And we thank the Lord for another
time that we have to be here. Before I begin this morning,
I'd like to just remind you I made mention last last Wednesday concerning
the church, which is in Pikeville, Kentucky, where Brother Tom Harding
is the pastor. And the arrange that we had last
last week in the lower part of this state. Same rains that they
had right there. Pike was not that far from the
bottom part of West Virginia. And the church down there suffered
tremendous loss. In fact, just three of the units,
that's heating and air units, they flooded, so therefore there's
no insurance on it. They didn't have flood insurance.
They built a large retainer wall years ago that has kept rain,
I mean, floods back when the water had come up. That retainer
they built, they thought, was more than adequate. So they made
preparation trying to keep floods out of that church building and
parsonage. But from what I understand, the
water went three feet over the walls. They lost a tremendous
amount of stuff. The three heating and air units,
Tom told me, is going to cost $20,000 to replace those. Duck
work, everything. Talked to Paul Mahan the other
day. A bunch of men went down there and just helped them get
in and just take out mud, what they were doing. Paul said there
was at least six inches of black mud on everything. He lost his books. He was able
to save the computers and stuff like that. But let me tell you
something. Oh, to lose your library. For a pastor, I mean, somebody
said, well, that's just material things. Well, you lose a library
of books. I mean, I like computers. Don't get me wrong. But I want
to pick up a book. And I want to read it. And I
want to take a pad of paper. And I want to write something
down. But Tom in that church there suffered a lot. And Galatians,
let me just read this to you. Galatians 6 says, verse 9, Let us not be
weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint
not. And as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto
all men, especially unto them who are the household of faith. I asked last Wednesday, I'd like
to take up a special offering for this church. I'm talking
about something that's over and above what we would normally
give here. Somebody said, well, I'm doing
all I can. That's good. I completely understand. But if you're able, if you can,
this church has suffered. Well, this church too, yes, but
I'm talking about the church in They've suffered a lot, and
I'm telling you that the churches that love the gospel of God's
grace, those churches where the Lord's raised up some folks that
know him, believe him, trust him, they're rallying. I can
tell you this right now. They're already, Tom told me,
he said it's already been manpower and financial assistance that's
been coming in. I told him, I said, Tom, I'm
making mention of the church right now, so I'm going to ask
you. Whatever you can give. Whatever is able. Whatever you're able. Whatever
you desire. Do whatever you want to do. That's
what I'm asking. Do what you want to. And I pray
that God give you a clear and understanding heart to see something
of the need. Because I'm telling you, believe
me, they need it. And this church loves them and
respects them and helps them. We help them every month. So,
whatever you can. You'd like to make it out, make
it out and make it out to Katie Baptist Church. And if you want
to put it on the lower left there, put it for the church at Pikeville.
And I've told Brother Glenn, I said, let's just take it up.
And the end of this next week, the end of this week, I'd like
to send it on down to them. So whatever you can, just give
it to Glenn. All right. Let's take our Bibles
and turn to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. I'd like to look at verse 1 this
morning, Revelation 21. John says, And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. Let's
pray together. Our Father, this morning we thank
You for the privilege to be here. Oh, Lord, there is no way that
we can understand the privilege of being able to be here one
more time. Lord, we realize that it is by
Your grace and Your mercy in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ that we can sit under the sound of the Gospel of God's
free grace. Lord, would You help us, help
us to worship, help us to hear. Lord, I pray, would You bless
the Word today to the comfort of Your people and would You
save those that You've everlastingly loved. Save those that are lost. Save those, Lord, that are sinners
and made to know it. Save those that you bring to
yourself and cause them to see their need of you. And we ask
these things for Christ's sake. Amen. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. Something happened on the Day of Judgment. Now,
I know that what we just saw, we just looked at chapter 20,
and I'm telling you that chapter 20, as you know, dealt with the
judgment of God, the resurrection of all men, all men that die
in this world, all men lost and saved. died in this world were
buried. The Scripture says their bodies
went back to the dust. And on the Day of Judgment, they
are all going to rise. All the bodies that went to the
ground, that body is coming out of the ground, that body. Paul
said it is for those that died in Christ sleep in the Lord. They are going to be changed
from corruption to incorruption, from mortality to immortality. They are sown in weakness, raised
in power. But that body that went in the
ground is coming out. It is not going to lose its identity.
