I'd like you to turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 21, and I'd like you to read with me verses 1 through 8. We're going to read together and consider together tonight this second last chapter in the Bible, this section of the second last chapter in the Bible that describes for us, that reveals to us what is yet to come in the purpose of God in His universe. So let's hear the Word of the Lord as it's found in Revelation 21, commencing at the first verse. And 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 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 any more, 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. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly the faithless the detestable as for murderers the sexually immoral Sorcerers idolaters and all liars their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death Amen, let's pray and ask God's help as we come to his word tonight father. I What a privilege You afford to me this evening to stand before Your people, to take up Your Holy Word and to seek to open it up in their hearing. And Father, I pray for the help of Your Spirit. I pray that You would also grant Your people the enablement of the Spirit, that as we take up the Scriptures and seek to understand the things that You are revealing to us, that we would be clear in our understanding of what You are saying to us, of what Your Word says, what Your Word means, what the implications of this is for our lives. We pray, Father, for those amongst us tonight who are strangers to Your grace, that those who are yet amongst us who know not Jesus Christ, that, Father, you would come by your Spirit, you would quicken them, you would bring them to life, out of their spiritual death, that they might truly believe in Jesus Christ and find forgiveness for sin, peace with God, and eternal life. Come, blessed God, we pray, and help us, we ask, and be glorified in the proclamation of your Word, for Jesus' sake. Amen. In his excellent little work, From Eden to the New Jerusalem, Professor Desmond Alexander states at the very beginning in his preface, in unpacking Revelation 20 through 22, with regards to life and death, two things become evident. One, the biblical description of our future existence has more in common with our present life than most people assume. And secondly, the concluding chapters of Revelation offer a window through which the main themes of the biblical meta-story may be studied. In other words, what he's saying to us here is this, that as you move towards the end of the Bible, and in particular to Revelation 20, 21 and 22, what you discover is this, that what is yet to come with regards to human future existence has much more in common with present human existence than we actually perhaps realize. And secondly, as we unpack, especially Revelation 21 and 22, We also see that the themes that are contained in these chapters are themes that run throughout the Scriptures, and in many ways what God is doing here is He's tying it all up at the end in order to help us to see where human history is actually finally going. And this evening, as we delve into the Word of God again, and as we look at Revelation chapter 21, we are going to open up these first eight verses this evening and seek to understand something of what the Bible has to say about future human existence. It's true to say that what you have in revelation 21 and 22 Is really the end book end of the bible what you have in genesis 1 and 2 Is the front end of the book case and in between is all of the revelation of god for us We see don't we in genesis 1 1 and I believe pastor smith is opening up genesis Amongst you now that we read there right at the very beginning in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth Now here we see in Revelation 21 verse 1, John sees a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away. And we see therefore there is this inseparable connection between the beginning of the Bible and the end of the Bible. Now that ought not to surprise us because the God who created all things and the God who is in control of all things is the God who has revealed to us the truth about all things and therefore you would expect him to get it accurately correct that there is a connection between the beginning and the end of what he is doing. And John has recorded, as we have already seen this morning, in this book the dramatic and cosmic events of human history as they center upon the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As they center upon the church of the living God. We have already seen that Christ has come into the world and we have noted the ferocity and the hostility of the devil represented in the passage we looked at this morning by way of the image of a red dragon seeking first to destroy Christ and then to go after his offspring and to destroy them. We noted that God caused Christ to ascend to glory out of the reach of the devil, but the offspring of Christ are yet upon the earth and they are in the crosshairs of the evil one who is seeking now to destroy the followers of the Lord Jesus. Whether he does it through political persecution, religious deception, or simply materialistic seduction, it doesn't really matter to him. As long as he can destroy the offspring of Christ He believes He is doing what He ought to be doing. Now, here we are as those who confess, many of us tonight, to be the offspring of Christ. We need to understand, as we saw this morning, therefore we are now in this great battle between the forces of God and Christ and the forces of darkness. Now, of course, they're not equal forces, thankfully. It's not like two equal battle, two equal armies, two equal teams. The reality is that God is all-powerful, Christ is all-sovereign, and the devil is a vanquished foe and he will be ultimately defeated. John understood all of these things, John has all of these things revealed to him because John was at a time in redemptive history where he was concerned and he was discouraged about the state of the church and what was happening. And as Jesus Christ reveals to him his purposes in history, he brings him then to understand that the devil will be vanquished, the false prophet will be vanquished, the beast will be vanquished, the harlot of Babylon will be vanquished, and there will be a final judgment and then There will be something else. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. And we want to pick that up tonight and think about that tonight as we open up this passage. Notice first of all the things John sees in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 21. The things John sees. There are two very important things that we need to see here in this text. In verse 1 John says, 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. Now the first thing that John informs us here about in this particular vision, and remember, just want to remind you again, it's a vision, therefore it is symbolic, therefore we need to understand that we don't take it all literally what we're seeing here, rather these are representative of certain things, but what we need to understand is this, it came to John extraordinarily. It came to John supernaturally. He was receiving direct revelation. You and I don't receive direct revelation. We have direct revelation, but we need the illumination of the Spirit to seek to understand this. John, however, received this straight from Christ himself. And he tells us here very clearly That as God's purposes move beyond the final judgment, which is recorded, if you turn back to Revelation 20, with the image of the great white throne and the judgment of all mankind, moving beyond that, we're now moving into what we call the eternal state or eternal glory. And what we discover is that John picks up on the language that the prophet Isaiah uses back in Isaiah 65. Turn there just for a minute till we see this, because one of the things that preaching a couple of one-off sermons doesn't allow me to do But it does allow me to do it when I'm preaching through it in my own church, is to show how many of the Old Testament prophets John uses with regards to their imagery, with regards to their ideas, with regards to their concepts. If you take time to read the book of Ezekiel, the book of Zechariah, the book of Daniel, the book of Isaiah, you will be amazed how much of it is in the book of Revelation. Here in Isaiah 65 and verse 17, We discover this, the prophet Isaiah says, Now, that doesn't mean we won't have a memory in the new heavens and the new earth. It just means that the things of the old earth will have gone and will not be of any consequence once we get to the state of eternal glory. But notice Isaiah's eschatology. Notice as Isaiah's thinking about the end of the world, he's also thinking about a new created order. He says a similar thing in Isaiah 66 and verse 22. The prophet clearly had an eschatology that was in keeping with what we're finding John's eschatology was. And you would expect that, wouldn't you? Because this is the truth of God, and God's truth is coherent. It makes sense. It's consistent. Look at verse 22 of Isaiah 66. And so we see here that as As Isaiah is expecting the messianic age and even the consummation of the messianic age, he's also expecting a new heaven and a new earth. And it's this very thing that John picks up, as he now tells us about what is going to happen after the final judgment. And it's very important for us to understand this because what John is telling us here is that there's going to be a cosmic transformation. Now this is not something that is only unique to John. Turn to Romans chapter 8 just for a minute, one of my favorite chapters in the book of Romans, if not the purple passage of Romans, isn't it? Notice how Paul speaks in Romans 8 verse 18 because this is important to see the consistency between John's eschatology his understanding of the last things, and Paul's eschatology. And we've already read about Peter's eschatology, which is also consistent with the other apostles. But listen to the words of Paul in Romans chapter 8 verse 18. For I consider, Paul says, that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 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. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inward as we await eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. You see what Paul is saying? Paul is saying, I understand that what God is going to do eventually, at the end of the age, is he is going to bring about a deliverance of the created order from the curse of the fall. He is going to bring about this glorious revelation of His glory by way of delivering the created order from that which has cursed it and bound it because of sin. And we who are in Christ are going to enjoy this and be part of this when it comes to pass. And so we find that Peter's eschatology as well in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 11 through 13. Turn to it for a minute. Pastor Smith's already read it, but let's read it again. We see that Peter ties in with this. 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 11. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what things? We'll go back to verse 10. The day of the Lord will come like a thief. And that just simply means it will come unannounced. You're not expecting it to happen. But I'll tell you this, it won't be quiet and it won't be silent. Then the heavens will pass away with a roar! A roar! It doesn't say silence. A roar! And then notice what it says. He goes on to say, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed, says all these things of us to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for the 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, here it is, for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. So here's the testimony of John, the testimony of Paul, the testimony of Peter, that what is coming to pass is nothing less than a moral transformation of the universe whereby God is going to create a new heavens and a new earth. That's what John sees in this vision in Revelation chapter 21. But that's not all that he sees. Notice verse 2. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared. as a bride adorned for her husband." Having seen the new heavens and the new earth in his vision, the new created order, if you will, the old created order having passed away, John now says, not only do I see that, but I see something else. I see the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God. Now notice how he describes it. As a bride adorned for her husband. One of the great blessings and privileges you get as a pastor is you get to stand here when the bride is standing up there. And you stand with the groom as he awaits the bride and as she turns and starts to walk down, you get to see something of the glory. of the woman who has prepared herself for her husband to look her best and you watch as she marches down and you watch him as he looks up and you're looking and you're looking at the whole thing and you're realizing how much she has made an effort to look her best on the most important day of her life as she comes to marriage. Well, that's the kind of picture that is painted here for us. This city coming down out of Jerusalem prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. It is a picture of splendor, of beauty, of majesty, and it is the whole idea here of being prepared and ready and at one's best. Now the question we have to ask ourselves of course is this, who or what is the New Jerusalem? What is it that we're supposed to see here? Well the great thing about that is that the book of Revelation tells us. We don't have to guess about this. I have another sermon that I preached from verses 9 to the end of the chapter just to, if you like, we're actually looking at the big picture tonight and then the next sermon as we zoom right in