Untitled Sermon (3)

Bob

All Things New

For all who are weary and need rest

To all who mourn and long for comfort

To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares

To all who fail and desire strength

To all who sin and need a Savior

This church opens wide her doors with a welcome from Jesus, the mighty friend of sinners.

Our Call To Worship

Psalm 57:9–11

         [9] I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;

                  I will sing praises to you among the nations.

         [10] For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,

                  your faithfulness to the clouds.

         [11] Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!

                  Let your glory be over all the earth! (ESV)

Brian Olmstead

Pastor Bob , we have a prayer request. Brian has had a cough for two weeks. Took him to our primary care doctor and it just seemed like a cold.

Thursday he choked on water and scared me so I took him to Heart Hospital.

CT scan showed he has pneumonia. On antibiotics

Pray for those in our church affected by the flooding.  For the repairs and the restoration to happen quickly.  Pray that you would provide for their financial needs for the work that has to be done.

For Keegan and Mariah O’Kelly as they continue to be displaced from their home with a new baby.

Pray for Josh Sullivan, a husband, father of five and a pastor and missionary in South Africa who was kidnapped at gun point by six men during their Thursday evening church service this week and is missing, apparently being held for ransom.

Pray for his wife Meagan and their kids.  Safe return.  That this event will end safely and more people will hear and believe the gospel as a result of what is going on here.

Turn to Revelation 21

Last weekend, in the Dallas Airport, looked up and saw these two people – Chip and Joanna!

Okay, they were on TV, not actually there.  You think they travel on commercial flights?  They wouldn’t be able to pass through TSA without being mobbed.  I get it.

For those who don’t know Chip and JoJo, as their friends call them, they are the reality TV stars of the show Fixer Upper.  For years, they have shown how they remodel homes in Waco TX and take something like this and make it look like this.

If you’ve ever watched their show, or any of the other shows like it – Extreme Makeover, Fixer to Fabulous, Love it or List It – you know the big moment in the show is the reveal at the end.  Are you ready to see what we’ve done to your place?  Ooohhh.  Ahhh.

We have arrived at Rev. 21 this morning, which is a major transition point in our study of Revelation – actually this is a major transition point in the whole story line of the Bible.

Maybe you’ve heard the story line of the Bible described this way – Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration?  Sometimes that last one is called Consummation or New Creation.

Here’s how the story of the Bible unfolds.  We read about God creating the heavens and the earth in the first two chapters of the Bible

Then we read about the man and the woman being tempted and falling into sin and rebellion in Genesis 3.

But in Genesis 3:15, there is a hint that God is going to do something remarkable to ultimately rescue humanity and redeem His people.  And that story of redemption is the Big Story of the Bible.  It’s what the Bible is telling us about from Genesis 4 all the way to Revelation 20.  That’s like 99.8% of what the Bible is talking about.  God rescuing and redeeming the rebels.

Then the final theme – Restoration – that’s the last two chapters of the Bible.   The two chapters that finish the book of Revelation. 

In fact, as we’ll see, what’s being redeemed and restored is not just human beings but everything God created in Genesis 1-2 that was corrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. 

Revelation 21-22 are the Big Reveal.  The total makeover of what was lost in Genesis 1-2.  But even greater than before, as we’ll see.  Better than new. 

And the first peek of that restoration is in our text for this morning. 

And the thing I want you to notice as we turn to this text is that the most glorious part of this new creation, this total makeover isn’t the physical description.  That will come. 

But John points us first of all to something greater than streets of gold and pearly gates and the river of the water of life.

What captivates John, what is the highlight of the new heavens and the new earth is what we’ll see in vs. 3.  It’s this.  The dwelling place of God is with man.

The first glimpse we get of the new heavens and the new earth is a picture of restored relationships.

What was corrupted in the garden when the man and the woman turned away from God and chose to go their own way was four fold –

They were alienated from God

They were alienated from each other

They were alienated from the creation itself

And they were alienated from themselves – inner turmoil and insecurity.  Their souls were fallen.

And what we see in Revelation 21-22 is the restoration of each of those areas. 

The relationship with God?  Restored. 

And as a result, the relationships with one another are restored. 

The relationship of mankind and the creation is restored. 

And our souls are once again at rest and at peace.

It’s going to take us four or five weeks to work our way through all of this.  So let’s dig in and get going. 

After a year in chapters 6-20, this is what we’ve been waiting for!

Let’s read the verses we’re going to look at this morning.

But let’s pray first.

