Spender, Jack: Eternal Home Of The Believer ~ Rev 21;

Shall we read together, please, in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, chapter twenty one? Revelation chapter twenty one, and we'll begin, please, at verse one. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come here, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Now, shall we go over to chapter twenty two and verse one, please? 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 ev- either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve kinds 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. They need no lamp, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Could we just look up to the Lord for a moment? Father, once again, we bow to acknowledge our complete dependence upon thee, if we would gain a blessing from the word of God tonight. We thank thee for each one who is here, and again we pray that each need that is here might be met. Help us as we study, and shine thy light upon the page, that our hearts may rejoice as we see the Lord, for we ask it in his precious name. Amen. Now, what I'd like to do for just a few minutes tonight is to share with you just a little bit on the subject of the eternal home of the believer. And I'm going to ask tonight that those of you who are students of the word, especially those of you who are prophetic students, uh, scholars in the book of Revelation and prophetic subjects, if you would do me the kindness of just putting out of your mind, just for tonight's message, the scholarly, uh, friendly quarrel that goes on as to whether the book of Revelation chapter twenty one and twenty two pertains to the millennial reign of Christ or the eternal state. Uh, I have some very strong feelings about those matters, and I'm sure some of you do here. And since the circles of those who study such things are divided about fifty fifty, let's don't quarrel about those things tonight, or we'll miss the blessing. But let's put this all together and look ahead into the future and say that this for sure is, lies ahead for each believer, and having that gentleman's agreement tonight, we'll proceed, uh, with the, with the help of the Lord. Now, in chapter twenty one and twenty two then, we look ahead to the what God has prepared for those that love him. And it's very difficult, of course, for the Lord and for John to put down in words that we can understand what God has prepared for those of us. We think in the word of God in another place where he says that these things are reserved in heaven for us, and you notice he uses three negative expressions to describe what God has put for us. He says it is incorruptible, imperishable, and fadeth not away. God cannot use positive expressions there because there just isn't words to describe what he's reserved for us, and so he tells us all the things that we're used to that it won't be. Not corruptible, not perishable, won't fade away, just the opposite of everything we're used to. Our money spends, and our bodies grow old, and time passes, and our families grow old, and everything we have our hands on gets older and corrupts and perishes and fades away. And the Lord says, the very essence of what I pref- prepared for you believers is just the opposite of that. It's imperishable, and it doesn't ever fade away. Now, I'm well aware that there are many, uh, perhaps some, perhaps many of you saints tonight that are here with heavy hearts. Some have confided this in me. I know there are those who have sickness, and there are other reasons why people have heavy hearts. And if we can leave aside all of the scholarly questions that the Book of Revelation raises, I love to get into those questions, but I don't feel this is the time or place, and just go over these beautiful verses together and see a little bit about what the Lord has prepared for us. I do believe it'll give us cause for rejoicing. Now, he begins in chapter twenty one and he speaks about a new heaven and a new earth, and right away that reminds me of what the Lord has done in my own life. You know, we so often speak to our students and tell them why we must talk about a new birth. God cannot take the old nature and patch it up and reform it and turn over a new leaf. In fact, he said it's dead. It's separated from God, and the only thing to do with it is to crucify it and put it to death. He's got to make a new man, and he's got to give us that brand new nature, and he wants us to make that grow, or he wants to make that grow. And so he cannot use the old heaven, the old earth. He makes a new heaven and a new earth, and the old things have passed away. And John says, I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, from God out of heaven. And then he uses this expression, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. Someone tonight mentioned the wedding, uh, coming up in the near future. You've been to weddings before many times, and of course it's always the bride. Every eye is turned on the bride, and they say, how beautiful she looks. And I think that's the thought that was in John's mind there as he saw the beautiful city coming down out of God, and he said, how beautiful. What a beautiful thing God has prepared. Now, I must confess that many times in, in teaching through the book of Revelation or in studying it, when I've come to verse three, I've skipped over it very quickly. Uh, perhaps some of you have done the same. We hear a voice saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. They shall