FBC Morning Worship Service

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Sunday morning service from Faith Baptist Church

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Well, good morning. Good to see you on this first Sunday of spring. Isn't it delightful to see the seasons change?
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What's more delightful than seeing them change on the calendar is when you can actually see them changing before your eyes when you go outside.
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A beautiful day the Lord has given to us, and we're thankful for His grace and kindness in meeting our needs in so many ways, and in these blessings, these little blessings that He gives to us.
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In His common grace that all experience. Before we begin our worship service this morning, just want to emphasize three different things in your bulletin, if I can.
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One is the special services related to Resurrection Sunday, Easter, and so forth.
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So a week from Thursday on April 1st, we'll have our
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Maundy Thursday service. I've been doing this for the last several years, and just a blessing, this service, as we get together and we recount, review the events of that night of the betrayal.
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We have communion together and lead up to the crucifixion.
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And then when we leave the service that night, it gives us a great, I think, a greater longing for Resurrection Sunday, Resurrection Sunday a few days later.
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And you notice the details regarding that. The only thing I want to emphasize is the one thing
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I want to emphasize is the breakfast that requires a sign -up sheet, and that sheet is now available so we can plan for folks on that Sunday.
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And then last week I mentioned that, you know, we're all, I think almost all of us, getting this tax refund from our government.
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And, you know, I don't know how you feel about that, if you think that's something the government should do. My inclination is you're thinking they shouldn't, because after all, our grandchildren are going to be paying for this for years and years to come.
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But there's not anything you could do about it. It got shown up in your bank account anyway, whether you wanted it or not.
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And so then what do we do with it? Well, I hope that you'll make good use of it, throw some of it in a savings account if you've got some outstanding debts, pay those things off, pay off some extra bills or whatever.
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But then one thing we can do is invest some of that into the Lord's work.
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And so I mentioned that last week, that I was thinking of a project and got together with the deacons this week, and we wanted to pursue that project.
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And it's there for you in a bulletin to read about it. But we've been using on Sunday afternoon, the last few weeks, since we got back to these afternoon services, we've been using this book.
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It's called the New Psalter, Psalms for the Church. And it looks like this.
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It's really a very nice, hardbound, well -made. I'm really amazed at how well this book is made, printed and put together in the binding and so forth.
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And there are 341 hymns or psalms in this book.
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What they do is they take the 150 psalms in our hymnal and then put them to music.
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And some of those psalms have more than one tune to them. We'll see that this afternoon. There's one of the psalms we're going to sing with a couple of different tunes.
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Some of the tunes are well -known. In a few minutes, we're going to read and then sing
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Psalm 9. And Psalm 9 in this psalter is to the tune of the doxology.
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We're all familiar with the doxology. So it makes them easier to sing when we're familiar with the tunes.
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And even the new tunes that are written, because there aren't any old ones that really work well, are pretty singable.
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And that's quite a blessing. So we thought this would make a good project to have as a stimulus project.
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And if you would like to contribute to that special project, there's a couple of ways you can do it. One is if you wanted to just put some cash, you could use the envelopes on the table in the foyer right by the offering box.
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You can use those envelopes as soon as Ed sees that envelope, he knows it's for the song project. Or you can use those envelopes to write a check as well.
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Or if you're in your regular giving, you itemize so much for your tithe, so much for faith promise.
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On your memo line, you could memo the psalm book. Or online, you can give online.
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There's a category in online giving for the psalm project,
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I think it's called. It's pretty evident when you go online to give. But the goal on that is to raise $1 ,500.
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That'd be enough to buy 100 of these psalters. And that'd be plenty to have for everybody that wants them, and then some extras as well.
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So encourage it to make some of that stimulus money and use it to invest in the
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Lord's work in this way. And I know it'll be a blessing to us as we incorporate this even more, the psalms in our worship of the
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Lord together. All right, so we have come together to do just that, to worship the
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Lord. And we want to begin with Psalm 21, verse 13, where the psalmist exclaims for us, be exalted,
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O Lord, in your own strength. We will sing and praise your power.
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And so let's do just that, sing and praise the power of our Lord. Jim, please come lead us.
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And that hymn is on page number 557, 557 for all saints.
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Let's all stand together, please, and sing all four verses together. 557 for all saints.
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Our Father, again, we thank you for your grace and your mercy this past week.
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And Father, would you meet with us this day as we hear the word of God, which is sharper than any two -edged sword.
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Father, open our hearts and our minds to the truths that are talked about today,
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Father, about the church. Be with the pastor as he brings your word, Father. And as we sing these songs, may we lift our voices up to you.
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It may be pleasing to you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
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You may be seated. So Psalm 9, verses 1 to 10 is our psalm reading this morning.
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Psalm 9, I find it interesting the way this psalm begins in verse 1, in light of our
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Sunday school study that we've been going through, studying the heart. And the psalm begins by saying,
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I praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. And if you've been in this study, then you get that.
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You get, he's talking about with his intellect, his emotions, and his will. I praise you with my whole inner being.
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So as we read these 10 verses, I'll read them, follow along as I do, and then we'll sing together this psalm.