Revelation 21:1–8

[1] 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.

[2] And

I saw the holy city,

new Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven

from God,

prepared as a bride

adorned for her husband.

[3] 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.

[4] 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.”

[5] 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.”

[6] 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.

[7] The one who conquers

will have this heritage,

and I will be his God

and he will be my son.

[8] 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.  May God bless this reading of His word. 

The grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of our God will last forever.

We’re going to look this morning at what John says he saw in this vision.  That’s vs. 1-2.  Then we’ll look at what he heard – that’s vs. 3-4.  And finally, what God said.  That’s in vs. 5-8.

So first, what John saw.  Two things.  He saw a new heaven and a new earth.  And he saw a new city coming down.

I mentioned last week that there is debate among scholars about whether the new heaven and the new earth are an extreme makeover of what’s already here or whether it’s a totally new, from the ground up overhaul.

One of the reasons some people think it’s a total overhaul is because of what Peter says in 2 Peter 3. 

2 Peter 3:10

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

That sounds like total destruction.  And if God spoke and created the universe in Genesis 1, it would be nothing for Him to completely destroy the universe and speak a new one into existence.

But I am inclined to agree with those who see the new heavens and the new earth as a major overhaul of what is already here.  For two reasons.

First, the word new here is the same word found in 1 Cor. 5:17.  You know that verse, right?  You should.

2 Corinthians 5:17

[17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (ESV)

Let’s memorize that right now. Good.

When someone becomes a Christian – that’s what it means to be “in Christ” – the new creation we become is a makeover of our soul.  So when it says here “the old has passed away” it doesn’t mean God gives you a new nose or a new personality.  You are still you, but you’re a very different you.  A new you. 

When it says “the old has passed away” it’s talking about what drives you and what your life is centered on.  God is at the center of the universe.  When you are in Christ, He becomes the center of your universe. 

So in Revelation 21, when John sees a new heaven and a new earth, I think what God does with the universe is what God does with our hearts when we give our lives to Him.  The old man – who we used to be, what we used to live for – is dead.  He makes us new.  And that’s what I think He’s going to do with the universe on the last day.

Here's the second reason why I think this is the case.  We’ve already seen God do this.  In Genesis 6-9.  In Noah’s day.  God destroyed and recreated the earth with the flood.  I think what He did with the flood is what He will do with fire – a purging cleansing fire – on the last day.

So what John sees, I think, is like what the people on Fixer Upper see at the end of the show.  It’s the great reveal.  But it’s more glorious and spectacular than anything Chip and Joanna can create.  It’s the universe as it was meant to be, before it was marred by sin.

And here’s a key part of what John sees in the new heavens and the new earth.  In vs. 1 it says that not only has the first earth passed away, but the sea is no more.

Now that doesn’t mean there are no beaches or lakes or oceans in the new heavens and the new earth.  It’s not that water is gone.  In fact, in the next chapter, John sees a river.  And of course, back in Revelation 4, when John saw the heavenly throne room, there was a sea there that was crystal, calm.

No, when John says the sea was no more, he’s talking about the dread and fear and danger that those in the ancient world associated with the sea.  The sea was dangerous.  People died at sea and the sea swallowed them up.  Storms came up and there was no place anyone could go for refuge. 

That’s what’s gone in the new heavens and the new earth.  Danger.  Dread.  Fear.  What the sea represents.

All of us know those moments when we’ve faced some kind of fear – when you get separated from a child in a store or you’re in an unfamiliar city or a sketchy part of town and you have to walk to your car and it’s dark and there are noises and you tense up a bit and walk faster because you don’t feel safe?

That dread is gone in the new heavens and the new earth.  You never wake up in a panic.  You never worry that something will go wrong.  Because it won’t.  The sea is gone.  That’s what that’s talking about.

Vs. 2 says that John sees the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

In the same way that I don’t think vs. 1 is saying that the sea is gone, I also don’t think John is seeing a literal city dropping down from heaven here.

If you were a Jew in John’s day, why did you go to Jerusalem for feasts and festivals every year?  What did Jerusalem have that no other city has?  The Temple.  And why is the Temple such a big deal?  Jews saw the Temple as God’s house on earth.  God’s dwelling place.  If you want to get closer to God, go to His house.  That’s where He lives.

We’ll see in the second half of this chapter a detailed description of this new city, with measurements and descriptions, so I won’t go into this too much this week.

