Reading the Will
End of Days • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsBecause of Jesus' faithfulness, what was, is and forevermore will be and we will share in it as sons and daughters of God.
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Read Revelation 21:1-8
I ran into John Haney this week.
Some of you will remember John.
He’s a Methodist and I pray for him regularly.
He’s the Pastor at Pitts Chapel UMC and was once across the street at Gray UMC.
John told me the fictional story of a woman whose husband died.
She was terribly grief stricken.
On his grave, she had a giant granite slab put in place with her heartfelt wish for him to “Rest in Peace.”
At the appointed time, the lawyer opened his will and read it and she got quite the surprise.
He left the vast majority of his money to a girlfriend.
He left their house to a son she never knew he had.
He even donated their cars to a local charity he had volunteered at.
He left her just enough to scrape by - far less than the life she was accustomed to.
She went to man that made the monument and told him she wanted something added to the marker.
“Ma’am, it’s too late. There’s no room.”
“You’ve got to add this to the marker.”
“Ma’am if I do, it will ruin the monument - there just isn’t any room.”
“Listen buddy, I paid you good money for you to do what I wanted you to do and I want you to do this.”
“Alright, what do you want me to add?”
She instructed the man, “Right under where it says ‘Rest in Peace,’ I want you to add, “until I get there.”
When I read Revelation 21:1-8, my first thought was this is like reading the last will and testament of God - this is what we will receive.
But then I realized, that won’t work - God’s not dead.
This isn’t a last will and testament, this is the revealing of the terms of our betrothal.
This is the fulfilment of the marriage contract that God made with us.
When Jesus comes to take us home, to the place he prepared for us, this is what we will see.
You’re going to like it.
We’re going to do a couple of things in this message.
First, we’re going to try to put in a nutshell what this letter meant to the original readers
Second, we’re going to read our pre-nup, our betrothal document to see what God is going to deliver when we are called home.
Third, we’re going to talk about how to be faithful in a world gone mad.
Remember, Revelation is not a road map to the future.
The Revelation can’t mean anything to us that it didn’t mean to them then.
So what did this letter mean to them?
Remember the seven letters we read to the seven churches, uh huh, what did they say?
If our love has grown cold for the Lord, we need to repent and do the works we did at first.
If we are suffering, be faithful in that suffering until death.
If we have fallen for false teachers and, as the old time Baptists said - we’ve backslid-en - repent and follow Jesus’ teaching.
If we tolerate evil people, repent and follow the scripture.
If you are to the point of just going through the motions, remember God’s words to you, repent and keep His word.
If you are on the mountain top, hold fast to what you have so that no one can steal your joy.
If you just don’t care anymore, know that the Lord is going to discipline you and be zealous to repent when he does.
Do you see anything in there that we don’t do?
Our love for the Lord waxes and wanes, we suffer, we are seduced by charismatic teachers, heaven only knows what we are being called on to tolerate, we get tired and go through the motions.
Sometimes things really are great but life pulls us down and sometimes we get so tired and so weary that we simply don’t care anymore.
How are we different from these folks 2,000 years ago?
I don’t see a difference.
So what is God’s counsel for us?
He says we have the power to buck up and overcome all of these things.
He says when we do, we can expect to eat from the tree of life, to not be hurt by the second death, to be given food for our souls and a prize from God.
We will receive power over nations, our names will remain in the book of life, we will be a pillar in the temple of God and we will sit with Jesus on His throne.
This isn’t bait and switch - God says this like we can do this.
Back when car dealerships had cars to sell, remember getting those flyers in the mail that said, “Scratch off the seal and take the number to the dealership.
“If your number matches the winning number, you win a tricked out, $75,000 dollar vehicle.
“If your number doesn’t match, you could win $1000, or a brand new 75” television, or a Walmart gift card.
“Everyone wins something!”
Then when you read the small print, you realize that what you’re really going to win is a plastic token that you can trade for a fun size candy bar.
The headline screams, “You can win a car!”