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I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works.
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I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
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When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence. For you have maintained my right and my cause.
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You sat on the throne judging in righteousness. You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked.
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You have blotted out their name forever and ever. O enemy, destructions are finished forever, and you have destroyed cities.
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Even their memory has perished. But the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.
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He shall judge the world in righteousness, and he shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.
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The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
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And those who know your name will put their trust in you. For you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
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Lord, that is a blessing to the reading of this psalm together. I'll take your insert,
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O Lord Most High. This is a song that you will recognize as soon as we sing it.
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We'll sing all five verses together. O Lord Most High. O Lord Most High, with all my heart, your wondrous works
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I will proclaim. I will be glad and give you thanks, and sing the praises of your name.
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The Lord, the everlasting King, is seated on his judgment throne.
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The righteous judge of all the world will make his perfect justice known.
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Jehovah will a refuge prove strong for a safe retreat where weary souls in trouble day.
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O Lord, who know your name, and sin you will please.
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For you have ne 'er forsaken them.
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Sing praises to the Lord Most High. To him who does desire, declare his might, his deeds of ten.
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As we pray together today, we want to pray for Jim, Jim Stroop, our missionary of the week. Jim and a couple of the other missionaries have a prayer letter available on the missionary wall.
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They have little pockets under their poster, so pick one of those up and you can read in detail.
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Just a couple of the prayer requests that Jim shared in that prayer letter. Jim's working on a new course to teach to inmates, and it has to do with the tabernacle and the wilderness wanderings in the
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Old Testament, and showing Christ in those experiences of the
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Old Covenant, and pray for the completion of that. And then also pray for a trainer for law enforcement chaplains.
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So this would be chaplains to, if I understand this correctly, chaplains to police officers and law enforcement personnel.
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So Jim and his chaplains focus primarily on inmates, but then a trainer to train chaplains to work with law enforcement individuals as well.
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And then of course pray that they will soon be able to get back with working with inmates more fully.
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Very, very limited right now because of the COVID restrictions. Also as we pray, we want to pray for Roger Young.
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He had this surgery the other day. He's doing well, but just pray for him to be fully recovered and healed from that surgery.
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Many of you are familiar with this act, the Equality Act, that passed the
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House of Representatives a week and a half or so ago. It's supposed to come before the Senate very soon.
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I'm not going to spend any great deal of time on this. You can research it yourself. Plenty of Christian organizations have written about the terrible, just the terrible effect this will have on religious freedom in our country.
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And so as it comes before the Senate, again, I'm not exactly sure when that's going to happen, but as it does very soon, pray for that to be defeated.
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And then also from time to time, we want to emphasize the plight of believers in persecuted country, persecuted believers in countries where Christianity is either outlawed or greatly restricted.
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And we think about some of the challenges that we as believers are beginning to experience here in our country.
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It's nothing yet compared to what some others are. So I just wanted to share this prayer request that came through Open Doors.
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It came on my feed this morning. And it says, pray for secret believers.
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That may seem like an oxymoron to us believers. Are we supposed to be secret believers? We're supposed to just, but listen to what they say.
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It says, it's not always easy to determine who's trustworthy. After the arrest of a Christian couple in Somalia, a police colonel encouraged citizens to report anyone who's spreading
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Christianity. Inside the Gushi County in China, officials held a month -long campaign offering monetary compensation for photos or video of religious gatherings.
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In Iran, 13 Christians were arrested after an informant infiltrated house churches.
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We can't quite grasp that. So the request here is to pray for discernment for believers as they discern whom they should trust, with whom they share the gospel, and whom they will welcome.
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So they need discernment for those things. So let's look to the Lord in prayer, shall we?
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Our Heavenly Father, we are so grateful today that you are exalted in your strength.
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And Father, we thank you that in your strength and in your power, in your sovereignty, there is nothing on this planet that is happening that's outside of your control.
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So even these brothers and sisters in Christ in places like China or in Iran or in Somalia and many, many other places around the globe where their freedom is threatened, their very livelihood is threatened, even their lives are threatened because they name
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Christ. None of this is outside of your awareness or your control.
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We pray for them. We pray that, as has been suggested, that you would give discernment and the ability to sense whom these individuals can trust.
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I pray that you would protect them in their gatherings with other believers, even in defying of the government authorities who are telling them they cannot meet.
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I pray that you would bless them as they meet together, as you have so called upon your people to do.
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I pray that they would have wisdom in sharing the gospel, and I pray that with those with whom they share the gospel, your spirit would work in those hearts, that the
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Spirit of God would make them tender and receptive and not hard and calloused and want to turn them in for their illegal activity.
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Father, protect your people, we pray. Father, we pray for Jim and his ministry with Law and Grace and working with inmates in prison and jails, and I pray that you would use him and his leadership role and use him as he's writing this material.
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I pray that it would be truly effective and Christ -exalting, and it would lead many to greater discipleship and some even to Christ who is lifted up in that writing.
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I pray, Father, that you would provide a trainer who will be able to develop chaplains to law enforcement personnel.
