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, 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. or 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
athirst 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 death
in this sense. Things that I cannot see now,
but I believe, I'll see them. 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 death. 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 every 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 hath 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's tree, 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 is come,
and his wife hath 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 plugged in your
righteous deeds? Do you feel any confidence in that or security
in that? 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 within. 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 him and they should be his people. And God himself
shall be with them and be their God. And look at verse four.
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, there are 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, oh, death, where is
thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. And
the strength of sin is the law. But 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 paradise. 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 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'm not. 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 at verse five. 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. I have a 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, as is my family, the family of God. And I've got
a new song, the song of praise for his grace. Turn over to Second
Corinthians, chapter five 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. 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. Right. For these words are true
and these words are faithful. Several times the Lord says to
John, right. 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, sayeth
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them." Look in Revelation 19, 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, Write, 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. 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. His 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. Now 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. Save 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 6, look what he says next.
He says, I will give unto him that's athirst 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. And 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 a thirst
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
does not, 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. 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
for 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 sixth 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,
Undine, 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. Now 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 of the
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 parts 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've 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. Praise the Lord. Let's pray.