are they which follow the
Lamb whether so ever he goeth. O behold the riches of God's
grace. No wonder the psalmist said,
not unto us, O Lord. Not unto us. No, there's no reason
that it should be unto us, but all the credit and all the glory
and all the song is directed to you. Not unto us, but unto
thy namesake, give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth. John says, lo, a lamb stood. Look, look, oh, what a sight
this is. Look, here is the purchase of
Christ in glory. Here is what Isaiah spoke of
when he said of our Redeemer that He shall see Him through
the veil of His soul and be satisfied. Here's what Isaiah spoke of when
he said, by His knowledge shall He justify many, because He shall
bear their iniquities. And everyone for whom He died,
everyone that He shed His precious blood for, everyone that was
entrusted into His hands by His Holy Father, every one of them
are with Him in glory. He said all. All shall hear my
voice. They'll all come to me, and I'll
raise them all up to be where He is in that blessed day." Look,
here's the purchase of Christ in glory. He justified many. This is what He spoke about right
before His crucifixion, right before He went to the garden
and was arrested, except the corn of wheat. fall into the
ground and die, it abides alone. That's an easy illustration to
grasp, isn't it? If I hold that corn of wheat
in my hand, it remains alone. Oh, but if it falls into the
ground and dies, Christ said, it bringeth forth much fruit. There's no doubt about that,
Lord. No question about that. It brings forth much fruit, and
we see it here in this picture of the redeemed, this 144,000
before the throne. And look again. Look again. They've
been kept by the power of God. Been kept by the power of God.
What everlasting love. What amazing grace. What a great
salvation. In Romans chapter 8, Paul said
that those whom God did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed, to be Baptist-like. Oh, no. Oh, no. To be what? To be Christ-like. To be conformed
to the image of His Son. Why? That He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Isn't that glorious? Oh, Christ
Himself shall be that one that we shall be with and be like. No wonder John said, Behold,
Behold, the same one that wrote this book, Revelation, said in
his first epistle, Behold what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us. Behold this wonder. Behold this
glorious miracle of His grace that the Father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called sons of God. And John says, it doth not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him. We shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. Considering that, Paul in Romans
8 said, I reckon, he said, I reckon that my present sufferings, he
said, I've done some arithmetic. And I've placed my sufferings. And we can read about Paul's
sufferings. They were vast. They were abundant. They were constant. And Paul
said, they shouldn't even be mentioned. Not in the scales
compared to God's grace and glory. He said, I reckon that they're
not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in us. The glory of being with Christ. Oh, behold this multitude. They
all have a common bond, do they not? They were all loved from
eternity, all loved with an everlasting love. They were all chosen unto
salvation. They were all redeemed by the
same precious blood. That old hymn writer wrote, blessed
be the tie that binds. What a bond. What a tie that
binds God's children. Us here gathered tonight, we've
all been loved by God the Father from eternity. From eternity. Brain get a grip on that, mind
can't. Love with an everlasting love. Never been a time that God didn't
love us. God didn't begin to love us. That's the way we talk. But God's
always loved us. In Christ, we read in John 13,
having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto
the end. He loved his sheep and gave himself
for them, chosen unto salvation by God the Father, whom he did
foreknow, foreloved, loved beforehand. Them he did also predestinate
and called in time, called in time. Those the Father loved
and chose and Christ redeemed with His own precious blood,
after paying such a ransom price as that, will anything prevent
Him from affectionately calling each and every one of them in
time?" He said, oh no, they'll hear my voice. All my sheep shall
hear my voice. And that's how we know they've
heard his voice. They follow him. Anyone that
claims to hear the voice of Christ and doesn't follow him, they're
deceiving themselves. Christ said, all my sheep follow
me. Look at verses 4 and 5 again
here in Revelation 14. Five things it says about these
140 and 4,000 representing all God's people. They all have this
in common without exception. They all enjoy this. There's
no second-class citizens in heaven. Oh no, look at verse 4. These
are they which were not defiled with women, for they aren't virgins. It's speaking of spiritual purity. In chapter 17, we're told about
the world going after that woman that sat upon the horse, all
decked out, that deceiver of men. Why were these not deceived? Why were these not deceived?
Why were these not defiled? Because grace has made them to
differ. They are virgins. Once we were
as impure as all other men. But God's grace is not a word. God's grace is an operation.
