If you will take your Bibles
and turn with me to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter
21. Our text mainly will be verses
5 and 6. We'll look down through verse
8 going all the way through this. The title of the message this
morning, All Things New. All things new. John says this when he begins
this chapter, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth. One day, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He will come back to this earth, but not as He did before. The
Lord Jesus Christ came the first time as a servant. He came and was found in fashion
as a man, the Scripture says, and he humbled himself and became
obedient unto God, even unto death. He humbled himself in
obedience to the law of God with absolute perfection and precision. He was sent of God the first
time to suffer Humiliation and death on the cross. But now, because of His great
success, because of His accomplishments of fulfilling what He was sent
to do in satisfying the justice of God for all His elect, God
raised Him from the dead and He is now seated on the throne
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, whom we
have come to worship this morning, is the King of kings. The Lord of lords. He is now
seated on the throne of God. Most men, when you see them with
the crucifixes and the little man hanging on the tree, that's
exactly where they want to keep Jesus, on the tree. But my friends,
that is not the Lord Jesus Christ. He is risen from the dead. He is now seated on the throne
of God. He's right now. waiting on this
throne, moving all things after the counsel of His own will.
And He is waiting for the last of His chosen generation, His
chosen people, the last one when He is saved, when He is brought
into relationship with Christ. When that last person is called,
then the King will come. The King will come in His glory
and with His holy angels and with the saints of God, and He
will not come in the same manner He came in the first coming. He will come altogether differently. He came the first time to offer
Himself for sin, but His second coming, my friends, will not
be in humiliation. His second coming will not be
in suffering for sin. My friends, the second time He
comes, He will come as King and Lord and Judge over all creation. He will come as the Sovereign. And He will come to complete
our experience of salvation. You see, Jesus Christ accomplished
salvation for us. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a successful
Savior. He has completed everything as
we shall see this morning. But when He comes, He will come
and fulfill all that He has promised to us. He will come as our Savior. And when He comes, the Scripture
says this, He will make a new heaven and a new earth. A new heaven and a new earth. You see, this earth is cursed,
isn't it? This earth is cursed. Anybody
who works in the yard can see that. Anybody who works in the
yard and tries to pull weeds this week, I guarantee you they'll
be back faster than the grass. They'll come back faster. Why?
This earth is cursed, my friends, because of sin. Because of sin. And the Scripture says that the
creation, in Romans chapter 8, that the creation groans. It groans. This world is groaning. It has groaning pains. This world didn't do anything
to deserve the curse. It was cursed for Adam's sake. It was cursed because of our
sin. And we cannot look at this earth
and not see the groaning of the earth. Didn't we just have two earthquakes?
This happened recently? Yes. Can you not see the groaning
of this creation? The death and devastation that
is caused in the land of the living. Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes,
famines, death, sorrow, crying, all of this is because of sin.
Sin was brought into God's creation. And sin brought death. And this world groans with tears. And we, as sinful men, also groan,
don't we? I'll tell you what, this world
and this life, as we grow older, it doesn't become more pleasant.
It becomes more of a burden. It becomes more of a heartache
and pains they build up as the years go by. There's nothing
but sorrow here. But we who are believers in Jesus
Christ, we have a great hope. We who are followers of this
King, we have a great hope and confidence that when our King
comes, He will end all of these things. He will end all the suffering,
all the pain, all the tears. There shall be no more death
or sorrow. I love this in the verse 1 when
he says, and there shall be no more sea. That always bothered
me for many years until I realized what he was talking about. John
was on the Isle of Patmos and it was a desert island. And he
was surrounded by nothing but sea. Every day of his life he
had to wake up and look out there and there was nothing but sea.
