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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody here tonight. If we can go ahead and find our seats, we'll go ahead and get started. And once you've found a seat, go ahead and find a hymnal. And for tonight's first song, we'll start in song number 130. Song number 130, Yesterday, Today, Forever. Song number 130. Everybody sing it out together on the first. Oh, how sweet the glorious message simple plain may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. Still he loves to save the sinful, heal the sick and lame. Shear the mourners, still the tempest glory to his name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. All may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. He who part in erring need, or never needs, thou fear. He that came to faithless dumbest, all thy doubt will clear. He who led the love disciple on his bosom rest. Bids thee still with love as tender lean upon his breast. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. All may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. He who bid the raging billows walk upon the sea. Still can't hush our wildest tempest as on Galilee. He who swept and prayed and anguished in Gethsemane. Drinks with us each cup of trembling in our agony. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. All may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. As of old, he walked to Emmaus with them to abide. So through all life's way, he walketh ever near our side. Soon again shall we behold him hasten for the day. But we'll still be the same Jesus as he went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. All may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. Great singing, everybody. Now as we can all pray together, we'll open up the service with a word of prayer. Lord, we love you and we thank you again for Steadfast Baptist Church. We just thank you for the opportunity to gather together with all your people and sing unto you, Lord. We just ask that you fill this room with your spirit and bless this church. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, for our next song, let's go to song number 207. Song number 207. Only a sinner. Song number 207. Everybody sing it out together on the first. Not have I gotten but what I received. Grace hath bestowed it since I have believed. Boasting, excluded, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Once I was foolish and sin ruled my heart. From God to depart. Jesus has found me, have been my case. I now am a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Tears unavailing, no merit had I. Mercy had saved me or else I must die. Sin had alarmed me fearing God's face. But now I'm a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows. Loving his Savior to tell what he knows. Once more to tell it would I embrace. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Great singing. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Thanks for coming this evening. On the front we have our Bible memory verse of the week. If you can quote this after the service, 18 and under, to myself, Pastor Shelley, or an usher, you will get a special prize. On the inside of the bulletin there, we have our service times listed, Sunday morning, 10 30 a.m. Our Spanish service at 4 30 p.m. Sunday evening, 5 30 p.m. And Wednesday evening at 7. And just remember that starting on May 5th, those times are going to change. Our English service is going to be at 4 30 p.m. And our Spanish service is going to start at 9 a.m. So be looking out for that change on May 5th. We have our churchwide soul winning times listed there on the left. All of those meet here in Cedar Hill at the building. And we have various regional soul winning times that meet throughout the DFW area. We'd love for you to join us for one of those. Definitely some fruitful areas that people go to there. Please remember, as always, to return your soul winning maps to the bin in the hallway there. And please remember to report your salvations to your soul winning captains, to your respective leaders there. We have a note of our church stats for the year, 189 salvations for April, 794 for the year. So that's great. Please be praying for our expecting ladies on the list there. And also our prayer list, which we'll go to that in just a minute. Upcoming events we have on April 27th is our second to last preaching class. We'd love for you to come out and make it to that if you can. April 29th is our homeschool zoo field trip. May 4th is the baby shower for Mrs. Emily Hernandez. May 5th is the spring swap, and that's going to be at church, of course, in between services, times listed there. For May 11th, all ladies and their daughters are invited. Nursling boys are welcome to join us on Saturday, May 11th from 3.30 to 5.30 for Mother's Day tea at the Chocolate Angel Tea Room in Plano. Feel free to invite your mother or grandmother or sister. And you need to sign up by May 1st. I think there's a sign-up sheet in the hallway there, so please sign up for that. And then congratulations to my wife, especially, for doing all the hard work for the birth of Heidi Lorraine Oz, beautiful little girl. I even have a little smile of her there, so I don't know if you can see that. She's a happy little girl, so born on 4-20 at 4-31 a.m. So to my wife, yes. That should be, well, before we go to our next song, let's go ahead and just go to the Lord in prayer as a church family over these prayer requests, all right? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for this evening. Thank You for the gift of life for my daughter and for all the other people here that are pregnant. I just pray that You would bless their pregnancies and their children in the womb, help them to be healthy and to have a timely delivery, Lord. I pray also for Cameron Hall, that You'd continue to bless his health as things have been turning in a positive direction for him. I pray that things would stay that way, Lord. Pray for Mrs. Naeem's grandmother for her vision and her health, and most importantly, Lord, that her heart would be softened to the gospel, that she'd get saved someday. We pray for Mrs. Carlson's mother, Rebecca, for her health to improve, as well as for Faith Miller's friend, Tamara, for her cancer to be eliminated, Lord, that her cancer treatment would go well. We pray for Brother Alex Lee, that You would bless him in his search for a job. We pray for health for Brother Elijah, as well as for Miss Lori May. We also just pray for peace and wisdom in a family situation for Mrs. Nichols and for her family. We bring these requests to You in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Alright, with that, we'll go ahead and go to our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 126. Psalm 126, in your King James Bible or your laminated handout, Psalm 126. Everybody sing it together on the first. When the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouths filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said them of the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad, turn again our captivity. O Lord, as the streams in the south, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad, he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again. Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheeps with him. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. Blessed assurance, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. O what a foretaste of glory divine, heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood, this is my story, this is my song. Raising my Savior all the day long, this is my story, this is my song. Raising my Savior all the day long, perfect submission that is divine. Visions of rapture now burst on my sight, angels descending great from above, echoes of mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song. Raising my Savior all the day long, this is my story, this is my song. Raising my Savior all the day long, perfect submission always at rest, high in my Savior and happy at last. Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love. This is my story, this is my song. Raising my Savior all the day long, this is my story, this is my song. Raising my Savior all the day long. Great singing. As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn to Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22. The Bible reads, And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without our dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bride and morning star. And the spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. We're going to bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for Revelation chapter 22. And I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit as he expounds this chapter to us. Help us to draw connections, compare spiritual with spiritual, and learn as much as possible from the Bible study tonight. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Well, we've been going through Revelation, and we've made it to the last chapter of the book, and really the last chapter of the Bible. And it really is talking continually here about the new heavens and the new earth. It's the same context. We haven't really left that particular context. And so we're just getting more information specifically about this new heaven and new earth. As you notice in chapter 22, verse 1, it starts with the word and. So it's not just starting with a new thought. It's continuing from what we were discussing in the previous chapter. And the previous chapter started out in Revelation 21. If you'll notice, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Also, just to put it back in your mind or your memory, in chapter 20 there was the great white throne judgment. And then immediately we're seeing this new heaven and new earth. And all of that's just being described for us. So really, we haven't left very much time from the great white throne judgment to this new heaven and new earth. We're all kind of just talking about that main timeline. In verse 1 it says specifically, And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. So there's no fluoride in this water. You know, it was just clear, and I'm just kidding. But it says in verse 2, Now, what's interesting about the end chapter here, and it makes perfect sense, is how much it parallels with the beginning of the Bible. And how much the Bible kind of revisits a lot of topics that were brought up at the very beginning of Scripture. So I want to go to Genesis for a moment. Keep your finger here and go, if you would, to Genesis chapter number 2. But it brings up this tree of life. It's in the midst of the river. The Bible says that it bare twelve manna of fruits. And it's for the healing of the nations. You know, a lot of things could be talked about from the specific verse. I think one thing that's interesting is that this tree of life is yielding different types of fruit through different times of the year. So you could argue that this is kind of seasonal. Now, we don't really experience that in our current timeframe. We don't really have trees that are yielding different fruits or fruit every single month in that kind of a frame. It's really a lot more seasonal than that. It's a lot less sporadic than that. But one thing that I think is kind of interesting is how there's still some level of seasonality. You know, when we talk about the new heaven and the new earth. And specifically that this fruit and these leaves have something to do with the healing of the nations. So that lends me to believe that it's very likely that there's a lot of medicinal things that have to do with the natural foods that God gave us. That eating seasonal fruit or using natural type products that have been driven by the plants that God has created. That there is probably medicinal uses for those parts of creation. So, you know, I'm pro-medicine. I'm pro-food because those things can heal you. I believe that there is healing properties to food, to leaves, to different plants that have been created. And so we should consider that. You know, when it comes to the specifics of that, everybody has their own personal opinion and idea. But, you know, that is a possible option that when you're sick or you have issues that food or leaves could bless you. Now, in Genesis chapter number 2, it says in verse number 9, And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So this is the first mention of the tree of life and it's in the midst of the garden. Just like we kind of have the tree of life in the midst of the river in the new heaven and the new earth. So there's a lot of similarity here as far as its location, its preeminence, and of course it's also yielding fruit here as well. Now there's another tree that's mentioned in the beginning of creation, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And man was not allowed to eat of that particular tree. However, Adam and Eve ended up doing so. Now, in chapter 3, just to fast forward, I want to go to a few verses here and talk about this, but Adam and Eve sinned. And I'm not going to explain all that, but God cursed them, there was a punishment, and there's something different about them because God said in the day that they would eat that they would die. And I believe that's just reference to the fact that they have died spiritually. It's not a physical death, obviously they didn't physically die, but there is a spiritual death and it's associated with sin. So when someone sins, they die spiritually speaking. That's another reason why we could think of the idea of like a baby, you know, a young infant or something that dies is just going to go to heaven because, well, it never sinned. You know, it doesn't even understand what sin is, it doesn't even know it's left hand from its right hand, it doesn't really know anything that's going on. And so there's the idea of this age of accountability that basically babies or really young children having no concept of sin will just go to heaven if God forbid something were ever to happen to them. But the problem is all the rest of us in this room that know what I'm saying, you're not that person because you have sinned. And so, of course, what the Bible says, for all of sin it comes short of the glory of God. And that sin started with Adam and Eve in the garden. Specifically, Adam is the one attributed to having the sin because he knew better, he was given the commandment from God, he rebelled against God, and in his rebellion he sinned, he knew what he was doing, and so by man sin entered into the world. Well, God makes this interesting statement in verse 22, and the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us to know good and evil, and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Now, it doesn't end there, the verse ends there, but the sentence doesn't end there. Notice that it said in this lest, so lest is meaning like he doesn't want him to do this. He doesn't want him to what? Eat of the tree of life and live forever. So it says in verse 23, Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So lest he just eats of this tree and lives forever, God ended up taking him out of the garden. So he could not do that. So man could not eat of this tree of life. Because it sounds like, and I believe this is what the text is saying, if someone were to eat of the tree of life, they literally would live forever. I'm not saying that in the sense of having a spiritual eternal life. I'm saying they would physically literally live forever. There is something about the tree of life that sustains mankind. Perhaps it just reverses aging, or perhaps it stops aging. I don't know. I don't know what it does. I'm not explaining that. I'm just saying it sounds like, and it seems pretty logical to conclude, that God is saying, I don't want Adam, though, to live forever. He wants him to die. Why would he want Adam to die? Because he wants Adam to die so that he can be remade, so he can be made again so he can get a new body, and he won't have that old flesh. What's the problem? The flesh is weak, and the flesh sins. When he has the knowledge of good and evil, he makes bad decisions, and he can't handle that knowledge, and so he sins by that knowledge, whereas the glorified new man won't sin, is not capable of sinning, even, I guess, with that particular knowledge. So there's a problem of Adam and Eve having that knowledge and living forever. So if they didn't have the knowledge, they could live forever, but with the knowledge, they can't live forever in that state. Something has to change, so God is not allowing him to have access to the tree of life so that he can die. But, if we think about this in the context of Revelation 22, when everybody's in heaven, they're going to have access to the tree of life forever again. So why? So that no one will ever die again. And, according to the Bible, there will be no more death. There will be no more pain. There will be no more sorrow. But we'll all have access to the tree of life, and we will never perish. No man will ever cause us to stumble either, so we're just going to have what we would know as eternal life. It says in verse 24, So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. So, this thing is even physically guarded by God's special angels so that no one would actually partake of this. So there's literally a tree of life that can literally give what you think is eternal life. You know, all these evolutionists and atheists and stuff that are circuiting for how to live forever, they need to try and find that tree because that's their only chance, okay? But, here's the thing, we all know that that tree of life is a symbol of something. That tree of life is a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what actually gives you eternal life, and you can never die. And, you know, the Bible makes it clear in John chapter 6 when Jesus was preaching, He was saying that you had to eat His flesh. Well, that was a euphemism or a metaphor of the fact that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's like eating of the tree of life, how the tree of life gives you life forever, but He gives you that spiritual, eternal life and you can never perish, neither can any man pluck you out of His hand. So, you kind of have this cool picture of the tree of life right here at the very beginning of the Bible. It's also symbolizing and foreshadowing Jesus Christ and how if you believe in Him, you'll have eternal life. Go back if you would to Revelation, but keep your finger here because we're coming right back. Go back to Revelation chapter 22. So, in this new heaven and this new earth, there is the tree of life, and it bare twelve manna of fruits, and it's yielding this fruit, and the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations, verse 3, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. So, also it's saying there's no curse. We'll go back to Genesis chapter number 3. This is unique because after Adam and Eve sinned, God ended up cursing many different things, okay? Look at what it says in verse 14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou has done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. So, God cursed the serpent for the actions of the devil. Also, verse 15, I'll put enmity between thy seed, I'm sorry, between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. So, there is, of course, the reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 16, unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow in thy conception. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. So, not only were serpents cursed, women were cursed with what? What does the Bible say that women were cursed with? They were cursed with sorrow, and he's going to greatly multiply their sorrow and thy conception. So, you know, and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. Just like everything about that whole situation, it was cursed. Something changed about this, or it became worse, a lot of pain. And, of course, any woman that's ever given birth knows that that is not fun. Not only that, she's also to be under her husband, but that's not necessarily part of the curse, that's just part of the order of creation. Verse 17, and unto Adam he said, Because thou is hearkened with the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Says, and for the next verse, Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and in the dust shalt thou return. So, God has a problem with the flesh. The Bible says that God is at enmity with the flesh, and of course the flesh is going to perish, the flesh is going to go back into the dust again, but our soul and our spirit is going to get a new glorified body, and we'll get to live with God, and there will be no more curse. Meaning what? There won't be the curse of the serpent. There won't be the curse of the sorrow of conception, and all that pain associated with being a woman. There also won't be the curse on the ground where man has to work really hard in order to generate food, and so essentially if we think about Adam and Eve at the very beginning of creation, they were in a garden. The trees are doing all the work, folks. The trees are just yielding all of this great produce and food, and all they have to do is just simply pluck it off and eat it. You know, it's virtually no work whatsoever, and so God designed it to be like that, and it seems like we're going back to a system where there's not going to be any curse on the ground anymore. The tree is going to yield its fruit. We just get to partake in all the joys and the pleasures that God has for us, and there's no more curse. There's other curses mentioned in the Bible, but truly the Bible says there will be no more curse in the earth whatsoever, and that's a great thing to know. Go back to Revelation 22 and look at verse 4. Notice how God fixes all the problems that man created. Man brought in sin, well, God destroys sin. Man brought in death, God destroys death. Man brought in curses, well, God's going to get rid of the curse. All of these problems that man created by going against God's commandments and breaking God's commandments, well, God is going to fix and restore and make all things new. So everything is made new, new heavens, new earth, new bodies, new everything basically, and so we all get to be resurrected in a sense, made new. It's really kind of a glorious transformation. You think of the caterpillar turning into the butterfly, and that's really kind of a picture of what creation and the world and everything is, is how it has the caterpillar, goes into a picture of looking like death, and then coming out as this beautiful butterfly. Well, the only way to have the butterfly is for the caterpillar to go into his coma and go into that transformation process, and the only way for us to go into that glorified state is for us to die so that we can get that new body and we can live in peace and harmony with God. But today is not that day. Today is not the day for us to transform and be resurrected and to go into that new state. Today is the day that we work. You know, we'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work. So right now, we're deciding how beautiful of a butterfly you're going to be, okay? How many colors and what you're going to look like and where you get to fly to. You know, that's what we're working towards right now, and it's important. Verse number four says, And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. Now, this is unique in the sense that we haven't seen the face of God. We haven't seen the face of the Father. In fact, no one except for Jesus has seen the face of the Father to this point, okay? Now, this is really interesting. I want to focus on this point for a moment because there's a lot of verses on this, and it kind of ties in with chapter 20 a little bit here, but this is unique. Now, go to Revelation 14 first, and I want to kind of emphasize who we're talking about. We're talking about the Father, and it's unique because people have already seen Jesus, okay? It's not like after the great white throne judgment, that's the first time that anybody's seen the face of Jesus, okay? That would discount the fact that he was literally seen in the Old Testament many different times. That would discount the fact that he was born in Bethlehem, and people saw him. They handled him. They touched him, and he was literally glorified on the Mount Transfiguration before them. Not only that, he resurrected, and they saw him. I just read that just a few minutes ago out soul winning about how he was seen of Cephas, and he was seen of the other 12, and he was seen of the apostles, and he was seen of 500 brethren, and he was seen of the apostle Paul. Not only that, he right now in heaven is seen by every saint that's ever lived and died. Not only that, when we die, we'll go up and see him. The Bible says when he comes, every eye shall see him, even they which pierced him, okay? Then when he descends out of heaven, he's going to be ruling and reigning on the earth for a thousand years, and we're going to see him, okay? It would be weird to then be like making a big deal about now we're going to see his face or something. It's like, okay, well, we've been seeing it for like a really long time, like for a really long time, but here's what we haven't been seeing, the Father. And also, specifically in Revelation 14 verse 1, it says this, And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him 144,000, having his father's name written in the fourth. So when we talk about the 144,000, they have the Father's name written in the foreheads, right? Well, they're special in that they get this earlier than the rest of us, but notice in Revelation 22 verse 4, it says, And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in the foreheads. Apparently, we all get that at some point in time. It's just they are getting it earlier, okay? I want to go to a lot of places in the Bible now. You can keep your finger in Revelation 22, but go to Genesis chapter 32 for a moment. Genesis chapter 32. And let's just take a quick journey through the text when we talk about seeing God the Father, because this is not a concept that is only in Revelation 22. This is a concept that's constantly brought up in the Bible about the idea of seeing God the Father, seeing his face, and it's like this big mystery as we're going through the journey of Scripture, and it's finally the mystery's over in Revelation 22 where we finally get to see the face of God the Father, and it's such a great, wonderful event. And look at Genesis 32 verse 30. The Bible says, And now... I'm sorry. I'm looking at the wrong verse here. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Now, that's an interesting verse, because you would think, and based on other parts of Scripture, it's like how can anybody see God face to face and live, but that's how we understand that God was seen through Jesus. Jesus was the one that he saw, and Jesus is God. So there's a lot of good doctrine in this one verse alone, okay? So how did he see God? Well, he saw Jesus. That's how he saw God the Father. Now go to Exodus 33. Exodus 33. And there's this interesting phenomenon where people are afraid to see God because they think they might die, but that's based on the fact that if you see God the Father, you would die. Now, where do you get that idea? Well, Exodus 33, this is an encounter with Moses and God the Father. It says in verse 18, And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face, for thou shalt no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand, while I pass by. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. So God actually clarifies, too, if you think about this. This is an important, like, section of Scripture to understand a lot of the verses, because did you notice what he said in verse 20, for there shall no man see me and live? But then in just a few, like, the next breath, he's saying in verse 23, Thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. So he's clarifying what he means by that. He's not saying that you could literally see nothing of God. He's not saying that he could never be seen. He's saying no one can see his face and live. That's what he means by when he says, No man shall see me, okay? Because it's hard to understand how someone can have back parts and not be seen. You know why you have a back part? Because you can be seen and you have a back part, okay? But you can't see the face of God the Father and live. It's kind of like this. You can't really just look at the sun. And even during an eclipse, you can't just really look at it. But during a full solar eclipse, you can look at it. You can see it. And you're not really seeing the sun. You're seeing the moon. You're seeing the back side of the moon, you know? So you kind of get an idea of, like, how to kind of see. And it's still pretty bright, you know, despite all that. This is kind of the idea of, like, he can kind of see God, but, you know, not the face, because then it would just kill him. Just like if I looked at the sun long enough, I would literally go blind. And if you were around something that brilliant and a light that was that strong, you could just die, like a nuclear explosion or something. This