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I think of many struggles and challenges of police officers and law enforcement personnel in the climate of our country right now, even in our state recently passing law that is so discouraging to law enforcement.
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I pray that godly chaplains might be able to minister to those who are hurting, and I pray that the chaplains to the jail inmates might be able to get back to full ministry to those inmates very soon.
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Father, we pray for Roger and ask for his complete recovery soon.
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Give him healing to the body, and I pray that there be no complication from this.
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It would all happen efficiently. Father, we pray for our nation and its direction, which is definitely in a wrong direction, a harmful direction, to the cause of Christ and to the cause of truth and the encouragement of righteousness.
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We thank, Father, of this Equality Act that's coming before the Senate. I pray that it would be defeated and would be defeated soundly.
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And, Father, I pray that those who would promote such a thing, that you would make known to them your displeasure.
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Humiliate them, humble them, we pray, in your power and in your might. Father, we do again thank you for this privilege of coming together here today and remind ourselves of the glorious future that awaits the bride of Christ, and by that may we be encouraged.
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We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing together once again.
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Jim? Thank you, Pastor. 573, 573 in your hymnals.
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I shall know him. Let's all stand together, please, and sing all three verses together.
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When my life work has ended and I cross the swelling tide, when the bright and glorious morning
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I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer when
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I reach the other side, and His smile will be the first to welcome me.
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I shall know Him, I shall know Him, as redeemed by His side
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I shall stand. I shall know Him, I shall know
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Him, by the print of the nails in His hand.
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Oh, the soul -thrilling rapture when I view His blessed face and the buster of His kindly beaming eye.
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How my full heart will praise Him for the mercy, love, and grace that prepares me for a mansion in the sky.
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I shall know Him, I shall know Him, as redeemed by His side
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I shall stand. I shall know Him, I shall know
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Him, by the print of the nails in His hand.
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Through the gates to the city in a robe of spotless white,
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He will lead me where no tear shall ever fall. In the glad song of ages
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I shall mingle with delight, but I long to meet my
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Savior first of all. I shall know Him, I shall know
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Him, as redeemed by His side I shall stand.
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I shall know Him, I shall know Him, by the print of the nails in His hand.
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Please be seated. I just want to remind you of the afternoon services.
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We meet after lunch at one o 'clock, and we've been singing psalms the last several weeks.
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We're going to be continuing that through the month of April, so beginning in May, the first Sunday of May, we'll no longer have the lunchtime after the morning service and the afternoon service.
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Get back to the normal schedule beginning the first Sunday of May. But between now and then,
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I encourage you to bring a sack lunch or something and enjoy lunch together and then afternoon service at one o 'clock.
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I want to read for our scripture reading today in Revelation 21 verses 1 through the first part of verse 11.
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We would turn to Revelation 21 and beginning reading at the beginning of the chapter.
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John says, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
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And there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be
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His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.
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There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
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Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me,
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Write, for these words are true and faithful. And He said to me, It is done.
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I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
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He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son, that the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
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Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying,
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Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy
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Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God."
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A brief prayer together. So our God, our Father, we do thank you for this passage and the encouragement that it is to those who comprise the bride.
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Use this passage in our hearts today to strengthen our faith and trust in you.
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And this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, on July 5th, 1939,
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Slavomir Ravets married his sweetheart Vera. They got married in Pinsk in Poland.
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He was on a 48 -hour leave from his assignment with the Polish military service and decided on this 48 -hour leave that this would be a great time to get married.
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So they stood before the minister and they shared their wedding vows with one another, and then they went on to the wedding feast.
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And no doubt as they stood there reciting their vows, they anticipated a lifetime of marriage together and joy together in that matrimony.
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But in the middle of their wedding feast, Slavomir got a message that he was to return immediately to his post for duty, in the middle of the wedding feast, immediately.
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So he rushed to his bride, gave her a kiss, and most of the wedding guests didn't even know it, but he left and he went back to report to duty.
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So a couple of weeks later, his wife was able to join him for four days and they were allowed three hours each day.
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So, so far, added up in time in terms of their time together as a married couple.
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Maybe a couple hours on their wedding day, a part of the wedding feast, and then 12 hours while he was stationed somewhere in Poland.
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And then he headed off to the Western front as the Poles were invaded by Germany.
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And there he stayed until Warsaw collapsed. And then he headed back to the Eastern part of Poland.
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And by that time, the Russians had, had taken over the Eastern part of Poland where he was from.
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And he arrived back home and was there for just long enough, just long enough to give his wife
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Vera a kiss and answer a few questions before the Russian secret police stormed through their doors and arrested him, claiming that he was just a spy, a
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Polish spy spying on Russia. And they, they, they scurried him off to a prison place where he would be interrogated and then moved him to another place where he was interrogated.
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And finally, after a long time of interrogation, I'm talking months of severe, cruel, brutal interrogation, he was sentenced to 25 years in a
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Siberian prison camp, and he never saw his wife again.
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So a total of what? 14 hours of wedding bliss, and he never saw his wife again.
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On their wedding day, a bride and groom will stand before the minister performing that ceremony, and they'll repeat their vows to one another.