and we look at the specifics of the New Jerusalem. But let me just summarize it for you. Look at Revelation 21 verse 9. Notice what it says. Then came one of the angels, who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Verse 10, And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Now, do you notice again how the metaphors get flipped here? How John is told that he's going to be shown the bride, the wife of the lamb, and so he's taken away. What would you expect if someone said, I'm going to show you the bride? You think I'm going to see a woman. I'm going to show the bride the lamb. Okay, maybe it's a lamb. So you think, oh, maybe it's a woman, maybe it's a lamb. And he sees a city. He sees a city. The new Jerusalem coming down from God. The reality is this, that what we're seeing here is, we're seeing here language that describes to us the fact that in the new heavens and in the new earth, what is going to be at the center, what is going to be the most important element, is going to be the church. It's the Church, the Bride of Christ, the Bride of the Lamb. And he goes on in Revelation 21 and the whole description of the New Jerusalem to describe the city. But in describing the city, what he's doing is describing the Church. And you've got to work through all the imagery of all of that, and that will keep you busy for a while. It kept me busy for a while. I don't have time to get into that tonight, but simply want you to see very clearly here, what is it that John is seeing in verses 1 and 2 of Revelation 21? He's seeing a new created order, and in the midst of this new created order, he is seeing the glorified church in the new heavens and the new earth. Now, isn't that a significant image for John to see? In the first century when he thinks the church may go out of existence, the church may have had it, the church may be going to be wiped off the face of the earth, Jesus has come to him and he's revealed to him the history of redemption and he's saying to John, no John, let me show you the end now. Let me show you where it's all going. Let me show you where I'm going to bring it to as the Lord of the church and as the Lord of glory. John is seeing here the perfected body of Christ in the midst of the new heavens and the new earth. The elect people of God from every age, from every generation are now seen in the midst of God's new created order in this vision. And John will then zoom in, in the next part of the vision, to look at the detail of this city, the New Jerusalem, the church. And we have to understand then, this is what John is seeing. He's seeing here the new created order, he's seeing the glorified church. That's the things that John sees in verses 1 through 8. But notice secondly, the explanation that John receives. Because John sees these things, but these things need now to be explained to him. And it's done for us essentially in two ways. There is what we're going to see, a general explanation. And then there is a specific explanation. of what he is seeing in this vision. And notice then, first of all, in more general terms, verses 3 and 4, John informs us that he hears a voice coming from the throne, presumably the great white throne that he's just mentioned in Revelation 20. Now, who is it in the book of Revelation that is sitting upon the throne? Who is it that dominates the landscape when the throne is in view? Well, it's God. It's God who sits upon the throne of the universe. So we might say that what John is hearing here is the revelation from God. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 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 shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." There are two important things to see here by way of this general Explanation that John sees what John is seeing with the new heavens and the new earth and the church in the midst of them Is this that God's final? Dwelling place with man shall come to pass at this point in redemptive history God's final dwelling place with man shall be concluded in the new heavens and the new earth When the church is perfected in glory. You see, he's employing here covenantal language. If you're familiar with your Bible, you'll know that this is kind of covenantal language. The dwelling place of God is with man, he will dwell with them, and they will be his people. It's the idea of God's consummate covenant purpose with mankind. The apostle is informed that in the new heavens and the new earth, through this new Jerusalem, what God is doing is he's establishing his final perfect dwelling place with man. Now this is a remarkable thing that we need to understand because it touches on something that is actually at the very heart of our existence as human beings. Ever since God created mankind, placed him in the garden, Do you understand and realize that God has desired and intended to bless man with God's presence and God's fellowship? That's why God put man in the garden in the first place. It was to have fellowship with man. It was so that man, his Creator, his creature, could experience the presence of the Creator. Sadly, however, ever since our first parents rejected the presence of God and the fellowship of God and the blessing of God, man, by nature, has shook his fist in the face of God and has been at enmity with God and refuses to enjoy the presence of God and fellowship with God. But God hasn't completely and totally given up on man. You see, this is what Eden was all about. Don't just think, well, Adam was in the Garden of Eden just to be a gardener. The idea of Eden, and the idea of the presence of God, and the idea of Adam being a worshipper of God, a servant of God, a son of God, is the whole idea of God's fellowship and presence with man. And then, what do we find? When man sins, man is banished from the presence of God, man is separated from the presence of God, and God then doesn't completely give up on man, but what does God do? God and his sovereign purpose begins in his own way, in his own time, and it has to be said somewhat mysteriously, to pursue mankind. Slowly but surely he pursues mankind, eventually calling a man called Abraham from this pagan land to begin to be son of God, eventually giving his man Abraham descendants, Isaac and Jacob. Eventually this family turns into what? A nation. What does God do? He then tells them, you need a tabernacle. To what end? That I may come down and dwell in your midst. And you might enjoy my presence. And you might have fellowship with me. And he gives them all these rules and regulations in order to learn how to approach the holy God of heaven and earth. And then what do we find? We find that God develops them even more and he brings them into a land. And in that land they build a temple and what is the purpose of the temple? That they might enjoy the presence of God. But all the time there is this problem. Man is still innately sinful and man is rebellious against God but God is extravagantly