is yielding so much brilliant light, it could literally just cause us to physically perish because we just literally can't handle it. So this is the idea and the concept that God the Father is giving to man, that he's too holy, he's too bright, he's too brilliant that you literally can't handle it. So how does he reconcile that? Does God just want to have a distant relationship with man for the rest of eternity? Does he want to just say, I'm just too brilliant for you guys. I'm just too bright. I'm just too glorious. Or does he actually want to improve us, make us better, give us a new body so that we can handle it, and then we can do what? Then we could actually see him face to face. That's what God the Father wants because that's how you have a relationship with someone. I mean, imagine if you young single guys in here, we were like, hey, we've got a girl for you. What does she look like? Well, I'll show you her back parts. But, you know, do you feel comfortable if I said, would you get married to this girl but you've never seen her face? I mean, you've seen it, you know, maybe it's a Muslim girl, right? You've seen how she looks in a tent, but you just don't know what's underneath the tent. You know, how willing would you be to marry that girl just having never seen her face? Like, no one feels comfortable because for whatever reason, the face is the most important part, isn't it? I mean, you know, there's a lot of jokes out there. I'm not gonna tell them, but there's a lot of jokes about girls being attractive but their face, okay? And it's like, it's a deal breaker, you know? It's just, it's a problem. And so here's the thing, the face is the part of the body that's the most expressive, it's what we really think of as the person. In fact, it's kind of one of the only parts of the body that you can't live without. You know, you could lose arms, you could lose legs and stuff, but you can't really go without a head. You know, if you don't have a head, it doesn't really matter, okay? And so it's that central part of course, the devil wants to do what? He wants to behead those who are the cause of Christ. He wants to take off the most key element of humanity, which is your head. He wants to behead people, which is a gruesome and horrible way to kill someone. It's an evil way. It's probably not that painful, God bless it, but at the end of the day, it's just a gruesome act. And of course, that's because the face is such an important aspect of who we are. I wanna go to some more verses. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13 in the New Testament. We can actually, according to the text, at some point see God the Father's face. That's gonna make, it's different, it's unique. There's something special about the new heaven and the new earth, which again, it just keeps getting better and better. We go from this earth, which is great, into the millennial reign, which is gonna be even better, and then we're going to the new heaven and new earth and it's even better then. And we just get even more revelation of God, more knowledge of God, because right now we're looking through a glass darkly, as the Bible describes it. But look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse number 12. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. So you're saying right now we don't really know everything. We can't really see everything, but there will be a day when our faith becomes sight, when our faith becomes sight and we'll see God the Father. Go back to John chapter number one. I wanna go to John chapter number one. Well, that's just your misunderstanding of the New Testament. There's no such thing as this Trinity or whatever. But you see God the Father and the Son interacting with each other in the Old Testament. And like Ben's favorite chapter of the Bible, Genesis 19, you have the Lord raining fire down from the Lord of Heaven. That's the Son interacting with the Father in the Old Testament. I mean, when he says that the man has become as one of us, I mean, who's the us there? Who are we talking about? We're talking about the Father and we're talking about the Son. When we get the commentaries of the Old Testament, which is the New Testament, like Hebrews and Colossians, it's telling us that God the Father made everything through the Son. So there's both of them interacting consistently throughout the Scripture. In the book of Daniel, Daniel is seeing visions of the Ancient of Days coming under someone's seat on the throne. There's the Father and the Son interacting in the Old Testament. So it would be absurd to act as if God the Father is this only New Testament character. No. And really, if you think about the way the Bible's even constructed, God the Father gave us the Old Testament to declare the Son, to talk about the Son. And then when Jesus came, what did he say he came to do? To declare the Father. Because they're giving witness of each other. They're talking about each other. So when the Son comes, he's telling us about the Father. The text, the Word of God that came from the Father is telling us about who? The Son, and it is the Son. We're getting the revelation of Jesus Christ. And then, of course, after this, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside the believers and he gives testimony and witness to who? To the Father and to the Son. And we see how the Trinity loves to talk and declare each other and describe each other. We know about the Holy Spirit because the Son told us all about the Holy Spirit and really the clearest verses on the Holy Ghost are the things that came out of Jesus' own mouth. Jesus was saying this in John chapter 14, 15, 16. He's talking about the Holy Ghost specifically. Well, it tells us this in John 1, verse 18. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. So notice, Jesus came here to tell us about the Father. And, of course, the disciples said like, hey, we want to know what He looks like. And He said, have you seen Me? You've seen the Father. So we know that in some way the Father and the Son look alike. And you say, how much? Well, Hebrews chapter 1 says that Jesus Christ is the express image of His person. So apparently they look identical or they look as close as you could possibly look and be distinct persons. So that's what the Bible says. Yet, the brilliance of the Father cannot be seen because no man can see God at any time. Okay, why? Because if someone saw Him, they would die. That's what the Bible is constantly telling us over and over. Let's go forward a little bit. Go to John chapter number 5 and look at verse 37. John chapter 5, look at verse 37. This is Jesus talking to the Jews and He says, And the Father Himself, which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of Me, ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape. Now, here's the thing. Some people have seen the shape of God. Moses saw the back parts. We have a vision in Isaiah. Isaiah looks up and sees one seated on the throne. We kind of talked about that in Revelation chapter 4. In Revelation chapter 4 specifically, we have John talking about one seated on the throne and it kind of says like he's shining like Jasper. But you know what he doesn't do? He doesn't tell us what that person's face looks like. No one's telling us what that person's face looks like. And that's different than when we go to Revelation 1. Now, I want to go to one more place before we go there. Go to John chapter 6 and look at verse 46. John 6, 46, Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. Now go to 1 John chapter number 4. Go to 1 John chapter 4. I'm not even showing you every verse on this. I'm just showing you a handful of verses on this. But I want to make it abundantly clear what we're talking about. 1 John chapter number 4. Look at verse number 12. The Bible says in verse 12, No man hath seen God at any time. Now, here's what you don't want to do. You don't want to take a verse like this and then just run with it. We want to take that verse and then we want to interpret it with every other verse that we've seen. And every other verse that we've looked at already. This is similar to what God literally said about Himself in Exodus chapter 33, where He said specifically that no man can see me. Right? But what is the context? He's talking about His face still. He's not talking about the back parts because we saw that. He's not talking about the few visions where people kind of see the semblance of one sitting on the throne. We're talking about seeing His face. So, when it says no man has seen God at any time, no one's ever seen the face of God the Father. That's what that verse is saying. This is what many people will do. They'll take this verse and they'll say, You can never see God. They'll say, Oh, you've got to understand divine simplicity, Pastor Shelley. You don't understand philosophy. You don't understand all the church fathers. You don't understand all the writings. You haven't read every single commentary that's out there. No, I haven't. I haven't read every single commentary out there. But you know what? I have read the Old Testament. You know what? I have read the New Testament. And guess what? You're just misunderstanding this verse. This verse is not saying God can never be seen. Okay. Look at verse 20. If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how could he love God whom he hath not seen? So, again, this is reiterating the fact that no one's seen God the Father. But what's the context? His face. Okay. Now, according to 1 Timothy 6, I want to go to one more place here because people will twist a lot of things in the scripture. And we have to believe that everything in the Bible is true. We have men in the Bible saying, I've seen God face to face and yet my life is preserved. Well, we understand that was the Son. That was Jesus Christ who is different than the Father. We know that Jesus Christ literally came. People saw him. They didn't just immediately fall over dead or anything like that. So, of course, there's a difference between Jesus Christ in the incarnated state, in the pre-incarnate state, and in the glorified state. We have people interacting with Jesus and they're not dying. They're able to see it. They're able to handle it. Okay. But when it comes to the Father specifically, no man is seeing that. Even the Holy Ghost can be seen because John the Baptist, when looking up into heaven, saw the Holy Ghost ascend in bodily shape. That's what the Bible says. So, and he didn't die. All right. So, we're talking about the Father specifically. Now, in 1 Timothy 6, we kind of have this interesting few verses. Look at verse 13. We'll just get a little context. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this command without spot, unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. So, it's like, okay, what did that verse just say? And this is a little bit difficult of a passage. I get that. But, just to make it clear, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but what it's talking about is the Father, which in his times he shall show. Meaning what? God the Father is going to show Jesus Christ in his time. No man knows the day or the hour, not even the Son. Only the Father knows when he's going to reveal and show Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible said, okay? So, which in his times God the Father will show, and who is? God the Father is the blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God the Father is the only one dwelling with immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen, nor can see. No one can approach and see God the Father's face. Think about it this way. It's saying that there's some kind of light there that you can't even approach unto. Well, if God the Father is so brilliant, if his face is shining so bright, I mean, what the Bible says about Moses is that just by seeing the back parts of God, his face shone. It was so brilliant. Kind of like how the moon reflects the sun's energy and reflects the light of the sun. Moses' face was reflecting the light and the energy of God, okay? And his face was so bright that people couldn't even look at Moses. Like, you can't even look at Moses, he's so bright, and he's only reflecting what God the Father looked like. Well, that sounds like light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen, nor can see. Why? Because they would die, literally. Okay, that's what it's saying. Is this saying God the Father could never be seen for any reason? No, and of course, they love to take you another verse that says that God's invisible. I'm not going to go all the verses. Go over to Revelation chapter 1. You have to take the Bible as a whole, and we have to interpret them as a whole, and we're recognizing that God the Father is the only one with immortality. In what context? Well, Jesus Christ died. I mean, did he not? But death hath no more dominion over him. And people get mad at that statement, too. They'll say like, well, how could God die or how could eternal life die because the Bible says Jesus Christ is eternal life, blah, blah, blah. I know you can think whatever you want with all your philosophy and all your ideas, but the Bible says that Jesus Christ died, and he's God, so yeah, I do believe that God died in that context. And if we apply the immortality clause here in 1 Timothy chapter 6, it's no problem me applying that to the Father and saying, hey, the Father's never died. The Father didn't have to go to hell. The Father didn't become flesh. The Father didn't do all these things. The Son did them, okay? And the Father is the one dwelling in light which no man can approach unto. But you know what? We have a mediator, the God-man, Jesus Christ, who is interceding for us and is the propitiation for us, and he's the one making intercession for us, and blessed be the Son of God who's reconciling us unto God. You know, without him, we don't have this opportunity to approach the throne in order to have an intercessor, in order to have a mediator, in order to have an ambassador. But that's what Jesus Christ provides for us is that bridge between the brilliance of God and our weak, defiled flesh. Now, I had you turn to Revelation chapter 1. Why? Because I want to point out again the distinctions of Revelation talking about the Son and the Father. In Revelation chapter 1, look what it says in verse 14. Talking about the Son, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire. Now explain to me how you could see someone's eyes and not see their face. John is seeing the eyes and seeing the face, okay? Then why would it be just so amazing that in Revelation chapter 22 in verse 4, now all of a sudden we're seeing Jesus' face? It's like we've been seeing it, okay? And again, it's not to take away from seeing the Son. It's not to take away from the brilliance of the Son of God. But in some way, Jesus Christ has, you know, condescended to a lower estate, and he's put on glorified flesh so that we can interact with him, and yet he is still the express image of his person. So it's not like they don't look the same, but in some way there's some difference where God the Father is dwelling in light which no man can approach them to. If you look at chapter 4 again in verse number 2, the Bible says, And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, the throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. So when John describes this person, he's not describing his head and his hairs and his eyes and all this stuff because he can't see it. We don't have that description. It's not brought up. You say, what does God the Father look like? We will know in Revelation 22, 4. But before that, we can't know. You know, that's something that's going to be revealed later. That's a new thing that we'll get to see, and that's what makes this such an amazing thing. Go back, if you would, now to Revelation 20, and I want to point this out. Why, and this is, again, this is my kind of putting all this together, okay? This is my opinion. This is kind of how I frame all these things. But what has been stopping God the Father from just hanging out with all of us? We would just be eradicated by His brilliance, right? His face is just too glorious for us to be able to handle it physically, and if He was to reveal it in all of its glory, it just wouldn't work. Now, in Revelation 20, there's the great white throne judgment, and again, I don't know how all this works exactly, but notice what it says specifically in verse 11. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. It's almost like after, immediately after the battle of Gog and Magog, we just are ushered into the great white throne judgment, and God the Father now decides to just reveal His face, and even heaven itself can't handle it. Even heaven and the earth can't even handle it. I mean, did you read what it said? It said, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and yet it's okay for Him to reveal. Why? Everything's been decided. At this point, all the unsaved are going to stand before, all the dead are standing before God. They're going to be judged, and they're not going to live anyways because they're going to see His face, and they're going to be tossed into the lake of fire, and then all of us that are saved, we're going to inherit the new heaven and the new earth, and we're going to see His face, and His name is going to be written in our foreheads. So it's like this simultaneous just revealing, and then now we finally get to have that perfect face-to-face understanding, revelation, communion, and relationship with God the Father. So again, that's just kind of my understanding of putting all these things together. Go back to Revelation 22 and look at verse number 5. And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. God is, I mean the Bible says that God is light. God is radiating so much brilliance and so much light you can't even, there's like no point in even having the sun in a sense because He's lighting everything up Himself. And to me it's kind of like the moon itself, which is interesting, the moon sometimes is, you know, technically visible in the sky during the day. Like there is times when the moon would technically be visible, but because the sun is so bright you just can't see the moon because the brilliance of the sun is just outshining the moon and you just can't even notice that the moon's there. There's other times when they're not really that close to each other and you can still see the moon and it's even broad daylight, okay? Basically this is the same concept of the fact that God the Father is so brilliant that you wouldn't even be able to see the sun and you have no need of the sun, that God is just lighting everything up. What's interesting in this last part of the verse says and they shall reign forever and ever. Now at first you kind of wonder like who's the they there because is this referring to just God and the Lamb? But if we take the verse in context, it says in verse number five and there shall be no night there and they need no candle. Who's the one that doesn't need the candle? Us. We don't need a candle, neither we don't need the light of the sun. Why? Because the Lord God giveth them light. So who's giving the light? God is giving us the light and then it says if we continue that pronoun usage and they shall reign forever and ever. So who's reigning forever and ever? Us. We are ruling and reigning with God and the Lamb forever and ever. Verse six, and he said unto me, these sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Verse