But what I’m suggesting is that the significance of this city John is seeing, this new Jerusalem – the most important element here is that it is a Holy city – a set apart city – and it’s the dwelling place of God.

In fact, that’s what John hears in vs. 3.  The significance of the New Jerusalem is that God has come to dwell with man.

Before we get to verse three though, let me just point out that when John sees the city coming down, he says the city is adorned as a bride prepared for her husband.

The city looks like a bride coming down.  What does that mean?

It means that what is most important, most significant about what John is seeing here is this – God is coming down to dwell with us and live with us, just like He did with Adam and Even in the garden before the fall.  He walked with them in the cool of the day.  They communed and had fellowship with God.  He wasn’t distant and detached.  He lived with them. 

And when John says “what I saw was like a bride coming to be with her husband” he’s telling us that the joining together of God with us on the last day will be like a husband and wife coming together in marriage.

In fact, look at vs. 7 where God says about this new relationship “I will be his God and he will be my son.”

The point of both of these metaphors is that our relationship with God in eternity will be an intimate, loving, family relationship with a God who dwells with us.

As believers we have that relationship with God right now, don’t we?  The church is the bride of Christ.  We are all adopted children of God.  He is always with us, always near us.  We have His Holy Spirit who is with us and in us.

So what changes?  When sin is gone, when everything is made new, it’s nearer, closer, deeper.  What we have a taste of today will be our complete experience in eternity.

There will never be a time in eternity when you will say “I feel distant from God.  I feel like He’s far away.”

There will never be a time when you will say “God, where are you?”

Your relationship with Him in eternity, John says, will be like the relationship a husband and wife enjoy.  Or like the relationship between a father and his child.  Warm.  Intimate.  Connected.  Personal.  Close.  Near.

That’s what John sees.  A new heaven and a new earth and the dwelling place of God coming to us.

What John hears in vs. 3 is the announcement that reconciliation is complete and full.

[3] 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.

This is the most important part of the description of the new heavens and the new earth in these last two chapters of Revelation.

In fact, back to the Big Storyline of the Bible. 

When God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1-2, He created us to live with Him, walk with Him, fellowship with Him.

When Adam and Eve fell in Genesis 3, they said to God “we want to be independent from you.  We don’t want to need you any more.  We want to be on our own.”

And immediately, they saw the consequences of that choice.  They were removed from dwelling with God.  Kicked out of the garden with no way to get back in.  On their own.  Apart from God.

Then from Genesis 4 to Revelation 20, we have the story of all that God does to bring us back to Him.  Which ultimately requires that He send His own Son to dwell with us – Immanuel means God with us. 

Jesus comes down from heaven and reveals what life with God is meant to be.  And then He offers Himself in our place on the cross to die for our sins so fallen human beings finally have a new and living way to come back where we were made to be – back where we belong. 

Most of you have heard about probably the most famous music festival in American history.  Not Cochella.  Not Bonoroo.  Not Lallapalooza.  Not South By Southwest.

It’s this one.  The OG of music festivals.  Woodstock.  August 15-18, 1969 on Max Yasgur’s Farm in White Plains NY.  An Aquarian Explosion.  Three Days of Peace and Music.

The old joke is that if you remember being at Woodstock, you weren’t there. 

Singer songwriter Joni Mitchell wanted to be at Woodstock.  She had to watch the coverage on TV and hear about it from her then boyfriend Graham Nash. 

And that prompted her to write a song called Woodstock that some of the old people in here remember.  And the song included the line “we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”

What she was expressing is the longing every human being has.  We long to be home.  Where we belong.  We were made for the garden.  And we think “we’ve got to get ourselves back there.”

That’s what the people who went to Woodstock were looking for.  They thought three days of peace and music would satisfy the longing in their soul. 

But we can’t get ourselves back to the garden where we long to be.  We’re locked out, by our own choice. 

People today want the garden, but they don’t want God.  They want peace and love and joy and they want the world to be right, but not if it means having to bow to God and honor Him or follow Him.

But He is the only way to get back to the garden. God sent Jesus to open the door for all who will follow Him.  There is no other way to find that for which your soul longs. 

In this life, we have a taste of that as we walk with Jesus.

But in eternity, when we get to the last part of the story, when we get to Revelation 21 and 22, we’ll be back.  In the garden again.  Where we were made to be.

And it’s not fundamentally about the garden.  It’s about who is there.  We will once again dwell with God, walk with God, in a perfect, unhindered, unmediated relationship.  Free from sin.  Dwelling every moment with Him.