That soul that went to be with the Lord, that was found in the
bosom of Abraham. Remember the story of the rich
man and Lazarus? Lazarus went and secured in Christ. That soul that has been with
the Lord from the moment that this soul left this body, Absent
from the body, present with the Lord. That soul is going to be
ignited with that body. And in that body, right there,
we are going to eternally be with the Lord in body. The Lord
Jesus Christ who came out of the ground in the body in which
He was buried. That is what He told Thomas. He said, Thomas, touch me. Spirit doesn't have flesh and
bone. The Lord ate fish with them and honeycomb. That's what
John said later, 1 John. He said, we touched Him. Our hands handled the Word of
Life, the resurrected Lord. John said, I'm telling you, He
was here after His resurrection in body. Before in body and after
in body. that body was prepared for Him,
was made in the form, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
it aged." The Lord Jesus now. It aged. He grew. Now here's the amazing thing.
He grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Now you try to enter into that. And here He is. He was crucified. They spit on Him and they put
Him in a tomb. And He, in that tomb, three days. And I'm telling you, when that
body came out, He came out in His glorified body. He was beaten. The Scripture says His visage,
the way He looked, He was marred more than any other man. And
he came out, and I'll tell you the marks that he had on him
when he came out as far as the Scriptures are concerned, as
far as I can tell. Here was the marks that he had
on him. He said, Thomas, fill these marks right here. Put your hand right here in the
marks. Put your hand right here in the side. Thrust in your hand. There's the marks that He bears.
And those are the marks He bears right now in heaven. Those marks. The marks of the
great High Priest that right now ever liveth to make intercession. He stands before God Almighty.
And on that day, on that day of judgment, there was a resurrection.
But something else happened. Turn to 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3 and verse 7. It says, But the heavens and
the earth, which are now, what you're looking at right now,
the heavens, stars, sun, the moon, The heavens and the earth,
which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against, or till, the day of judgment and perdition, that
is, the damnation of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but His
longsuffering to us were Not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. Does that mean that Almighty
God is not desiring that anybody whatsoever is going to perish? That's what men say. They rest. W-R-E-S-T. Rest. Like a wrestling match. Let me see if I can get you in
a hole that you can't get out of. They rest the Scriptures. And they said, this says that
God is not willing that any should perish. No, that's not what it
says. Peter says God is long-suffering
to us. The elect is chosen. Not willing that any of His elect
should perish, but that all of His elect Find out who Peter
is writing to. When you go back and look who
Peter is writing to, you're going to find out. Go back and look
at 1 Peter 1.1 and find out who is Peter writing to. He's longsuffering
to us. Do you know why this world is
still here right now? Do you know why God hasn't destroyed
it? Do you know why the Day of Judgment
is not here yet? Because God is longsuffering
to His people. There may be someone here today.
There may be someone sitting in this congregation today that
has sat for years and has heard the doctrines of grace. And they've come to the doctrines
of grace. But I tell you this, the Scripture never says, come
to the doctrines of grace. He said, you come to me. He that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Come to Christ. God is longsuffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The Lord is going to destroy
the present heavens and the earth, but not until all that He has
everlastingly loved in Christ come to repentance in Christ. Repentance. Oh, I tell you what,
there's a word that people would generally say, oh, I understand
that. I know what that means. I understand
what repentance is. Most people think that repentance
is reform, a change in your outward repentance. Repentance, like faith, is the
gift of God. It's actually the effect of a
new heart. It is the effect. Repentance. Acts 5, 30 and 31 says, The God
of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a
tree. Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a prince and a Savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Listen, you don't drum
up repentance. I'm going to tell you what repentance
is in just a second. Number one, you don't have the
ability. Man by nature does not have the
ability to turn. I could will my hair to change
colors quicker than I could repent. I can't do that. Repentance. True godly repentance. Let me tell you how it's evidenced. It's evidenced by a difference
in a man's attitude concerning how God Almighty justifies a
sinner. Man by nature thinks that God
justifies a sinner or when I say justified, let me just tell you
what justified means so you'll understand. It means to declare
righteous before the law. It means that when I I sin, I sin every day. I have
said this before. From the moment I've stood in
this pulpit this morning, I have not ceased to sin against God
and myself. You know why? Because I don't
have the ability to think perfectly, act perfectly. My mind wanders. I catch myself,
you think, well, he's staying right on track. If you could
see into my head and see how my mind just, you know, it's
amazing to me that I even come out with a word or two that makes
sense as much as my mind wanders. I cannot, I don't have the ability.