seven, behold I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Now I want to point out a few things. Did you notice in verse number six it says this at the end of the verse, which must be shortly be done. Verse seven, behold I come quickly. Skip down to verse 20. He would testify these things saying surely I come quickly. Did you notice how the Bible just keeps acting like it's just fast, it's just quick, it's just so much like speed? Well I believe what he's trying to allude to, and you don't have to go there, but in James 4 the Bible says this, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanish of the way. I think what God is trying to explain to us is in the scope of eternity, our lives are like nothing, and Jesus is going to come and it's going to feel so fast. It's going to have felt so quick. Now that's hard because for some of us right now time is going slowly. And here's the reality, it seems like time is slowest when you're the youngest. Whenever you're the youngest, time, it just takes forever. It's like you're a kid and you're just waiting for Christmas and it just feels like 10 years until next Christmas. And you're waiting for your birthday and it just feels like it's forever. And you're waiting to become a teenager and it just feels so long until you become a teenager. And it's so long until you can drive. And it's so long until you're not in school anymore. And it's like so long until you get married. And you're just waiting for... There's all this waiting and it just feels so long. But each one of these events almost seems like it's just getting a little bit faster and faster and faster. And then after you've been married for a while, then you have kids, and then you keep getting older, then all of a sudden you're like, man, I'm old, like fast. Can I go back and start at 20 again or something? Or like go back, like that was a little quick. Now my back hurts, you know? Now everything hurts and it starts getting quicker. And you talk to older people and they just say, man, life just feels like it's gone by like that. My dad is 80 and he talks to me how it just feels like it's just like that. Just fast. And I'm believing that what God is really trying to warn us is that when you're in the future 10,000 years from now, you're going to be thinking like, man, my life was like that. Man, Jesus was coming so quick, I wish I had done something more for him back then because, boy, it was just so fast. He came so quick. He came so quick. Now, of course, in the scope of our lives and history, it's like, oh, man, it's been 2,024 years, you know? It's been so long. Why is he tearing so long? But, you know, in the scope of trillions of years, what is 2,000? You know, it's nothing. And according to the Bible, even to God himself, a day can seem like a thousand years and it can also a thousand years can seem like a day, meaning that, of course, time is kind of contextual. It's kind of relative. It's typically also heightened by your feelings. When you're having fun, time goes like this. When you're suffering and in pain, time takes forever. Boy, I'm so glad that I'm not spending eternity in hell because five minutes would feel like eternity. But you know what feels like eternity? Eternity. Oh, man. That's going to be rough. That's going to be horrible. And I think that God is trying to warn us that you're going to be in heaven sooner than you think. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of the book. And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See that thou do it not. For I am thy fellow servant, and thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, worship God. So, of course, we don't want to worship man. We only worship God. What's interesting is how this person that showed all these things to John is just simply just another fellow believer. And again, I think I pointed that out previously, too, but it just reminds me of the fact that there's cool things to do in heaven. I mean, there's people pulling out vile judgments. There's people showing John these visions. There's cool things to do for God. Being in hell is not cool. Top. Verse 10, he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. Now, what I think the Bible's trying to say in these two verses is this. He's saying don't conceal this part of the Bible. Don't like hide revelation or don't cause it to not be read over all the earth because it's not gonna change the course of anybody's action. Like sometimes information alters people's behavior. Well, if I had known that, I would have never done that. But because I know that, well, then I'm gonna change my behavior. You know, the Bible says that about the unsaved, if they had known that they were gonna crucify the Lord of glory, they would have not have done it. Like if they had known who it was, if they had understood that, they would have never done that. So you could sometimes tell people something like this is gonna happen in the future or this is what you're gonna do and you would alter your behavior. What the Bible's saying is that revelation and specifically what we've read so far is not gonna change people's free will. It's not gonna alter it. And that's kind of crazy when you think about it. I mean, God can literally tell the devil like this is what you're gonna do and then he just does it. That's crazy. It's also crazy to think that Jesus Christ is gonna rule and reign on the earth for a thousand years and people are still not gonna believe in him. There's still gonna be unsaved people. But that just goes to show you, you know what, we really have free will. We really get to make our own decisions and that's why he's saying, hey, he that's unjust, let him be unjust. He that's filthy, let him be filthy. But he that's righteous, let him be righteous. He's saying these people are gonna do what they want, don't conceal the Bible, because people are gonna do whatever they want. And you know what? They're gonna have to take to account what they've said and what they've done. Verse 12, and behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. Now, verse 14, I guess this is like a verse where work salvationists would love to just like cherry pick this one verse by itself and just try to claim that like salvation's not by faith. But why would I ever just take one verse out of context to just flip the Bible all on its head? You know, I believe a couple ways to look at this verse. Number one would be to simply say that the people who are saved, those are the ones who keep the commandments. I mean, there's no one keeping the commandments that is not saved. Why? Because when you look at the next, it says in verse 15, for without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. So what he's doing is he's contrasting people who keep the commandments and then people who are sinning. Well, here's the thing. Who are the people that keep his commandments? The people that have been born again and in their new man and their spirit man, they keep the commandments. Whereas who are the people that are the liars and the whoremongers and everything? Those are the people who are not regenerated, they're not saved, and they're the ones who essentially are not gonna be in heaven. They're gonna be without. They're gonna be in outer darkness. The word without just simply means like outside of something. So if we're talking about something being without, it can be literally just like a gift outside of the box. You just say it's without the box. But this is just simply saying they're not in the new heaven and the new earth. They're not in any of this stuff. They're without. They're literally not even in the earth because right now the unsaved are in the earth. They're in hell, in the earth. But the hell is gonna be relocated into the lake of fire and it's cast into outer darkness. So they're literally nowhere to be seen, nowhere to be found. They're just somewhere else. I believe that's what the verse is saying. There could be another, obviously, you know, there could be another application of this, of course, that's applied, in the context of it's truly blessed to keep the commandments, okay? Now, I think that everyone is gonna have a right to the tree of life. And I believe that's clear. Keep your finger, go to Revelation chapter number two. Look at verse number seven. The Bible says, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith in the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. And I believe that overcometh specifically is in reference to being saved. Not every overcometh, though, has to only directly relate to salvation. Sometimes it can be overcoming in other ways. In Revelations two and three, it brings up several different passages where it brings up this idea of overcoming. And, of course, you know, they kind of, they kind of like escalate in the reward. So to me, everyone gets to participate in that. Everyone that got saved overcomes something. They overcame the lie that the devil is putting out there. They overcame work salvation. They overcame, you know, essentially being too prideful to get saved. And they accepted the free gift of salvation. So in some sense, they've overcame. We're gonna all have access to the tree of life. But then there's more layers to it, right? If you look at verse 26 in the same chapter, it says, And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. So it's like everyone gets access to the tree of life, but then the guy that kept the works all the way into the end, he gets to actually rule over all the nations too. So notice there's an elevation, there's a status to having kept the commandments, okay? Look at chapter three, verse 10. Chapter three, verse 10. The Bible says, Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. There's a benefit to keeping God's commandments because he literally won't even punish you, or not necessarily punish you, but he won't even necessarily cause certain tribulation to come upon you. You know, I like how a lot of preachers say we're, you know, in the Laodicean church age or something like that, or they'll talk about all these church ages. Well, you know, I want to be in the Philadelphia church age when it comes to the end times, where he's going to literally keep me from the hour of temptation. Like, I'm literally not going to have to go through that pain and suffering. Maybe I'm not going to have to be beheaded for the cause of Christ. I get raptured, you know? And again, it may never happen in my lifetime. I may just die. I could die tomorrow. I could die an old man. I could be raptured. There's a lot of possibilities. But you know what I should try to do? I should try to be faithful unto death. I should try to keep the works unto the end. And those who do do this, they have a carnal benefit, but then they have a spiritual benefit. Look what he says in verse number 11. Behold, I come quickly. What does that remind you of? Reminds me of Revelation chapter 22, where he kept bringing up how he's coming quickly, right? He's coming quickly, coming quickly. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Here's the thing. No one can lose their salvation. So when we talk about crowns, we're not talking about going to heaven or hell. We're talking about your status in heaven. Someone can take away your status in heaven. Someone could come and could infect you with covetousness. Someone could infect you with the sin of fornication. Someone could come and infect you with the sin of just loving this world, being like Demas, having loved this present world and departed. And you know what? That man could come and take away your crown. The devil with his minions could come and whisper in your ear and cause you to decide to be offended by and by and just quit serving God. And you know what? Someone's just going to take that crown from you. Ultimately, the worst offender is yourself. You know who really wants to take away your crown? Your old man. Your old man doesn't want you to have a crown. You know why? Because your old man isn't going to have fun if you get a crown. Think about it this way. The only way for your old man to have fun is basically for you to not get a crown. And the only way for you to get a crown is for your old man to not have as much fun as he wanted. Because the old man just wants to live and partied up and sin and just do anything, be carnal, all that he can possibly be. And you know what? That's why Jesus literally said that you have to crucify the flesh. You have to die daily. You have to keep on saying, Hey, I'm not going to let you take my crown. I don't want that. Why? Because Jesus is coming quickly. In the scope of eternity, Jesus is coming quickly. And you know what? Having denied the flesh, it'll seem like nothing. And having a crown for all of eternity will seem blissful. But you know what? It'll be such a disappointment to realize, boy, that came quickly, and then I've lost your crown. Why did I let that guy steal my crown from me? He's saying, Hey, don't let someone take your crown. Verse 12, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God. So in this context of overcoming, I don't believe it's talking about just being saved. This is the guy that overcame the person that was trying to take away their crown. They were ones that held the works under the end. They were faithful under the end. That specific person, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and He shall go no more out and I'll write upon Him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out from heaven from my God, and I will write upon Him my new name. You can't mistake that we're talking about Revelation 22. When we've read all these verses and got them deep into our minds and our hearts, we recognize it's talking about the new heaven and the new earth. We're talking about this moment in time. And he's saying some people, they're not even going to leave the city ever. What did he say? He's going to make him a pillar. Verse 12, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God. So some people are going to be really important people in the new Jerusalem, and they're never going to leave the new Jerusalem. Well, who are those people? Those are the ones that overcame. Those are the ones that were faithful under the end. Those are the ones that didn't allow anybody to take their crown. And think about it this way. Why does someone have a crown? What does a crown denote? Authority. Who's ruling and reigning in heaven? I mean, who are the people that are really ruling? It's the ones that were faithful under the end. Those are the ones that are going to be ruling. Those are the ones that are the pillars. So, of course, we're all ruling and reigning in a sense, but, of course, there's going to be a status. So your location and your status in heaven is determined based on what? Keeping the commandments of God. So that's why I believe when you go back to Revelation chapter 22, you think about this. Look at verse 14 again. Blessed are they that do His commandments. I mean, there really is a blessing to keeping God's commandments. It's not like we're just keeping the commandments in vain. Because, I mean, that's the question that's even literally brought up a couple times in the Book of Romans. It's like, well, if grace is going to abound, you know, what's the point? Like, did we just continue in sin that grace may abound? And then once He has it, God forbid. It's like, hey, do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. We established the law. Hey, we're keeping the commandments. Because, you know, there's a blessing tied to those who keep the commandments. Go back to Revelation chapter 1 for a second. Go back to Revelation chapter 1. Verse 3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy. Notice this. And keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. What is He saying? Hey, there's a special blessing to people who not only read the Book of Revelation, not only hear the Book of Revelation, but do what? Keep the commandments. Keep the word. And He's saying, hey, why? Because the time's in. Go back to Revelation chapter 22. And then look at verse 10 again. And He saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. So, obviously, there's something tied to the status and the location of what? Those who keep the commandments. He keeps reminding us the importance of keeping the commandments. You can't just take the whole Bible and throw it in the trash and realize the only way you get saved or get to go to New Jerusalem is by works. Salvation's always by faith. It's always been by faith and always will be by faith. But you know what? There is a blessing to keeping the commandments. And there is a reward for keeping the commandments. You're not rewarded for your faith, you're rewarded for your works. That's why it's emphasizing the blessing. You know, it's not like, blessed are they who just accepted the free gift because they're going to get rewarded for that. You don't get rewarded for that. You got the free gift of eternal life. You get rewarded for all the things you added to your salvation. The things that accompany salvation. Hebrews chapter number six makes it clear that there's things which accompany salvation. And what is that? Going on under perfection. Hey, I don't want to just forsake the commandments and forsake God. I mean, I could just decide I'm just going to live it up for the rest of my life. And I know I'm still going to heaven. But you know what? Someone could take my crown. I could be taking my crown from me. My status and location in heaven would be different. It would be altered. And in the scope of eternity, I'd be like, boy, that was quick. I didn't get to enjoy it, really. It wasn't that much fun. It wasn't worth it. It's never going to be worth it. You know who's truly blessed? Is the person that has faith under the end. And does the works under the end. And who's without, verse 15, for without are dogs and sorcerers. You know, dogs is faggots, okay, just for if you're wondering. And sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh lie. I'm so glad that the new heaven and the earth will have zero fags. Just that alone makes me happy, okay? I never have to see one of those things again. Man, Lot loves that verse, too, okay? Verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify and do these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that hearers say, Come. And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Notice again, salvation is free, and it's whosoever will. It's not Calvinism. It's not who irresistible grace touches. No, no, it's whosoever will. It's the free will. Free will. Notice whosoever will, he can come freely, because we believe in free will. It's a choice, but you know what we're supposed to say? Come! We're supposed to go out into the highways and the hedges, and we're supposed to say unto everybody, Come! Come with us to the new heaven and to the new earth. Come with us to the heavenly city, the city of Jerusalem. What do I have to do? It's free. How do you get in? Just call upon the name of the Lord in faith. Oh, do I just live however you want after that? No, no, no. Blessed is the man that keepeth the commandments. Hey, where you're at in that city, what you're doing in that city, that's based on what you did after you got saved. But you know what? Whether you get to go to the city, that's if you got saved. It says in verse 18, For I testify unto every man that hear the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifies these things say, Surely