It's wonderful to have Brother Justin Huffman and family here with us from Canada. Thank you for being here. Would you pray for us right now? Father, thank you so much for this first Sunday of the new year. And as we just sung, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. So Father, we pray in this coming year that each of us will exercise the Proverbs wisdom of looking ahead, of striving according to your directing, But father ultimately we pray for you to build each house. We pray for each home We pray for this church and your churches around the globe father, we pray for the message that's about to be delivered that in in all the preparation and in all the meditation, that Father, you would be the one who builds the house and that you would bless Isaac as he preaches to us, bless our hearts to receive it, and bless, Lord, that in all that we do, you would be the builder of it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Our text this morning will be from the book of Revelation, chapter 21, verse 5. 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 a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." I still try to do the habit of reading through the Bible. annual basis. I've done many different plans, but in each of the plans that I've done it always ends here in the book of Revelation. As I've read Revelation I've wrestled with the book, as many have. There are times when I read it, it's just a frustration to me, because I want to understand exactly what's happening, and I get so lost in the details, and if you know me well, you know that I have almost no imagination at all, and so I get lost in all sorts of eyes, and beasts, and horns, and I'm like, Lord, help, I don't know what's happening right now. But there are other times when it is the most precious, blessed experience of life. And that's how it's been this time. And it's really because of this verse five, a verse I'm sure is preached across the globe on the first Sunday of the year. But what a truth, what a blessing this is. He that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. Or, I am making, I am right now, presently, currently, I am making all things new. Well, this is the fifth day of the year and so my calendar has flipped to the new year and the new Bible reading plan and so I am in Genesis. You flip from Revelation to Genesis. There's a part of me that just wants to stop at about verse 16 of Genesis 2 and not move forward. Even with the new, there's a dread. You see, we all love the new, don't we? There's something that is just magical about the idea of new. This is why the late night TV commercials are so successful. Because there's a promise of something new that is perfect and that will last and that will cure and that will be there forever. And yet, as you live, there's something about the new that you dread. Because the new doesn't last, does it? Those new boots you just got at Boot Country in Nashville, they're not going to last. They're going to be old. They're probably older now today than they were last week when you bought them. The new car, that smell will quickly be lost in that spilled coffee. The new news of marriage, the glow ends so quickly. new doesn't last. John and Megan, except for John and Megan, they're disagreeing with me over there. But here, Jesus speaking says, Behold, I make all things new. This is a statement that is really the story of what God is doing in history. If you don't understand this, you don't understand God. At the same time, it's so much bigger than us. We can only just barely grasp what He is saying, what He is saying. Behold, I make all things new. And so this morning will probably be less of a sermon and more like this. I went to a wedding last night and went to the reception and I really hadn't eaten all day and there was this table, this big, beautiful table. And it had the foods that you would expect. It had the cheeses and the meats and the olives and the crackers and the breads. But the thing that stood out to me about the table was that it was so big. And that everything on the table was just sort of randomly thrown there. It wasn't like there was the container with crackers and the container with the bread. It was just all spread. The whole table was covered. with crackers and cheese and meats and all the things. And I looked at it and I thought, this is beautiful. And it was partly because I was so hungry. And partly because it was so random. You could just reach out wherever you were in proximity to the table and get something that was wonderful. And I had to reach over something because there was food everywhere there. So that's how we're gonna attack this passage today, okay? We're not gonna comprehensively walk through it piece by piece and understand it in a one, two, three manner. We're just gonna grab at what is there and hopefully stir your souls on this new year, this new first Sunday of the year. But I suspect that each of you needs greatly to hear, to believe, and to grab hold of this word from Jesus. Behold, I am making all things new. The context of Revelation, as you know, is one of massive conflict. There is destruction and blood and war everywhere in this Gospel of Revelation. There's martyrs, there's lives cut short, there are beasts, and there is this word from Jesus, Behold, I am making all things new. He points us to the one who is making this statement. There's only a very few times in the book of Revelation in which we are directly told this is God speaking. Listen to this. He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. Verse six said, he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ends. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Who's speaking? Who is making all things new? The one who sits upon the throne. The one who is king over all. The one who has broken the power of all that is old, death and hell and the grave. The one who, as we just mentioned from Romans 8, died, rose again, is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. He is the one who is making all things new. Just consider the contrast with Genesis for just a minute. Genesis is also the story of making new, isn't it? But Genesis is the making of new things. Revelation, this quote is, I am making things new. Hallelujah. There's a glory that's incomprehensible of one being able to speak from nothing, all things into existence. He spake and it was done. Let there be light. He commanded and it stood fast. Things out of nothing. But there is another glory of being able to take that which is dead and marred and broken and breaking and bringing that which is new. What is new? What is so glorious about new? Well, new in scripture is synonymous with life. He that is thirsty, let him come and drink of the fountain of the water of life freely. Romans 6, we walk in newness of life. New and life are the same thing. Life, function, vitality, promise. This is what it means to be made new. And since the one who's on the throne is the alpha and the omega, he's saying, I am the beginning and the end. I am the eternal one. Therefore, there is no expiration on the newness that he's giving. So not only is he taking that which is old and making it new, newness also implies to us a newness that never wears out. These are shoes that never get scuffed. This is the relationship that never gets strained. This is the life that never ends. This is what he says, this is what he means when he says, I am making all things new. I'm making a new that will always be new, because it proceeds from the fountain of infinite glory, infinite power, the self-determined, self-existing God of gods is the one who is the fountain of life, the fountain of newness, and all the newness he gives will never grow old. Whereas oldness in Scripture is associated with that which is deforming and decaying and destructing and dying. Jesus says, I am making all things new. And again, a certain glory, An incredible glory that we can never comprehend of speaking things into existence from nothing. But brothers and sisters, we are not nothing. We are somethings. We are people living in bodies that are old and perishing and decaying to be told from the Lord, I am making all things new. Drink that into your soul for a moment. Who needs to hear this message? What he says let him that is a thirst Drink of this message You know there are some Levels of dehydration that are so severe that a person can be so thirsty If they no longer have the sense of thirst You'd be so parched that your body begins to just shut down and you don't even know you're thirsty anymore. And perhaps that's where some of you are today. Perhaps in your mind, you think that newness, freshness, life, can come from somewhere other than Jesus. And so you are on this, what I'm just gonna tell you will be a hamster wheel that will never stop of chasing after the new. I would point you to Jesus, to the Alpha and the Omega, to the true fountain of life. There is nothing more tragic than chasing for new, chasing for life. In any place outside of Jesus Christ, it won't be found. It can't be found. Because everything under the sun is old. Everything under the sun is decaying, it's deforming, and ends in destruction. But maybe I'm speaking to some today also who frankly are just cynical about newness. You relate to the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes when he says, the thing that hath been is the thing which shall be. And that which is done is that which shall be done. There is nothing, there is no new thing under the sun. I know how this game goes. I know how the story ends. It's always the same thing. I'm always maybe succumbing to this sin or this relationship always ends in the same point of conflict. There's nothing new. What has been done will be done. It only repeats itself. There's nothing new. Friends, can I tell you what Jesus said about these words, I make all things new? He said, write these words down. Because these are the true and faithful words. Despite whatever you may be thinking right now, Regardless of whatever your experience has been, Jesus himself says, church, person, friends, these are the words that are the most trustworthy words that you can drink into your heart. I am making all things new. Maybe there are some today who may not be cynical, but maybe you're just fearful. Maybe you've had a really tough diagnosis medically. Or maybe you know how empty your cupboards are emotionally or financially. Or maybe you're starting off on some new thing and you know you're not sufficient for it. And you're scared to death right now. Jesus