be his people. God himself shall be with them and be their God. And we say, well, now, isn't that nice? And on we go because we're so anxious to get to the streets of gold. But may I just say to you tonight, let's pause here in verse three for a moment and consider verse three. I wonder how many of us have ever realized how near to the heart of God what subject is given to us in this one little verse is. I believe he brings out three things here. First of all, he speaks of God dwelling with men, and then he speaks about men being his people, and then he speaks about himself being our God. You know, I was amazed as I studied and found how near to God's heart that subject of three things, dwelling with us, being our God, and us being his people is. Uh, we couldn't near go into all the scriptures tonight, but let's go over to Genesis seventeen and just take a little look at this. I know that you all don't mind a little traveling through the scriptures because you know where the books are. Sometimes with our students, it's a great long wait while they look up Genesis, and you have to say in a most diplomatic way, uh, no, it's not near First Peter, it's just the other end. And, uh, but there'll be no problem like that, I'm sure. Genesis chapter seventeen. for the sake of time, we'll just read a couple verses. This pertains to God's promises to Abraham. Genesis seventeen and verse eight. and God is making these beautiful promises to Abraham, and he says in verse eight, and I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a sojourner, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. Now there he gives us one little portion or part of that threefold promise, I will be their God. Incidentally, if you turn back just a little before that, we'll find that the Lord and Abraham entered into a covenant together. You remember that Abraham took those animals, and he cut them in half, and he laid them all piece to piece together, and at night a smoking furnace came. And I've often wondered, why did the Lord do that? You know, the Lord there was instituting what we call an unconditional covenant with Abraham. Now, an unconditional covenant was a wonderful thing, and I, I wonder how many believers rejoice in the unconditional covenants of God. There are many covenants in scripture. Some are conditional and some unconditional, and to make it very simple, an unconditional covenant is just simply God saying, I am going to do this, period. There's no requirements on your part. It's unconditional, regardless of your response, I am going to do this. Now, that's what he did when he devised the plan of salvation, and I'm so thankful he did. If he'd have said, you just do this one little thing, you just work this small amount, or you just do anything, why, I'd never have, I'd never be saved. But salvation came to us through an unconditional covenant, and the covenant that he gave to Abraham was unconditional. Now, he gave some conditional ones too. He gave one to Moses. He said, if you keep these commandments, I will do such and such. Poor Moses had scarcely got down off the mountain before they broke th- their part. So when the Lord gives a conditional covenant to man, man immediately falls flat on his face. So God gave these unconditional covenants, and they're ones that say, I will do this, period. That's the end. And because there's no strings attached, God goes through with his plan. Now that's the kind of covenant God gave to Abraham, and that's why it's so foolish to say that Abraham or the, the people of Israel, uh, messed up their part, and therefore God has no future plan for Israel. That's ridiculous. Uh, the covenant that gave Abraham all the promises with- was without condition. Well, that's all by the way, but just notice that one little phrase in chapter seventeen and verse eight, I will be their God. Now let's go over to the next book, Exodus, chapter six. Here, of course, the Lord is encouraging his servant Moses many years later. And he's speaking about what he's going to do to bring his people out of the land of Egypt. And again, for the sake of time, let's just read verse seven, Exodus six and seven. and he says, I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. Now there he's added the second part of this promise, this threefold promise, I will take you to me for a people. Now let's go over to Exodus twenty nine, same book, twenty ninth chapter. And now here he's in the process of giving instruction concerning the tabernacle and the offerings. Exodus twenty nine and verse forty five. He says, and I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. So you see here now we get the third part of that promise, I will dwell among you. Now can we go over to Leviticus twenty six? That's the next book. Leviticus chapter twenty six, and the Lord is giving to Moses more conditions for his blessing in the midst of the people. And verse eleven, Leviticus twenty six and eleven, and I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you, and I will walk among you and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. Now there he takes all three, and he gives them all three at once. I will dwell among you or walk among you, you will be my people, and I will be your God. Now we could go on all the way through the Old Testament, but let's look at one more stop all the way over near the end of the Old Testament in Hosea chapter one. Just find the book of Daniel, and then it's the next book after Daniel, Hosea chapter one. And here the Lord