God's grace is something He does. Not something He offers, but
something He actually does. Grace comes to where we're at,
enters into our hearts, and makes us new creatures in Christ. We'll
never be what we once were. Never. No, the new birth is this,
God dropping His very life into our souls. The very life of God. This is what Christ meant when
He said, because I live, you shall live. You derive your life
from Me. The same life. flows in his veins,
flows in the veins of all his people. No wonder they shall
never perish. No wonder it's everlasting life
and shall never come to an end. They were once impure, but now
grace has made them to differ. Remember what Paul wrote? But. But. Yes, he said, you were just
like other men. You can't deny that, but you're
not anymore. You're not anymore. But you are
washed. But you are sanctified. But you
are justified by the Spirit of our God and His mighty grace. Oh, the riches of His grace before
the throne of God. Before the throne of God, but
with Him. with Christ, all clothed in perfect
robes of righteousness, Christ himself, his righteousness. Turn, if you will, to chapter
19, Revelation chapter 19, verses 7 and 8. Here we read verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him. Well, that sounds like the right
thing to do, doesn't it? Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. The marriage
of the Lamb. And his wife had made herself
ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of the saints. Look, if you will,
in chapter 21. In verse 1, 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. And 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. God who said, I am and there
is none else. God that shall not fail. Listen
to this, child of God, fellow pilgrim, stranger. God himself
shall be with them and be their God and God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes. All tears from their eyes. The
psalmist said, weeping may endure through the night, but joy cometh
in the morning. And there shall be no more death.
You see, God does away with all those things that cause us to
cry. 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. Who's going to accomplish such
a thing? And he that sat upon the throne said, He will. Behold,
I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful. Another thing that identifies
these before the throne It says in verse 4, the second sentence
of verse 4, these are they which follow the Lamb whether so ever
he goeth. They all follow the Lamb. We're
going to come back to that. And then here's another thing,
a third thing. These were redeemed from among
men. These were redeemed from among
men, not with all men. Because all men are not redeemed.
If they were, they would be before the throne. If Christ died for
all men, all men must be saved. But that's why the Holy Spirit
is very specific here. These were redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. Christ shed
his precious blood for his own. This is my blood which is shed
for you. He did something for Peter, special,
particular, that he didn't do for Judas. If he did, then what
difference did his blood make? If He did the same for Judas
as He did for Peter, then what does His death have to do with
anything? Oh no, He redeemed us effectually,
particularly with His own precious blood. He loved me. He loved
me. And I know me better than you
know me. But He loved me. And He gave
Himself for me. That should be more amazing to
my heart than what it is. He loved me, and he gave himself
for me. And then here's the fifth thing.
And in their mouth, verse 5, was found no guile, no guile,
for they are without fault before the throne of God. No guile,
no deceit, no hypocrisy. They're transparent. They're
sincere. They're honest. And they're without
fault. See what grace has done. See
what grace has done. They're without fault before
the throne of God. My soul. That could take a while to ponder,
couldn't it? Without fault before the throne
of God. I hear men talk about heaven,
their concept of heaven. And you've heard Selly talk about,
well, will it be this or will it be that? Well, we have our
own mansion and we have to share it with someone. and harps and
crowns and halos and angel wings and so forth. But it says here that we're without
fault before the throne of God. What are those things compared
to that? Without fault? Then I must be
without sin. to be without a trace of sin. And that's exactly so. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin, from the penalty
of sin, from the power of sin, from the very being of sin. Imagine that. My imagination's
not that accurate. My imagination can't stretch
that far. Can yours? Can yours? Without
sin? Without the being of sin? Without fault before the throne
of God. This is what the prophet spoke of, Jeremiah. In those
days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought. shall be sought for, and there
shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be
found. Why? For I will pardon them whom
I reserve, my elect, my remnant. Oh, to grace, oh, to grace, how
great a debtor every day I'm constrained to be. One characteristic,
and we'll consider that for the remainder of the message. These
are they, in verse 4, the second sentence, these are they which
follow the Lamb, whether so ever he goeth. Because it's their
nature to follow the Lamb. Turn, if you will, back to John's
Gospel, chapter 1. This is what we read there. In
John chapter 1, It speaks of that glorious word that was God. That... I'm searching for a word to... And there's not one there. That
one who was with God and was God, that one, that... that spoke all into existence,
that everlasting God, that God that had no beginning and had
no end, that God who is over all and blessed forever. He became
a man, just like me, accepting sin, and that's a great exception,
but He became a man. He got hungry, and thirsty, and
tired, required sleep. Isn't that something? That one
who said, let there be light, became a man. Look what it says
in verse 10 of John 1. He was in the world. What a marvel. What a marvel. He was in the
world and the world was made by Him. And the world knew Him
not. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. They said, what's the fuss about? We know him. The man's an imposter. He's deceived. We know his father. We know his mother. God? The
Son of God? That's utter nonsense. We know
his brothers and his sisters. There's nothing about him unusual.
There's no beauty in him that we desire him. And finally, they
said, there's no place for him. Crucify. Crucify. Away with him. He came into his
own world and the world said, we don't have a place for you.
But look at verse 12. Here you have another blessed word of grace. But, not everybody
did. Not everybody set away with Him.
Some saw Him as very God of very God. Some saw Him as the Messiah. The majority didn't. Even the
religious leaders didn't. But some did. Why? Many. But
as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believed on His name. Well, why did they
do that? Why did they follow the crowd?
Verse 13 tells us why. Which were born, not of blood,
nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. That's why. Look in chapter 10
of this same gospel, John's Gospel, chapter 10. Remember, We're considering
that description. These are they which follow the
Lamb whether so ever he goeth. It's their nature to do so, the
new nature. They were born not of flesh but
of the will of God. In John chapter 10 verse 4, this
is our Lord speaking. He says, I'm the good shepherd.