The small print says, enjoy your candy bar.
Bait and switch - God doesn’t do that.
In the book of Revelation, God is saying to people who are weary and harassed, who are facing hard times and difficult, difficult choices and He is saying to us, “You can do this.”
You are going to make it.
You’re going to conquer, you’re going to overcome.
And then from chapter 4 through chapter 20 God explains how we can make it.
He explains it in great detail.
How do we make it?
How are we able to conquer, to overcome, how are we, as week as we are, going to resist anything to the point of death?
Jesus.
You are going to follow Jesus.
Don’t read about Him, and talk about Him and study Him and throw His name around all the time.
You are going to follow Him.
When you read that Jesus did nothing unless the Father told Him to, follow Jesus and you’ll do the same thing.
When you read how Jesus suffered nobly and boldly and purposely, when you suffer, you can suffer like Jesus.
When you see how Jesus cared deeply for people, you can care like Jesus.
When you hear that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us and help us, you can believe He did.
Let me share a personal lesson that I learned recently.
Ya’ll know I have fought with my weight forever.
When I was born, I weight 175 pounds and I never looked back.
Since I’ve been at First Baptist, my weight has moved up and down in a 25 pound range.
It frustrates me greatly.
I’ve prayed about it forever.
One day I was commiserating with myself, having just seen myself naked in the mirror, and I said to myself, “I don’t understand why I have so little self-control.”
Immediately in my mind, I had the thought, “that’s a lie.”
Then I was reminded of this: Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
And then this happened.
I started remembering time after time in my life that I exercised self-control and the Holy Spirit convicted me that one of us wasn’t telling the truth.
Either He wasn’t doing His job or I was listening to the devil’s lies.
From that day, I realized that the fruit of self-control has been growing in me all of my Christian life and that I actually have much more self-control than I believed.
I was deceived - I believed a lie.
So, I am back to losing weight again - very slowly - but losing.
I’m down 13 pounds from March 1st - that’s slow - but that’s down.
But it’s happening because the Spirit reminded me that my focus on failure was me calling God a liar.
You can make it - God says you can make it.
How do we do it?
Jesus did all of the work that needed to be done - success is guaranteed - when we follow Jesus.
Verse 7 says, “The one who overcomes will have this heritage...”
This is God the Father speaking.
If if wasn’t possible for us to do, He wouldn’t put this out in front of us.
But He did.
You can overcome and when you do, this is what you’ll receive - here is your betrothal contract.
Revelation 21:1
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.
We use the phrase “passed away” to indicate someone has died but when someone dies, something is left behind, isn’t it?
There is a body, or ashes or some residual something.
Passed away here means that the first heaven and first earth went out of existence - nothing of this sin tainted world will remain.
But there is a new heaven and a new earth.
Have you noticed the leaves on the trees lately?
A month ago they were verdantly green, now as fall approaches, the green has faded a bit.
Can you imagine the green of the leaves in the new earth?
Trees free of the effects of man’s sin that has caused all creation to groan as it waits for it’s redemption.
How blue will the sky be?
And the sea.
I used to be disappointed that there was no sea - ah, but sea is symbolic.
The sea represents chaos and evil - remember, the beast comes from the sea.
Listen, listen, listen, all chaos, all evil, all drama - it won’t exist in the place we are going.
For some in here and watching by live stream, some of you kids whose entire lives have been consumed in family drama.
It won’t be there.
The peace you crave - that moment, that moment that you wish you could have without conflict in your life - that is the peace the Lord has promised He’s going to give you.
Revelation 21:2
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Slow down and think through this.
Who is the bride of Christ?
It’s us, right?
We are the bride of Christ.
And where were we last seen in this story?
In chapter 20, we are in Heaven with Jesus - but that’s not where we are going to remain.
We are the holy city, we are the new Jerusalem.
And we are going to come down from heaven to live in the new earth.
If you were planning on rocking a harp and skip across the clouds I hate to be your downer.