And you know what that sea did? It separated him from the ones
he loved. It separated him from the worship
of God with his people. But God says, one day when I
come back, when Jesus Christ comes back, there shall be no
more separation. There shall be no more separation,
not from God and not from each other. We shall never be separated. Why? Because death shall be swallowed
up and cast into the lake of fire. My friends, God will wipe
away all our tears. Anybody have tears? Anybody have
pains? We have this to look forward
to, believers, that our King will come and He Himself will
wipe away our tears. He Himself will come and take
away death and separation. He is coming, my friends. He
is coming. And at His coming, this is what
He said in verse 5 of our text, I make all things new. I make all things new. All things
new. The Son of God says this. Look
at that in verse 5. Let's just read it. It says,
And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new. And He said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful. My friends, our Savior will one
day come and make all things new. But I don't believe that's
exactly what the text is talking about. He says, John, yes, I
will one day make all things new, but I want you to see right
now that I am sitting on the throne and I am making all things
new. I am right now, at this present
time, making all things new. All things new. To every sinner
that has ever heard the gospel of God's free grace in Christ,
And to whomsoever the Spirit of God applies the word to their
hearts, does not Christ come and make all things new to that
sinner?" You that believe, did He not come into your heart and
make all things new? He did mine. He came into my
heart and made all things new. All things new. The new thing
that Christ does is the salvation of the souls of men. That makes
all things new. And this declaration, this is
the declaration of the Most High God. That's who says this. That's who says this. Jesus Christ
says, I make all things new. I am making all things new. He that sits on the throne says
this, and my friend, was he not on the throne before the world
began? Yes, He was the Creator of the world. He, as God, enjoyed
the power and privilege of being God and ruled over everything
as the Son before the world began. But now, we see Him as God-Man
sitting on the throne of God. The God-Man mediator on His throne. You see, He has obtained the
right to sit on that throne. He, as the man, came and obeyed
God. Thus, he has the right to sit
there. And God hath declared him, hath
manifest that he is both Lord and Christ. That's what He has
done. He sits on that throne and He
has a right to. He sits on there because He obtained
it by obedience to God. In John 17, the high priestly
prayer of our Lord, He said, Father, the hour has come, glorify
Thy Son that He may glorify Thee. For Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh. that He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him. He is sitting on the throne. And friends, let me declare unto
you this day that Jesus Christ, who was crucified, is on the
throne of heaven, and He does whatsoever He has pleased. He does whatsoever He has pleased.
And what is it that He pleases? Do you know what pleases Him?
Do you know what delights His soul to do? To make all things
new. That's what He delights to do.
And shall He not do it? Shall He not make all things
new? Of course He will. Of course He will. He does whatsoever
He pleases. And He will make all things new
to the elect of God. To as many as thou hast given
Him, He will give eternal life to them. Eternal life to them. He is working all things after
the counsel of His own will, which He tells us here is to
make all things new. Now in this passage, I want us
to see three things. I want us to see three things.
First of all, the announcement of grace. This announcement that
He just made, I'll make all things new. I want to look at that.
And then I want to see the assurance of grace. The assurance of this
grace. And number three, I want us to
see the call of this grace. So we have the announcement of
grace, the assurance of grace, and the call of grace this morning
we're going to see in this text. First of all, the announcement
or the declaration of grace. This declaration, this announcement
that he makes, he says, I will make all things new for the sinner. This announcement says, I will
have mercy on some of Adam's fallen race. And the reason He will do this
is not based on the merit of its objects. You, who have been
an object of God's grace, this announcement to you is not one
based on merit, is it? It's not one based on what you've
done. It's not based on the goodness of men or the reformation of
men. You didn't receive it because
you reformed. You didn't receive it because you adopted the doctrines
of grace. But my friends, you received
it of the sovereign will of the sovereign King, Jesus Christ. He has willed it to you. He has
announced it. And when He announces something,
my friends, He's not asking. He's not asking. He does it. He does it. He has willed this,
that He will make all things new to His children, to His elect,
to those whom He has chosen. Praise God for the announcement
of grace that He will make all things new. Let us now see some
of the things that He has made new. What are the things that
He has made new to you, believer, to me, by His grace? First of
all, He has made a new creation. He has made a new creation. You
see, salvation is not anything less than an act of God creating
something. In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
8 through 10, we know this text. For by grace you are saved through
faith. And that faith is not of yourself,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Four, we are His workmanship. That word has an idea of a skilled
craftsman. You know, I like carpenters because
they're very skilled. I just don't have any ability
in doing woodwork. But I've seen men who are able
to do woodwork and they are skilled men. It takes a skilled man to
do this. Well, my friends, this act of
creation, it takes the very skill of God in creation. Is there
anybody else who can create? Is there anybody else that has