And not just free from sin.  Look at what else we’re free from.

Vs. 4

[4] 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.”

No tears.  No death.  No sorrow.  No crying.  No pain. 

Pastor Kevin DeYoung, reflecting on vs. 4 says

It’d be hard to find a sweeter, more precious verse in all the Bible than verse 4. It’s a little more than 30 words in English. But it is here to heal 10,000 wounds and to provide hope for millions and billions of hearts.

Imagine what that will be like. Would you allow your head and your heart to hope and to dream of such a place?

The inconveniences of life will be gone.

I can tell you some of the things I’m looking forward to. No more canker sores, no allergies, no celiac, fountains of gluten, no bad ankles, no bad knees, no bad back, no flu, no cold.

Think about even the more serious things, the No’s – no more stillbirths, no miscarriages, no traffic fatalities, no suicides, no loneliness, no anxiety, no panic attacks, no depression, no dementia, no unexplained darkness that won’t seem to lift, no more tumors, no more cells that attack your body, no more head injuries, no more phone calls to frighten you in the middle of the night, no more war, no more shootings, no more bomb shelters, no more air raids, no more paralysis, no more auto-immune disorders, no more arthritis, no more freak accidents, no more leukemia. No more tears over wayward children. No more betrayal. No more death.

You will never again think to yourself, or cry out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” You will never cry yourself to sleep in heaven. Or be up all night wondering why you can’t go to sleep. You won’t feel like lying in bed all day because you just can’t face the world and you don’t know why.

This new world of no suffering, he says, is beyond human description. We are left grasping for rhetoric and metaphors and symbolism and pictures so that our mind’s eye of faith might just scarcely imagine the splendor, the joy, the wonder that we will have in this place.

When you think about being in a place where there are No tears.  There is no death.  No sorrow.  No crying.  No pain.  Do you think “that’s what I long for?”

Of course you do.  But here’s the bigger question.  Do you have a greater longing for vs. 3 or vs. 4?

Is the longing of your heart to dwell where God is?  Or is the longing of your heart to escape sorrow and pain?

In those times when you say “Lord Jesus, come quickly” are you saying “I want to be with you where you are?”  Or are you saying “Someone get me out of here?”

I’m going to show you a 30 second video clip – I’ve shown a longer version of this clip before – but it’s something I heard John Piper say almost 20 years ago that was a gut check for me.  He was asking a version of this same question.  Watch this.

Listen, the great hope that the Bible is giving us here is the hope that we will one day be with Jesus.  That’s ought to be the longing that is in our heart. 

To want what Jesus promises more than we want to be with Jesus?  That’s a problem.  And we need to turn our hearts in the right direction.  Fix our love on Him, not on the benefits that come from knowing Him.

How can we even dare or imagine that this kind of eternal existence, dwelling again with God and experiencing all the joy that comes from that – how can we actually believe this might really be true?  Be real?  Be possible?

We can imagine it because of what we read in vs. 5 and beyond.  Because of what God sayshere.

[5] And

he who was seated on the throne

said, “Behold,

I am making all things new.”

We’ve already talked about that.

Also he said,

“Write this down,

for these words are trustworthy

and true.”

Now why does God need to say that?  Why does He need to reinforce that what He’s telling us is trustworthy and true? 

Because the first readers of this book who were facing persecution and martyrdom.  People who were facing the kind of life that the missionaries in South Africa we prayed for earlier.

And for any of us, in the midst of the pain and hardship of life, it’s easy to think “are we just pretending?  Hoping for something that is never really going to happen?”

And God says “write this down.  This is true.”

How can we know it’s true?  Look who is speaking, vs. 6.

“It is done!

I am the Alpha

and the Omega,

the beginning

and the end.

The Creator God.  The One who Colossians 1:17 says is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

The one about whom Romans 11:36 says from him

and through him

and to him

are all things.

When the One who created and sustains all things says “Here’s my promise,” the One who has proven Himself to be faithful and true for all of human history says “this is what is coming,” you can maybe allow yourself to believe what He’s saying.

But He goes on to make three promises.

The first is for anyone who is thirsty.

To the thirsty

I will give

from the spring

of the water of life

without payment.

It’s a promise for anyone who says “I’m thirsty for this.  I want to get back to the garden.  My soul longs to be with you and to experience the blessings you’re talking about here.”