Therefore, even the plowing of the wicked, a man goes out and
plows his garden, that's sin against God. Why? He didn't do
it perfectly. He didn't do it in perfect obedience.
He didn't do it with an absolute respect before God. Even the
plowing of the wicked. Sin. Evil. Righteous or justified. Justified
means knowing that I'm going to sin. Knowing that I sin in
myself. This is justification, Jeff.
When I sin, God forgives me, justifies me and says that is
not chargeable by the law because the debt of it has already been
paid by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I didn't believe
that God had justified me and that Christ's blood, when I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. Not because you're righteous
in yourself. It will be because I view you
in my Son. If Christ had not paid for my
debt, how is God going to justify me before the law? Every infraction
of the law I'd be chargeable with. Justification declares
that the law looks at me and says, no guilt. How should a man be just before
God? How can God Almighty justify
me when I know that in myself I
sin? Only by the blood of Christ.
God Almighty would look upon me in the blessed Lord Jesus
Christ and say, Justify. No infraction. Lord, my sin is
ever before me. That's what David said. God says,
Justify. Oh, the mercy and grace of God. And man thinks that he will justify
himself The old man believes that God
justifies him because of his works of righteousness and obedience. I came to Christ. Therefore,
God justified me. I was baptized. Therefore, I'm
justified before God. I walked in obedience. All these
things I've kept from my youth up. In other words, by the works
of a man's own free will, I decided to follow Jesus. Therefore, I'm
justified before God. Let me tell you something. By
the works of the law, Scripture says, shall no man be justified.
When you think of the word justification, realize that your guilt your
sin that you actually commit right now in thought, in intent. Say it the way you want to. You
say, well, I'm not sinning right now. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Paul says, in me that is my flesh.
There dwells no good thing. Realize that justification before
God is not based on anything that you've done. Justification before God is absolutely
by the imputation of the righteousness, the obedience of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and nothing else. You have nothing else to claim.
True repentance before God is that attitude that knows God
has chosen to justify me. And He did it in absolute justice. He laid on Him the iniquity of
us all, all that He has everlastingly loved, all that He chose in Christ. He looked at His Son and He said,
You, My chosen servant, My beloved, My Lamb. And the Lord Jesus Christ
in that everlasting covenant said, I will pay. I tell you, through repentance,
there's a sorrow in the heart. It's sorrows for having offended
God. Worldly repentance sorrow is
that I've been caught. You know, it's amazing to me
how repentant somebody is when they're caught. Oh, I'm so sorry. I am so sorry. Why? Because I was caught. I got caught. You know, it's amazing to me
you weren't that sorry before you was caught. I wasn't either.
I'm not trying to tell you I wasn't. I tell you, godly sorrow is the effect of love for God. I love Him. He loves me. How do you know? Because I love Him. We love Him because He loved
us first. I'll tell you this, if He had no love for me, I would
have never loved Him. Godless sorrow is the effect
of love toward God. The grief of offending Him. Does
it grieve you for offending Him? I can't drum that up. I have
no way of drumming that up. Worldly sorrow is the effect
of fear being exposed. Let's don't want to be caught.
You know, there's something exciting. There's something that's exciting
about having a little skeleton in the
closet. It's kind of mystifying, isn't
it? Nobody knows. There is. I'm telling you. I
know. I know. I know. I mean, you know, we think we're
getting away with something. Nobody knows. That's just our
secret. A believer sorrows, repents,
changes, turns because he's offended God. Well, if I don't hurry, I won't get
back to the new heaven, new earth. On that Day of Judgment, all
that God purposed to bring to Himself, He brought. Forgiveness
of sins. Judgment's over. Heaven's passed
away. And Peter said it was all burnt
up on the Day of Judgment. When is this heaven and this
earth going to be destroyed? On the Day of Judgment. That's
when it's going to be destroyed. And now John says, I saw a new
heaven and a new earth. The word new there means new
in form, but not new in time. There's going to be a dissolving,
the scripture says, of everything that is absolutely tainted with
sin. When Adam sinned, this earth,
the ground, was cursed because of sin. Now, this new heaven and new
earth, it's not new in time, but it's new in substance, meaning
an unheard of. Everything that I look at, I
look at a tree and I look at that ground and I look at that.