has some very, very sad news for the nation of Israel because of their continual disobedience to his commandments. He tells his prophet to take this woman to be his wife, and she has a child, a son. Well, I want to read from verse nine, so let's just read that together. Boreson, then said God, call his name Loemi, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. And here you have a very tragic statement of the Lord, that all of my promises that I have made, for a time at least, have got to come to an end. I cannot dwell among you. You refuse to be holy. I cannot be your God. You will not have me, and you cannot be my people because you continually worship other gods. And lest anyone think that this is final, the prophet hastily adds, verse ten. He says, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered, and it shall come to pla- pl- past that in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God. So make no mistake now, he's not writing off forever the promises to Israel, but God, as we know in his mercy, had another great plan in mind, and of course it was the bringing in of his bride, the church. We might go over into second Corinthians chapter six. and I hope that after this little survey of a few verses, we'll have a floodlight thrown on what Paul means now when he gets into second Corinthians chapter six and he's telling us as believers not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That is, we as Christians are forbidden to enter into an unequal yoke with unbelievers, whether it be marriage or business or any other thing that is a yoke, that is two of equal size pulling an equal burden, it is forbidden. And in two Corinthians six and verse fourteen, he says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And then he asks these q- questions all the way down, what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness, and so on, until we get down to verse sixteen and we read this. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Now you see how precious that it this is, that God has not just merely tacked us on as a little parenthesis to his program, but God has said the very things that were nearest and dearest to my heart for my ancient people Israel, that's my plan for you. In fact, instead of referring to a building in the middle of the wilderness called the tabernacle and saying, I will dwell in the midst of the camp, he says, I'm going to come and take up residence in your body. Your body is going to be my dwelling place. In fact, in this particular case, to the Corinthian believers, he says, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And he says, I will dwell in you, uh, you will be my people, and I will be your God. What a relationship. And so when we get back to our chapter in Revelation twenty one, we find this promise being repeated at the close of scripture, and I think it brings a whole new light onto what God all the way through the Bible has been doing. And he brings all of the redeemed through all ages, all, of course, by the blood of Christ, into his heavenly home. My, that's going to be a big place. It's going to be a lot of people there, and sometimes I'm afraid we get a little bit cranky, and we get a little bit exclusive when we count up who might be there and who won't. But, you know, every blood-bought saint is going to have a place in God's eternal home, and God wants to dwell among us, and he's going to be our God, and we're going to be his people. Now let's go on. He says in verse four, God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Do you ever wonder why he puts that at the end of the book of Revelation? Some people thinks that wa- think that when the Lord Jesus comes, uh, we'll get a new body, which is true, and he'll wipe away all tears from our eyes then. Well, it may be right, but I think that when John says in First John chapter two and verse twenty eight, he speaks about us, some might be ashamed before him at his coming. No, I believe that during the tribulation, when the saints are in heaven at the judgment seat of Christ, there may be many believers who have tears in their eyes. When they see what God has done for them and brought them into, and then they look at what they've done for him, it might bring a great deal of sadness to our heart. This doesn't have anything to do with our salvation. I can remember as a small boy, sometimes my dad would say, now before I come home from work, I want to see that lawn mowed. And, uh, if I had mowed the lawn, of course I would be standing right by the driveway, all expecting to see him, very proud. I was through my work, and I had nothing to be ashamed of. But sometimes, uh, other things got in the way, and the work wasn't done, and I wasn't too anxious to see Dad drive in the driveway those days. Could you say that I didn't love my dad anymore? No. I was ashamed. I didn't want to see him because I hadn't done what he'd asked. And how many believers are there who may have to be ashamed before him at his coming? Oh, they'll be saved. They'll go home to heaven. But I think that after a time of tears in the eyes, when we realize how little we've done for him, he's going to have to supernaturally, by an act of his grace, he's going to have to wipe away all tears forever. No more death, no more crying. The former things are passed away. And we hear this expre- exclamation, behold, I make all things new. Now, there isn't time tonight to go over into second Peter chapter three and read about the burning up of the