In that song, on that fourth
verse, it says, now on a higher plane I dwell. And I never have
liked that. You don't dwell any higher than you are in Christ
Jesus. And I love that change you made. Now in heavenly places. That was a blessing. Turn back
to Revelation 21, please. I'd like us to read these first
eight verses together. I've entitled this message, The
New Jerusalem. John says, 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, 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. 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. Now, reading this passage of
scripture was such a blessing to me, and I thought, I want
to preach on that. It's a beautiful, wonderful,
glorious passage of scripture. Now, if you're a believer, what
frustrates you the most about yourself is yourself. your sinful self, your flesh
that always seems to be beating you down, preventing you from
what you desire, perfect conformity to the image of Jesus Christ. You would be just like Christ,
wouldn't you? You would. That's your desire. But you know,
you can't. But it won't always be that way. And verse 1, John says, I saw
a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, burned according to Peter, gone,
no more. Everything that you see right
now, it'll be no more. It's very temporary. And notice how he says in this
new heaven and new earth, there was no more sea. Now, there are three things that
a sea suggests. A barrier, a distance, and depth. You can't see into the bottom.
Now, in this new Jerusalem, there's no more barrier. My barrier is
my sin. And that sin has been utterly
taken away. There is no sin. There is no
distance. I feel a distance all the time.
But in the New Jerusalem, there is no distance. I'm brought directly
into His presence. In my own understanding, I see
it. And there's no depth in this sense. Things that I cannot see
now, but I believe, I'll see then. You know, I can't see that
I'm perfect before God. I believe it, but I can't see
it. But I will enter into the experience of it. In this New
Jerusalem, there's no more sea, no more barrier, no more distance,
and no more depth. Isn't that a blessed thing to
think about? Now let's go on reading, verse 2. And I, John,
saw the holy city, New Jerusalem. coming down from God out of heaven
prepared or having been prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Now this is a beautiful description
of every individual believer. who makes up the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the New Jerusalem. Now, did you notice it says,
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven?
Didn't say he saw her going up to God. He said, I saw her coming
down from God. You see, everything that has
to do with being a believer comes from God. It doesn't come from
man. It doesn't come from the flesh.
It doesn't come from our will. It doesn't come from our works.
It comes from God. When he saw this heavenly city
coming down, he didn't see her rising up to God. He saw her
coming down from God. You see, I've always been in
the mind and purpose of God. Every believer has. We've always
had personality. We've always had existence before
God. Every single believer saw Him coming down. And notice,
it's called, the new Jerusalem to distinguish it from the old
city. We don't have to deal with the old man in this new Jerusalem.
It's gone. It's the new Jerusalem. And she is called a city because
it's a permanent residence and she's called a holy city. Now
this is ever believer. And I love to, I love to think
about this. I believe it. Every believer
before God right now is holy. Holy. God looks in your heart
and he sees holiness. You don't see it. You believe
if you're a believer, you have it, but you don't see it. But
he sees it and it is there. God says you're holy. Every believer
was set apart by God in eternal election to be holy, according
as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. When Christ
died on the cross, I was declared to be holy. God declared me to
be holy. By one offering, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. By the witch will, we are sanctified,
we are holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. When God the Holy Spirit birthed me into the kingdom of
heaven, He gave me a holy nature. What comes from God is holy.
It can't be anything but that. He calls every believer holy. I saw the holy city. I'm looking at some holy men
and women, declared by God to be holy, not just in name, not
just in title, but truly holy. I saw the holy city, the new
Jerusalem coming down from God prepared, having been prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. Now this bride was prepared by
Christ to be his bride. Remember in John chapter 14 verse
3 when he said, I go and prepare a place for you. He's not saying
I'm going to go get a place ready for you and straighten it up
and it'll be ready for you when you get there. He's saying I'm
going to the cross to prepare a place for you. And because
of what he did on Calvary Street, a place has been prepared for
me. The Lord Jesus did this. He dressed His bride. He prepared
His bride. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
5. Ephesians chapter 5. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives. Even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, that it should be holy and without blemish. Now, that's what the Lord has
done for his bride. Turn to Revelation 19. Verse 6, And I heard, as it were,
the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. Can you imagine hearing a choir
of hundreds of millions singing this? Oh, what a blessed thought. Now let's go on reading. Here's
what they say. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his
wife has made herself ready. How has she made herself ready
to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white. for this fine linen is the righteousness
of saints." Now, I've seen people take that passage of Scripture
and say, this is the righteous deeds of the saints enabled by
God's grace for them to do righteously. You want to be clothed in your
righteous deeds? You feel any confidence in that or security
in that? Man, I don't... This is talking about the righteousness
of the saints. What is the righteousness of
the saints? It's the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ. His
righteousness is my righteousness before God. This is the righteousness
that I'm prepared by Christ, given this, and this is my beauty
before God. And so the Lord Jesus looks at
every one of His people and He says, Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Isn't that wonderful? This is the righteousness of
the saints, the righteousness and the merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the garment that I must
have. This is the adorning of the bride that makes her so beautiful. Now, let's go on reading back
in our text, Revelation 21, verse three. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, The tabernacle of God. Now, who's
the tabernacle of God? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word was made flesh and tabernacled and dwelt among us. And I heard
a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, 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, have you ever known anybody