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And they'll pledge to each other to love and to cherish one another, and to do so in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, as long as they both shall live.
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Now, no doubt, every honest married couples, newlywed couple standing before the minister as they say their vows, they, they, they know, and if you press them, they would admit that sure, there are going to be some hard days in the years ahead.
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But for the most part, on their wedding day, and those of you who are married, you could attest to this, and most part on our wedding day, we stand there looking into the eyes of our, our spouse, our betrothed, and we're looking with some fairly rose -colored glasses, aren't we?
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We're kind of assuming that life together is going to basically be one of a lifelong state of marital bliss, you know, where all is right with the world as long as we have each other.
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And for some newlyweds, those glasses come off on the honeymoon. But in reality, most of us, and every married couple here could tell you this, that there are any number of things that can disrupt that marital bliss.
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Things that hurt, things that provoke tears, things that bring disappointment, that disturb the peace and harmony, things that undermine the health of the relationship, and ultimately, we know, our vows even affirm this, that those vows are valid until the greatest enemy of the relationship comes called death, and that death parts us.
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But this is not the way it is with Christ and his bride. Look with me again at Ephesians chapter 5, and I want to remind you of the pattern in the mind of the
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Apostle Paul, the pattern of the Jewish wedding ceremony as he writes to the
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Ephesian believers. In verse 25, he says, husbands, love your wives, but what
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I want to focus on is his pattern for that call to love, as husbands, to love our wives.
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Just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with a washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
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So the groom has betrothed his bride to himself.
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Jesus has betrothed his bride, the church, to himself, and he did so before the foundation of the world, and once betrothed, he then had to pay the dowry, the bride price for her, and this he did on the cross, and he did so with the price of his own blood as he shed that blood on the cross.
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His bride is now preparing herself for that marriage feast. This is what the bride has been doing ever since Jesus died on that cross and he ascended up to heaven.
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He's preparing her, she's preparing herself, the bride is, for that glorious time when the groom will come for her, and then when he comes for her, he will present her to himself in that marriage supper that we talked about last
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Lord's Day. And then after that marriage supper, he secures her to himself.
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He secures that bride to himself as we read at the end of verse 27, holy and without blemish.
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Literally that verse reads that she should be being from here on out, holy and without blemish.
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And this last part of verse 27, being holy, be being holy and without blemish.
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This is the last stage of that Jewish wedding custom. After the feast and the presentation of the bride, the groom takes the bride to his home that he's prepared for them to spend their lifetime together.
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After the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation chapter 19, God graciously provides us here in chapter 21 of Revelation, he graciously provides us with an image of the bride in her eternal dwelling.
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We get this as the chapter begins in verses 1 and 2, when verse 2, when
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John says he saw the holy city coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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And then in verses 9 and 10, one of the seven angels said, come
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I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. He carried me away to the spirit to a great and high mountain, showed me the great city, that holy
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Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. That city, the holy Jerusalem as it's descending from heaven, that is the bride of Christ, the bride that has been presented.
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This is a picture in chapter 21 in the first part of chapter 22. This is a picture, an image of the bride in her eternal dwelling.
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And it is there in that place of her eternal dwelling where the bride is eternally satisfied.
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She's eternally satisfied. We bring this out in chapter 21 verses 3 through 7.
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What is it that gives the bride her satisfaction here in this passage? Well, verse 3, it's the very presence of God himself, the intimate and personal presence of God.
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Look again at verse 3. He says, this voice from heaven says, behold, the tabernacle, the dwelling of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.
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God himself will be with them and be their God. Here, God himself,
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Christ himself lives with his bride, and he identifies himself with his bride.
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She shall be his people. They shall be his people, his people.
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The bride is his. He is her spouse, her groom, and he stays with his bride.
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The end of verse 3 says, God himself will be with them and be their God. This is not like Slavomir.
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This isn't going to happen anywhere at some point in eternity where there the bride is in this dwelling place of the groom, and all of a sudden the groom is going to get a dispatch that says you have to leave and go somewhere else, and leaving the bride to wonder, will
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I ever see my husband again? No. No. God will be with them and be their
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God. She is satisfied, the bride is, because of the intimate personal presence of God, and she's also satisfied because verse 4 brings out that God removes everything, everything that threatens her satisfaction.
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Now you think about that in your, you married couples, think about that in your marriage. What is it that undermines your satisfaction in that marriage?
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There can be any number of things, right? What is it? What causes hurt?
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What causes pain? What causes grief? What causes sorrow? Look at verse, look at verse 4.
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God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. Is there, is there a husband or a wife here this morning or watching on live stream that could say, ever since I've been married,
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I've never shed a tear. No, not a one.
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Now maybe some of you stoic guys who don't cry, maybe you would say that, never shed a tear.
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Men, listen, there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with shedding a tear. And you, you will in your heart, if not in your eyes.
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Now listen, when you got married and you said, I do and I will, that didn't mean that you would never shed a tear.
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But here, look, anything that would cause dissatisfaction, God takes care of. He, he, he, he wipes every tear from their eyes and he eliminates, look at what he eliminates.