old order and the bringing in of the new order. But sometime, if you want something interesting, read second Peter chapter three. and Peter says there, this know also in the last time, he speaks about perilous times, and he speaks about scoffers coming. Scoffers who laugh and who mock and who say, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as from the beginning. And if you read carefully there, you'll see three things that the scoffers laugh about. What are they? They scoff about the creation. Peter speaks about the earth standing in the water and out of the water. He speaks about creation and the flood, those that perished as the er- word- earth was overflowed, and he speaks about the coming again of the Lord. And you know, as we get on the college campuses today, we see these are the three things that the infidels and the unbelievers and the atheists are always quickest to attack. Do you believe that God created everything in six days? Do you believe that story about the flood? And do you believe he's coming back again? And Peter, way back writing in the New Testament, puts his fingers on these three things, and he says, scoffers. And then he names the three things that, lo and behold, in our very day are under greatest attack. The Lord says, I'm making all things new. And then he gives us his title, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. And in verse six, he mentions that those who are athirst, to them he will give the fountain of the water of life freely. You can read for yourself verse eight, the catalog of sins of those that will be left outside of God's eternal home. But it's interesting to me that the first one he puts down there is the fearful. The fearful. What an awful thing to go through life as one who is fearful. Always afraid to turn the next corner because of not being right with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. How thankful we can be tonight if God has done a work of grace in our heart, that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's taken the fear away. Perfect love has cast out fear. Now, in verse nine, John is invited to come and see the Lamb's wife. He says, come, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. You know, it wasn't too long ago, working through the book of Luke chapter twelve, I came across the scripture there that I'd never seen in just this way. I'd like to share it with you. Luke chapter twelve and verse thirty five and thirty six. Our Lord here is talking to the nation of Israel, to his own people. Now, we've spoken about that a little bit tonight. And what does he say to them, to Israel, to his disciples, when he wants to give them an object lesson of what kind of people they're to be. Notice what he says, Luke twelve and thirty five, Let your loins be gird about and your lamps burning, and ye yourselves like men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding. Now, isn't that amazing? He doesn't say, you be like the bride so that you won't be left behind, so that you'll go into the wedding. He says, you be like men who wait for, for your Lord when he shall return for the wedding. That all fits together very nicely if we understand that at any moment the Lord Jesus may come and take his bride home to the wedding. And he says to Israel, you be like men who wait for their Lord when he shall return from the wedding. See how beautifully that fits in? Now, John, of course, the wedding took place or is recorded in John chapter nineteen or f- or Revelation chapter nineteen, but John here likens this bride, the Lamb's wife. He's speaking about the beautiful city, and he says the bride, the Lamb's wife, and he's carried away in the spirit to a high mountain, and he sees this beautiful sight coming down out of heaven from God. And then he begins the description of her. Now, of course, some have said, well, this is all spiritual, this is all figurative, uh, this is just a look at the church, and of course a group of people, people could never be described as a city made out of stones and so forth, so this is all just a picture. But, you know, I disagree. As one of the old timers said, if gold doesn't mean gold, and silver doesn't mean silver, and pearls don't mean pearls, I can't think of what they do mean. And you really wouldn't get any crypt clue out of it as you read the scripture, because in the scripture, words just seem to have their normal meanings, and John sees a city. If I was going to introduce you to my bride, I'd take you to my house, and as we drove in the driveway, I'd say, well, now here's where she is, and you'd be very ungrateful, or I would if you said, well, is that your bride there on the lawn? And pointed at my house? Why, you'd know immediately what I meant. You'd, you'd know that I meant, well, my bride, my wife is in, that's our dwelling place. That's where we are. I'm taking you to show you where we live. And that's what the Lord is doing here. And he speaks about this city, and he says, her light was like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. You know, Satan has made it very hard for those of us who live in this day and age to really, really long for the things of God that lay ahead. You think of what Abraham had. He had the beauty of creation. He only had a tent and some cattle, and he, he moved around. He never owned a big house. He never had a car. He was just a dweller in tents, and we read in the book of it, of Hebrews, that Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. Abraham