Echoes of Eternity Friday

Intro

I want some participation to start things off. What is your favorite fictional story that you’ve ever read, watched, or played through?

Mine is Lord of the Rings. One of the reasons why I have grown to love the story so much is because in it, you have this awesome fantasy world laid out. Graceful and mighty elves go to war with mighty men against the brutal and war-hungry orcs. There are epic battles, deep strategies, and even spiritual forces of good vs evil that are all locked in deep war for the fate of the world. In the midst of that world, the Lord of the Rings tells the story of how two little hobbits are going to find themselves as the central players in deciding the outcome of this war and the fate of the world.

For those of you who don’t know, hobbits are just little guys. Their special power is eating lots of food and not caring about much else. They tend to live comfy and isolated lives, not caring about the world around them or anything that might force them outside of their comfort zones.

And in the Lord of the Rings, two hobbits will thwart the ages-old purposes of evil spirits who have been seeking to ravage the Earth from the time that it was created.

Did you know that all of you are characters that have been written into the best story ever told?

Perfect Promise

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

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 anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

State: In Christ, God has written the perfect ending to our story

SPOILER ALERT

I know it may not always feel like it, but every single one of us are characters that have been written into a story. I know it might sometimes feel like things aren’t planned, like things seem random, like there might even be no point to the things that are happening. But I’m telling you, (and more important the Bible is telling you) that we are not just atoms flying around an otherwise empty space; we are each finding ourselves as a part of the greatest story ever told.

This story is an epic, and I want to talk to you about this story tonight, and your part in this story, but I’m not going to start at the beginning. Actually, I’m going to start at the end.

Now God has written your whole story, he knows every part of it intimately. In other words, he has “foreordained everything that happens.” But even though he knows it, he doesn’t tell it to you. You know a lot about the parts of your story that have already happened, but you don’t know anything about the parts of your story that haven’t happened yet. And even though God hasn’t told you anything about what’s going to happen in your story, he has told you the ending. Revelation 21 is the end of the story for everyone who follows Jesus.

And what is the end of your story? What are we leading up to? Well in reality, the end of your story is actually another beginning. The end of your story is a redemption, a restoration, and a new life that is perfect.

First, we see that there is going to be a new heaven and a new earth.

This world has become broken and will be replaced with a perfect earth

There will be no weeds, no thorns, no sickness, no cancer, no disaster, no brokenness

Second, we see a new city

This is a people that are made new: the church in her new beauty and splendor after being made perfect

Third, we see that there is a new King

God Himself is sitting amongst them on the throne.

Fourth, we see that the former things have all passed away.

In this new world, all of our pain is going to melt away. Suffering will only exist as a distant memory that has served to bring about our redemption and God’s glory

Illustrate: Dr. Strange and Iron Man

Apply: You have the greatest possible future to look forward to in Christ

There isn’t any promise that can compare to the one God has made to us in Revelation 21. You might get promised a lot of things from a lot of people throughout your life, and some of those promises might sound really enticing in the moment. You might be promised a lot of money if you just dedicate your life to a corporation. You might be promised a perfect relationship if you just compromise on your entire value system.

Even if you take those promises, and even if those people can deliver on the promises they make, none of them can compare to what God has promised us in Christ.

Money might make life easier at times, but money can be lost just as easily as its gained. Relationships might make life more fun, but those are also prone to decay and can be lost in a moment. Having the right job, the right family, the right house, might all seem great, and even if you hold on to them for the rest of your life, you’ll still die, and everything you’ve committed yourself to will be lost while you still remain.

Here God offers you something eternal, uncorruptible, and truly satisfying. This is the greatest possible thing you could ever think up, this ending is better than any other possible ending.

Transition: And though all those who love Jesus will see that ending, there is a long path between there and here for most of us. As we’ve seen throughout this week in the life of Joseph, God is going to use Blessings, Sin, Temptation, Hardship, and everything else you can imagine to get you to this ending. He will cause you to persevere through joy, pain, gain, loss, hardship, celebrations, misery, loss, love, and disappointment.

In other words, between us and that perfect promise lies a painful path.

Painful Path

Romans 8:18–19 ESV

For I consider 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.

Romans 8:22–25 ESV

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 inwardly as we wait 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.

State: The path you must take is following Christ in faith, and that will lead you down roads you never saw coming. And make no mistake about it: the path of faith is at different times and different ways a path of pain.

Pastor Jerry hit on this last night in his sermon, and we’ve seen it in the life of Joseph. The Apostle Paul in the passage we just read compares this path of faith to the pains of childbirth.

Now I admit that I have never personally given birth to a child. But I have been present and involved in the birth of all three of my children, helping Morgan through the process. She has decided each time to go through that completely naturally and without any medication, with minimal intervention from any medical professionals.

And let me tell you, my goodness does it seem agonizing. The entire body becomes overwhelmed with pains, contractions, labors, and cramps. This takes place for hours and hours, and sometimes it seems even from my perspective like its just never going to end.

But for as brutal a process as childbirth can be, there is nothing like holding that brand new baby that you’ve been praying over for the last nine months. Even my wife would tell you the immediate relief and overwhelming joy of feeling that baby on her skin while she holds him is like nothing else in the world.