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He eliminates death. He eliminates sorrow and pain. He says, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
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There shall be no more pain for the former things are passed away. What's going on here in verse 4, the curse, the curse is being completely reversed.
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It's being flipped. It's being annihilated. It's being eliminated because what was involved in the curse, do you remember?
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In Genesis 2, verse 17, God said to Adam, don't eat the fruit of that tree, the knowledge of good and evil.
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And the day that you eat that fruit, you will die. Death will come into creation. And he ate, he ate.
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And what is Genesis 3, 19 tell us? From the dust you were taken into the dust, you shall return.
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And so it has been ever since. With the curse came death and with the curse came sorrow and pain.
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Remember what, remember what the Lord told Eve as a consequence of her sin? He told her that in childbearing, you will suffer.
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You will have sorrow. You will have pain. You will experience this in childbearing.
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That's a part of the curse. And what did he tell Adam? Oh, no longer will you enjoy your work in the garden.
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Some of you gardeners may enjoy a measure of work in your garden, but I guarantee you, you don't really enjoy the weeding of it, do you?
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And you don't like dealing with the thorns and the thistles and all the stuff that chokes out the good stuff, do you?
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Why do you have to deal with that? That pain in the garden, that grief and sorrow in the garden because of the curse, because of the curse.
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But here, but here in verse four, there will be no more death.
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There will be no more sorrow. There will be no more crying. There will be no more pain.
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It's all gone. It's all eliminated. God removes everything that threatens satisfaction for the bride.
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And she's satisfied because verse five brings out God totally transforms everything.
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He who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new.
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This chapter begins with John seeing a new heaven and a new earth.
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This doesn't mean this, this doesn't mean new as in never existing before.
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It means new as in renewed, as in remade, made to remade in perfection, remade as it was when
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God initially said, let there be. And it was when God created the heavens and the earth before it was destroyed by the, the influx of sin and all of its effects.
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He makes all things new, totally transforming everything. What will that be like?
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I don't know. I don't have a point of reference.
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Do you? No, we don't. Don't you wonder what it was like in Eden before the fruit?
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We'll know when he makes all things new. God totally transforms everything for his bride and she is satisfied because God is the, he's the be all end all for his bride.
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Comes out in verses six and seven. He says, it is done. I am the alpha and Omega.
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Who is it that says I am the alpha and Omega. Turn over a page in your Bible to chapter 22 and you find in verse 13, this is
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Jesus. He says in verse 12, I'm coming quickly. My reward is with me to give everyone according to his work.
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And then he says, I am the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
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The alpha and the Omega is Jesus. And he says, it is done. I am the alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
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And then look at what he says. Look at what he says. Showing himself to be the source of all satisfaction for his bride.
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I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. There will never again be thirst.
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It's always slaked, always quenched the thirst. Remember what
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Jesus said about this. We'll talk about it later, but this fountain of life, he says,
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I, I am the source of that water. Never again be thirsty spiritually in the
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Beatitudes. Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. The thirst is quenched.
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Never again will there be anyone needy. Verse seven says he who overcomes shall inherit all things.
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What do you need? What will you need? You will have no need. You will have no need.
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You will inherit all things. It will all be there. It will all be yours. This inheritance that is currently set aside for you, reserved in heaven for you will be in your possession for all eternity.
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You who are the bride of Christ. So God is the be all end all for his bride.
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She is satisfied. She is satisfied. Well, then our text here in revelation 21 also shows us that the bride is eternally purified.
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She's purified. There is coming a time of judgment when all humanity is going to be thoroughly and completely judged.
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It's not a, it's not a popular concept thought, is it? Talk to the average man on the street kind of a thing and say to them, you know, one of these days, and it may be sooner than you think one of these days, you're going to stand before God and give an account.
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And there's a pretty good chance that you're going to spend the rest of your eternity in a place called the lake of fire, depending on how you've responded to Christ.
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How, how enthusiastically do you think you will be met with that news with that conversation?
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You think they'll want to enter into that conversation with you? No. As soon as you start talking about a judgment day coming and you're going to stand before God and you're going to be judged according to you, as soon as you start talking like that, they're going to dismiss you as some kind of a kook and try to get rid of you as soon as you possibly can.
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That doesn't change reality. That doesn't change the facts.
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Back in chapter 20 verses 12 and 13, John says,
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I saw the dead small and great. It's everybody standing before God and books were open and another book was open, which is the book of life.
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And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it and death and hell gave up delivered up the dead who were in them.
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And they were judged each one according to his works and death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.
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This is the second death. And anyone who's not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
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There is coming this day of judgment where all of humanity is going to be dealt with according to this time of judgment.
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Jesus spoke of it in Matthew chapter 25, when he talked about the, at the end of the age, the nations are going to be separated between the sheep and the goats.
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The sheep are going to enter into his eternal kingdom and the goats will be entering into eternal damnation.
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All humanity is going to be judged thoroughly. Now back in Revelation 21 verse 8, what this has to do with the bride of Christ being eternally purified is that any potential for impurity to inflict itself upon the bride will be eradicated completely and finally.
