effectively teaches chosen sinners
gospel truth. I try to instruct you, but God
teaches. And when God teaches, those who
are taught of God learn the lesson. One of the first things he does
is teach us to number our days. As Moses, the servant of God,
prayed in Psalm 90, He said, Lord, teach us to number our
days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. A better rendering
would be, teach us to number our days and calls us to apply
our hearts to wisdom. And that wisdom to which we must
apply our hearts is Jesus Christ the Lord. Understand, my friends,
that our days on this earth are fixed by God Almighty from eternity. And he may take you with much
warning, he may take you with no warning, he is certain to
take you soon to meet God face to face. If you're wise, oh,
if you were wise, you'd give no rest to your soul. until you
found rest in Christ the Lord. The grace of God that brings
salvation teaches us that which God's servant Jonah learned in
the whale's belly. It teaches us that salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is in Jesus Christ,
and it is altogether in Christ alone. It is not in our works,
our feelings, our experiences, our reformations, our church
membership, our baptism, our eating at the Lord's table. Salvation
is in Jesus Christ alone. Not in what you do, what he did. Not what you suffer, what he
suffered. Not what you experience, what
he experienced. Salvation is accomplished by
Christ's obedience to God unto death as a sinner's substitute. There's no hope anywhere else.
And this salvation is altogether the work of God's free grace. Now when I talk about salvation,
I repeat this so often because it needs to be repeated. I'm
not talking about just the initial experience of grace. I'm not
just talking about regeneration. I'm not just talking about coming
to faith in Christ. I'm talking about the whole thing,
Rex, everything included that's necessary and needful to bring
you and me from the gates of hell into the possession of heaven's
glory. It's by God's free grace alone,
only by the grace of God. This book talks about election.
It is described as the election of grace. It talks about predestination,
and predestination is to the praise of the glory of his grace. Our redemption by the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, that redemption which was purchased and secured
for us, everlasting forgiveness of all our sins, accomplished
for us in Jesus Christ the Lord, is according to the riches of
his grace. This book talks about our being
justified, justified freely by his grace, by the grace of God
that's in Jesus Christ the Lord. We are born again, regenerated,
given life in Christ, and this new birth is described in the
book of God as the first resurrection, a resurrection from the dead.
And Paul says this is by God's grace. By grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We persevere. We continue in the faith. And
if we persevere to the end, if we continue in the faith until
God brings us at last to glory, it'll be because God has preserved
and kept us by his grace. What's the difference between
you and I, who today continue in this way, and those multitudes
who have gone before us, many whom we have known? who for a
while seemed to run well the race set before them, but now
they've fallen by the wayside. What's the difference? Just his
grace. Just his grace. The more I experience of what's
in me, and the more I know of his grace, the more fully convinced
I am that so. Just his grace. And when at last
we stand before our God and Savior in heaven, We shall possess all
the glory of our heavenly inheritance forever as heirs of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ by free grace alone. When our God and
Savior says that last time shall be no more, When he makes all
things new, when he presents us holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
before the presence of God's great glory, when Jesus Christ
presents us without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, when he presents
us without any trace of the remnant of sin, oh, my soul, what a word
is that! He presents us before God Almighty
without even a trace of sin upon us. When he brings forth the
headstone and puts it in the place of everlasting preeminence
and glory, we will cry, Was the rubble of old not by might nor
by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. Grace! Grace unto it. Everything is by God's free grace. Everything. Now because this
great and glorious thing we call salvation is the work of God's
grace alone, from start to finish. We are assured, because it is
altogether a work of grace, we are assured by that fact and
by the plain statements of Holy Scripture, that it is equally,
fully, and perfectly enjoyed by every believer. That is to
say, God's elect, every one of them, stand before God accepted
on the same footing, the footing of free grace. the footing of
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We're accepted before God because
we're washed in his blood and robed in his righteousness, accepted
with God on the merit of our substitute because of his grace. Therefore, it is of absolute
necessity that all who possess his grace shall possess his glory
in equal fullness forever and forever. Now with that said,
let's look at our text. Revelation chapter 21 and verse
4. Now I want you to find your place
in Revelation 21 and turn back to Isaiah 25. Revelation 21 and
verse 4. And then turn back to Isaiah
25 and hold your Bibles open with your hands at Revelation
21. Here in Revelation 21 and verse 4, This is what John declares. He writes by inspiration. And
God shall wipe away all tears. Now you ought to underscore that.
All tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.
Here's the reason. For the former things are passed
away. Now then, look at Isaiah 25.
Hold your hands there in Revelation 21. I want you to do a little
comparison. Here the prophet of God asserts that our Lord
Jesus Christ at his second advent will swallow up death in victory. You see that? Isaiah 25, verse
8. He will swallow up death in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grace, where is thy victory? He'll swallow up death in victory.