In that moment, it makes all those hours of agony worth it.

The life of a Christian is like this. To follow Jesus is going to be agonizing at times; and why shouldn’t it be? Look at the life of our Redeemer and the suffering he experienced. We will only receive a taste of that, and still at times we will just feel like groaning out in pain.

But for all the agony that this life might bring us, none of that suffering is even worth comparing to the glory that awaits us in the new heavens and the new earth. What seems like it will never end, what seems all-consuming will turn out to be just a momentary affliction on our path to our glorious future.

Illustrate: I want to go to the Lord of the Rings here for just a moment. There’s one point in the story where Frodo has just gotten to his wit’s end. He is so completely out of his depth, he’s up against powers that he has no business grappling with, and he barely has the strength to take one more step; let alone navigate the many dangerous miles of enemy-infested land to strike a killing blow to the greatest enemy in the world. In that moment of being completely overwhlemed by the path that he is on, he looks at his best friend Sam and just says, “I can’t do this, Sam.” And he didn’t say it like some of you say you can’t do the memory verse for the day. It wasn’t the kind of thing that you just don’t feel like doing. He was truly and utterly exhausted and he didn’t see any way that he could take another step. Maybe it was just time to lay down his burden and go back to his cozy home. And thats when Sam hit him with one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard:

I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?

But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo looks back at him desperately and says,

What are we holding on to, Sam?

Now I look at you, many of you who are tired and weary. Many of you who have found yourselves on a path that just seems overwhelming at times.

What are you holding on to?

Apply: Now if im being honest with you, some of you are holding on to things that simply will not see you through this painful path to that perfect promise of God. You’re holding on to the love of money and you think that will get you through this path of following Jesus. Some of you are holding on to a person that you think is going to be the one that gets you through. Some of you are holding on to the approval of others, some self-image that has become your idol. Do not hold on to these things: they cannot save you and they will not cause you to persevere. When life hits hard and you find yourself out of your depth and thinking “I can’t do this,” none of those things are going to cause you to continue on.

So then what should you hold on to?

Hold on to this simple but profound truth:

That God has loved you so much that he would send His only Son to live a perfect life, swap places with you and die your death, so that he could secure a perfect future for you in heaven.

When life gets so miserable that you find yourself thinking, maybe even obsessing, over those words that Frodo uttered, “I can’t do this,” remember that thing and cling to it tightly: that God has made a way for you through his Son Jesus Christ. That in Christ, God is setting everything right again; and more than that. In Christ, God is bringing us to a place thats better than our minds can possibly comprehend. Remember the promises that God has made to you in His word.

And remember this: that Revelation 21 is describing to us something more than just a hopeful thought. The promise made to us about our future isn’t just an idea or a folktale. The promise made in Revelation is our hope that is grounded in reality: God has proven that he can and will make Revelation 21 happen to all who trust in Jesus Christ.

Proof Positive

To see that proof, we look no further than the gospel of Jesus Christ. This gospel isn’t just religious mumbo jumbo, its not just a philosophy. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the history of what that man did and said.

Consider for a moment our Savior on the cross. In the midst of his agony, consider the words that he utters. As the one who came preaching salvation through himself to mankind is nailed to the cross he says, “it is finished.” Have you eve thought about what he was saying there? What was finished?

Our redemption was finally accomplished. Payment was finally made. Our future — the one described in Rev 21— had been secured by the blood of Christ. The price of our redemption was paid in full and God’s wrath was completely satisfied.

What was finished? Our redemption was finished and our future secured.

And then, after being buried in a tomb for three days, to show us that not even death could stand between us and the love of Christ, Jesus rose again from the dead. He rose for several reasons:

Being perfectly righteous and divine in nature, death could not hold him down. He showed himself to be the perfect Son of God in power through his resurrection from the dead.

But he also gave us a spoiler of what is waiting for everyone who belongs to him, all those who follow him and trust him. Just as Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven, and even now is sitting in heaven at the right hand of the Father, we can also have confidence that we will rise again with him. God has already shown us through the resurrection of Jesus that death is not the end, and that we will all rise again to new and everlasting life after the Savior we follow.

No matter what suffering may come, fix your eyes upon Jesus Christ - the one who suffered, died, and was resurrected in glory. Through faith in him, the end of your story is secure, and you are given strength to endure everything that happens between now and then.

Application: Hebrews 10:23-25

Hebrews 10:23–25 ESV

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Friends, as we consider Jesus, and as we all go home and get ready to continue on this painful path to the perfect promise God has made, let us not neglect to meet with one another. Let us not forget that we need each other to walk alongside, to encourage one another towards the hope that we have in Jesus, and to help one another remember in those painful times that God remains faithful to his promise.

Our God is good, and by the power of His Gospel he is using all things for our good and his glory. Whatever may come, never lose sight of the unbreakable love of God for you through Jesus Christ, His Son, our Savior.

FCF: We don’t get to know why everything happens, and so we have to place a lot of trust that God knows what He is doing.

CFC: God in Christ has secured our future and given us a glimpse. Until that future becomes our present, we wait patiently as we trust in God.

Trust in Christ to endure all this life throws at you

Amazing Promise

Painful Journey

How do I know you can deliver? —> I’ll show you. (Resurrection of Jesus)