you just loved being around and you feel like you're always the
better for being around them? You benefit from it, you profit
from it, and you enjoy and relish being around them. It's a blessing
to know somebody like that, isn't it? That you can benefit in being
around. But can you imagine being in
His direct presence all the time? The tabernacle of God shall be
with men." Now, He's with me right now. He's with you right
now, but you know that by faith. You don't know it by sight. But
at this time, you'll always be in His presence. He'll be your
God. He'll be for you. And you'll
be His people. Now, this is what happens in
this New Jerusalem, this glorious future that every believer has. I heard a great voice out of
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He'll
dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself
shall be with them, and be their God. And look at verse 4, And
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there should
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither should there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." Now,
they're tears right now. Heartache, guilt, loss, pain,
sorrow, all the things that come as a result of sin. There are
tears right now, but there will be no tears in heaven. And look at the tenderness of
this. God Himself will wipe away all these tears. There will be
no death. And the reason there will be no death is because the
reason for death has been taken away. There's no sin. Therefore,
there's no death. Death has been destroyed. Paul
said, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. And
the strength of sin is the law. Thanks be unto God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. No more death,
no more sorrow. Oh, the sorrow that sin has brought
into this world. We live with it every day, but
there'll be no sorrow in the world to come, no crying. Now,
the word here is generally translated clamor. It has to do with controversy. and conflict and fights. And
you think how much conflict there is here between races, between nations, between people,
between men and women who want to love one another. What conflicts? There are, but there will be
absolutely none there. All will have the same song perfectly
joined together now unto Him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood and made us kings and priests to
God. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. There'll be no more pain. No more physical pain. No more
suffering. No more emotional pain. No pain of loss. No pain of absence. No pain of loneliness. No pain
of separation. No pain of guilt. No pain. Uninterrupted joy, bliss, and
ecstasy. What our Lord called perish. Today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise. He says all these former things
brought on by sin are passed away. They are no more because
sin is no more. Now, I don't understand this,
but you know, in glory. I'll realize that I'm a sinner
saved by grace, but I won't know sin anymore. I won't remember
what it's like to sin. That's going to be passed away. I'll know I'm a sinner saved
by grace, but I'm going to know no sin. I won't remember what
it's like. Isn't that wonderful? No more
pain. No more sin. All the former things
are passed away. Now look in verse 5. And he that
sat upon the throne, and you know the Lord Jesus, always speaks
from a throne. This is his utter and complete
sovereignty. When he speaks, it's done. It's
done. He speaks from a throne. He never
does anything but give commandments. Everything he says is in the
imperative. And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make the Son of God I make,
I create all things. Oh, the depth and breadth of
that. Behold, I make all things new. I've got a new relationship with
God. I'm a son, not a servant, but
a son. New way of life, the way of faith
rather than the way of works, the way of grace rather than
the way of law. I've got a new life, one that
was not there before. Christ in me, the hope of glory. I have a new standing before
God's holy law and that standing is perfect, righteous, without
sin. I have a new nature, one that
was not there before, a holy nature. I've got a new family,
the family of God. This is my family, the family
of God. And I've got a new song, the
song of praise for His grace. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
5 for a moment. He said, Behold, I make all things
new. Verse 17, Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
there's the place to be. That's the only place I want
to be found, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creation. Old things, that old standing
before the law, they're passed away. Behold, all things have
become new. I've got a new nature I did not
have before. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath committed
to us the ministry of reconciliation. All things are of God. Now back
to our text. Verse 5. And he that sat upon
the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto
me, Write. Write it down. This shows the
unchanging purpose in what he's saying. It's showing the perpetual
validity of what he's saying. This is scripture. Write it down. Write, for these words are true
and these words are faithful. Several times the Lord says to
John, write. Look over in Revelation chapter
14. Verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Do you believe that? Blessed,
oh how blessed by God are those who die, the dead who die in
the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works
do follow them. Look in Revelation 19. Now, verse 8, we've already read
this, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in
fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. And he said unto me, Right, blessed
are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Blessed are you if you've been called to this marriage supper.
Every believer has. These are the true sayings of
God. Now these words are true and
faithful. You know the Bible has a monopoly on the truth.
Thy word is truth. Isn't there truth in other religions?
No. No, all truth is found in this book. Thy word is truth. Thank God for that which is written,
true and utterly faithful. The truth concerning God is true
character. The truth concerning me, my true
character, the truth concerning salvation, a work of Christ and
Christ alone. Write it down. Now, verse 6,
back to our text, Revelation 21. And he said unto me, it is done. And he said this before, it is
finished. And beloved, we need to be reminded
of it over and over again. It is done. The message of the gospel is
not due It's done. And the only thing for me to
do is to believe that it's done. I'm not looking to myself for
a thing. I'm looking wholly to my Lord Jesus Christ as having
finished the work. Saved me. It's done. Nothing to do. That's good news
if you can't do anything. It is done. Look what he says
next. He says, I am alpha and omega. That's the A and the Z,
the first and the last letter of the Greek alphabet. It means
everything spells Christ. Wherever you're looking, whatever
you're reading in the scripture, it all spells the Lord Jesus
Christ. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I'm the cause and the purpose.