He's talking to the Pharisees, who claim to be the shepherd,
but he said, you're not. You're not. You're liars. You're
harlings. You're just fleecing the sheep.
But he says, when he put forth his own sheep, he goeth before
them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. They're his sheep, and they prove
they heard his voice by following him. Go back a few pages again
to John chapter 6. He says the same thing here.
These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes, wherever
he goes. Verse 66 of John 6. From that
time, many of his disciples, those who professed faith in
him, those who at least claimed to believe, they went back and
walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him
and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? To whom shall we go? Thou has the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. Oh, what a blessed, blessed place
to be. Lord, don't want to go away. Don't have any other place to
go to. We believe that You're the Messiah. We believe all You
claim about Yourself. Why? Because grace has made us
the different. Simon Bar-Jonah, you're a blessed
man. My Father's done something for
you that He's not done for everybody. He's revealed to you who I am. You know who I am. And although
Peter would stand and try to deny that he knew the Lord, would
try to deny that he was even acquainted with the Lord, he
was lying. He was lying. In his heart of
hearts, he never quit believing. When he was cursing and calling
down curses from God on himself and said, I don't know the man,
he was lying. In his heart of hearts, he still
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. or He will never ever leave us,
or ever let us quite leave Him. These are they who follow the
Lamb, whithersoever He goeth, because they've heard His voice,
and they know the voice of the Great Shepherd. They also follow
the Lamb wheresoever he goeth, because it's God's will that
they should be with his Son, that wherever he is, they should
be also. Our Lord taught, all that have
learned of the Father do what? They come to me. They come to
me. The Father gave them to me in
eternity, and they'll come to me in time. They'll be called
to Him effectually in time. Every one of them will. And they'll
come to Him forever. And so shall we ever, as we read
in 1 Thessalonians 4, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The psalmist said, every one
of them in Zion appeareth before God. Whom he did foreknow, them
he also did predestinate. And them he did predestinate,
them he also called. Called in time. Calling is a
necessary link in the chain of God's sovereign grace. As necessary
as foreknowledge and predestination, thank God he calls all of his
own. calls them affectionately by
His grace, calls them, come follow me, and they do so. And they follow the Lamb because
they belong to Him. He bought them with His own blood. These were redeemed from among
men. They were bought with a price.
Therefore, they're not their own. And oh, what a blessed price
it was, the blood of God's own dear Son. redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ and he did not die in vain. That can never,
never be. The consequence of his redemption
is the sheep hear his voice and they follow him. Redemption's
value is measured by the one who redeemed. The blood of Jesus
Christ is sufficient to save 10,000 worlds of 10,000s and
thousands of sinners, if that was God's intention. But it wasn't. It wasn't. Oh, but He by Himself
entered in one time into the holy place and there He obtained
eternal redemption for us. Never needs to be repeated. because
it accomplished the work the first time. And then notice last
of all, it says, these are they which follow the Lamb wherever
he goes. Wherever he goes. They're bound
to follow. They're bound to follow. He's
the bridegroom and they're his bride. Wherever he is, that's
where they'll be. Turn, if you will, back to Ephesians
chapter 5. This is what Paul tells us here.
Christ is the bridegroom. John the Baptist said, I'm not
the bridegroom. He that has the bride, that's
the bridegroom. And of course, he was referring
to our Lord. And this is what Paul says in
Ephesians 5, verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church, and he gave himself for it. Verse
27, 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, without blemish, without fault
before the throne of God. Verse 32, this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. He's the head. Turn, if you will, to Ephesians
chapter 1, back a few pages, in Ephesians chapter 1. He's
not only the bridegroom, He's the head of the church, and the
church is His body. And wherever the head is, the
body will be. He wouldn't be complete without
His church, His body. In verse 22 of chapter 1, And
hath put all things, that is God, speaking of Christ, hath
put all things under His feet, and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church, the church which is his body, the
fullness of him that filleth all in all." And where is Christ
now? Well, we read there in Revelation
chapter 14 that he's standing on Mount Zion, standing triumphant. And there's our hope, sure and
steadfast. There's the forerunner. We read
in Hebrews 6, the forerunner who for us has entered glory
to appear in the presence of God for us. And it says, as a
sure anchor of the soul. A sure anchor of the soul. These are they which follow the
Lamb and look where their journey ends. Look where it ends. In chapter 22, verse 4, they
follow the Lamb right up to the his throne. And they see him
as he is. All of them. Oh, what a marvelous
inter-earthly pilgrimage. And they shall see his face. They shall see his face. I've
tried to demonstrate or illustrate what
that would be like, and I've failed every time. They shall
see His face. And then in chapter 22, and we'll
close as the Apostle closed, Revelation chapter 22, while
we're going through this world, we have this blessed word of
promise. In verse 20, He which testifieth these things saith,
Surely I come quickly. Even so, come Lord Jesus. And in the meantime, until He
comes or until we go to be with Him, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all. Amen. Amen.