Revelation 21. I'd like to deal
with the first couple of verses this morning in this service
and speak on the subject of a new heaven and a new earth. After the dissolving of the elements,
that's the way Peter describes the putting away of that which
we are accustomed to seeing. And he says in the first verse
of the twenty-first chapter, and he said, 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. saw. He perceived with certainty
is what they mean. I saw it. I knew what I saw. He saw a new heaven, new earth. Now, as I've said before, the
best thing to do when you come across words that are in the
is to understand, look them up, look up the word and find out
what does that word mean. Because words that I use, I know. There's words I use that sometimes
I'm real confusing, you know. People look at me and say, you
know, you're not from around here, are you? No. How'd you
know? Well, you use words that we're
not accustomed to hearing and I don't understand exactly what
you mean. John said, ìI saw a new.î Now,
this word ìnew,î there are words, there is a word ìnew,î and Iím
going to give you an example of it in a minute. Thereís a
word ìnewî that means as far as time. ìNew.î You know, itís
the word that has to do with something meaning in time. But thereís another word. And this word right here doesn't
mean new in time, but it means a different nature as to what
we're accustomed. That's the definition, new. A
different nature, just not used to seeing it just exactly. Let me give you a Scripture.
It's Matthew 9, 17. I'll tell you what, just turn
there. I want you to look at this. As
I've said before, It's the looking at the Scriptures and hearing
it. Matthew 9, 17. Here is a Scripture
that deals with both kinds of new. Matthew 9, 17. The Lord
said, ìNeither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the
bottles break and the wine runneth out.î and the bottles perish,
but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved."
Now, those words, there's two words in there, and they're both
interpreted, new. Neither do men put new wine. That word, new, there means as
far as time is concerned. Time. They do not put new wine
into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out,
and the bottles perish. But they put new wine in time
into new bottles." That word new there, Gary, means a different
kind, a new nature, something that they are not accustomed
to. They don't put new wine in time into the same kind of bottles
that you would normally. They put it into a different
kind, a new nature. The old bottle, that old nature
won't work. The new wine, and this is what
that Scripture means, the new wine of regeneration, if you
go back and read that text, if I was preaching out of Matthew,
I'd read them all to you, but just suffice it to say this is
what it's talking about. The new wine of regeneration
that occurs in time, now we've been beloved from the Lord before
the foundation of the world. That's what God's Scriptures
say, that God has a people. They've been everlastingly loved.
But in time, they're regenerated. In time, we know about it. Regeneration is something that
occurs in time. God's love is everlasting. His
purpose is everlasting. His election is everlasting.
His calling is in time. Someone says, ìWell, Iíve always
been converted.î Well, thatís just a little bit too long. Youíve
not always been converted. You who were dead in trespasses
and sins, has He quickened? He called you out of darkness.
So the new wine of regeneration that occurs in time, you donít
put new wine in old bottles. This new wine of regeneration
must be vitally connected or formed within another nature. You don't put new wine in old
bottles. It will burst and it's not going
to work. You put new wine of regeneration
into new bottles of a different kind. The new wine of regeneration
cannot be placed or linked with the old bottle or nature of Adam.
That's what it's saying right there. There's a new man. A new
creation created in Christ, created in righteousness in Christ. The Lord said in Matthew 26,
28, ìFor this is my blood of the New Testament.î A new nature
that youíre not accustomed to seeing. Not new in time here. Another nature, another kind. Ephesians 2, verse 15, "...having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one
new man." That means in nature, one that you are not accustomed
to seeing. A believer is one that is a different kind. There is a new formation of regeneration
in time, but there is another nature. that you're not used
to. So as the believer has a new
name, here we are. I mean, we're walking around
in time, and in regeneration, Almighty God calls us out. We've
got a new name, sings a new song. There's a new nature. There's
a different nature. It's in time as far as you're
concerned, but it's eternal. for as God Almighty is concerned.
John said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. This word new,
I said all that to say this, the word new right here, a new
heaven and a new earth, doesn't mean new as far as time is concerned. It means it is a kind of which
you're not used to seeing. different nature that you are
accustomed to. The Scripture sets forth that
when God created the heavens and the earth, this is what the
Scripture says about it. God saw that it was very good,
Carl. It was very good. That meant,
remember last week I preached concerning that good he that
hath a bountiful eye." That meant a good eye. That meant nothing
can be added to it and nothing can be taken from it. It cannot
be improved upon. When God made the heaven and
the earth, God saw that it was very good. No change could be
wrought within it. Isaiah 65, 17, the Scripture
says, For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and
the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind. The inexhaustible
power of Almighty God, which created the first heaven and
the first earth, will create a new one. but not a new one,
meaning another. It will be one of a nature that
you're not accustomed to seeing, is what the word means. Not another
one completely. What God made from the beginning
was good. Well, what's going to happen? Are you saying that what God
created in the beginning that could not be added to or taken
away from Are you saying that that right there is what we're
going to behold? Yes, I am. So that you'll understand
and not misunderstand. I want to tell you that from
the beginning so you'll understand. What God made in the beginning,
that is the nature that you and I are not accustomed to seeing.