gracious and still comes after man. And then what do we discover? There is no doubt God has to judge man and punish man and God at times has to destroy but the reality is he doesn't give up and eventually what does he do? God Himself comes in the person of Jesus Christ to dwell amongst men. But God's not finished. That's just another step towards His ultimate goal. And what does God do? God in Christ accomplishes redemption for sinners so that whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life, shall enter into fellowship with God and know the presence of God. In what way? The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. God himself comes in peculiar regenerating power and takes up residence in man. In a peculiar way that he had never done before, even though men were regenerate in the old covenant, they did not enjoy the fullness of the spirit the way they do in the new covenant. And he establishes the church, which he says is my temple that I will dwell in, but he's not finished. Where is he going with all this? He's going to the new heavens and the new earth, where eventually he will fix his dwelling in mankind once and for all. Never to be undone, never to be lost, never to be broken, but rather to be perfected and full. And this is what John is seeing here. God's final dwelling place with man is being revealed in the new heavens and the new earth and the new Jerusalem when God says that this is God's dwelling place with man. He will dwell with them and he will be their people and God himself will be with them as their God in a way that we can't even begin to fully grasp because it's so glorious and so amazing. But it's described for us here. And this is only the general explanation. There is secondly, God's final deliverance of man. There's God's final dwelling place with man, but also generally speaking, we learn of God's final deliverance of man. What does it mean that we'll enjoy the presence of God? Well, here's what it means, verse four. He'll lift all the curses of the fall once and for all. You see, this is the language of God lifting the consequences, the results of the fall. Death shall be no more. And the day you eat of the tree, you will die. You know why people die? Now we know that cancer kills us, road crashes kill us, but ultimately why is it that those things are not shaking off? Why is it that we don't just get out of the wreck and walk away? Because the reality is we die because of sin. We die because of the curse of God upon the world. We die because of rebellion, the rebellion of Adam and the reality of our own connection to Adam. We are under the curse. This world is under God's judgment and God's wrath. Paul speaks of it in the way he does in Romans 8, that it is in bondage, but it's waiting for the deliverance from bondage. Well, here in this passage, it says that when God comes finally and consummately to dwell forever amongst his people, in his people, in the new heavens and the new earth, all the consequences, the curses of the fall, the covenant curses, they'll be lifted and taken away and utterly removed. No death, no mourning, no crying, no pain. Former things have passed away. John is being shown glory in a way that he had never seen it before. He's been shown the end in a way that he had never known it before. All of these things that we read of here came upon mankind as a result of sinning against God. Now in the new heavens and the new earth, they will be excluded. They will be taken away. They will be removed. The world that we live in right now is a world that's under the curse of God. Do you believe that? Are you aware of that? Are you convinced of that? It's a world marked by tragedy, by disease, by death. Mankind suffers under the burden of the judgment of God. And even we who are the Lords, Our inner man may be getting renewed every day, praise the Lord, we know that, but let's be frank, Pastor Smith's already confessed it to you this morning, we're all getting older. And we're all heading towards the grave. And there's nothing we can do about it. In the new heavens and the new earth, however, this'll all be gone. No more tragedy, no more disease, no more death. All the covenant curses that God brought upon mankind because of his rebellion, removed. Why? Because in the new heavens and the new earth we're going to enjoy the fullness of all that Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary. Now in more specific terms, notice verses 5 through 8. That's the general explanation. There's going to be God's final dwelling place with man is coming into existence, God's final deliverance of man is coming into existence. Now more specifically, I want you to notice in verses 5 through 8 just what this deliverance actually means. You see, God reaffirms very clearly the universality of the new heavens and the new earth. Notice, I am making all things new. There is nothing in the universe that is going to be outside of this glorious moral renovation that is coming. Nothing. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm sure when you guys go down to the beach and you look across the ocean and you think, wow, it's really an amazingly beautiful thing to see the sun and the water and the beach, and you think it's a gorgeous place to see this, a gorgeous thing to see. But you know, you realize it's a cursed world that you're in. We have a lot of beauty spots in California. One of my favorites is Lake Tahoe. And I've often sat up there reading my Bible and thinking about it and looking across it, thinking if this is cursed, What's the glory going to be like? Because it's beautiful. I mean, it really is. Blue water, blue sky, trees all around it, mountains. And you think, how beautiful. You go to Yosemite. I'm boasting a little bit about California here, okay? It's a great place to go for a vacation if you haven't been. Yosemite is just breathtaking. You go into the valley and you think it's amazing how glorious it is, how beautiful it is, the mountains, the rocks, the rivers. You think, this is cursed. What's it going to be like when it's not cursed? And you see all things are going to be made new. I think to myself, Lord, how can you make Tahoe better? Very well. make it far more glorious than I've got the ability to even imagine. Understand. You see, nothing will be untouched by the new order. Every aspect of the old creation will be affected in some glorious way. The physical realm will be affected and the spiritual realm will be affected. And here we see very clearly there will be a specific line of demarcation that requires our understanding and our consideration. Notice verses 6 and 7 and how they contrast with verse 8. Verse 6 and 7 says this, And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son. But, As for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Here we see in verses 6 and 7 that God identifies those from among the human race who will be present in the new heavens and the new