says the words that are the most trustworthy words, if you're trusting in Him, is, I am making all things new. Brothers and sisters, this is not just something that lies before us in the future. Although, praise the Lord, this is where it ends. I didn't read the first part. I'll read it later, perhaps. He's all pointing towards the end in which he will make a new heavens and a new earth, and he will wipe away all the oldness. But this is the story from the very beginning. You don't need to dread Genesis and skip to Revelation, because Genesis has this very same theme. Yes, He speaks all things into existence, but He speaks it in sort of an old way, doesn't He? When He speaks the world into existence, He then begins to take that which is unformed, that which is not functional, And systematically, day by day, for each days of those glorious six days, Jesus, the word of life, takes that which is unformed and he forms it for the purpose of life. This is what God does. God brings life. The birds, the fish, the seas, the waters. Everything you read about the last few days, it's all for the purpose of human life, that humans might be able to drink in from the fountain of the water of life and then be able to reflect the glory of the life giver through their love and service to him. And then of course you know it all goes wrong because man believes life can be found in somewhere other than the fountain of life. But do you think that hijacked God? Of course not. So the rest of the story of Genesis is this story of new creation. renewal as he takes that which is old and he sends the flood and the flood covers the covers the land and the land is unformed but then praise the Lord there's a new creation that comes up out of the flood after the wrath of God is poured out and man is to be able to start afresh with this new covenant from God and as you know that doesn't go so well either But again, God is not hijacked from His course, and so the glory of Genesis chapter 12, if you're not there yet in your reading, you'll get there. Let me tell you, it's the most glorious story ever told. It's a story of God, a God of grace, a God of life. who gives life to Abraham, the life that we know by faith. There is no life outside, no spiritual life outside of faith. God gives Abraham the glorious gift of faith, and he starts this journey, this journey towards life, this journey towards new, and it will ultimately end in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the giver of this new life, this new covenant, this new testament that is built upon better promises than even that which Abraham and Moses enjoyed. See, the whole story of the Bible, the whole story of salvation, the whole story of God's workings in history, all of this is formed out of these words, these true and faithful words, I am making all things new. It sounds preposterous, doesn't it? But doesn't it also sound thrilling to your soul? You see, what this promise of newness means. And let me just step back for just a moment. Here's one reason why you struggle with this. One big reason. It's because God, in His wisdom, is delaying, from our perspective I guess, His full work of bringing all of this to the new completion. And so we are experiencing this newness in Christ while we also reside in these shells that are so old. And really and truly, that in itself is a glorious, glorious reality. Paul says it this way. He says we have this treasure, this treasure of life, the treasure of the gospel. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, in decaying shells. in earthly, fragile clay, that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. And so, brothers and sisters, don't despair in the oldness of your shell. As we long for heaven, and the revelation of the new heavens and the new earth, as we long for the return of Christ to make all things new, as we say, please come quickly. My message to you this morning is please do not despair of the life that you are given right now. Because here's the reality. The reality is that God receives glory. God's name is seen as excellent. through the formation of the new in the corresponding shell of the old. Does that make sense to you? So the reality that new could grow in old is amazing, isn't it? I hope I don't insult you by calling you old, but you know what it's like, right? Do you guys know, I didn't bring the book up there, but I'm reading a book of history right now, and I was gonna read this lamentation from this pastor who loves the Lord, and yet he is just so done with himself. He's in the 1750s. He's so done with himself. He's like, here I am, and I want to. get up early in the morning, and I want to just tell the Lord how great He is, and yet I am not in, but yet I am still in bed, and I can't wake myself up, and I'm so despondent, and I'm so discouraged, and I'm so depressed, and I know that God is worthy, but I don't even want to give God glory right now. So he said, wretched man, Lord, please, please in this new time, give me a resolve I've never had before. Give me an endurance that I long for. Do you know thoughts like that? Do you despair of the old? Does the decaying of your bodies bring you great fear? Of course it does. But the God of glory receives glory by building a new creation that even exists within the