I asked Gary to sing that song this morning, Abide With Me. There's a line in there that
says, change and decay. in all around I see. O thou who changest not, abide
with me." Glenda and I were going down yesterday to pick up my
grandchildren, and we were going over Powell Mountain. And I got
to looking. Of course, I had this message
on my heart. You know, usually what I do,
Neal, is I start about two weeks in advance, and then I'll work
on it. And then I'll come home. I'll preach everything that I'm
working on to Glenda. And then, you know, then finally,
once I get it all prepared, anybody else that walks in the building
has to hear it also. And then I'll go and I'm looking
and thinking. And finally, I come to this point. And by the time I actually sit
here and preach, it seemed like I've been preaching it, you know,
to me, two weeks at least. I was driving over Powell Mountain.
I got to looking at those beautiful mountains. Oh, that's beautiful. I mean, it was beautiful. I mean,
it's gorgeous looking out there and all those trees and stuff.
But I got to looking at that, and I noticed that there were
rocks that had fallen down off the sides, you know, big boulders,
little things, you know. And I got to looking at the trees,
and there were some of them, and I started thinking about
this Scripture. Everything that we look at, has
the taint of sin to it. Everything that we see, everything
is decaying. You know, you look at this wood
right here that was put on here years and years ago. It looks
just exactly the way it did. Well, it doesn't either. If you
could have seen it originally or if you saw the essence, the
completeness of it, everything that we see is tainted with sin. Sin marred Everything. When God made the garden, there
were no thorns. There were no thistles. Everything
sin spoiled. Everything that God made, sin
tainted it. God Almighty that made everything,
God Himself that created it, And it was good. It was good. That which the Lord has made
shall remain. God Almighty absolutely does
not change. God rejoices and shall rejoice
in that which he has made for his pleasure. Isaiah 65, 18 says,
ìBe glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold,
I create Jerusalem, a rejoicing, and her people to be a joy.î This rejoicing of the heavenly
Jerusalem, the Church itself, the Lord will rejoice in their
joy. They rejoice in Him, and He rejoices
in their joy. Isaiah 65, 19 says, ìI will rejoice
in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard, and heard not the voice of crying.î We were
looking a moment ago at 2 Peter 3. Peter says, ìNevertheless,î
and this is where I stopped a while ago, and I said Iíll pick up
right here, We, according to His promise, look for a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." Not another. That's not the word. The word
is not another. It's not that we look for another
heaven and another earth. We look for one that you and
I are not accustomed to see. What we see has been tainted. Every bit of it, all of it has
been tainted. There is coming a time. That's how we think. There's
coming a time in which there's going to be another heaven and
another earth. I'm sorry, no, not another. There's
going to be a new heaven and a new earth, one that we're not
accustomed to seeing, wherein dwelleth our permanently righteousness. Now, certainly the character
of righteousness. is not home in this present world. That's just not the way it is.
God's people are righteous, justified, but we're just pilgrims here.
This is not our home. This is not. This is a desert
to us. But there is coming a time when
righteousness will permanently dwell in the new heaven and the
new earth. God created in the beginning
the heaven and earth, and the way that God created it, God's
people will behold it again. In the beginning, He called into
being the sun and the moon. in this new creation, the scripture
says in Revelation 21-23, that the city had no need of the sun
or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. This is going to be
the nature that you and I behold in that day, you that believe.