earth. And in verse 8 he identifies those from among the human race who will be absent from the new heavens and the new earth. Now this is a very sobering thing for us to consider, but it's necessary all the same. We need to see and understand this. Who will be present in the new heavens and the new earth? Who are part of the new Jerusalem? Who are the new humanity, if you will, that God is creating? Well he tells us, it is those who first and foremost have been blessed with the Holy Spirit. Notice, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. That's a reference there to the idea, if you will, that Isaiah 49.10 speaks of water being given for sustenance. Jesus builds on that imagery in John 7.38 and speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom sinners will be able to have fellowship with God when they come to believe in Jesus Christ. And God gives this blessing of the Spirit freely and out of His mercy to rescue sinners. And it is the people who have enjoyed and experienced the work of the Spirit, who have become partakers of the divine nature by grace, who have come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are going to be inhabiting this new heavens and the new earth. Now notice he says, however, that the people who have received this spirit are the people who have also, in this life, overcome this world. The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son. What John is really saying here is this, look. The people who are going to inhabit the new heavens and the new earth are the people who have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone. And they have proved that reality by the fact that they have lived a faithful and holy life all their days. That's very important to understand. Even right here at the end of the Bible, this is not put your hand up for Jesus stuff. This is not nod in Jesus' direction and you'll be okay. This is talking about the fact that you have actually been truly born again of the Holy Spirit and become yourself a new creation in Christ Jesus and become part of the body of Christ, the new Jerusalem, that which is the bride adorned for her husband. And it's very, very significant that this kind of language is used here because, again, remember the context. The context of John worried about the church, concerned about the church, troubled about the church, wondering about the church. What is going to become of the church? Is it going to survive? And Jesus comes and says, John, all those who have received the spirit and prove it by their perseverance, don't you worry. They're going to be there. They're going to be in the new heavens and the new earth. I'm going to see to it. For I'm the Lord of the church. And having begun a good work in them, I will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. but there are going to be those who are going to be excluded from this new heavens and the new earth, and there's a sobriety to this section, because notice, but as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire. Now, I think we have to be very careful here. I am persuaded by the commentator GK Beale and others that this is not, strictly speaking, simply talking about people who have never heard the gospel and never professed Christ, but rather it's actually talking about people who potentially are claiming to be Christians. but in reality will turn out to be false professors whose lives will be characterized ultimately by hypocrisy. And I think the contrast that is being made here is possibly that. I think it can also include a wider group of people, but I think it's warning. It's warning the church, just as Peter warns us that on the day of the Lord, in the light of the coming of Christ and the final day and the new heavens and the new earth, what manner of people ought we to be? Holy people. then John I think here is saying a similar thing in this particular vision. He's warning that those who are cowardly, now think about that, those who can't take the pressure of persecution and who turn back into the world, those who are faithless, who decide that they won't persevere anymore because it's just getting too tough to be a Christian, those who are potentially saying one thing and doing another. Remember what he says regarding the church, that they're to deal with Jezebel who has been advocating sexual immorality in the ranks of the church. He says you've got to deal with that. Sexual immorality is not acceptable in the church amongst Christians. And I think it's quite likely then that what John is doing here is he's saying, I've received this vision from the Lord regarding the new heavens, the new earth, and the glory of the church in the midst of this. And I'm aware that the final dwelling place with God is coming at this time. And I'm aware that the final deliverance of God's elect is coming at this time. But listen, we need to be aware that we have to make our calling and election sure. because there are those who will not be accepted, who will not be received into the new heavens and the new earth. And so when John receives this clear explanation of the new heavens and the new earth and the new Jerusalem, it comes as an encouragement to him, but it also comes as a warning to him. And you see, that's very important because when we're preaching the word of God, we should be preaching warnings and encouragements at the same time. That's what the Apostle Paul says. He says that he taught, he proclaimed Christ and he did it in such a way as to admonish and teach that people would come to maturity in the Lord. Those who are found faithful in the final day will be the ones who will enter the new heavens and the new earth. Those who are found false and unfaithful, they'll be excluded. And the final day may be the thing alone that actually reveals that. You see, we need to be aware of this, we need to be clear on this, that the new heavens and the new earth is only going to be for those who are truly Christians. Only those who are truly born again are going to get into the new heavens and the new earth. All false professors will not be admitted. That brings us then to the application that this throws up for us. And there are three things I want to say to you tonight before we close. Let me first of all say this. And we've kind of touched on it, but I want to just drive it home before we move to our second application. Understand that not everybody's going to be saved, but only those who are truly born again and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why do I say that? Well, apart from the fact I think it's clearly taught here in the scripture in this passage, I think it has to be said in our generation of pluralism, and our generation of universalism, and the pressure that's been brought to bear on the church in our day not to judge, and the pressure that's been brought to bear on the church in our day to say, well really all roads lead to heaven, we just happen to have one of them. The