old shell that is dying. Until the time that He, as He promised He will do, He will make all things new, even the old shell. But the confidence of that is in what He is doing right now. Well, we know this to be true. This is all done through the new man, Jesus Christ, There's a thousand things we could say about Jesus and how he's making all things new, but let me just say a few things about Jesus. How is it possible that all things be made new because of Jesus? What a name that we get to have on our lips, the name of Jesus. Jesus is, according to Scripture, the true and better Adam. For Adam formed new, From the dust to the ground, Adam, through disobedience, plunges this world into the old world of sin and death. So every pain that you're experiencing right now, every condemnation that you are under outside of Christ, every conflict that you labor over, Every struggle that you cannot overcome can ultimately be tied back to your nature in Adam, who disobeyed and cast this world from paradise into confusion and death. Jesus is the true and better Adam. Whereas by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, many shall be made righteous. There's the newness of Jesus, the better Adam. Jesus is the true and better Moses, isn't he? Moses, that great mediator between God and man, the one who would bring redemption to the people. Moses, of course, a great faithful servant. But Moses was also just a man, and as you know, Moses stopped short of bringing the people to the promised land. He could not turn their hearts, and eventually could not even turn his own heart towards righteousness, and so Moses just stopped short. Friends, Jesus is the one who has already entered into the veil. He has already passed from death to endless life. He is the one who is the faithful mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who perfectly pleased God and the man who perfectly represented our case. Jesus is the true and better Moses. Jesus is the true and better Testament, isn't he? That old covenant that joined God and man was based upon man's obedience. The new covenant is based upon Jesus' faithfulness so that he is a surety of a better testament. The old covenant brought the reminder of sin. and the need for endless offerings. But Jesus, the perfect God-man, brings the blood of the new covenant as a one and once and for all perfect offering before God that God was satisfied with because Jesus is the Son of God. So Jesus brings a full and free and unending salvation and atonement before a holy God. Jesus is the true and better David. David, the man of promise who the Lord gave such great victory to, who was given a kingdom, and this kingdom was meant to bring peace and prosperity and harmony to the people of Israel. And David, as a faithful warrior, a king, was a man after God's own heart. But David was also a man, a man who failed miserably. to the point that David would have to say at the end of his life, listen, my life has not been what it should have been, but thank the Lord, he has made an everlasting covenant with me. David is a man who needs God's mercy, and if not for God's mercy, the kingdom would have fallen from David's hands. But Jesus was the one whom David foresaw. Jesus was the one whom David saw as the one who would build a kingdom that would never end, whose throne would never end because it was established in perfect righteousness. It was established by the one who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who will never die, and so his kingdom is a forever kingdom. You see, all things are made new because of Jesus. So here's the closing thoughts. This is where I want to apply to you. Because Jesus is making all things new, renewal is not only possible, but renewal is one of the chief gifts of Jesus to you today as you live in this shell. These are the true and faithful words. I'm not talking about making New Year's resolutions. Do that or don't. It matters not to me. But what does matter to me is that your minds here in Christ are being renewed as the image of the One who has made all things new. So let me just point you to three places of renewal that the Lord not only expects from you this year, but the Lord has purchased with His blood. And the Lord is speaking to you saying, I am making this new. These are true and faithful words. This is the fountain of life. Come and drink of the fountain of life. Okay? So the first one, it's clear. A renewal of your position in Jesus Christ. If any man be in Christ, behold, all things are become new. Your newness in Christ is that you are reconciled to God by the gift of His Son. Your newness in Christ is that your sins have been purged and you have been brought near to the throne of God. So Hebrews, I won't spend much time here, but Hebrews 10, as he's describing this newness of our position in Christ because of what Christ has done, he tells us two main things. As a result of this, he says to us, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for it is faithful that promised." Friends, Christ died that you might have a new reconciliation with God. You may be reconciled to God. You may become the friend of God. So here's my call to you. Wherever, however, You are estranged from God. Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Christ has purchased for you fellowship with the One who is the Alpha and the Omega, Christ has purchased for you joy that is strengthening and sustaining. Christ has purchased for you forgiveness and closeness and nearness. Christ has purchased for you power to overcome, to not let sin reign in your mortal bodies. I could point to you a lot of passages. Let me just suggest to you the last half of Ephesians 4. Friend, if Christ has made all things new in you, may you arise to walk in this newness of life. Let me just read to you one thought from Ephesians 4. Because of what Christ has bought for you, you are enabled to put off the old man which is corrupt by the deceitful desires. You are able to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on the new man. He begins to describe what that looks like in practical terms. Let me just read you one. Speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another." Maybe you're a liar, or maybe you're not, but maybe you are familiar with a sin that grabs so deeply into your system that you almost think it's your personality. Like you almost don't even know you lie anymore. You might be faintly aware of it, but it's so much of what you do, you embellish, you cover, you just lie. Now you can apply this to whatever sin that it is, and you go, I'm ashamed of this, but just as ashamed of this, I am also 99.5% confident I can do nothing about this. Friends, can you imagine what the world would look like if every Christian, every true believer in Jesus, believed that the words of Jesus are true and faithful words? I am making all things new. that you have a new heart and you've been brought into new proximity to the God of glory who in the same power that raised Jesus from the dead has been given to you and he will draw near to everyone who draws near to him and so upon those promises and with that grace and with that strength looking to him with that sincerity people began to overcome lying. What would the world look like? if no one lied to each other anymore. No Christian lied. What would it look like if I said, Lord, through your grace, through your power, I am committed that my words will be filled with tenderness and care and edification and joy and love and kindness. Friends, this is the renewal that Jesus has bought for his people. So here's what he says, true and faithful words. If you're thirsty for a fountain of life, by the way, this is a fountain, it'll continue to come. The grace will continue to be brought to you. It's a promise of strength there. He's the alpha and the omega. Friend, be renewed in the spirit of your mind to draw near to God, to have nothing that stands between you and the Lord. Jesus has bought perfect newness for you. There is no need to stand aloof or apart from God. Two more, very quickly, this newness that He has bought for us. This is so deeply ingrained in the heart of the Lord that I want to tell you it is blasphemy. It is the greatest blasphemy for us to claim the forgiveness of Jesus as our own. and then refuse to live this out horizontally with the people that he's brought for us, that he has also brought. And so a renewal of relationships, it is filled in Scripture, it is everywhere in Scripture, replete in Scripture. Colossians 3, if you then be risen with Christ, here's this newness, seek the things that are above. When Christ who is our life appears, And then he says, put off these things, put on these things, and then he jumps right into the context of relationships, he says, because in Christ, there is no more Greek or Jew, bond or free, it's all gone away, but all are seen in Christ, right? In fact, Paul would say, 2 Corinthians, he would say, 2 Corinthians 5, wonderful, powerful doctrinal passage about all things are new. Here's what Paul says, he says, everything that I see is new, and every one that I see is new. He goes, I don't know any man after the flesh anymore. You see, before, I would judge people on how humans judge people. You're short, you're tall, you're bald, you talk fast, you talk slow, you're mean, you can get me somewhere, you are powerful, you are this, you are that. That's how I judge people. But not anymore, because Christ has made all things new. So he says, if Christ has made all things new, then you are to put on, as the followers of Christ, as the elect of God, bowels, deeply rooted mercy and compassion and love and forbearance and tenderness. Friends, you cannot be a follower of Christ and not live this out for one another. So if all things are being made new, you must join the effort of making all things new in relationships, whatever God has given you. Here's the last one. Here's the last one, and I don't have time to get into it, but the renewal, Christ has brought us this, the renewal of the eye of faith. which is so much more real and true than the eyes that we see through. 2 Corinthians 4, let me just read this to you. This is the eye of faith. You'll be familiar with this passage, but listen to it again. This is what God has purchased for us in Christ. This has been made new. Listen to this. Starting in verse 6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined newly in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. Here's the I faith. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Why? We're always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. We just got through reading earlier Romans 8, we're going to memorize it this week. As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. This is our experience. This is what we see. This is what we feel. This is what we sorrow over. This is what we cry over. This is the pain of our lives. We are killed. We are delivered. I'm sorry, we are bearing about death for this purpose, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak. We speak based upon what we believe. not upon what we're experiencing knowing that he which hath raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you for all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God for which cause we faint not But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Behold, I am making all things new. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Listen to what he says again. As we suffer, the life of Jesus is being seen. Verse 11, as we suffer, the life of Jesus is being made manifest. As we die, verse 12, death worketh in us, but life is occurring in you. You're seeing Christ in me. What does that mean? It means we see people continuing to trust Jesus. as disappointment happens, as disease happens, as loss happens, as suffering happens, it will happen because God is determined to make all things new in old shells until the day when He takes the shells and makes them new. Here's a story for you. I was reading this week about the missionary William Carey who went to India and translated massive portions of the Bible into many, many, many different Indian languages. Praise the Lord for men like that who will give their lives for things like that. Well, here's his story. Part of his story is that his wife, she lost her mental faculties they were there, and I don't know the whole genesis of that, but I do know this, that for the rest of their life together it was a torturous, torturous relationship. She would follow him around. She was insanely jealous, and she would follow him around, and she would loudly publicly accused him of infidelity at every juncture. She would follow him out the door in the morning saying, he's unfaithful to here, he's unfaithful there, he's unfaithful there, and just you can imagine what that scene was like every single day. She died. And then one day there was a fire and all the work They had done. Didn't have a backup. Didn't have a cloud. They had paper and ink and hours and hours and hours and hours and days and years of labor to get, is there anything more precious than the holy word of God into the language of the peoples of India? Which, by the way, has a different dialect for every single state. and a fire comes and it burns it all up. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. And I'm not going to tell you some glamorous, amazing reaction. I'm going to tell you this. He said, I am going to meditate on Be still and know that I am God." Is that a downer for you? Did you want me to tell you that the Lord sent from heaven angels with pens and ink and He recreated the Bibles and it was magic? Of course not. But what I can tell you, I think is even more glorious than that. Friends, the world has always been a place of oldness since Adam fell. But what the world has also had by the grace of Jesus is a newness that will not grow old. I've been having fun, again, reading this history of old Baptist ministers from the 1700s, and every single one of them had the exact same experience. That is, they had nothing but death in their children. Their children just died as infants, and as 12-month-olds, and as 14-months-old, and two-years-old, and nine-years-old. It just seems to never end. Because we're an old shell. An old shell that will come to an end. Hallelujah. But what will not end is the newness of the work of Christ and His people. And your opportunity, brothers and sisters, is to lean into, to grab hold of what Christ has purchased for you and the life that is promised in Him as you live out your life this year in your old shell. These are the true and faithful words, I make all things new. Wherever else you hear those words, they're a lie. But from Jesus, they're the most trustworthy words you could ever, ever hear. So today, if you have been chasing that which is perishing, let me bid you to come to Jesus. He is the true and better Adam. He is the true and better David. He is the resurrection and the life. And all those in Him find that all things have been made new. Hallelujah, let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for what we didn't even talk about today, of the promise of the future, that we will see this. We will see a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. We will experience the very physical reality of the Lord wiping away all tears with his hands. We will know what it is to be known. We will rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Daniel Crone's eyes will behold you, and not another, but his own eyes will see you. And Lord, our minds, our bodies that fail, be raised to walk in newness of life and so Lord as we live in prospect of that may we with joy and patience and strength face tomorrow in the newness that you have given in Christ. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Is there a hymn we can sing