Look on. Then the prophet declares to
us, this great and glorious promise of God's grace, and the Lord
God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke
of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the
Lord has spoken it." Now let's compare these two texts for just
a moment. First, in Revelation 21, we are
told that God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, and so on. Now,
look at verse 8 of Isaiah 25, and notice the very, very slight,
but very, very significant difference in the way these two texts speak
of the same promise. Isaiah tells us that God will
wipe away tears from off all faces. He'll take away the rebuke
of his people from off all the face of the earth. He promises
us that God will wipe tears from the faces of all who possess
eternal life with Christ in his everlasting glory. But Revelation
21 says that God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. And thus, by divine inspiration,
we have this added touch of grace given when we put the two texts
together. Not only is God going to wipe away tears from the eyes
of all his people, but he's going to wipe away all tears from the
eyes of all his people. Do you see it? He'll wipe away
all tears from their eyes. He'll wipe away tears from all
their eyes. Put the two texts together and
you have this glorious promise of our God in the gospel. It
is promised to every believing sinner. to you who have walked
with him long, and who have been through many trials, whom he
has chosen in the furnace of affliction. And it is true to
those who shall be born of God in the eleventh hour, and taken
like the penitent thief into everlasting glory." It's true
concerning all. When our great and glorious God
is finished with all things, he will have so thoroughly and
completely saved all his people. from all the evil consequences
of sin forever, that there will never be the slightest tear in
our eyes. No sorrow ever of any kind. Now who can grasp the fullness
of that promise? It's too great, too broad, too
incomprehensible for our puny mortal brains. And yet, It is
gloriously true. Our God in heaven's glory shall
remove us from all sin. He will remove all sin from us,
and he'll remove every trace of it. So much so, then, that
there will be no tears forever. No tears forever. He'll remove
us from every cause of grief. He'll bring us at last into the
perfection of salvation so that every desire of our hearts is
completely gratified in Jesus Christ the Lord. God's salvation
is so perfect, so complete, that when he is finished, we will
not even have the slightest tinge of sorrow for anything. I chose
those words deliberately. When he gets done with us, we
will not have even the slightest tinge of sorrow for anything. Now, our text implies that there
is much weeping on the way to heaven, and we have experienced the fact
of it. Faith in Christ delivers us by
the grace of God from all curse and condemnation, but not from
sorrow, not from pain, not from adversity, not from heartache,
not from bitter, bitter grief in this world. There are many
things which believers suffer in this world just like all other
men do. We must never forget that in
this world God's elect live in a world of sorrow because we
live in a world of sin. Because the world is a place
full of sin, the world's a place full of sorrow. And like all
other men, because of sin, because of this thing called death, spiritual
death, spiritual death that's read plainly in the terms of
physical death and dying. In this physical world, we all
suffer pain, physical sickness, disease, infirmity of the flesh. I'm talking about physical infirmity
of the flesh. God's people in this world often
have to endure domestic trouble. I've got so many friends going
through so much. Oh, my heart aches for them,
just aches for them. And I see you, who I love, who
love me, you who are loved of God, go through Trouble. Husbands, wives, sons, daughters.
I weep for you. My heart's in bitterness with
you when your heart's in bitterness. I've watched believers endure
financial losses. Sometimes folks see a man going
through domestic trouble or physical pain or physical sickness and
going through financial loss, they say, well boy, God's getting
him. And wonder what he's done. Oh,
it may be God's greatest blessing to strip you of every earthly
joy. It may be his greatest blessing.
If that's what it takes to keep us clinging to Christ, Lord,
God strip me of every earthly joy. Now, I don't say that lightly. I know what I'm talking about.
But I'm telling you that when God Almighty sets his heart on
a man or a woman, he does what's necessary to keep them in his
grace, and keep us he will. He sends bereavement upon believers
who are loved of him, just like he does upon those who are under
his wrath. Mary and Martha went to the grave
of their brother Lazarus of whom the scripture says Jesus loved
Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. And the Lord Jesus stood
at Lazarus' tomb, beholding the grief of those whom he loved,
and he wept as a man. In the way to glory, we go through
much pain and sorrow. And believers, many women who
know God experience pain, sorrows, heartaches that nobody else knows
anything about. People out there in the world
can't possibly enter into it. David's neighbor, whom he describes
in Psalm 73, whose eyes bugged out with fat David's neighbor,
he looks out over the fields and he sees a neighbor's mansion
over there. And he sees this fellow, he's
got everything heart could desire as far as this world's concerned.
His wife's sitting there with him and his sons, they stayed
right there at home. They got married, stayed right there.
They all honor their dad. They all come together on Sunday
afternoon, the whole family gets together. Sons and daughters
and daughters-in-law, sons-in-laws and grandchildren, all of them
got together and just as happy as they can be, Going to hell. Going to hell. And David looked
at that and he said, he said, I thought to myself, what's the
use in serving God? I've got a wife who hates me.
I've got a house full of rebels who despise me. What's the use
in serving God? Oh, then I went to the house
of I understood their end. God's fattening them up like
calves for the slaughter. Who would envy the calf who's
getting extra grain? Who would envy such? Oh, God,
I was as a beast before you. His heart broke when the enemy
said, Whom have I in heaven but thee? There's none that I desire
on earth beside thee. I dare say he's the only man
I've ever known of in history to take an oath and cuss the
Son of God and immediately have his heart broke for it. I've known some to tremble. They
say something like, what did I say? He's the only one I've
ever heard tell of who immediately his heart broke because of it.