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There will be in this bride of Christ, none, none who are cowardly, unbelieving, abominable murderers, sexually immoral sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars.
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They will all have their part in the lake of fire. It'll all be eradicated. It'll all be eradicated, all impurity eradicated completely and finally.
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And that will be regardless of how insignificant it may seem in our eyes.
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What do I mean by that? Well, how big of a, how big of a sin is cowardice?
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Well, when that sin of cowardice is choosing one's personal safety and one's personal comfort rather than identifying with Christ, you see, rejecting
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Christ for my own personal comfort or safety or security, that's a pretty big deal.
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Any rejection of Christ is cause for eternal rejection by Christ.
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Liars, liars will have their part. See, we don't, we don't think of these, some of these sins as being such great things, but listen, any impurity defiles the bride and it will all be eliminated.
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All will be eradicated. The bride of Christ is eternally satisfied.
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She's eternally purified. And then in our text in the bulk of chapter 21 points out the fact that the bride of Christ is eternally glorified.
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She's eternally glorified. And that glorification of the bride is marked by several different things.
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And I want you to notice these. Her glorification is marked by a splendor that's unbelievable, a splendor that's unbelievable.
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Look at verses 9 through 11. Again, it says, I'll show you the bride, the lamb's wife sees this great city, the holy
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Jerusalem, descending out of the Lord, out of heaven from God in verse 11, having the glory of God.
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Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
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As you read through this passage, notice the number of times you come across the word like.
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It's like this. It's like that. What's that telling you? It's not that.
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The light is not a most precious stone. The light is not a jasper stone.
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It's like it in some way. It's like, I can't hardly describe what this really is, but it's like this.
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And what he describes as the thing that it's like is of such splendor that what it really is is unbelievable.
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It's indescribable. All he can do is say it's like this.
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Well, in this unbelievable splendor, the bride, notice she's wrapped in the glory of God, this holy city, this holy
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Jerusalem, which is the bride descending from heaven from God, has the glory of God.
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This bride is wrapped in the glory of God. And she exudes in verse 11, the last part of verse 11, she exudes a brilliant radiance.
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Her light was like a most precious stone. It was like a jasper, clear as crystal.
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Her light is not talking about light bulb. It's talking about the radiance that a light gives.
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Her radiance was like a most precious stone, like a jasper that's clear as crystal.
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You know, the thing about jasper, you can Google it and you can see a picture of jasper. It's not clear.
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But this is the only way that John could describe what he's seeing, that the radiance of the bride is like a precious stone, like jasper, which by the way, which by the way, recalls
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God himself. There's a verse back in earlier in Revelation that speaks of God being as a jasper stone, but clear as crystal, brilliant radiance.
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You think about that in terms of our own, oh, so very limited experience.
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There's this saying, and you've heard it, I'm sure, there is no such thing as an ugly bride.
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I don't know that's a particularly nice thing to say anyway, but what's the point of that saying?
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That every bride looks radiant on her wedding day.
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I mean, if she's ever, if she's ever had any semblance of homeliness, not on her wedding day, bride, every bride is beautiful on her wedding day.
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She's radiant on her wedding day. And this bride, the bride of Christ is radiant, not just on her wedding day, not just at the marriage supper of the lamb, but this bride of Christ is radiant for all eternity.
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She has a splendor that is beyond belief. And she reflects in verse 18, her groom's splendor, the construction of its wall, it says, was of jasper and the city was pure gold like clear glass.
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She reflects the splendor of her groom. Here's what I'm getting at here.
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The city itself recalls in the Old Testament tabernacle structure, the
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Holy of Holies. That structure as part of the bigger tabernacle, and then later in Solomon's temple, the
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Holy of Holies, that structure was a cube. And within that structure, everything was gold.
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Everything in that Holy of Holies was gold. And if you're reading in the Bible reading chart, you're in the book of Exodus.
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And I think you're probably, I'm ahead in that. So I don't remember exactly where it is, but there's several chapters in the book of Exodus that describe the construction of that tabernacle and what is to be done.
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And every component, every piece of furniture, everything that is in that Holy of Holies is covered with gold.
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And in the temple itself, later, the walls of that Holy of Holies are covered in gold.
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Everything is of gold. And notice, look at verse 18, the construction of the walls of this holy city, which we're going to see in a minute, is a cube, was pure gold.
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The city was pure gold, like clear glass. I mentioned earlier that Jasper, that Jasper is a reflection of God himself.
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The verse I was thinking of is chapter four, verse three, chapter four, verse three.
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We read that he who sat there on the throne was like a
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Jasper and a Sardius stone in appearance. This is a reflection of the gloom of the groom's splendor.
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The bride reflects the splendor of her groom, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
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Lamb, God himself. And in verses 19 to 21, she exhibits her groom's immeasurable worth.
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Verses 19 to 21 talk about the foundations of the wall that were adorned with all kinds of precious stones.
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And then there's a list of these, these precious stones. All right, now watch, watch this.
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This is, if you get this and you get the connection, the Old Testament connection, this is fascinating.