In the first heaven, first earth, Man fell in rebellion and sin
by the first Adam in this new heaven and new earth. The elect
are restored to peace and fellowship with God through the obedience
of the second Adam. Things are going to be seen in
a different light. It will not be the same. I cannot
imagine. I just look around. I tried to
think of this yesterday. I look at the majestic. Gary
and I, we were talking about this. You look at the beauty,
even these trees right here. The four seasons change, and
the glory of God is seen, and it's a picture of refreshment
and rebirth, and after the winter and the spring comes forth. I
see the glory of God in it, but it's still tainted with sin. How is it, Corey, that I can
see something that does not have the taint of sin? How do you
behold? I don't know. I don't know. But I can tell you this. There
will be a new heaven and a new earth, that is, as God Almighty
created it, without the taint of sin. That taint of sin is
what is going to be burnt up. God is going to destroy all,
not only as He is going to cast Satan and all of Satan's followers
and the false religion and the beast and the false prophet,
all the effects of sin will just burn up. It will just vanish in the first earth, Satan, by
his cunning. tempted man to sin in the new
earth, Satan is cast into the lake of fire. Now, we know a
dwelling of righteousness as far as to our present state,
that there is a future reality of a permanent dwelling of righteousness
in this whole earth and heavens as we shall behold it. But as
even now, to the new creation in regeneration, the new man
created in Christ Jesus, that transforming power of God within
his people, that nature, as to that future nature we possess
right now. Now, there is a nature. in God's
people, in the regenerate people of God, there is a new nature
that you will always possess now, a new nature that has been
formed in you. That won't change. That does
not change. You have a bit of what we shall
possess eternally right now, and you will behold this old
body is going to be put in the ground. We looked at that last
week or the week before or whenever. That which is sown in mortality
is going to be raised in immortality. What kind of a body is that going
to be? I don't know. It's going to be a body that
never dies because death is thrown into the lake of fire. It's a
body that's incorruptible. Here's a body that is corruptible.
This body is dying. I looked at some pictures of
me that was taken in 1990. My hair used to be black. They
used to have it. Change and decay in all around
I see. I thought to myself, how will you
look? I don't know. I don't know. But I'm telling you, all the
taint of sin is going to be put away, and it will be a new heaven
and a new earth that you're not accustomed to seeing. Not another,
but a new. The eternal state and being of
all God's redeemed is already working now, that worketh right
now in you. We're bound. to this first heaven
and first earth by this body of death. That is what Paul said. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? That first death. There is a
second death. But who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? Here is an old body. But when this mortality puts
on immortality, when this corruption is raised in incorruption, is
to say when the old body of this death is no more and we rise
in the newness of life, we will rejoice in the new heavens and
the new earth. As I said before, you try to
sit there and explain something, I cannot even figure out how
to look at something and to behold it if it doesn't possess the
taint or the stain of sin on it. I don't even know how to
look at it. I can't even imagine what it would look like. Stain of sin and scar of rebellion
and bruise of death is going to be burned up, passed away,
vanished in the purifying fire of God's judgment. It's going
to be over. And that which is left, John
says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth and the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away. It is like that new wine
put in old wine bottles. The glorified saints could not
eternally dwell in the first body in which they were created.
They just cannot do it. John said there was no more sea. The sea, as far as this book,
you will find that the sea is always a picture. of this world. You know, we remember we looked
at that, and the kingdom of heaven is like a net that is cast into
the sea, and the fish were brought in, the good and the bad were
separated. Out of that sea, we saw the false
beast, the old beast, it says, out of the sea, the instability
is what it arose, the beast out of Revelation 13. John says,
what he's saying is there's going to be no more unrest. You look
at the sea, it's always moving. That's the instability that we're
used to seeing. No more instability. No change. It's going to dwell righteousness.
John says, I saw, after everything was burnt up, the taint of sin,
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, not another. but I saw
a new heaven and a new earth of a nature that we're not accustomed
to seeing." And he said, and I, John, in verse 2, I, John,
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. John now has
seen in a vision, he's seen this nature of heaven and earth that
we are not accustomed to. Now he sees the holy city. The word holy, it means clear,
blameless, and awful. Awful. Awful. But that is a good word. Awesome. We think of that awesomeness.
John saw the holy city. In its strictest sense, the word
holy is the name of Jehovah. That's His name. Isaiah 6, verse
3 says, And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord. That's Him. The whole earth is
full of His glory. Holiness. I saw the holy city,
the pure, sanctified, hallowed, sacred. There are just not enough
words in the language in which we speak to describe or to adequately
set forth the holiness of the Lord. Holy. But contemplate this. This is the word that is applied
to the bride. I saw the holy city, the true
character as being found in her husband, holy, separate from
sin, holy, pure. I saw the holy city. Psalm 48, verses 1 and 2 says,
ìGreat is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of
our God, in the mountain of His holiness, beautiful for situations,
The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the
north, the city of the great king, the holy city, the bride,
the church itself, a city that is permanent. Let me think of
a city. In our thinking, we try our best
to look at the scriptures and to behold the essence of what
is actually being set forth. I saw the holy city, that place
inhabited by a number that no man can number. He says the new
Jerusalem. Jerusalem. Peace is what that means. It was outside Jerusalem as far
as we know of as the city. over on the other side of the
ocean here. It was outside that city that our Lord finished His
redemptive work. And Jerusalem at this present
moment, as far as the world thinks this way too, you think of Jerusalem
as symbolic of religion. religious things in the Lord,
Jerusalem, because of so much of the Scriptures that was written.