I'm the reason and the result. I'm the beginning of salvation
and it ends with me. Scripture says Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now look what
he says in verse 7. Verse six, look what he says
next. He says, I will give unto him that's a thirst of the fountain
of the water of life freely. Now I'll give and oh how he gives. I will give of the fountain,
the ever-flowing fountain of the water of life, His grace,
acceptance, justification, sanctification, being in the presence of God,
all that's included in salvation. I'll give to Him that's a thirst
of the fountain of the water of life freely. Who does He give
this to? Folks who are thirsty. Look in
Revelation 22 verse 17. Now here's what the Spirit and
the Bride, the church, have to say in their preaching. Come!
This is the message of the Gospel. Come to Christ. Come to Him. Not go and do something. Come.
Come and welcome. That's the message of the church.
Come. And let him that heareth say,
what? Come. And let him that is athirst
come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Let him that's a thirst come. Now thirst is a need. It's not
a want. It is a need. Now there are many things that
we want that we don't need, but I need the Lord Jesus Christ. I need His grace. I need Him to have mercy on me. I need Him to do something for
me. I need for Him to reach down and do something for me. If He
doesn't, I've had it. I need the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thirst is a need and thirst arises from absence. We hunger and thirst
after righteousness because we don't have any. If we had it,
we wouldn't be thirsting. We thirst for that which we feel
like we don't have. And we thirst for God. David
said, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall
I come and appear before my God? We thirst to know Him. Oh, thirst. And let me say this about thirst. Thirst doesn't quench thirst. Somebody says, I'm afraid I'm
not thirsty enough. Well, you're probably not. That's true. But if I were more thirsty, things
would be better. No. No, they wouldn't. Drink. Don't try to get more thirsty.
Drink. I will give to him that's a thirst
of the water of life, freely. Don't miss that word freely.
That means without a cause. He doesn't have to have a reason
than you to do it. Turn with me to John chapter 4. Verse 4, And he must needs go
through Samaria. Now, the only reason why the
Lord Jesus Christ must need to do anything is He must need to
do His Father's will. You see, one of His elect is
in Samaria, and He's going to bring her out. Verse 5, Then
cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near
to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now, Jacob's well was there, Jesus, therefore, being wearied
with His journey. sat thus on the well. He that
created the universe was wearied with his journey, and it was
about the six hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, give me
to drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy meat. Then said the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift the absolute free boon of grace,
the gift of God. And who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink, thou would have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water." Now, do you see the progression
there? If you knew, you'd ask. And if you'd ask, he'd give. That's his promise. Verse 11. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. You know,
that's what people say about our gospel. What do you got to
draw with? What do you got to draw with? I mean, y'all don't
have anything for the kids, for family, you know, what do you got? It's
deep, deep. From whence then hast thou this
living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob? Boy, she
didn't know who she was talking to, did she? Art thou greater
than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof
himself and his children and his cattle? Jesus answered and
said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water, there can be thirsty
again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him, shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting
life. I'll give to him that's a thirst
of the water of life freely." And back to our text, Revelation
21. He that overcometh They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb. This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world but he that believeth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Now here's two things I can get
hold of in this thing of overcoming. I overcome by the blood of the
Lamb. I'm victorious through the blood
of the Lamb. What's the evidence that God's done something for
me? I believe He's the Son of God. I really do. I believe that
Jesus Christ is the eternal creator, God the Son. Now, He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and
I will be his God, and he shall be my Son, but the fearful. And
that's talking about the fear of mistrust. Not talking about
the fear of God, but the fear of mistrust and the unbelieving
and the abominable and the murderers and the 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. Heard this week that Marvin Stonerker
went to the doctor again you know he had cancer in his bladder
and he went to the doctor and they didn't have the result for
him yet and he was disappointed had to wait a day or two and
was nervous to find out what the situation was with him and
the nurse called him and said you don't even need to come in
you got a clean bill of health there's no cancer he said no
cancer no cancer You are free. And he said to that nurse, I
want to kiss you. I'm so happy, I'm floating. And he went around
floating all day long, so happy, so overjoyed. A clean bill of
health. And he called his son, Gabe,
and he said, I'm walking on air, I'm so happy, I got a clean bill
of health. And Gabe said, I sure am thankful. But this shows how much the flesh
drags us down. Because we here, we have a clean
bill in the gospel. Perfect in Christ. And I don't know what else to say.
But it gives us some idea of the strength of this flesh. But
listen to this. You're a bride. prepared by Christ
himself, adorned for an eternal wedding night. You have a clean
bill, prays the Lord. Let's pray.