Coming short of God's glory

I want to read with you from Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. We're going to read a fair amount in this chapter, but I'm just going to read the first few verses, and then I want to say something before I read any further, so that I don't interrupt my real thought for the meeting tonight.

Verse 1, Revelation 21. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. 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. We will read further.

But as I was listening to my brother McCandless speak, I thought of the privilege that people in this gathering have tonight. And if you have been raised in a Christian home, or even have Christian friends who have brought you here, what a privilege you have to be here. Why I say that is I think I've mentioned that my wife and I both do palliative hospice care at our local hospital.

And about a month and a half ago, it must be now, we were in the palliative care suite, and there's a lady dying of cancer. And she hadn't been told that yet, but she looked at us and she said, I believe I am on my way out. So carefully, I began to talk to her about God's salvation, and she was so open to it.

And I thought about her as my brother was speaking, because she never had the privilege of hearing the gospel until about a month and a half ago, for the first time in her life. Now she went into a hospice care elsewhere, and when she did, I went up to see her. And of course, because of privacy issues, they would not tell me much.

I asked them what her PPS was, as palliative performance scale. When people are dying, they may be 50%, 40%, 30%, depending on what they're able to do. And they said, we're not free to tell you, even though I was on palliative care back in the other hospital, they were not free to tell me.

They said, you have to get permission from her power of attorney. So I went to the home. I had never been to that home before.

I knew where it was, and I looked at that home as I sat outside in my car. Nobody ended up to be home, so I didn't get a chance to talk to the husband. But just a down-and-out kind of home.

A home that likely a house that you and I wouldn't want to live in. That is the background of this woman, and I thought to myself as I listened to my brother, here's a woman living on a country road, never heard the gospel. Now she's dying, and we had the opportunity to talk to her time and again.

And I remember her saying, this is so simple. And one day I was there talking with her, and after we had explained the gospel time and again, and I said to her, I said, now it doesn't really work this way, but supposing you got the heaven's door, and you knocked on the door, and God opened the door, and said hello, and called her by name, what would you like? And you said, I'd like to be in here. And he said to you, I know you would, but what about your sins? She said, I would tell him Jesus died for my sins, and he would let me in.

And I think about that. You may have heard the gospel over and over and over, and this person six weeks ago never heard it in her life, but she faced the reality that she was not here forever, and trusted Christ as her Savior. And I remember in her weakened state asking her about it again, and she said to me, he has paid my debt.

And when the funeral time comes, if that moment comes, because they're not sure what they're going to do yet, whether to have a funeral, I'm going to try to persuade them for the sake of the family. When that moment comes, I don't have to worry about what I'm going to say. We live in a small community, and I take many funerals where I know the person is not saved.

And you have to do for the sake of the family, and out of sympathy, pretty fancy footwork, not to tell people that the person that they love is not in heaven. But I can speak about this soul, and say if you want to meet her again, I can give you directions, because she is enjoying the Lord at this moment in his presence, because she knows he has died for my sins. And I say that to stir you up.

You don't need a lot of information, you need to do something about it. That's what the need is. Now let me continue with the rest of the reading.

Let's go down to verse 9. And there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a 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 unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

Let me point out in verse 11, so that I underscore it, this holy city had the glory of God, having the glory of God. Verse 12, and had a wall great and high, and had 12 gates, and at the gates, 12 angels, and the names written thereon, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. Down to verse 21, and 12 gates were 12 pearls.

Every several gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were, transparent gold. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it.

Again, notice, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

Now notice verse 27. I will point out before we read it, that a number of times in our King James Bible, you will have the expression no wise. When you have that expression in our English King James Bible, it is a special Greek grammatical construction of which we have no comparative grammar, grammatical construction in English.