that ability to create but God? No. Only God creates. Only God can make us new creatures. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. This matter of salvation is a
new creation, not a product of man's ability. It's not a product
of man's ability. This new creation is not a product
of works or of will. When men are convicted of sin,
you take a person who's convicted, who feels the conviction of their
sin, and you send him to a religious man. A religious man is going
to see that conviction, and the first thing he's going to do
is he's going to start trying to tell him how he can be made
new. He's going to start telling him
how. Let me tell you how you can be made new. Well, you just
need to join the church. Well, you just need to be baptized. You just need to reform your
life. Turn over a new leaf. Oh my friends,
I remember when I was lost in religion. I don't know how many
leaves I've turned over. I turned over so many leaves
I can't count. But it didn't do anything. It
didn't make me new. Reformation makes no man new. No man new. We don't need to change our habits,
my friends. We need to be a new creation
in order to be saved. They say, do this, and all things
become new. Religion says, make your peace
with God by letting Jesus do this, and letting Jesus do that,
and then you'll be a new creation. What a lie! That is a lie, my
friends. But this is not the declaration
of grace. That's not the declaration of
grace. The declaration of grace is this, says the King of glory,
I will, I will make all things new. And He gives no glory to
man at all in this business. It is the business of God. Jesus gives no room for us to
boast. He said, I and I alone make all
things new. Are there any here who see their
sin against God? Are there any here who see the
deadness of their souls and need life? Is there any in here who
are convicted of their sin against God? I will not tell you what
you need to do to make yourself new. I will only point you to
the One who can make you new. That's it. I will only point
you to Jesus Christ. I will tell you that it is only
through faith in Christ and He must give it. He must give faith. A man must surrender himself
in all of his attempts to save himself and bow down to Jesus
Christ and believe His blood and righteousness as their only
hope before God. All who see His life of righteousness
as the only righteousness in all the world. You see, I don't
see any other righteousness but His. His righteousness is the
only thing that's righteous. There's nothing else righteous.
I see His blood as the only payment for my sins. Do you? Do you see
that? Do you see He as your only hope? Do you see Him as the Alpha and
the Omega of salvation, the beginning and the end of it, and everything
between? If you have seen these things,
if you have bowed to Christ, then, my friends, it is not because
you willed it so, it's because He made you new. He created something
that wasn't there before. You see, to create... is not
to take something that's already there, is it? To create means
to bring something out of nothing. It's to bring something out of
nothing. That's what it is to make something
new, to make a new creation. You see, we being dead and depraved,
there was nothing good in us. The Scripture says, for there
is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that seeketh after
God. There is none that understandeth. We are all gone astray. There
is none that doeth good, no, not one. You see, can you not see that
there was nothing in us? There was nothing in us that
was any good. But when the Lord God came with
the Word of God and the Spirit applied it to our hearts, He
created something new, something good, something righteous in
which His Spirit can dwell. And this is what is called the
new man or the new creation. The new creation. To the objects
of His mercy, He creates something that wasn't there before, a new
heart. Ephesians 4.24 says, put on the
new man, the new creation, which is after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness. We have heard the voice of the
Son of God and become guilty before God. We see our justification
before God and come to Christ. We see that His faithfulness
has obtained righteousness for us and has imputed that righteousness
and imparted that righteousness to me. My friend, right now at
this very time I am speaking to you, there is a nature in
me that is created of God and it is holy, it is righteous and
it cannot sin. And the same about you. The same
about you. There is a nature in you that
cannot sin. You see, when God comes in and He changes or makes
a new creation, He doesn't change this outward flesh, does He?
He doesn't come in and reform the flesh. No. He makes everything
new. The flesh is still the flesh. It will live flesh and it will
die flesh. Praise God. But that new nature,
it will live in holiness and righteousness for all eternity.
Why? It was created by Jesus Christ,
who can do nothing but good. He can do nothing but good. And
He has created in us a new nature that loves God, that serves God. You see, in us before was not
a will to come to God, was it? I didn't have a will to come
to God, didn't want to, didn't care to. Why am I willing to come now?
Why do I love Him so much now? It's because He made all things
new. All things are new. My eyes were
opened for the first time when I came to Christ, and I saw the
newness of life in Him. I saw everything about Him was
good and right, and everything about me was evil and sin. And I ran to Him. What happened? He gave me a willing heart. He said, I'll take out that stony
heart and I'll replace that heart with a heart of flesh. A heart
that loves. A heart that loves and not rebels. Do you love Christ? Have you
come to Him? If you have, it's because He
made all things new. Therefore, Paul says in 2 Corinthians
5.17, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. All
that sin that I once loved, you can have it. I don't want
any part of it. All the things I once craved,
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of
life, done away. I love Him because He first loved
me. And purchase my pardon on Calvary's
tree. I love Him, don't you? I love
Him and that love is fresh and new every day. Every day He gives
me fresh love. And number two, we see that we
get a new covenant. We entered into a new covenant.