Now, that tree and that ground right there is tainted with sin. It's touched. It's cursed. There's
going to be a difference to it. It's going to be changed. It's
going to be new. Let me give you an example in
the new creation, regeneration. Nature. A believer has a new
nature. He has a new nature. It's new because it's substance. That's what that word new means.
It means new in substance. Unheard of. A new heaven. A new
substance that is unheard of. The substance of creation. New creation. Regeneration. The
new man born from above, the substance of that is unheard
of by the natural mind. I just don't enter into it. This new nature is from above. Now, here's the thing. We're not new in time. I mean, you look at a believer.
Here's a believer and you look at him and here he is before.
He goes from darkness to light. And you look at Him and He looks
the same. But there's something that has
been imparted that is outwardly when you just look at Him. It's
not new. You look like the same person.
But I'm telling you there's a difference in the manifestation of it. It's
new. The new man, the new creation. So we're not new in time. This
earth is not going to be new in time, but it's going to be
new in substance. When God created the heavens
and the earth, this was His declaration of it. He saw that it was good. He saw that it was good. Adam
walked. He walked on this earth. There
were trees. What was the difference? When
sin entered in, it was cursed. Thorns and thistles began to
grow and things began to deteriorate. What's the fullness of this newness?
I don't know. But I can tell you this, it'll
be a new heaven and a new earth. Cursed is the ground for your
sake by the sweat of your brow. But I will tell you this, This
new heaven and new earth, what did it take to make a new creation
in man? What did it take? What is it
going to take to redeem, to buy back, to pay the debt of a new
creation in a believer? Well, you say, well, that's going
to take the blood of Christ. And that's what it's going to take
to make a new earth too. because of which this earth was
cursed, Almighty God will make a new heaven and new earth based
totally on the redemption of Christ. He will buy not only
His people in redemption, but His blood paid for their eternal
place of residency and fellowship with God. He paid the debt. He said, I make all things new.
That's what it is. All things fresh. First heaven,
first earth passed away. And no more sea. That sea is
an emblem of rebellion. Isaiah 57, 20. But the wicked
are like the troubled sea. The wicked are like the troubled
sea. when it cannot rest. Is there any stability to it? No. Whose waters cast up mire
and dirt, the sea, a symbol of unrest, restlessness. No more sea. In this new heaven
and new earth, there will reign righteousness. Can you imagine? This whole earth. This new heaven
and new earth. What will it be like? It will
be new in substance that's unheard of. I can't imagine a world that's
not cursed with sin. I can't imagine a world wherein
dwelleth righteousness and joy and peace and fellowship with
Almighty God and His people. I can't imagine a world that
has No sun and no moon, one wherein the light of Christ's glory illuminates
the city of God, the New Jerusalem. Can you imagine that? No, I can't.
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into
the heart of man that which God has prepared for those among
them. Do you believe it? I believe
it. I believe it. First heaven, first earth fell
in rebellion by the first Adam's disobedience. And the new heaven
and the new earth shall be restored through the
obedience of the second Adam. What is it going to take for
there to be a new man? It will take the blood of Christ.
What is it going to take for there to be an eternal residence
that is fit and right and proper for God's redeemed, glorified
saints to dwell with Him in. What's it going to take? It's
going to take the blood of Christ. I make all things new. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, If any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Revelation 2.17 says, He that overcometh will I give
to each of the hidden manna that is Christ. I will give him a
white stone, and in the stone a new name." He'll have a new
name. "...written, which no man knoweth,
saving he that receiveth it." Can you imagine how personal
this is going to be, Neil? He personally has a name for
every one of his own. I mean, there's an intimacy.
You say, well, we'll all be there. He will know me and know His
people. He will know all of His elect
so personally that they'll have a name that nobody knows, but
they that receive it personally. A new heart, Ezekiel 36, 26,
will I give you. A new spirit. He hath put a new
song in my mouth. He's made with His people a new
covenant, a new heaven, a new earth. Behold, I make all things
new. There's not going to be from
what I know now, what I see now, there's a new creature, there's
a new creation in a believer. Yeah, but there's an old nature
there too. But one of these days it won't
be. One day it will be new, glorified, raised immortal, raised in newness
of life, raised with Him, raised in Him. John said, I saw a new
heaven, new earth. You that believe, I'm telling
you, There is for those that He has everlastingly loved all
things new. Wherefore, comfort ye one another
with these words. Amen. Let's take about a five-minute
break.