I come quickly, Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen. What's great about the book of Revelation and chapter 22 is it's very conclusatory. It's not like, it's not like leaving us hanging, like I wonder what's going to happen. It's very clear Jesus is going to return. All of these events are going to happen systematically, chronologically, and then we're going to have these even future. I mean, he tells us pretty much everything from the beginning to the end. That's why it would be weird to say like, Oh, God gave me another book. God gave me another prophecy. No, no, it sounds like you're adding. And you know what the Bible says when you add? He's going to add unto you the plagues which are in the book. You know what that means? That's the guy that's going to stick around and have to go through that wrath period. And people that want to take away from the Bible, they want to take words out of this book. You know what the Bible says? They are not saved. There's a strong warning to messing with the word of God. You do not want to mess with the word of God or the Bible. You know, the scope of eternity, everything's going to be fast. I want to go to one more place. I know I'm a little late, a little long on the sermon, but we're almost done. And then we're done. OK. And pretty soon God's coming back. All right. So hey, sometimes when you're enjoying the sermon, it's over quickly to people that are not enjoying it. It's really long. OK, so people that complain about my sermons, I know you just didn't enjoy it. All right. Look at verse nine. I like this verse. The Bible says, But it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered in the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. Now, of course, the context, the immediate content of this verse is talking about being saved. Like someone who's not saved really just has like no concept of what it is like to be saved. And they can't really even understand it until they take that one, that first just leap of faith. And then once they get saved, it's just like, wow, that was so much better than I realized or could have ever understood. But in the same vein, in the same context, you know, the things of eternity, the things of the new heaven and the new earth, we can't fully understand. We look through a glass darkly. You know, I can't get up here and describe to you exactly what the new heaven and the new earth look like because I don't know. I haven't seen it. I haven't even heard it. You know, when the Apostle Paul talks about a man that was caught in the third heaven and he's talking about words that were spoken, he says there's things that are unlawful for him to speak. It's like he can't even describe it. He can't even do it justice. There's no way to do these things justice. We can't really fathom or understand them entirely. It's like people that have never had Texas brisket and then they finally have it. This is like, whoa, I couldn't even imagine this. But those of us that have had it and tasted the good word of God, you know, tasted these things, you know, we need to share them with others. And we just, by faith, need to realize that the things of God are greater than our capacity of understanding. Whatever you think is fun or enjoyable or pleasurable in this life, it does not compare to what is prepared for us. It's so much better. You know, that's not possible to understand. You're not going to, in fact, in some ways you might not believe it. You might think like, I just, I don't know, I really enjoy the stuff of this life. But somehow it's not better. It's like you're trying to explain someone that's never been to Texas and had Texas brisket. I guarantee it's better than whatever you've had before. And they're just like, I just don't believe it. I don't understand it. And then they have it and they're like, wow, okay, Texas, yes, this is better. Brother Ben was telling me about a place, he came here the first time, he had some brisket and he's like, you got to go to this place, it's amazing. And I go there and I try it and I'm just like, no. And he didn't understand. He didn't know what I was talking about. But then I took him to the right place and he's like, no, I understand. He's like, I never even want to go back to that place again. And in saying like, once we get a taste of the new heaven and the earth, we're never going to be like, I want to go back to the old. You're not going to desire the old once you've had the new. Once you've had the new, it's just like, that old is not even comparable. It's not even the same. It's like having a burger after having eaten McDonald's. Like, I never want to go back. I never want to go back to that. It's just not good anymore. No man desires that anymore. Okay. But if you're stuck on the old, you know, sometimes you don't like the new because you're just, you're just stubborn or whatever. But again, I just want to emphasize, this Bible is trying to tell you that in the scope of eternity, things are going to happen quick. Before you know it, it's going to be, it's going to be so fast, it's going to be so quick. Don't, don't get veered off on the wrong foot. You know, I'm preaching to the choir, it's Wednesday night. But I don't know if you know this or noticed, but not everybody comes to Wednesday night service. Like there's more people that show up on Sunday morning. Like there was almost 220, there was 221 people on Sunday morning. I don't know what's in this room, but it's probably like 130 or something, 120, I don't know. 109, it's even less. 109. You know, not everybody's going to stick it out. Why would God give us all those warnings about someone taking your crown? It's because some, there's a lot of people that we know that are saved and their crown's going to be taken. Blessed are the people that keep His commandments. That keep the sayings, that keep saying faithful, that keep going to church, that keep going solely, that keep reading their Bible. And pretty soon, we'll be looking at each other in heaven and you know you'll say, boy Pastor Shelley, that was fast. And I hope that you and I can both sit there and rejoice together in the new heaven, in the new earth, in the new city of Jerusalem. And we can both be excited because we both have a crown on. It's not like, oh, you got a crown? Cool. It's like, hey, where's yours? Yeah, my old man took it. I wish someone had told me. I wish someone had kicked my old man in the nuts, you know, just because I just needed it apparently. You know, some people are like, oh, why do you have to go to church and have someone yell at you? Well, maybe your old man needs it, okay? I need it. You know, I benefit from the preaching and the Word of God. I benefit from reading the Bible. You know, we need to constantly crucify the flesh because that old man, the flesh, the temptations of this world are so strong. And we need something to help remind us and to encourage us to, you know, get on the right track. And the Bible even says specifically about church, you know, in Hebrews chapter 10, that we need it so much the more as we see the day approaching. I think that the temptation to stop serving God is only going to get stronger until the return of Christ. And so we need that constant reminder. We need to be diligent. There's so much to be busy with. But don't allow the things of eternity to slip by you right now. Get focused. You know, if you feel like you've been slipping away, make a change. A bit more spiritual again. Get reading your Bible again. Showing up at church. Go soul winning again. Get zealous again. You know, there was a time where my soul winning wasn't going very well and it was kind of rough. But lately it's been great. And, you know, I think it's just going to always be like there's ebbs and flows. And, you know what, maybe if you had a low spot, get back in there. You know, do the work. And even if you don't see the results that you want, you know what, Christ is coming quickly anyways. But just don't be that person that just gives up and quits. It's kind of like the only way to fail in the Christian life is just to quit. Just don't be a quitter. Please keep serving God. It's not for my benefit. It's for your benefit. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us the Bible and giving us the book of Revelation. Thank you so much for not only giving us salvation and that free gift, but also giving us an opportunity to be rewarded for our works and for being faithful into the end. I pray that you would come and just strengthen us and just fill us with your Holy Spirit. Please just help remind us of the fact that your Son's coming quickly. Thank you so much for this new heaven and the new earth that we get to enjoy. I pray that we would think about it. We'd meditate on it. That we'd embrace it. That our life's goal would not be a city here, but it would be the new heaven and the new earth. It would be the new Jerusalem that we're seeking, that we're desiring, that we're working for. And that we wouldn't just let the things of God slip by, but rather we'd constantly work on crucifying the flesh. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, in closing, let's go to song number 129. Song number 129, Rock of Ages. Song number 129. Everybody, sing it out together on the first. Song number 129. Rock of ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flow be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no languor know these for sin could not atone? Thou was saving thou alone in my hand no price I bring simply to thy cross I claim while I draw this fleeting breath when my eyes shall close in death when I rise to worlds unknown and behold thee on thy throne Rock of ages, clap for me Let me hide myself in thee. Great singing everybody. You are all dismissed. .