It’s not happening.
Because God has to fulfill a promise he made a long time ago.
Isaiah 65:17-18
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.
Did you hear that?
Some of you, tormented by memories, of war, of abuse, or heartbreak.
Listen to me, “the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.”
Your mind, your heart, your soul will be glad and rejoice forever.
The peace you are looking for is the peace you will receive.
Your heart is going to experience a freedom that you, right now, can only dream of.
Revelation 21:3
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.
Genesis 3:8
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Leviticus 26:11-12
I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.
And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
Ezekiel 37:27
My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
How did we miss this?
In all of our studying, in all of our theological training, how did we miss the single most important theme in the Bible?
How did we miss just how important this one thing is to God.
His goal in doing everything that He has done for us is in these 11 words - “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
The Bible begins with God’s people, Adam and Eve, walking with the Father in the cool of the evening.
The Bible ends with God’s people living with the Father in the place that He created just for us.
And this is what He is going to do when we get there..
Revelation 21:4
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.”
This is another long ignored promise.
Isaiah 25:8-9
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
He will comfort us, like He has wanted to do for all of time.
Revelation 21:5
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.”
Another promise, Isaiah 66:22-23
“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain.
From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.
Listen to me: Your autistic and downs children, will rip and romp and play and shout and sing in voices loud and clear.
Aborted babies and miscarried children will greet parents with love and tenderness and compassion.
Children who cannot hear, who cannot speak, who cannot see, will hear whispers with clarity, speak wise, wise words and will see eagles soaring against the blue of the brightest blue sky ever seen.
Your friend’s cancer won’t be a memory.
Your mother and father’s Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, Multiple Myeloma - those words will be lost to history - passed away - out of existence.
They will be walking, and talking, and laughing and dancing with Jesus.
You’ll look across the pasture and a group of children will be sitting at the feet of Jesus in the cool of the afternoon.
You and me - we’ll sit with Jesus and learn so, so many things.
And the heartbreak and the pain of this life won’t even be a faded memory.
Revelation 21:6-7
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.
The word translated “It is done,” is actually plural - it could be rendered, they are done.
Every promise the Father has ever made to His people have now been fulfilled.
There is no uncertainty in these words - It. Is. Done!
Your future - my future - is determined.
We can conquer.
We can overcome.
And when we do, this is our heritage - the Lord will be our God and we will be his son.
I heard this this week and I want to share it with you.
We have problems with some words in the Bible.
The church is the bride of Christ - that’s not an image a man relates to very well.
And there are constant referrals, like right here - “we will be his son.”
Not sons and daughters - but sons.
Think about this.
In their day, by and large, the son’s inherited the father’s possessions.
Ladies, the Lord is saying here that you will have all of the rights and privileges of any son ever born.
The land is level there.
There will not be a system for men and a system for women.
We will all have this heritage - we will all inherit as first born sons.
We will all be his people.
Revelation 21:8
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.”
Verse 8 fulfils a promise as well.
Matthew 25:41-45
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’
Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
If you don’t follow Jesus, there is only one final destination for you.
And notice Christian, the first offense in verse 8 is cowardice.
Times are hard and they are going to get harder.
Now is the time to stand up and be bold.
Now is the time to stand up and say that God will do what His Word says He will do.
Falling away - being cowardly - means we really didn’t believe in the first place.
For those who persevere to the end - those are the ones who will be saved.
One little tidbit.
For the doubter who seizes on words like “sorcerers” to say the Bible is old and outdated, let me ask you a question.
Do you have a good luck charm?
Is there something you wear that if you don’t wear it you know things are not going to go right?
Do you have a ritual you must do if everything is going to go right?
Let me just say, if any of those fit you, then you believe in…magic.
There is no magic.
There is only God the Father, who sent the Son, who paved the road for us to follow Him and then He sent the Spirit to empower us to persevere to the very end.
Hebrews 10:36-39
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
This is good news.
This is our heritage.
This is where we belong.
Let us pray.