Let's pray together. Let's bow before the Lord. Heavenly Father, your praise is glorious and you are worthy of all adoration, exaltation, and praise. Thank you for a wonderful time of worship and adoring your name. Heavenly Father, we come before you just now, and we ask you in the name of Jesus that you would reveal your holy word to us. Not that we would have head knowledge, Heavenly Father, but that we would know how this applies to our lives so that we might walk in godliness, walk in holiness, set apart for You. You have purchased us with Your blood. We no longer belong to ourselves. We belong to You. We pray that you would turn on the light to our understanding of your word as we consider it together just now. In the name of Jesus, amen. Please turn to Revelation 21, verse 1 through 5. Revelation 21, 1 through 5. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. Well, Happy New Year, everybody. As we have already said, we flip a page in our calendar, and just like that, we have a new year. And the old is gone, and the new is here. There is something about new that we like, isn't there? We get a new car, and what do we do? Well, do you wanna go for a spin? But of course, you know. And we get a new car, and what do we do? We take our friends for a spin. We get a new house, and what do we do? Well, we give our friends the tour. You gotta have the tour, for sure. We wear a new piece of clothing, and people take notice. And in case you haven't noticed, well. You know, I was reading my notes, and I thought to myself, what if nobody takes notice of them? And you know, I really don't want to bring attention to myself. We don't do that when we preach. You know, we direct hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It's not about us. But I have to tell you about my shirt. Because you didn't notice. So there you go. It's a new shirt. I expressly wore this shirt for this occasion today. It's New Year's Day. This is a new shirt. And you know, it just kind of reminds me that someday God will make all things new, not just a shirt, not just a car, not just a house, all things new. What a glorious day that will be. You know, there's something about new that we are drawn to. The advertisers know this. They know that people are drawn to new, the advertisers. Notice that they put new and improved on all of their products. You know, you see so much of these new and improved, you think, is anything old anymore? You know, everything is new and improved, because they know that works, and people really take notice about new. There was nothing wrong with the old car until it started to break down. and became a constant expense. There was nothing wrong with the old house until you run out of room or it falls into disrepair. There was nothing wrong with your old clothing until it began to wear out. And there was nothing wrong with the first earth until sin entered humanity and God decreed that the corrupted first earth will pass away and the new earth shall surely come. Nothing wrong, but then sin came in and just ruined everything. So how did the first earth, that is the world that we live in becomes so corrupt that God would declare that He will cause it to pass away and bring about a new earth instead. It started way back in Creation in Genesis chapter 2 verse 15-17, the Lord God took man and put him in the garden of Eden to work and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." We see that in Genesis 3, 6 that Adam disobeyed God, that is he He sinned, and death entered the realm of creation. Spiritual death was immediate, and physical death was to follow. The whole created order fell when humanity in Adam fell. Genesis 3, 17 through 19 says, And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Adam is our representative head, and we sin by nature and by choice, and the whole creation fell with Adam, and now must wait for the completion of God's redemptive plan before it is released from its bondage of corruption. Romans 8, verse 19 through 22, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. So sin that came into the world And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's Genesis 6, 5. Ephesians 2, 1 says that we were dead in trespasses and sin. Sin separated us from God. sin is awful and terrible. Look at all the anguish and the heartaches sin causes in this world. Look at all the heinous crimes committed that are so horrible we cannot even speak of them here. Look at all the crying Look at all the pain. Look at all the sorrow and the mourning. Look at all the death which sin brought into the world. Death. I remember watching my dad, my father, die. You know what I thought to myself? I hate sin. I hate it. This is what it brings. Death. Many of you, if not all, you know what I'm talking about. When you lose a loved one, and you look, and you see. And what causes that? Sin. Because there would be no death if it wasn't for sin. And sin came into the world. And I hated watching my dad pass. Therefore, I hate sin. And we look at our text this morning. And don't we find our hearts longing for what it says in verse four? He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And we are told in verse two that the holy city will come down out of heaven from God. And in verse three, a loud voice from the throne will be heard saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. And I'm reading in Revelation 21 verses 22, 27. and I saw no temple in the city. For its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light, the nations will walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. And its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Nothing unclean will ever enter it. Sin that causes death will not be there. It won't be there. And what a glorious day that will be. Sin will be gone. Just gone. Isn't it wonderful to know that when heaven comes down and there is a new earth, we will be done with sin once and for all? Isn't it glorious that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life? Isn't it? But not all, not all are in the book. Not all have repented of their sins. Not all have believed on the Lord Jesus. Not all have turned away from their sins to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord. Only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life will be saved. There are many books. but only one book of life. Revelation 20, verse 12, and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. Revelation 20, verse 15, and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, He was thrown into the lake of fire. I remember a quote from Charles Spurgeon that said if a preacher can preach about hell to the people without tears, he's not worth his salt as a preacher. and the weight and the gravity of this, that if your name is not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and those other books are gonna be open, you're lost. You say, what must I do to be saved? Well, to turn from sin and turn to Christ. believe that Jesus was your substitute on the cross, where God poured out His infinite wrath on Jesus instead of you. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for our sake He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. And the way that I can illustrate it to you, for those whose names are not in the Lamb's Book of Life, and you don't know Christ as your Lord and Savior, Suppose this book contains a detailed account of your life, everything you have done, all your sins, all your thoughts, all your motives, everything you've done in secret. The Bible says that someday the books will be opened. Someday the books will be open. Here's our problem Here we are This is us Here we are and here's our sin here. We are and here's our sin and our sin Here we are and our sin Separates us from God to God our sin in ourselves, and our sin comes between us, and God, it separates us from God. But God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sin. Isaiah 53 6 all we like sheep have gone astray We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all 1st Peter 2 24 he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree the cross Jesus took the weight and the burden of our sins upon himself and paid for our salvation with his precious blood He has removed, He has removed the barrier of guilt of our sin and reconciled us to God. God has reconciled us to Himself by removing the barrier of sin that separated us from Him. That is, if you are a believer, Christ bore your sins in His body when He hung on the cross and became your substitute when God poured out His infinite wrath on Him in your stead. Isn't it glorious to think that the One who said, Behold, I am making all things new has already made new every believer in Christ. Not only will God create a new Heaven and a new Earth in the future, but He gives a new heart and a new spirit to every believer in the here and now. Is that right? Do you have a new heart? Isn't it wonderful? Praise His Name. Ezekiel 36, 26 and 27, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put My Spirit within you. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Your old life before you knew the Lord has passed away, and you are actually a new creation. New creation. I had to speak about the new creation. It's New Year's Day, and all things are new. This is a new day. It's a new creation. The wonder, people want to see a miracle. All these healings and everything that people are looking for, they want the pizazz and all the razzmatazz and all of these things, and then they'll trust in the Lord. Well, I'll tell you what a miracle is. Look around, brothers and sisters. Look around. That new birth is miraculous. Nobody can change a heart but God, is that right? And we know that all too well. We're dead in our sins, and nobody can quicken us. That's a miracle, the new birth. Just transformed, changed. Jesus said, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, John 3, 3. Jesus said, unless one is born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God, John 3, 5. Jesus said, you must be born again, John 3, 7. Those of us who are Christ followers have been regenerated. We are born from above, born in the Spirit. born of God, born again. We are new creations with a new heart. We have entered the kingdom of God. Now there is a now and not yet component of the kingdom of God. Our hearts have entered into the kingdom of God now. We are new creations, but right now Our outer self is wasting away while our inner self is being renewed day by day, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16. The outward manifestation of the Kingdom of God is yet to come. And returning to our text in Revelation 21 verse 3 and 4, we know a loud voice from the throne will be heard saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. God says in verse 5, Behold, I am making all things new. He also said, Write this down. For these words are trustworthy and true. These words are trustworthy and true. These words. Do you believe in your Bible? Do you believe what it says? There's gonna be a new heaven and a new earth. You know what? It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. Can you read these words? As sure as your eyes see these words, it's going to happen. It's going to be a new heaven, new earth. It's going to be wonderful. There's no doubt about it. No doubt. In Matthew 24, 35, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. what great promises God has given us. There were those who scoffed at the Lord when He was here the first time in the flesh. Ever since then, the unregenerate have been ridiculing believers and scoffing at the notion of our Lord's return. But the Lord will most certainly come, and He will make all things new. A new heaven and a new earth will most certainly come. The first heaven and the first earth will most certainly pass away. God ignores the scoffing of the ungodly and will bring about His will in His time." And we read a portion of scripture from 2 Peter. Chapter 3, verse 1 through 10. This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them, I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and Savior through your apostles Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago. And the earth was formed out of water and through water and by the word of God, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be burned up." And what are we to make of this? How should we respond to this? This seems so distant and so removed from the reality of my world. I walk on