The Apostle Paul says, I know that in me, in my
flesh dwells no good thing. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death and corruption? Oh, how cold these hearts are. How carnal. How easily entangled
with the cares of this world. How easily we We find ourselves
in the pit of corruption. How quickly, how quickly our
fervor declines into cold, steamy, icy hardness of heart. No wonder
Newton is saying, how tedious and tasteless the hours when
Jesus no longer, I say, sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet
flowers, have all lost their sweetness to man. Nobody experiences
those things except those who know God. Nobody else. There are even some precious
tears which we shed here. They're going to be dried at
last when we stand before our God. There'll be no more tears of
repentance on the other side. no more tears of sympathy shed,
no more tears of concern, no more tears of longing for Christ. Even now, while we're here in
this world, our Heavenly Father does a great deal to dry those
tears. The believer's life is not a morbid, sorrow-filled existence
without joy. We do have our sorrows, but in
the midst of our sorrows, the Lord God gives us great comfort.
He says in Isaiah 43, But now thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, he created you, and he created you new. He formed
you, and he formed you for himself. He says, Fear not, for I have
redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. And I will be
with you." Markey makes promise that you're going to pass through
deep waters. But he says, when you do, I'll be with you. And
when you pass through the rivers, they'll not overflow you. Sometimes
you think they're going to take you under. You think you're going
down for your last breath. But they'll not overflow you.
When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee." How come? For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel. I am your Savior. He says, I
gave Egypt for you, for your ransom, Ethiopia, and Sheba for
you, because you're precious in my sight and honorable. Now
listen to this. Listen to this. I have loved
thee. I have loved thee. I know of
no stronger argument, no stronger testimony anywhere in the book
of God to the distinguishing love of Christ than that. The
Lord God says, now, Jacob, don't you be afraid of anything, anywhere,
anybody, anytime. How come? Because I love you. I love you distinctly and peculiarly. He graciously gives us the promise
of his presence and his grace. He strengthens and upholds us.
He causes us to know his love and to know something about the
cause of our pain. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chastened. A loving Father, wisely and graciously,
firmly and consistently, uses a rod to cause pain to his children. We've got a better way. Have
it your own way. We'll find out. I'm telling you,
you don't have a better way. No, sir. This generation thinks
they're smarter than God, but it's not so. Our Heavenly Father,
wisely and graciously, measures our cup every day to give us
just as much pain and just as much comfort as we need. just
as much sorrow and just as much joy, just as much sweet and just
as much bitter as we need for our soul's good, not one bit
less and not one bit more. And he graciously, in doing so,
weans us from this world and sets our hearts on things above. And being in heaven's glory,
Our text declares that God will wipe away all tears from our
eyes. I've been working on this today,
writing a couple of articles you'll see in a few weeks, but
I thought to myself, that's just impossible to imagine. That's
just impossible to imagine. But there's a time coming, children
of God, when we shall weep no more. There's a time coming when
we will have no reason for sorrow. You see, heaven is a place of
sure, eternal, ever-increasing bliss, and the cause of that
bliss is our God. Heaven is a place of joy without
sorrow, laughter without weeping, pleasantness without pain. In
heaven, there are no regrets, no remorseful tears, no lost
causes, no second thoughts, no sorrows of any kind. Now I readily acknowledge that
if God did not wipe away all tears from our eyes, there'd
be many things in heaven to cause us sorrow. We weep now over past sins. And
if God didn't fix it so we understood his ways, we'd spend eternity
weeping over past sins. But in heaven's glory, there'll
be no weeping over past sins. We'll understand that had we
never fallen, we could never have known the redeeming love
and grace of God in Christ. Were it not that God wipes all
tears from our eyes, we would certainly forever weep over those
unconverted men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and wives,
mothers and fathers. who are lost forever. But when God gets done, he'll
dry those tears, too. Oh, we weep for you now who do
not know the Savior, but we won't weep when it's over. No, sir. No, sir. We would weep for wasted
opportunities, for our acts of unkindness and lack of love to
our brethren. But God will wipe all tears from
our eyes. Oh, Brother Peter, sometimes I talk to him. We don't pray to saints. No,
I don't pray to him. I just talk to him. He's listening. I don't
have any questions. There's a great cloud of witnesses watching us.
And I think to myself, oh, Brother Peter, He's not known any weeping
now for a long, long time, even over his terrible fall. Because the text says, look at
it now, God's going to wipe all tears from our eyes, and here's
what we read, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain," look at this, "'for the former things are passed away.' Our great God in heaven's glory
shall remove us from all sin, and remove all sin from us, and
he will remove from us all the evil consequences of sin. There was no mistake that sin
entered into this world. It wasn't an accident. God didn't somehow lose control
for a little while and the devil slip up on his backside and bring
chaos and upheaval into the world. Oh, no! God Almighty ordained
the fall as surely as He ordained the recovery, and when He's He'll
wipe all tears from our eyes. He will remove from us all sin
and all the consequences and bring us into the fullness of
the joy of glory in Jesus Christ the Lord forever. Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was
lost but now I was blind, but now I see. Amen.