longed for that city, and of course Abraham didn't have the description that we have before us tonight. Must have been a wonderful thing for Abraham as he sat on under the stars and looked up and just meditated on what kind of a home that God would prepare. He wa- he didn't want any great big mansion. He wanted to look for the city that God made. And yet we in the twentieth century, with our great big homes and our big fancy cars and planes and pools, I think sometime we lose the joy for looking ahead to what God has prepared for the believer. And we have all kind of materialistic ideas in our mind. Well, I wonder if it'll have this or have that other convenience. And so we can't really enter into it like people of years and years ago. Isn't that a beautiful thought, a great big crystal or diamond? And indeed, we read in verse fifteen, as you read the measurements of it, twelve thousand furlongs, that figures out to about fifteen hundred miles on a side, and some folks figure it's a s- a cube and others it's a triangle, but here's this great big city as long as the United States is, from Maine to Florida, as long and as wide and as high. That's about three billion some odd cubic miles. There's a lot of room there, and it's clear as crystal. And then he describes the gates, which are open all the time, and the foundations, and he speaks about these beautiful gems and stones. In verse eighteen he says, the city was pure gold, clear as glass. And he speaks about the precious stones. In verse twenty one, the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And then he says that for light, there's no need of the sun or the moon. He doesn't say there's no sun or moon, he says we don't need it anymore. And you read why in verse twenty three. he says, the Lamb is the light of it. Imagine that, that our blessed Lord, who is light, is going to be the center of that eternal dwelling place, and he's going to provide the light. He's going to be the light. We won't even need the sun or the moon or the stars, and we're going to live there with him. He speaks about the nations in verse twenty four, uh, walking in the light of it and bringing their glory to it. And he speaks in verse twenty seven about those being in it whose names are in the book of life. Then I want to just quickly go down to chapter twenty two and the first few verses, and he speaks about this pure river of water of life. Now, before he mentioned a fountain, and now he mentions a river. If we had time, we could t- turn to Ezekiel forty seven and read about that river and how it flowed out of the tabernacle or out of the temple and came by the altar there, and it got deeper and deeper and deeper. And Ezekiel saw on either side of the river were all these beautiful trees. And John says, the trees had twelve fruits, and they bore their fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of nations. Must be a beautiful thing that God has prepared for us. The leaves and the fruit and the water. But then I like best of all what he says in verse three and four. There shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. Some people are afraid when they get to heaven, all they'll do is sit and play a harp or walk around and try to find something to do. And one person said, well, there isn't anything to do but just worship. What a sad statement that is. But anyway, when it says here in the book of Revelation that his servants shall serve him, and I do believe the Lord designed us and made us in a way such that we're only fulfilled as we're serving the Lord. What a privilege that is, to look ahead to our heavenly home and realize that he's going to allow us to serve him. Let's go back to Revelation chapter seven and read two verses together there. Speaking of those who had come out of this terrible time of tribulation. He says in the end of verse fourteen, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now he gives us a list of things that these individuals are going to enjoy in their eternal home, and I do believe we can apply these very things to our own future. Notice what they are. They are before the throne of God. We have continual access to the presence of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. We can serve him. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. The thing that God has wanted most to do with us all through history. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. All of our needs met. Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. Perfect protection, perfect security, perfect peace. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them. My, can you take that in tonight? The Lamb feeding us, meeting our every need, the Lord himself. We're hearing this morning, just to take a look at those hands, I think will meet every need we can imagine. And he says, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water. That just brings before my mind a beautiful picture of whatever need the Christian might have, whatever desire, whatever there is to make our joy complete, there is the Lamb of God himself to lead us, to shepherd us, to be the great shepherd of his sheep, and to lead us to the place that will most fulfill our needs and and bring joy to our hearts. And then he says, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. No more disappointments, no more crying, no more sadness. Well, we can thank the Lord for that. Now, in verse five of our chapter, one more thing. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp, neither the light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Now that, I think, brings to conclusion that section of scripture as we take just a little look at the home that God has prepared for them that love him. But the book isn't through, and the time is gone, so we won't go on farther tonight. Just let me call your attention to one or two verses. Verse twelve, Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Now, as a Christian, if you would just, and if I would just, whenever we think of the coming of the Lord, think of him coming with a reward, and when you think of his reward, just let in the back of your mind Revelation twenty one and twenty two, all that he's prepared, let that just come into your mind as you close your eyes. You can see whatever your concept of it is there, and see if that doesn't keep you from getting your roots too deeply in this old world, and see if that doesn't just increase your longing a little bit more to be where he is. And then I want to call your attention to verse seventeen. The spirit and the bride say come. Let him that heareth say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. You know, that's the last invitation in the Bible. Anyone who hears can say come. We've been working with students, as I've mentioned before, and one of the things that's very, very important that we guard against as we work with these dear students is to guard them against learning to witness, as I'm afraid many, many Christians have learned to witness. We, over the years, have gotten the idea in our heads that we'll confine the preaching of the gospel to the church, where, of course, the Lord never meant it to be in the first place. He said, go into the world and preach the gospel. That's where the lost people are. And we have to be careful because we don't want any of our students, when they meet another student who's lost and under conviction by the Holy Spirit, to sit down and say, well, now let me explain to you all about our chapel, or let me introduce you to our elders, or the way we do things at Westwood Bible Chapel. We never want to hear that. We want those students to be able to sit down and say, let me introduce you to a person who's changed my life. And we firmly believe, and we constantly teach, that if the gospel of Jesus Christ means anything at all to us at all, it ought to be, it ought to be spread, and it ought to be published out in the world where the unbelieving people are. And we practice this on the college campus, and we set this example, and we expect the young people to follow in the steps. We don't go into the gospel in the church and ask people, you bring the unsaved in, maybe we'll preach at them. We go out and we try to win them, and the Lord has used this mightily as a real spark plug there to, to help people come to know the Lord. In fact, there's very, very many coming to know the Lord by his grace. But just notice this invitation he gives, the Spirit and the bride. Who is the bride? That's us. That's our job. We've been entrusted with the gospel. And the Spirit, who is that? That's the Holy Spirit of God working together. It's a cooperation as we work together, the Spirit and the bride, and we go out and we bring out this message, come. And I can say tonight with joy in my heart that whenever we've brought this message and we bring this message of the gospel at every Bible study and every opportunity we can outside of the church with those young people, one and another in the most unusual ways comes to know the Lord and the backgrounds they come from and the and the homes they come from, and you sit down with them, and in the Bible study they just look like a face, but you sit down with them and you get into their, their problems and their background a little bit, and you're amazed at who this is that's trusting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And then they go on and get baptized, and then pretty soon repercussions begin to come from home, and there's a chance to win mom or dad to the Lord. Sometimes it happens. So we would appreciate your prayers as we carry on. Now let's just close in prayer. Our Father, we thank thee for this little glimpse that we've had tonight of what thou has prepared. And Lord, we confess that so often we just get so wrapped up in the things of this world that the city that the Lord has designed and built really seems to slip out of our, our mind. And oh, we need to hear him say tonight, I'm going to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Lord Jesus, we ask tonight for each of thy people who is here, that we may go through the week ahead looking toward that city which thou hast designed and prepared and built for us. May we m- we not sacrifice the opportunity to serve thee for the little trinkets and the lights of this world below. May we rather lay these things on the altar and seek to run the race that is set before us. We thank thee for those who are here tonight. We pray for those who are sorrowing or those whose hearts are heavy. We know, Lord, that thou are to bear, able to bear every burden, but we pray that as they look at the home that awaits them, that their hearts will rejoice, and that together we will realize that our God is a God who desires to dwell among us, to be our God, and that we should be his people. We give thee thanks for this thy great plan. We stand before thee in awe. There is nothing we can say, but just thank you, Lord. And we give thanks in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.