But truly, Jerusalem is a symbol, is a picture, is a type of the
church on this earth. The nation of Israel is a picture
of a type of the true church. You know, the Scripture says
all that is of Israel, that is, Everybody that's over there now
in that country, Israel, is not really of Israel, spiritually
speaking. Everybody that claims to be God's
people is not. You know them by their fruit. Jerusalem. The Scripture says,
pray for Jerusalem. I've heard so many people talk
about, pray for Jerusalem. You know, God is on the Jew's
side. There is no difference in a person
born over in Palestine that is a Jew by nationality, lost and
rebellious against Almighty God as there is someone living in
the United States. The Scripture says in Psalm 122.6,
pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love
thee. That is spiritual. Jerusalem. Now, you know, these
fellows just run over there trying to think. Now listen, I tell
you what, if we turn our backs on Jerusalem over there, God's
going to judge us. I'm going to tell you something,
there's a whole lot higher judgment that's coming than someone not
sitting over here, you know, defending that nation. I'm thankful
for them. God's used them to hold back
a whole lot of mess in this world. But when it says pray for Jerusalem,
That is the church, the bride that is symbolized by Jerusalem
for whom we pray. But here John said, I see a new
Jerusalem, new in the sense of a new heaven, new earth, a nature
that you are not used to. I am looking at you and you that
believe. I see you. Carl, I am looking
at you. I love you. I appreciate you.
I can't see you without the taint of sin on you. You can't see
me. You see what I'm saying? John
said, I saw a new Jerusalem, a holy city. Not another Jerusalem,
but the same Jerusalem that was on this earth, same people, same
redeemed, without the presence of sin. John says, I saw them. And here's what they were doing.
They were coming down from God out of heaven. In this vision,
John seeing the holy city coming down out of heaven, this is what
John saw. We behold that the church is
ever born from above. That's where they're from. Its state is the result. New Jerusalem state is the result
of the transforming work of the Spirit of God. Galatians 4.26
says, But Jerusalem, which is from above, is free. Someone says, Yes, but I've never
been in that state or that place to come down. The source of your
life is there. That's where you're from, is
what he's saying. Jerusalem, which is above, is
free, which is the mother of us all. Hebrews 11, 10, look
for a city which hath its foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
New Jerusalem coming down from heaven. And John says, this is
how I saw her. She was prepared. She didn't
prepare herself. She was prepared. As a bride,
adorned for her husband. Adorned. The word adorned there
is the same word from which we get cosmetic. Cosmetics, you
know, just to put on cosmetics, fix ourselves up a little bit.
Isaiah 61, 10, ìI will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul
shall be joyful in my God, for He has clothed me.î Hereís the
believerís cosmetics. ìThe garments of salvation He
has covered me with the robe of righteousness.î as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels." John said, I saw the abode of the bride after
the Lord Jesus Christ returns, after all of his elect are called
out of darkness, as soon as God has called out the last of His
elect. The Lord Jesus Christ will come
as the judge. And immediately, everything that
is tainted by sin, which is everything that you and I see, we're not
looking at anything. We're not even looking at each
other without seeing the effects of sin. And the most obvious
thing is that we're dying. We're getting older. We are dying.
But the Lord Jesus Christ will come and immediately the elements
fled away. Everything that you and I see,
every bit of it, will be burned up, consumed. The judgment, the
great white throne judgment, the Lord will judge in righteousness.
And everything that has no substitute, everything that has no cover,
of the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness is going to
be bound and cast out into everlasting darkness. John said, I saw the
eternal abode of God's people. It was a heaven and an earth
which we're not accustomed to see. A new one, not another,
but a new. Purged of all the stains of rebellion. and sin in its original state,
that which was very good, that which could not be improved upon,
not added to, not taken away. And John says, I see the inhabitants
of that, the holy city, New Jerusalem. She was born from above, prepared
by the bridegroom himself who covered her and adorned her with
the righteousness that is fit for His presence and His eternal
company. And Lord willing, next time we
will continue right here and just behold what the Scripture
says and sets forth of this new heaven and new earth and the
eternal abode of the Lord's people with Him. has been for me, and I know for
many of you, a marvelous study. And as we've seen the Scriptures
kind of unveil what's happened, what's happening, and what shall
happen, the one thing that we continue to see is that the Lord
Jesus Christ is never going to leave His people. He said, I'll
not leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.
There is anxious anticipation. I understand that there's a river,
the river of death, the Jordan. That's what symbolizes the judgment. I understand that we'll cross
over. But that crossing over is an
ushering in to the eternal presence of Him that loved us, gave Himself
for us.