the ground and look at the sky every day. The sun comes up in the morning and goes down in the evening. I'm fairly certain that on a clear night I will see the moon and the stars. I go about my daily business and don't give much thought to the notion that the planet I live on will be burned up. Do you think about that every day? We just go about our business. We're talking about here, this planet. It's gonna be burned up someday. I'm making all things new, God says. It just seems so distant. It just seems like some kind of a tale. It's not real. I go about my daily business and I don't give much thought to that notion. We are so familiar with all of this and it's all we've ever known, but Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is Philippians 3.20. So, what sort of people should we be while we're here? Well, we continue reading in 2 Peter, chapter 3 and picking it up in verse 11, Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people want you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn? But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We are a holy people set apart for the Lord. We should live in godliness as those who are waiting for the new heavens and new earth. As the calendar turns to 2023, we realize how fleeting our lives are. Psalm 39.4 says, Oh Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am. A little over a year ago, and many of you know this in my experience, a little over a year ago, I found my mother dead. on her bedroom floor. And time went on, and I got busy again, and a month after that, I was planning a worship service with Pastor Gary. And I had picked out songs, we were going to play together, he played the bass, and you guys know I play the acoustic. And we picked out songs, and we were going to play, and he had prepared a sermon he was going to preach. But Gary got COVID, and the Lord took him home. And the songs were never sung. That sermon, that message that my brother told me he was gonna preach, never got preached. The Lord had another plan. Three months after that, I had a heart attack. Many of you know that. I had no idea that I have heart disease. I didn't have a clue. And two days after that, my mother-in-law passed away. And we tend to take for granted the time God has given us to spend on this earth, is that We tend to take it for granted. Oh, the sun's gonna come up tomorrow. We go about our business. We tend to take it for granted that time has given us more time. This day, this day is precious. This is a gift from God today. You may have plans for 2023. You may have plans, but they may not come to fulfillment. Proverbs 16.9 says, ìThe heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.î James 4.13-15 says, ìCome now, you who say, ìToday or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.î Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? for you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will do this or that." Psalm 90, verse 3, you return man to dust and say, return, O children of man. Psalm 90, verse 10, the years of our life 70 or even by reason of strength 80 Yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away Psalm 90 verse 12. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom and The Bible tells us to consider how limited our time on this earth is So that we would be wise and focus on eternal matters eternal matters 1st Peter 1 16 says you shall be holy For I am holy heaven and earth will pass away heaven and earth will pass away be holy a New earth in which righteousness dwells is calming be godly and live in a manner that reflects the reality of these things. I make all things new, he says. And what a wonderful day that will be. So what are your plans this year? Some people make New Year's resolutions, like taking that long-awaited vacation, or starting a diet, or commit to exercising more often. Most resolutions are short-lived. There's nothing wrong with resolving to do something that has been neglected, but a Christian's resolve to live in holiness should reoccur every day. Every day. We should not think that we can do this on our own. It's not a matter of just pulling ourselves up by our fleshly bootstraps and trying harder. We can't just say, okay, from now on I will be a godly Christian. No, the way to holiness is to say, I can't do this. That is, without God's enablement. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing. We must depend on God, on God's strength. The apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 3.16, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being. And again, we see the apostle praying for Christians in Colossians 1 9-14. You see the Apostle Paul is praying for Christians here. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, given thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and from the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." If we don't pray, we are fooling ourselves that we don't need God. But when we pray, God will help us, and He will help us walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work. May the Lord give us an endurance until the day that He makes all things new. Amen? Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we know that you are going to make all things new. We praise you that you have already given us a new heart. We have tasted and have seen. And Lord, you are good. Glory to your name. Heavenly Father, your word tells us that we know all these things are going to come about in this old world, and therefore, we should be holy and live godly lives, I pray, and we pray together in the name of Jesus. Would you enable us, this congregation, those that name the name of Christ Would You help us, strengthen us by Your Spirit to walk in holiness, set apart for You, Lord, godly, a good ambassador of Jesus Christ? Would You fill us with the Spirit and help us day by day and help us not to take our days for granted, Lord? We know we can make our plans, but we say, Lord willing, we will do this or that. So refresh us and renew us. Pour out your spirit upon us. Help us that we might be a holy people and shine the light of Jesus Christ in this old world. And thank you, Lord, that a new earth is coming and all things will be new. In the name of Jesus. Amen.