reality is there is only one way to know the true and the living God, and it is through the one way that he has provided, the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the work that he has wrought on the place called Calvary, shedding his blood to make atonement for sin, satisfying divine justice, turning away divine wrath, rising from the dead to show to the world Redemption has been accomplished, inviting whosoever will believe in Him to come to Him and be saved. And we must be very clear on this this evening. We must be very clear that when you get to the end of the Bible, you discover there are only going to be two kinds of people at the end of the day. Those who are saved and those who are not. Those who are in Christ and those who are outside of Christ. Those who are entering into the new heavens and the new earth and those who are being excluded from it and cast into the lake of fire, the place of everlasting punishment. Now I recognize in our day, that's not a popular thing to say. It'd be much nicer to say, well, you know, God loves everybody just exactly the same way and you've got a wonderful plan for your life and if you could just find it, and even if you don't find it, it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day you won't be condemned for it and it'll be okay. That's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what the gospel says. And you may be a visitor here tonight. Men have come in tonight, you're not a Christian. Maybe that some of you young people who've been with us over the weekend, you're still deliberating over where you stand before the Lord. Listen to me. Not everybody is going to be in the new heavens and the new earth. You won't get into the new heavens and the new earth because mom and dad are going into the new heavens and the new earth. You won't get into the New Heavens and the New Earth because your brother or your sister is good into the New Heavens and the New Earth. You won't get into the New Heavens and the New Earth because you came to hear good preaching and a good solid church. That doesn't get you into the New Heavens and the New Earth. You know what gets you into the New Heavens and the New Earth? A saving relationship with Jesus Christ. You must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, turn from your sins and be saved. If you are going to be part of the new humanity and be part of this new Jerusalem, the body of Christ, the bride adorned for her husband, and you're going to be in this new created order that is coming when Jesus comes in his glory to judge the nations. And so I urge you this evening, I exhort you this evening, I plead with you this evening. If you're halting between two opinions, It's time to close with the Lord Jesus. It's time to run to Him. It's time to embrace Him. It's time to believe in Him. He's your only hope. He's my only hope. He's the only hope of all men, anywhere, at any time. Because it's only through Christ, as we saw this morning, coming in His first coming, and establishing this Kingdom, His rule in the hearts of men, and accomplishing the redemption that's going to ultimately consummate, if you will, in the deliverance of the whole universe from the curse of God's judgment, whereby all the enemies of God are going to be cast away into the lake of fire, and only those who are friends of God, by grace, through faith in Christ, are going to be saved. And so I want to exhort you this evening. Don't believe the lies of our culture. Don't believe the lies of our rebellious nation, civilization, that there's a big rope hanging down, and it's got Islam on it, and it's got Hinduism on it, and it's got secularism on it, and Christianity's in there somewhere. It doesn't matter which one you get a hold of. They'll all pull you up to glory. No, they won't. Only Jesus Christ can save us from our sins. And only a saving relationship with Jesus Christ will bring you to eternal glory. Not everybody is going to be saved. Only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, only those who have been born again of the Spirit are going to be part of the new humanity. But secondly, what do we discover here for those of us who say, well, we are Christians. We believe. Well, here's the challenge for you. Take the pursuit of a holy life very, very seriously. Take the pursuit of a holy life very, very seriously. When you read and study the Bible seriously, you come to understand its message clearly says this. If your life doesn't prove your confession of faith in Christ, then your confession of faith in Christ is not true. Your life must be a life that is devoted to obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems to me in our day that the word obedience has kind of fallen out of fashion. You know, you don't want to say that. It sounds like you're really demanding things of God. You know, God does demand things of us. And we mustn't be afraid of that. God demands that we offer our lives as living sacrifices unto Him, holy and acceptable unto Him, which is a reasonable response to the Gospel. And so we need to realize here that when John tells us here that only those who are born of the Spirit and only those who conquer, that is, overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, will actually have this heritage, this place in the new heavens and the new earth, that what he's basically saying is this, we need to take obedience, holiness, seriously as the people of God. And we mustn't play fast and loose with the Lord. And we mustn't think at the end of the day that It doesn't matter how we live as long as we just say we believe. No. That is not true Christianity. True Christianity makes it very clear that if we're truly born of the Holy Spirit, there will be evidence that we're born of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit will be manifest in our lives. We will be committed to putting off sin and putting on righteousness. There are far too many professing Christians today not taking the pursuit of a holy life seriously. And I fear that perhaps they're not the Christians they think they are. Now please don't misunderstand me here. I'm well aware of my own corruption, maybe not as well aware as I need to be and pray the Lord would continue to help me to be. But I know this, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Without the evidences of grace, where is the grace? Some people, it seems to me, believe in impotent grace. I believe in omnipotent grace. I believe in the grace that is able, the work of the Spirit that is able to take the drunk and make him sober. That's able to take the drug addict and make them clean. That's able to take the homosexual and make them not homosexual. And I'm not afraid to say that in this day and age when it seems so politically incorrect. The reality is we've got to say what the Bible says. I'm not afraid to say that the man who is proud and arrogant and covetous cannot be delivered from that pride