So first of all, we see a new creation. Then we see a new covenant. We are creatures, new creations
in Christ, through faith are made beneficiaries of a new covenant. Look at this in Jeremiah 31.
Flip over there. Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, we're going to see
a few things about this new covenant that we're entered into. Jeremiah 31 and verse 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord. I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Skip down
to verse 33. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put My law in their inward
parts and right in their hearts and will be their God and they
shall be My people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord. For they shall all know Me, from the least of them
to the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
The Scripture reveals to us about this new covenant. And I want
us to understand the word new. Why is it given the word new? Well, there was an old covenant,
a covenant of works. God said, do this and you shall
live. But none of us could. And therefore,
when God manifests that we could not obey that covenant, He revealed
to us a covenant which He calls the New Covenant, so as to make
the other one old and done away with. But see, this New Covenant
is one that may be new to us. But this covenant is an eternal
covenant. It was way before any other covenant. It was a covenant of grace that
God made with Himself. And this covenant is not like
ours. If I get into a covenant with you and I shake your hand,
I look at you as equals. You and I would be equals entering
into a covenant. But this is not how God makes
a covenant. He doesn't make a covenant with equals. God makes a covenant
as Lord and Creator. You see, He has a right to make
any covenant He wants to. He made a covenant. And that
covenant was really not with us, but it was with Himself for
us. That's even better, isn't it?
It's with Himself for us. God made this everlasting covenant
before the world began. But in time, In time, this covenant
is revealed to us, isn't it? You see, I didn't know anything
about this covenant before. Oh, I heard things about it,
I had academic understanding of it, but I didn't really enter
into it. It wasn't new to me. It wasn't new. But when Christ
came and He made a new creation, I knew that this covenant was
my covenant. This covenant was for me. It's
a new and everlasting covenant. And look at the wonderful things
contained in it. God will be our God. And we shall be His people. God has said, I will undertake
everything you need to be your God. I will undertake everything
that is necessary to bring you to Myself. God undertook that responsibility
to Himself so that we shall be His people. Now, is there any
doubt that's going to happen? Is there any doubt that God is
going to be somehow mistaken about this covenant? That this
covenant is going to fall flat and not come to pass? No. Absolutely
not. The King of Heaven has decreed
it. I will be your God. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, praise
God, He would be my God, because if He had left me to myself,
I never would have owned Him as God. But praise God, He made
all things new, and I am entering into that covenant. He's my God,
and He has caused me to worship Him and praise Him. Number two,
we see that He will teach us to know Him. My friend, no man knows God,
or can know God, but by Jesus Christ the Lord. Nobody can know
God. I can teach you academic things
about the Scriptures. We can go back office, we can
do a lot of study and systematic theology, and I can teach you
a lot of things, my friends. But what I cannot teach you is
how to know God. Can't do it. God in this new
covenant says, I will teach them to know Me. Scripture says, they
shall all be taught of God. And my friends, if you don't
know God by the teaching of the Holy Spirit in your heart, then
you don't know God. I know Him, not because I'm smart.
But because He announced grace to me, He says, I will teach
you. And He has taught me who He is.
I know who He is. And so when men come to me and
start talking about a Jesus who hasn't accomplished anything,
I know that's not Him. Why do I know that? He taught
me. He taught me. And He taught you. He taught you this is His covenant.
And number three, He said, our sins are all gone. I will forgive
their sins and remember their iniquities no more. This is the
new covenant of grace, which is new every morning. Because
of the new covenant, we are no longer under the covenant of
law and works. We are under the covenant of
His grace, and thereby we walk by faith and liberty in Christ. Dear believer, Don't be entangled
with the things of this life. Don't let the cares and concerns
of this life hold you captive. You, my friend, under the covenant
of the Almighty God, are set free, free, free to worship God
and love Him and serve Him. I'm free to do that. I love Him. And this is new to us every morning,
isn't it? He says, Thy mercies are new
every morning. Every morning. They're new because
He hath made all things new. And so we see we have a new creation
by this declaration. We are under a new covenant.