And it actually, in its construction, means it is absolutely impossible. We can say that in English, but the Greek language has actually a very special construction that underscores the impossibility. And so in verse 27, we could even read, it is impossible that anything shall enter in that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Now why can they enter in verse 27? Because all their defilement has been taken away when they trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Now I don't know many of you here, quite a few, but I don't know everyone. And it may be that there's a visitor here tonight.

Before I go any further, let me point out what has been underscored by our brother. It does not matter how good you are in life. What matters is, are your sins forgiven through trusting Christ? I remember when Brother Metcalfe and I were first doing the work in Wallaceburg, Ontario, he would take one side of the street and I would take the other, and we would meet at the end of the afternoon.

And he said to me, one day I'll never forget it. As we came back together, he said, the devil has some beautiful children. How true.

But being a beautiful person is not salvation. All have sinned. And I want to read that immediately, but I want to point out before we do, the verses that I brought your attention to again.

Verse 11, having the glory of God. And then going to verse 23, for the glory of God did lighten it. And I want to point out in the next verse I read, that I don't think we have completely ever understood that verse, even though it likely is one of the most preached verses in our gospel meetings.

Turn with me to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 and verse 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I believe when Paul wrote this, he had in mind what John would write later on in the book of Revelation, that there is a glory about heaven, and there isn't a single person who rises to that glory, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

You know I love being in the US. In fact, one person who's here tonight, they knew how much I loved the US, and they bought me a coffee cup, that when you put hot water in it, it sparkles with the US flag. And I write with a US pen, and carefully, so I don't offend my Canadian friends at the back on our patio, I put up a US flag, and lots of other things that I have from the US.

Now, supposing because I love the US so much, I decided I'd like to buy something for the White House. Wouldn't that be a nice thing for me to do? So I go to Walmart, and I see a bookshelf that you can put together yourself, and I say, could you ship that to the White House for me? Just takes a little bit of putting together, and it'll just, it shows my love to the US. So they maybe reluctantly say, alright, think I'm out of my mind, and they ship it, and it gets somewhere near the White House, and maybe to wherever they get their packages, and they look at it, and say, and I respect Walmart, but what is this piece of junk? It would never make it.

Why? Because the beautiful furniture, and the ornamental pieces they have there, and everything about it has a dignity, and what I would send comes short of the glory of that place. And I want to say for all of us in this gathering tonight, there is not one person in this gathering that fits the glory of heaven. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and in our present condition, unless we have had that defilement removed, we will never make it.

That's what that verse means. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and God says nothing that defiles will ever enter there. It's an impossibility, and for you and I to be fit in heaven, God has to give us a fitness that only he can give.

Now when you come to Romans chapter 1, let's go back there for a moment, God begins a condemnation of the whole world, starting at verse 18, verse 17. For therein in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith on the principle of faith to those who have faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold or hold down the truth in unrighteousness.

We've been hearing that from Luke chapter 16, and I want to tell you that is a reality. We are living in a seniors complex, and we're seeing people passing away, and then over at the hospital, last two weeks ago, I was called over to the quiet room beside the emergency department. Someone had driven into a tree, and within hours they were gone out into eternity.

Someone else came into palliative care, I wasn't there but Joyce was, and in five hours gone out into eternity, and one after another we are seeing them on a regular basis dying, and you just feel at times so helpless. In fact, there was one time when we have a list that we can look at to see who's in the different rooms, and in palliative care I looked, and I said to Diana, one of the nurses that I know well, I said, do you know who this man is? She said no. I said he is the biggest drug dealer in the area, I know him.

She said well that explains something. I said what does it explain? She said when people are in palliative care, their loved ones come and they hug one another and they cry together. She said all these people are coming and none of them know one another.

I said that's because they're his clients, and so here he was, this biggest drug dealer in our area. I said to Diana that man's not ready to go. She said well he's not awake, but the last thing to go is their hearing.

Go preach in his ear, and I sat by his bedside, and I told him God loved him, and quoted John 3 16, and tell him Christ died for him. I don't know what happened because he never regained consciousness, but I sat there by his bedside as he's going out, and here is the thing we've been hearing already. You and I do not know who is next.