and arrogance and covetousness and become the man who is humble and the man who is trusting in the Lord and the man who is generously giving away all that he has for the glory of God. You see, moral transformation is real moral transformation. Old things have passed away, the Bible says. All things are becoming new. Just as God is morally transforming us, He's going to completely morally transform the whole universe. And we'll be caught up in that as well at the end of the age. And eventually, because it won't happen this side of glory, we will be perfected in holiness. But let me tell you now, if you're not serious about holiness now, you've got no reason to believe you have the Holy Spirit. You may have a spirit, but it ain't the Holy One. The Holy Spirit makes you serious. about what pleases God. And you want to do it. I can honestly tell you tonight, I'm a Christian because I want to be a Christian. Not because I'm smart, and not because I chose it for myself, but because God changed my heart. And now that my heart is changed, and I know it's changed, I don't want to sin and displease the Lord. Now that doesn't mean I don't sin. Because I do. You ask my wife, she'll stand up and tell you. She knows my sins better than anybody else. And then next to her, my kids know my sins better than anybody else. But here's the thing. I don't want to sin. I want to live a righteous life. Do you? Can you honestly say before the Lord, the Lord being your helper, with all the struggles that you have, with the light that you have, you honestly want to say, I want to please God with my life. whatever that looks like, content even to fill a little space if God is glorified. See, that's true grace, that's the true conversion of the soul. And so we must take the pursuit of a holy life very seriously when we read about the new heavens and the new earth, and who will be in the new heavens and the new earth, and who will not be in the new heavens and new earth. But finally, and let me finish on this, we must take great comfort in the future glory that is coming. We must take great comfort in the future glory that is coming. When you look around at this old world, what do you see? We do see it groaning. We see man suffering. We see sorrow. We see death all around us. The news media, what does it report? Does it report all the good things? Well, occasionally they put one in to try and make it sound like they're trying. But really, they report all the bad things, don't they? Because there's a lot of bad things going on. The famines, the wars, the storms, the horrors of our world regularly hit the news. It's true, isn't it? This world is not a happy place. The world is under the judgment of God. And let's be quite frank about it. If this is all there is, there is much reason to be depressed and discouraged. There is! But this is not all there is. And that's why we can get great comfort and consolation from a passage like the one that we're looking at tonight. The hope of glory that our vision brings us causes us to lift our eyes above the here and now to the there and then. To be on this veil of tears that we might obtain from what is coming a measure of comfort and basically this, the best is yet to be. And we must believe that. We must therefore, as Jonathan Edwards has said, stamp eternity on our eyeballs. Not live with a merely temporal perspective, we must live with an eternal perspective. I buried my father at Christmas, worst experience of my life, yet amazingly most glorious experience all at the same time. And when I looked into the grave, on that cold Scottish hillside on the 31st of December, on the 30th of December, and I saw my name on my dad's coffin, because we had the same name, but his dates, it made me think, my time is coming. And when my time comes, here's the issue, is this all that there is, or is there more? And I can honestly say, by the grace of God, I am persuaded there's much more coming. Much more coming because the Word of God says there's much more coming. More glory coming than we understand right now. And therefore, in the midst of death, We draw great comfort if those who die, die in the Lord, then it is only a parting for a season and we shall yet see them again. And I tell you this, I preached it for years, but now I really know something of the impact that it has. When death comes so close and it's so powerful in your life, you realize we better be living for eternity. Because if this is all there is, quite frankly, it's a sick joke. But thankfully it's not a side joke. Thankfully this book makes sense of it. Thankfully this book helps us understand it. And the best is yet to be. God is going to meet out perfect justice at the end of the age. And there is great hope in the Lord for us because he is going to come for us and he is going to bring us safely into this new heavens and this new earth that will be the moral transforming of the world in which we're living. Let me just say this, I don't have time to get into it tonight and I dealt with it more in the second sermon I preached on this, but the reality is there is an inseparable connection between the world we're living in now and the world that is coming. Now why do I say that? Because in the Bible, the resurrected body that we are going to experience in the resurrection is inseparably connected to the body that we stick in the ground. And if the body that we stick in the ground is then raised to glory, and we need to understand raised to glory for the new heavens and the new earth, then what we have is this. This world that we live in is not going to be annihilated. it is going to be renovated and transformed and renewed and the whole idea and imagery of burning is not to utterly burn it up to nothingness but it is going to burn it to in terms of refining it morally and putting out from it all that is corrupt all that is wicked, all that is sinful, so that only righteousness will dwell in the new created order. And there will be no possibility of anybody repressing or pressing the reset button so that we end up having what we had with Adam and Eve in the probation. It will not be probation, it will be fixed and eternal and forever. And brothers and sisters, we need to understand this and see this, because I tell you now, if we believe it, if we're convinced of this, then we'll hold a lot more of the things of this life loosely. And we will know that if at the end of the day, tomorrow, cancer strikes, or tomorrow, a loved one has an accident and dies, or suddenly, something takes place in our lives that is life-shaping, we'll be able to handle it from this perspective. The best is yet to be. And it's not all over in the purpose of God. And it may be that for some of you, something's going to come to you this week. It's going to really test whether you have a temporal perspective on life. or internal perspective. And I hope you'll turn to a passage like this. And I hope you'll say, Lord, it's really hard. And