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The 12 stones that are spoken of here in verses 19 to 20, recall the 12 stones that were on the breastplate of the high priest.
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You remember that? I was just reading of that this morning, where the high priest had to have on his breastplate, 12 individual precious stones.
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And on each one of those stones was the name of one of the tribes of Israel. And what's communicated in that?
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What's the point of that? The point of it is that those names on those precious stones next to the heart of the priest, as he goes into the
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Holy of Holies, those names are precious to the priest because they're precious to God.
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And then the last verse, verse 21 here says the 12 gates were 12 pearls and each individual gate was of one pearl.
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The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. These 12 pearls, each gate a pearl.
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What's this? What is this? The immeasurable worth of the pearl of great price, right?
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Remember Jesus talked about that parable, the pearl of great price. There was a merchant of pearls.
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This was his trade. He'd go and collect pearls and he'd sell them until he heard about this one pearl that was incredibly valuable.
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And he went and sold everything he had so that he could buy that one pearl of great price.
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Here we read about the gates of the city, the bride, the gate, one pearl, a pearl of great price.
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Oh, the bride exhibits her groom's immeasurable worth. So her glory, her glory is marked by the splendor that's unbelievable.
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Secondly, this glory is marked by a stability that is unshakable, a stability that's unshakable.
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This comes out in verses 12 through 14. You notice in verses 12 and 13, you got these walls and gates talked about.
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So she had a great and high wall with 12 gates and 12 angels at the gates and names written on each gate with the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel, three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, three gates on the west.
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And here are these, this is wall with the gates and these gates recount for us
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Israel's history. Each gate has the name of one of the tribes of Israel.
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What's the idea here? What's the point of this? All of Israel's history was to point to, was to point to the coming of the groom.
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The entirety of the Old Testament history, the history of Israel, all of it was to point to Christ.
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And here in the wall of the city, and again, you're having in your mind your image of a city, right?
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But the city is the bride. I mean, John tells us this, the angel tells John this, this city is the bride of Christ, of which you are a part if you are
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Christ. And he says, this city is walled by this great wall that has these 12 gates and the 12 gates each represent one of the tribes of Israel.
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It's talking about the whole Old Testament history pointing forward to Christ, the groom of the bride and the foundation of that city is this apostolic authority that has established for us our faith.
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Verse 14 talks about his foundation. The wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the
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Lamb. We read in Ephesians 2 verses 19 and 20 that the apostles served to provide the foundation of the church of which
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Christ is the chief cornerstone. I'm talking about the stability of the bride.
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It's an unshakable stability, walls surrounding her, encompassing her that speak of her bride, of her groom coming for her, the foundation of the apostolic teaching and apostolic authority, unshakable foundation.
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And then the dimensions themselves of this city speak of divine significance and therefore stability.
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Verses 15 to 17, the angel who talked to them had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates and its walls, and the city is laid out as a square, its length as great as its breadth.
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He measured the city, 12 ,000 furlongs, and notice its length, breadth, and height are equal, 12 ,000, 12 ,000, 12 ,000.
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It's a cube, just like the Old Testament holy of holies. And the thing about that Old Testament holy of holies,
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I want you to think with me about this now, now get it, get this, that Old Testament holy of holies in the tabernacle and then in the temple was the, now listen, it was the place where God dwelt, listen, apart from his people.
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No Old Testament Israelite was ever, ever allowed to go into the holy of holies except for one, the high priest, and then one day a year.
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This is where God dwelt apart from his people, but this, listen, get this, get this, here's the wonderful thing, bride of Christ, this holy of holies, 12 ,000 by 12 ,000 by 12 ,000, this cube, this holy of holies is where God dwells with his people, not apart from them, but with them, forever.
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You talk about a stability that's unshakable, this is glory indeed.
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She experiences a splendor that's beyond belief, a stability that's unshakable, and then in verses 22 through 24, she experiences in this glorified state a sanctity that's undefilable, a sanctity that's undefilable.
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Verses 22 through 24, notice what's missing in this city. There's no temple.
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Why is there no temple? What happened in the temple? Sacrifices.
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Why were sacrifices offered in the temple? Because of sin. There is no temple, there's no need for a temple here in this holy city for the bride of Christ, there's no need for a temple to offer sacrifices, all those sacrifices have been done away with in Christ, there's no need for a temple to offer sacrifices.
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And notice what else is missing. The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated it, the lamb is its light.
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There's no external light, why? Because there's no darkness for a light to overcome.
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There's no light that's necessary to expel darkness or to provide guidance because the groom of this bride dwells with his bride and he is himself the essence of light.
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There can be no darkness wherever he is. This is a sanctity that is undefilable.
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She's glorified, this bride, she's glorified and that glorifying is glorification of the bride is marked by a splendor that's unbelievable, a stability that's unshakable, a sanctity that's undefilable and a security that is unassailable.
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Verses 25 and 27. In verse 25, the bride is so secure that she doesn't need to have her gates closed.
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Its gates shall not be shut at all by day. There'll be no night there. So the gates are just always open because there are no threats.
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She is absolutely secure and she is so secure that only those who comprise the bride are ever there.