God is saying here the same thing Jesus said in John 7.  On the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles, six or seven months before He would be crucified, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. [38] Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

It's the same thing Jesus said to the woman at the well in Sychar, in Samaria, when He said to her “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, [14] but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

This is the promise of God to all who are spiritually thirsty.  Come to Him.  Only He can satisfy the thirst in you. 

The second promise is to the one who conquers. 

[7] The one who conquers

will have this heritage,

and I will be his God

and he will be my son.

I told you back when we started this book a year ago that this word conquer or overcome or endure – the word Nikao – is the central theme of this book. 

John’s message to his original readers and to us today – the central message of this book, as we saw last week – is “do not shrink back, no matter how hard life gets.  No matter how hard following Jesus gets.  Do not waver.  Do not wobble.  Do not walk away.  Stand firm. 

Jesus Christ is calling you to be an overcomer.  He’s not just calling you to this, He is promising to empower you to overcome.  In Him you can be a conqueror.  Whatever comes.  You will conquer and overcome if you stand firm.

And His promise for all who overcome is that He will be their God and we will be His child.  He will love us as a parent loves a child.  He will care for us, provide for us, and He will never leave us or forsake us.

That’s His promise to all who overcome.

The third promise is a sobering one.  Vs. 8.

[8] But as for the cowardly,

the faithless,

the detestable,

Stop there. 

God is contrasting the overcomers, the conquers with these others who do not overcome.  Who waver or walk away.

And God says those who waver or walk away are cowardly, faithless and detestable. 

What might cause someone who walks with Jesus for a while to ultimately walk away?

Cowardice.  Someone who is fearful, timid.  Someone who doesn’t mind standing for Jesus if it doesn’t cost them anything.  But as soon as it gets hard, they bail.

Jesus used this same word with His own disciples when they were in the boat and the storm came up on the Sea of Galilee.  He said why are you fearful?  Cowards?

The warning here for all of us is to fear falling away more than we fear any pressure that may come our way.  Fear God more than we fear the favor of men?

Those who fall away are faithless.  Apistos.  Without faith or belief or confidence.  They fall away because ultimately, they don’t really believe in the promises of Jesus.

The warning here is that we must strengthen our faith muscles. 

When we were studying the book of Jude, we saw Jude say to his readers that the way to protect yourself from false teachers is by building yourself up in your most holy faith. 

God will regularly put your faith in Him to the test.  When He does, it’s a workout for your faith.  Lean in.  Trust Him.  Believe.  Build your faith muscles.

Finally, God calls those who fail to persevere “the detestable.”  It’s from a word that means to stink, to have a foul smell.  It’s a word that is most often associated with idolatry.  Giving your devotion and your affections to someone or something other than God which is detestable to Him.

You know how John ends the book of 1 John?  The last sentence in that book?  Little children, keep yourself from idols.  Mic drop. 

So here, God is making a promise to those who give into cowardice, those who reveal a thin, shallow faith that is really no faith at all and those who ultimately drift to idolatry. 

And he goes on to give us a description of how this cowardice and faithlessness and idolatry will manifest itself –

murder,

sexual immorality,

sorcery,

outright idolatry,

lying,

That’s not a complete list, but it’s a picture of those who are not overcomers.  These kinds of things become characteristic of their lives.

And here’s the promise. 

their portion

That is inheritance language.  What they will inherit as a result of giving up and giving in and falling away…

will be in the lake

that burns with fire

and sulfur,

which is the second death.”

They will spend eternity with the Beast, the False Prophet and Satan himself.  Facing the eternal wrath of God.

So the question that comes up here is this one.  Can someone who is a child of God fall away from God?

Here’s the answer.  No.

Okay, then how can I know that I am truly a child of God and not someone who will eventually be exposed as a coward or as faithless or as detestable?  How can I know that I will dwell with God forever and not be in the lake of fire?

You keep pursuing Christ.  You keep overcoming.  You keep growing in grace.  When things get hard, you run to Him instead of running away from Him. 

But remember this.  When you’re weak, He is strong.  When you wander, the Good Shepherd comes for you.  When it feels like your grip on Him is getting weak, His grip is steady. 

You keep coming back to Him.  You keep growing.  You keep getting stronger spiritual.  You keep pursuing holiness and godliness. 

But it’s God’s grip on you that keeps you near.  You’re saved by His righteousness and His faithfulness, not by yours. 

You conquer and endure.  He will hold you fast.

Let’s pray.

Benediction

Psalm 67:1–2

         [1] May God be gracious to us and bless us

                  and make his face to shine upon us

         [2] that His way may be known on earth,

                  His saving power among all nations.