And third, we have a new relationship with God. We once were servants,
slaves. But now God says, you are no
longer slaves, but sons. This is our new relationship. 1 John 3, verse 1, it says, Behold,
what manner of love the Father has lavished upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Be called the sons of God. We were in the family of darkness,
my friends, walking in darkness, and now we are sons of God. This is our new relationship,
because He has made all things new. We are sons, no longer in
the family of children of wrath, but we are now the sons of God. Eternal sons by adoption, redeemed
by Christ. And John says in that next verse,
Beloved now, even now at this present time, but I don't feel
like a son, that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Christ has
made us new. He has restored us and made us
sons. Is there anything that will stand
in that way? Anything? No. He has made us sons. And you are sons now. Now. And you can keep on saying now
until you go home to be with Him. And even in eternity, you
can still say now. I'm a son now. The glorious things
that God has done for us. And we have a new record. We
have a new record. Friends, this is altogether important
for our confidence, for our assurance. God says, I will remember your
sins and iniquities no more. We came into this world with
a black slate. We came into this world with
iniquity and sin, but Jesus Christ, by His death, has removed them
all, and we are clean. Every whit. Every whit. You are clean. You have the righteousness of
God. It says, Romans 3, 21, 22, But
now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest,
even the righteousness of God which is by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. unto and upon all them that believe."
This, my friends, is our new record. Righteous. Righteous. And that's how God
sees you every day. Even when you wake up and kick
the cat and yell at your wife and do all those things that
we know we hate, God says, I cannot find your sins." Now, if God
can't find them and you can, you're better than He is. He
says, I can't find them and I look for them. Isn't that something
to encourage us every day? So, number two, let's look at
this hurriedly. The assurance of grace. We've
seen the announcement of grace. Secondly, we see the assurance
of grace. Look at this in verse 6 of our
text. He says, Behold, I make all things new. These things
are faithful and true. Verse 6, He said unto me, It
is done. It is done. How can we be sure
that these words are faithful and true? Now, Pastor, I know
that all these things you say are good. I like that. That sounds
wonderful. To be a new creation in Christ,
to love Christ and do all those... That sounds wonderful, but how
do we know it's going to be forever? How do we know that tomorrow
we won't fall off into eternal darkness? How do we know that
we'll be sons forever? How do we know we'll have mercy
new every morning? Because of this, it is done. It is done. The Lord that hath
chosen a people and gave them His covenant of new life has
already by the death of Christ done it all. What were the words
of the Lord Jesus when He was about to give up the ghost? He
said, It is finished. What is left then for you to
do? Is there anything we could add to the righteousness of Christ. Is there anything that we need
to do to be accepted? No. It is done. I will make all things new. It
is done. It is done. This should give
us the most peace of anything else in all the world, that Christ
is a successful Savior and He has accomplished our redemption.
He has accomplished it and applied it. And He has given us His Word,
and it is faithful and true. We see Jesus made the payment
with His blood, and there's nothing that will ever disannul this.
It is finished. It is done. Nothing left but
glory. Nothing left but glory. That's
what we're waiting for, isn't it? I'm waiting for it. I'm waiting. We're to be waiting
on the edge of our seats at any moment, waiting for Him to come.
Even so, come now. Now, Lord Jesus, and deliver
us from the body of this death, that we may forever be in Your
presence and enjoy You forever. That is our prayer. That's our
prayer. We know this is sure because
He has made all things new. And lastly, I want us to see
the call of grace. This is the call that you heard
if you've been made new. This is the call that He is giving
at this very present time, making all things new. Is there any
who long to be new? Is there any who see the deadness
of their soul and want newness of life? Realize that this life
is nothing. It is a vain dream. It's empty
of all its promises. Is there any? Then this is the
call of the King. Look at this in our text. In
verse 6. He says, I give unto him that
is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Freely. If you need newness of
life, then you understand you are in need of righteousness. Is there any who thirst to be
righteous? These are the ones that God will
give the water of life to. If you come to God with some
kind of merit with that, you're not thirsty. You're not thirsty. My friends, I came with the tongue
of my soul cleaving to the roof of my mouth. I was empty of righteousness. And it's only those people He
will give the water of life to. And notice how He gives it freely. He says, come, you that are without
money, come and buy wine and milk without money and without
price. Why do you seek for that which
satisfies not? Come to Christ and He freely
gives it. He doesn't give like anybody
in one of us give. Oh Lord, our giving is so mixed
with sin, but He gives it freely. Freely. The water of life to
create in us a new creation. This is the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. This is His declaration, His
announcement. I'll make all things new. This
is His assurance. It is done. And this is His call
to sinners. Come and freely take of Me. What's that song? There is a
fountain. filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all, all their guilty stands. All things do. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.