there'll be tears, perhaps. And there'll be even maybe wailing. And there'll be fear. and there'll be uncertainty, but you'll go to your Bible and you'll say, Lord, even though I'm really struggling with the realities of your providence right now, your word brings me comfort as I contemplate the future glory that you say is coming in the new heavens and the new earth. My dear brothers and sisters, if we, as of all people in the world, cannot live with an eternal perspective, then no one can live with an eternal perspective, because we're the only ones that have a proper eternal perspective. The challenge for us, however, is this. It's so easy not to walk in the light of that perspective. You see, our marriages will come and go. I love my wife. I want it to last forever. I wish I was a Mormon sometimes. But I know they're wrong, but it still seems like a nice doctrine, doesn't it? If you love your wife, you want to be married to her, but it's not going to happen. We talk about it sometimes. What's it going to be like? Your children. They hopefully will bury you, you won't bury them. You just never know, however. Your job, it's going to pass away, and for a number of us, we're probably saying, the sooner the better, I'd like to get out. Your home. Let's be honest, it's just a tent. And especially if you live in South Florida, you probably have more of an awareness of that than most of us. God just has to send one wind through here and you'll be building again. But here's the point. All these things are going to pass away at the end of the day. But you know what's going to endure? The church. The new humanity. And you might say, that's strange. No. That's God's purpose. And that means that we should love His church. And we should serve His church. And we should be part of His church more than anything else in life. Because my Bible says, when the new heavens and the new earth come, my wife will be there, but she won't be my wife. That's kind of weird. I freely admit that. I don't understand that. That's kind of one of the things I wrestle with with the Lord. What's that going to be like, Lord? It's going to be different. It's going to be a change. I don't know. Just trust the Lord for it at the end of the day. He knows best. I hope all my children are going to be there, but God doesn't owe me the salvation of my children. I hope they're all saved, but I don't know! My friends! But I know this, the Church is going to be there. So therefore I'm going to love His Church, be part of His Church, serve His Church, be committed to His Church. You say, well, the Church is not perfect. I know it's not perfect. I always smile when people come to me as a pastor and say, Pastor, I've got a problem in the church. I say, great, do you want to know how many problems I've got as your pastor? Do you want me to tell you what I know about the church? You just know this much. I know this much. But it's still Christ's bride. And we must love it. And that doesn't mean you love the idea of the church. That's the danger, I think. You've got to love the church. You know what that means? Each other. We're a motley crew, aren't we? At the end of the day. We're honest. But we've got to love each other. We've got to work it out. How to deal with each other. Here and now. Why? Because we're going to spend there and then forever and ever and ever together. And it would be good to start now getting used to each other, wouldn't it? Enjoying each other now. Now, yeah, I know, when you get to eternal glory, all your jealousies, all your bitternesses, all your easy offences, all my easy offences, all my bitternesses, they're all going to be removed, I understand that. But the evidence that we're going to be there is that here and now we're taking it seriously because the Spirit has come now to challenge us to live this way. And we must take comfort from the fact that What's coming is glorious, but what's now is the start of it. And brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you, no matter what you're going to face, no matter what you're going to face individually as families or as a church, to remember that the best is yet to be. And you need to walk by faith and not by sight. You need to learn of Christ, the things that Christ has revealed to us. God's purpose in the new heavens and the new earth has been revealed to us for a reason. Not that we might just theorize about it, but that it might have an impact now on our lives. That impact being that we cultivate an eternal perspective on life. So that when our time comes, and it will, to leave the church militant and go to the church triumphant, our testimony will be a testimony worth leaving behind. A testimony that, as we've been talking to the young people this weekend, a testimony that we can pass on to them and say, now it's your turn. And we will eventually all be there together. in the eternal glory in the new heavens and the new earth. Brothers and sisters, find comfort in the future glory that is coming and do not lose your eternal perspective. Maybe tonight that's what you just have to get back. You know that you've lost it, but you need to get it back. May the Lord help you to get it back. Because if you do, you will be a happy Christian and you will be a useful Christian. because you will be a committed Christian. May God write these things upon all of our hearts, brothers and sisters, and may Christ continue in this place and across our nation and across our world to build His church until He comes in His glory for His people. Amen. Let's pray. Father, as we navigate through these things in your Word, some of them hard to understand, some of them somewhat obscure, yet, Lord, we thank you for the things that you do make clear to us and that we're able to grasp. And we rejoice tonight that we are convinced that there is a new heavens and a new earth coming. We are convinced that the new Jerusalem, the body of Christ, the bride of the Lamb shall be there. And we are convinced, Lord, that all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again of your Spirit are part of this great and glorious purpose. And we pray tonight that in the light of these things, Father, we will make our calling and our election sure. And that you would instill in each and every one of us an eternal perspective on life. We confess, Lord, we love this life very much because we've got so much. But we know, Father, that we must hold this life loosely. And we must look to that which is to come. And we pray tonight that you would give us a deeper understanding of eternal things. And that we would find in these eternally glorious realities that your word reveals comfort and strength for our hearts to enable us to be more than conquerors through faith in Jesus Christ. Father, hear us tonight. Write your word upon all our hearts. Take us home safely, we pray. Bless our week as we seek to live for your glory. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.