We have no idea, and there's only one time for you to settle with God, and that is here and now, tonight, about your sins, because you've come short of the glory of God as I had until the Lord Jesus took my sins away. And so in chapter 1, what happens? Verse 20, the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. What does God do? He reveals himself in creation.

Notice chapter 2, verse 14, for when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Not only has God given creation so that we can have his person revealed to us, he has given a conscience so that we might understand right and wrong. But when we come to chapter 3, verse 1, what advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there in circumcision, much every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God.

And so God has revealed himself in three ways. He has revealed himself in creation, chapter 1, chapter 2 in conscience, chapter 3 in commandment, so that there is no excuse. But men and women, and you and I personally, have rebelled against that, and that's why Paul says by the Spirit that in verse 23, we've all had this revelation, but we have come short of the glory of God.

But then the good message is this, in spite of the standard which we cannot reach, the Lord Jesus has given us a free opportunity to be in heaven. Verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And so God has sent his Son, the Lord Jesus has died on the cross, and his provision is enough to take you and me to heaven without works.

And so in verse 25, God has set him forth to be a propitiation, that means satisfaction, through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. I can tell you tonight, if you trust Christ as your Savior, God is satisfied. Let me illustrate that.

We live in a small community, and one time I went into the hardware store and picked up an item, and it was so much money, and so I took out my wallet, and I said to the owner that I know, I said, listen, I'll go back to the house, I didn't bring enough money with me. And he said, how much do you have? I said, whatever it was at the time, I don't remember now. He said, that'll do.

I said, well, it's not the full price. He said, that's enough. So he was satisfied with what I gave him, and that was all that mattered.

He was the one in charge, he accepted what I offered, and that was enough. God has accepted for the sinner the price that he paid for our sins, and God says it's enough, and the Lord Jesus on the cross said, finished, it's enough. Salvation is not but by what you and I do, but it is by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and so we can rest there, if we will, like two of our brethren have spoken of tonight, what this lady in the hospital has spoken of, and how she had trusted Christ.

I remember visiting her the last day as she was writhing in pain, the last day I saw her, and I still got a smile out of her when I spoke of the work of the Lord Jesus in her quiet, almost comatose condition. A smile crossed her face, and knowing that it was settled, heaven is her home where she is now. What about you? What a privilege you have, and many of you have had it for years, and you're not doing anything about it.

It's not that it's not available, you haven't made it your priority, like we've been hearing in the gospel, while people may tremble, if they don't turn to the Savior, it will never be enough. Wouldn't it be tragic for you to sit in this gospel meeting and go out in your sins, not knowing the Savior, without realizing that perhaps it might even be that this is your last opportunity to trust Christ as your Savior. Salvation is a free gift.

You can trust Christ tonight, you can trust him now to take your sins away, and it'll all settle, be all settled, but you'll never be in heaven as you are. Heaven is a place of glory, and we have come short of the glory of God, and the only way to remedy that is for our defilement to be gone, that we trust Christ as our Savior, and then we will have the peace and joy of knowing when that moment comes, heaven in all its glory will be open to us. What a wonderful day ahead for the believers here tonight, what a tragic day for anyone who stays in their sins.

Let's pray. Father, we thank thee that those of us who can call thee Father can rest in the finished work of the Christ and have done that, and know the joy of sins forgiven. We think of these different matters that were never settled that our brother's been speaking about, and we thank thee for the testimony of our two brethren and their joy in the forgiveness of sins, and we know that tonight, even at this very moment, some precious soul could turn from their sins to the Savior, and we would pray that thou would crown the gospel with the salvation of precious souls.

We seek thy blessing now as we part from this meeting, but we pray that the message of the gospel will not quickly evaporate from the hearts of any who are still in their sins, but that they might leave this gathering taking it seriously or having already trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We look to thee in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.