If you have your Bibles, turn
with me, please, to Revelation, the Revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Chapter 21 and Verse 27. Last time we looked at the
Revelation, we saw the glory of the Church of the Living God,
that wonderful place where we will reside and do now reside. And we'll enjoy fully those things
that are spoken of and do now enjoy them to a great degree. there will be no different just
seen as they are when we get there on the other side in the
presence of Almighty God. Verse 27 says this concerning
that place, And there shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defileth Neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life. Let us pray. Our Father, we rejoice
in your great grace and mercy toward sinners such as us. We thank you that there is a
book in which you have written the names of all your people,
from Adam to the last one who's brought into the fold. We thank you, Father, that their
names will never be blotted out of that book. Father, we praise you that you
are so kind and merciful to us. we don't deserve the least of
your favor we can do nothing and could do
nothing to make you save us and we thank you that we can
do nothing and could do nothing to keep you from it we are thankful father that you
are who you are that you are god and there is none else that
there is none like unto you. There is none beside you. You're
a just God and a Savior. We're thankful, Father, that
you have given us Jesus Christ, that His Spirit resides in us
even now. And that Spirit, that blessed
Holy Spirit, communes with our spirit and causes us to know
we are children of God. Father, we pray for those who
are sick and going through trials. Remember especially Donna Grubbs,
Delphus and the children and the church there in Lexington
as they attend to her. Remember Joyce Fuller. Remember also Larry Perman and
Junior and Sis and Debbie as she's away from us. Father, we pray that you might
be pleased to set all hearts and minds upon
Christ for truly that He is our only comfort in this doomed and
dying world. We thank you that we have a good
hope through grace that didn't begin in time that began before
the world was, and that you in time give us faith to realize
and to appreciate that truth. Help us now to worship you tonight
in spirit and in truth. We pray in the blessed name of
Jesus Christ. Amen. Now there's a general belief
held by most people and it seems getting more and more whether
they're religious or irreligious. And it's been going on really
since the time of Cain and that belief is that good people go
to heaven. People write songs about it,
write poetry about it, and they talk about it all the time. Every time someone dies, no matter
who he is, People talk about him as if he or she went to heaven. Now, of course, the measure of
good has nothing to do with the true measure of good, and that
is God. Men call things good that have
nothing to do with God, and the reason they're so easy with the
word good is because they don't know who God is. but rather they compare their
moral behavior with someone else's moral behavior, and generally
speaking in those cases they will not pick someone whom they
believe morally superior to them, but pick someone who's less,
and therefore they'll come out smelling like a rose every time.
The only measure of goodness, and there is no true understanding
of the fullness of that fact of goodness, but the only true
measure of goodness is God Himself. He's the measure of goodness. The name God, the word we use
to describe our Heavenly Father, the wondrous, sovereign Spirit,
the Invisible One, we call Him God, and that is a derivation
of the English word Good. Good. So when the English started
calling God, God, they were saying, He is good. He is good. Our Lord said to the rich young
ruler, There is none good but God. There is none good but God. When our Lord revealed His glory
to Moses, the first thing He revealed was His goodness. He
said, I will make my goodness to pass before you. I will make
my goodness to pass before you. The true and living God is good,
but of that goodness, the natural mind has no clue. He is good. Now the problem then is that
since men have no idea of the goodness, of true goodness, or
what is good, they have bought into the religious idea of God,
and therefore their notion of goodness is completely diminished. Because the God that's being
preached today, and has been preached since really the fall, is not a good God. They call
Him good, but he's not good. If you listen to the language
of the day in which we live, it seems that everyone who dies
goes to heaven. Have you heard anybody, whether
it be some movie star or Jeffrey Dahmer or anybody, talk of anyone
who dies in this day and not say that they believe they've
gone to a better place? They've gone to a better place. Now this idea that everyone goes
to heaven does not mean that everyone who dies is necessarily
good, but the anemic emaciated view of God makes it veritably
impossible for him to send anyone to hell. He's just too good according
to me. Now there was a time not so long
ago that even the profligate believed that there was a place
called hell. Well, I grew up and I knew people
who cared nothing for church and never went to church. They
were probably better off for not going because what was preached
in our neighborhood wasn't much going on there either. But nonetheless,
they believed that there was a hell. Now, it is rare to hear
the word at all except as a reference to bad things happening to good
people. If things get bad enough, people
will say, well, that's hell on earth. or I'm bound to go to
heaven because I've already spent my time in hell. That's the kind
of language people use and it just refers to bad times, bad
times. I've heard many in this day say
that God is too good to send anyone to hell. The fact is that
he's too good not to send anyone to hell. He's too good not to
send anyone to hell. Now the poor view of God that
is born of the constant bombardment of God loves you, God loves everybody,
makes it more and more impossible for the natural mind to believe
that hell even exists. Such things have made preachers
to blame natural disasters on the devil. Preachers do that. I hear they blame natural disasters
on the devil. I never will forget when George
Lambert's nephew was killed right down in front of Holiday Inn
in a truck wreck or maybe it was a motorcycle accident. It's
been so long ago. But his head was crushed. David Blanton attended
him as an EMT and said he knew he was dead when he got there. His head was crushed. A preacher
here on the reservation preached his funeral. And he said, it
was not God's will that this boy died. That's all he said. And me and George and Peggy got
up and walked out, because that guy didn't know what he was talking
down there. I was kind of afraid lightning was going to strike
the place beyond us. He said, it's not God's will that this
boy died. This is the devil's doings. This is the devil's doings. And
he said, I'll challenge anybody to talk to me about that after
service. Well, George talked to him. This
guy was a pretty big fella, and George, you know, ain't a big
fella, but George got right in his face and said, you're a liar.