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Verse 27, there shall be, there shall by no means enter into it anything that defiles or causes abomination or lie but only those who are written in the
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Lamb's book of life. Only those who comprise the bride will be a part of the bride, a security that's unassailable.
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So the bride is eternally satisfied, she's eternally purified, she's eternally glorified but then as you get into chapter 22, this is really a continuation of what we've already been talking about, the bride is eternally preserved.
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She's eternally preserved and she's preserved by a life -sustaining provision in verses 1 and 2.
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It says, I saw a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and of the
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Lamb. Here is life -sustaining provision for the bride never needing to worry of that, a water of life to sustain her.
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Just as Jesus offered in John 7 37, come to me and drink and from within you there will flow, flow rivers of water of life.
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Not only the water of life but in the midst of verse, in verse 2, in the middle of the street on either side of the river was the tree of life.
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Here's the tree of life to nourish and to enliven. The tree of life has these 12 fruits, the tree yielding its fruit every month, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, enlivening the nations.
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What's going on here? What was off limits at the beginning of the fall?
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Remember, after the fall, expelled from the garden of Eden, the cherubim of flaming sword preventing man from ever again entering into the garden of Eden lest they eat of the tree of life and live.
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What was off limits, what was off limits after the fall is now freely available and the fruit of that tree is abundant and it is sufficient for all that comprise the bride for all of eternity.
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She's preserved by life -sustaining provision. She is preserved in verses 3 and 4 unto life -enriching worship.
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There shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, verse 3 tells us, and his servants shall serve him.
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They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. His servants shall serve him.
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That word serve is a Greek word that means serving in worship, serving in worship.
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And it is a worship that is ever joyful. There's no more curse. There's nothing ever to rob you of your joy.
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I mean, I don't know what your heart is like this morning. I don't know how exuberantly you've entered into the worship of the
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Lord today. Undoubtedly, there are some and maybe many of you who come today and you sang the songs and you read the scripture and you're here and but your worship is tempered by something else that is robbing you of your joy, whether it should be or not.
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But that is not going to be the state of our eternal worship. Nothing will rob us of that joy in our worship.
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It will always be joyful. It will always be focused because it will be before the throne, the throne of God and of the
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Lamb, and it will be forever. Listen, look at verse 4. It will be forever intimate, that worship, and forever intimate.
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They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads.
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You know what that's talking about? Remember the cube representing what?
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The Holy of Holies. Who would go into the Holy of Holies? Only the high priest once a year.
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And when he went into that Holy of Holies, there he was in the presence, in the face of God, on the
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Ark of the Covenant. Now he couldn't see God's face, but it was what was represented. There he is face to face with God.
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And on the on the turban of the priest as he went into the Holy of Holies was a little plate that was inscribed with a statement that said,
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Holy to the Lord. Here's the fulfillment of that image. You who are
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Christ's, you who comprise the bride of Christ in your eternal worship of the
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Lamb, of the God that sits on the throne and of the Lamb in your eternal worship, it will be a forever intimate worship where you personally see him face to face and on your forehead is inscribed his name.
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I am holy to the Lord. I am holy his as a bride should be.
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And then she is preserved for forever, forever enduring, reigning.
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Verse five. Again, he emphasizes, there shall be no night there.
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They need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light. And then, and they shall reign forever and ever.
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How so? Why so? Because the Lamb, listen, the Lamb, our groom shall reign forever and evermore.
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Remember, remember Revelation 11 verse five says the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our
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Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign handles Messiah, right? He shall reign forever and ever.
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And his bride, if there is a queen of heaven, it is the bride of Christ who shall reign with him forever and ever.
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Oh, my friend, listen, is this your destiny? Is it?
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Is this what you have to look forward to? Is your name written in the
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Lamb's book of life? Oh, listen, if the spirit of God is convicting you this morning and he's saying, no, it's not there.
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Your name is not there. Oh, turn to the Lamb today. The one who died to take, to take away your sin, to pay the penalty of your sin.
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Turn to the Lamb today. Call upon him to save you, to write your name in that Lamb's book of life, that this may be your destiny.
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Call upon him today. But if you're part of the bride, if you are already part of the bride, oh, listen, rejoice today in the glory that awaits, awaits our eternal home.
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Our Father and our God, we do rejoice today. Those of us who are the bride of Christ, we rejoice in all that awaits us in this eternal home.
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Truly, Father, that will be glory. Bless these thoughts to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Would you take your hymnal and turn as we close this morning to number 556.
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556. We want to stand together and sing the first and second stanza of, oh, that will be glory.
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556. When all my labors and trials are o 'er, and I am saved,
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O Lord, I offer thee, that will be glory for me, that will be glory, be glory for me.
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When by the gift of his infinite grace,
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I am accorded in heaven a place, just to be there and to look on his face, will through the ages be glory for me.
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Oh, that will be glory for me, glory for me, for me.
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When by his grace I shall look on his face, that will be glory, be glory for me.
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And so, our Lord Jesus, the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star, we with your spirit, we who are the bride, we say, come, even so come,