If you believe that, you don't know God altogether. And just
walked off. But people, people believe that. Preachers deny God altogether
when some person or child or group comes to a horrible end.
I'm hearing more and more this kind of statement from people.
How can there be a loving God if he lets these terrible things
like genocide and famine and murder and child abuse and such
exist in the world? That's the kind of thinking that
people have. It is easier for such to deny
the existence of God rather than to admit that they wish such
a God did exist to keep such things from happening or to punish
those who do such things. They really want a God to do
something about it. But you see, the God they've been hearing
about all their life, He can't do anything about it. They're a product of the preaching
that's been going on. They would love to have a God
who could control things. who was and acted like a God,
but they've been heard about this God so long that they know
that there's no use to apply to Him for anything, because
He has no power to do His own will. Men have more power than
He does. The natural mind, whether a part
of religion or not, simply cannot equate bad things with God, because
they've been programmed to believe God is good and loving by their
mutated definition of goodness and love. And this warped concept
of the good and loving God has made men question God based on
circumstance rather than judging circumstance based on the will
of God. Not many today would be like
Eli when he was told that God had
killed his two sons. And he said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good
in his sight. You mean it was good for him
to kill them two boys? It was good for him to kill those
two boys. That doesn't enter the natural
mind's way of thinking. What if the good and loving God
actually caused disaster? What if the good and loving God
actually caused disasters? Look at Isaiah chapter 45. Verse
5 says, I am the Lord. There is none else. There is
no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast
not known Me. Now he's talking about a wicked
king named Cyrus whom he raised up to free his people from Babylon. A wicked Persian king named Cyrus. I raised you up, you've not known
Me. You've not known Me. That they may know the Word that
all men may know from the rising of the sun and from the west
that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I form the light. Well, everybody
says, we know God does that. I create darkness. How about
that God? I make peace. Oh, everybody talks
about God like that. You know, God's got an olive
branch in his hand. He's extending mercy to you,
extending grace, wants to make peace with you. I make peace,
God says. I create evil. That means horrible
things to the human mind. Earthquakes, tornadoes, storms,
disasters. He said, I, the Lord, do all
these things. How many of them? All of them. All of them. We ought to judge
circumstance by the will of God, not the other way around. We
ought to look at what's going around us and say, this is God. Instead of cursing second causes.
I create evil. I do all these things in the
book of Amos. The book of Amos in chapter 3. In verse 6 it says, Shall a trumpet
be blown in the city, and the people be not afraid? That's
a trumpet of warning. Shall there be evil in a city,
and hath not the Lord done it? Hath not the Lord done it? What if the good and loving God
actually causes these things? What if the good and loving God
actually created some men in order to destroy them? What if
God did that? I know this flies in the face
of natural thinking. This flies in the face of all
the religion of men by nature. God would create someone merely
to destroy them? We have such a high view of the
value of human life. And well, we should in the sense
that we ought not take another. But we ought not be so disturbed
when people die. They're all sinners. We're going
to die because sin is in this world. That's why death entered
into this world. God actually creates men to destroy
them. Look at Proverbs 16. Now here
the wisest man of all puts this down and he puts it down as a
proverb. Therefore, it becomes proverbial.
And when a thing becomes proverbial, it's a thing that is just so.
It's so because it's common. It's so because it can be seen
everywhere. It's a proverbial statement.
In Proverbs 16, verse 4, it says, The Lord hath made all things
for himself. By him, through him, and to him
are all things, saith the Scripture. He's made all things for himself.
Now, if you can find something that's not a thing, then that
doesn't belong to God. Everything else does. Because
he made it for himself. Look around you. Look at you.
Go look in the mirror. See that guy in the mirror? You're
made for God. You're made for God. Look what
he says. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. That's just not a little off-the-cuff
statement. This is proverbial. This is a
proverb. This is a common truth. I create the wicked. for the
day of evil. Look back at Exodus chapter 9. Exodus chapter 9. Our Lord speaking to Pharaoh, the king
of Egypt, the king of the most powerful country on the face
of the earth. Great Egypt, technologically,
scientifically, astrologically, They were bright. They built
those pyramids on pie. They are just as perfect a structure
as you can get. And they did it without computers
or slide rules. And they were right on the money.
They were within a quarter of an inch from being perfect on
pie. And you think, how in the world? I don't know. The king
of that country decided that he wasn't going to listen to
God. He said, I don't know your God. The problem was that the
God who made him, made him for a purpose. Made him to say things
like that. God says, for now in verse 15,
I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people
with pestilence and thou shalt be cut off from the earth and
in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up. For this cause
have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that
my name may be declared throughout all the earth. I've raised you
up to send this pestilence to you. I've raised you up so when
I put you down and sunk your army at the bottom of the Red
Sea, everybody is going to know that you ain't the king. I'm
the King, I'm the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. The same
words are referred to by Paul teaching the doctrine of God's
sovereign election and choice of whom he will save in Romans
chapter 9 and whom he will not. In Romans chapter 9 in verse
21 it says, Hath not the potter the power over the clay? of the
same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?
What does that mean? That means one vessel to be used
and kept. To be used forever. Employed
forever by God. And another one, to be employed
by God for a short period of time to fulfill a specific purpose
and then to be cast away. and broken as pot sherds on the
ground. What if God, willing to show His wrath and make His
power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction or made up to destroy, and that
He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of
mercy which He had aforeprepared to glory? Paul says, even us. whom he hath called, not of the
Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." What if God actually created
some men in order to destroy them? What if the good and loving
God actually loved some men and hated others? What if the good
and loving God actually loved some men and hated others? Our Lord said in Psalm 11, He's
angry with the wicked. Or Psalm 7, He's angry with the
wicked every day. Of those who commit violence,
He says, My soul hates them in Psalm 11 and verse 5. In Romans 9, 13, he said, Jacob
have I loved, and Esau have I hated. And somebody said, well, that's
because he looked at their lives. Well, just read what he said
just before that. The children, not being yet born,
having done neither good nor evil, that the purpose of God,
according to election, might stand. He says, the elder shall
serve the younger. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. What if God's like that? What if the good and loving God
has appointed the moment of every man's death and no matter what,
that man cannot pass? What if He's done that? What
if the instrument of your death, the means of your death, the
time of your death is all already settled and absolute and nothing
you can do or anybody else can do can change that? What if God
did that? He said to Job, And Barnard said,
this is the doctrine of first mention. This is the oldest book
in the Bible. The oldest story of all. He says,
your months are with me. I have determined them. You cannot
pass. You cannot pass. In Deuteronomy 32 and verse 39,
he says, I am the Lord. I kill and I make alive. I kill and I make alive. What if the good and loving God
decided before the world, before the world was, before even one
human being even existed except in His purpose? What if He decided
who would go to heaven and who would not be allowed there? What
if God did that? Our text says this in Revelation
21, 27. There shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life." Why, such a God would be totally outside the control
of humanity, wouldn't He? Such a God would not give account
of His matters to anyone. Such a God would do exactly as
He pleases, when He pleases, with whomever He pleases, because
they've all been created for Him. Such a God would think,
and it would be done. Would purpose, and it would stand. would say it and it could never
be turned back. Such a God would never fit puny
man's mold nor be subject to his creature's foolish thoughts
or ideas about him. His thoughts are higher than
his creature's thoughts. As high as the heaven is above
the earth, his thoughts are so high. Such a God would be God. Would be God. And He alone would
determine who would be accepted and welcomed into His eternal
home and who would not. Because He's God. He's God. Our text clearly proclaims
that some are welcome in His presence and some are not. Would you say that's obvious
there? In heaven, some people are going
to enter. And some people are not going
to enter. This text says that defilers
are not going to enter there. Abominators are not going to
enter there. Liars will not enter in. None of those are going to be
there. He says, In no wise, in no way, no how, no time will
they enter in. That's spoken throughout the
Word of God. Look at I Corinthians chapter 6 just for a moment.
I Corinthians chapter 6. Verse 9 says, Know ye not Don't you know this? Know you
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
They shall not. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
They shall not. Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. None of those folks are going to be there. They are not
welcome in that present. They are the dirty birds spoken
of in this same book of Revelation. that fly around the great whore
but they're not welcome into the presence of Almighty God
Turn back to Revelation 21 and look at verse 8 But the fearful
and the 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." All of them! Every last one of them. Those people, according to our
text, are not going to enter into heaven. They're not going
to enter into heaven. Well, if then some people are
going to enter into heaven, they must be the opposite of those
who are unwelcome. They must be good people. No,
they're not. By nature, those who enter in
are welcome there and are welcome there are no different than those
who are refused entry. By nature, those who are welcomed
into the presence of Almighty God, accepted fully, are by nature
no different than those described who are not allowed to enter
in. We just read in 1 Corinthians
6, But I stopped short of what was
the next word in that same text when our Lord described those
who would not enter in heaven, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
druggards, nor rebellious, nor extortion shall enter the kingdom
of God. And verse 11 says, and such were some of you. Does that
mean some of us were all those things? No, all of us were some
of those things. But you're washed. Does it say
you took a bath? Does it say you cleansed yourself?
It says somebody washed you. You're sanctified. Did you make
yourself holy? Did you set yourself apart? Somebody did that. You're justified. Who did that? Did you do that by your works,
by your righteousness? How are you justified? By the
blood of Christ. In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Those who enter in are by
nature exactly the same. By nature exactly the same as
those who are not allowed in. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
1 through 3, our Lord says, And you hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air. You were demon worshippers, you
were guided by him. You were the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and
of our minds, and were, underline it, by nature, the children of
wrath, even as others. That doesn't say we were children
of wrath. It says there was no difference between us and the
children of wrath. by nature we were exactly the same, which
tells us that salvation has nothing to do with our nature. Nothing whatsoever. Our nature,
what we were born with in the flesh and grew up with if we
lived long enough, had nothing to do with our salvation. Now,
if that's the case, back to our ticks, if they were not naturally
good, but are rather no different than those who perish, how is
it that they are welcomed into the presence of Almighty God? The answer is so plain that it
befuddles the natural mind. They have access. They are given
entry. They are welcomed because their
names are written in the books, the Lamb's Book of Life. That's
the reason He gives. Look at it. Verse 27 of Revelation
21, "...and there shall no wise enter into it anything that is
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, nor maketh
a lie. But they which aren't defilers..." That's
what it says. "...but they which aren't abominators,
but they which aren't liars..." That's not what it says. "...who
shall enter in? They which are written in the Lamb's book of
life." See, all that seems so Seems like salvation is just
up to God. Seems like it's just His business
and nobody else's business. You mean the only difference
between these people that enter in and don't enter in is that
sometime before they even existed, God wrote their name in His book? That's the reason given. That's
the reason. That's it. They are there because
God wrote their names in the Lamb's Book of Life. Why were
they written there? Because God wrote their names
there. There's no use to ask God why if He did it. If God
did it, it's right. It's right because He did it.
So whatever reason we may come up with is of no value. The fact is that it was right
Because God wrote their names in this book. It's the right
thing to do. When were they written there?
According to Revelation 13.8, they were written there before
the foundation of the world. Given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began, Scripture said. Well, aren't they believers?
Yeah, they are. Every last one of them is a believer.
You know why they are believers? Because their names are written
in the book. You see over in Acts chapter
13 and verse 48 it says, As many as were ordained to eternal life
believe. That word ordained there is not
pro-orizo, predestinate. The word is pro-grapho, written. As many as were written to life. How many of them? Every last
one of them. However many that was, that's
all of them. The book in which their names are written is the
book of the Lamb. Therefore, it's the book of the
substitute, the book of blood, the book of the Lamb. And all
who are in that book are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and
made kings and priests unto their God, according to this very book.
He has redeemed us by His blood and made us kings and priests
unto our God. He has washed us. He has loved us and washed us
in His blood and made us kings and priests unto our God. This
short yet precise verse says it all really. Those who enter
into heaven are there by grace. How much grace? Only grace. By grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Their works, neither good nor
bad, have anything to do with them being there. When they go
before the judgment, those who are raised from the dead, the
evil ones, will be cast into the lake of fire, judged out
of books. The others are not judged. The book is open, called
the Lamb's book of life, and if their names are written there,
they enter glory. They enter glory. That's what
it says in the last verse of chapter 20. And whosoever was
not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake
of fire. Why were the others not cast
into the lake of fire? Because their names are written
in the book of life. They are there because their names are
written there. Those who will not enter do not
have their names in the book. We just read that. They do not
have their names in the book. Well, what do I do to get my
name in that book? Nothing. You can't do nothing
to get in that book. That book's a sealed book, sealed with seven
seals, front and back. Only Christ opens that book.
Only Christ. This one short verse of Scripture
falls dead in the middle of the description of the glorious peace
and happiness and beauty of the children of God in glory. And
right in the middle of it, God says, who's going to be there
and who ain't, and how those who are there got there. And
basically it's saying the general theme of all of Scripture, salvation,
all of it, every aspect of it is of the Lord. is of the Lord. Father, bless us through our
understanding, we pray in Christ's name, Amen.