In the 18th and the 19th chapters
of the book of Revelation, we see the destruction of the enemies
of our Lord Jesus and the enemies of His people. After all, I'm
sure that you will remember that the whole book of Revelation
is the victory of the Lamb of God and His followers over the
devil the beast and the false prophet and all who follow that
trinity of evil. Thank God that our Lord Jesus
reigns over all things. And as you behold the happenings
in the world, the various events that take place, though they
may be disturbing to us, Know this, that our God and King,
that one who redeemed us, who justified us by his bloody death,
he governs all things to bring to fruition that which is the
eternal purpose of God. I know we have people who have
studied history quite at length, more so than I have. And sometimes
it's said that history is circular. And to a degree, that's true.
But really, all of history is linear. It's linear. It's all leading to the fulfillment
of God's eternal purpose. Know this, He has ordained all
things that ever shall come to pass. There's an end. There's a goal at the end. when time shall be no more, and
everything since the introduction of sin into this world, everything
from the pronouncement of the seed of the woman is coming to
save his people, everything through the Old Testament and everything
through the New Testament is moving along really in a straight
line to the fulfillment of everything that God has ordained. And everything
will work together for his glory and for the good of his people.
He is the one who's the king. He is the one who rules over
all things. Everything is moving toward his
predestinated end. And that gives us quite a bit
of peace. And it ought to give us more
peace than we have. knowing that there are the things
that are going on throughout the world. Doesn't matter where
it is, whether it's in the world at large or in your little world.
Everything is moving toward the goal that God Himself has set. The world is not on a runaway
like a runaway train. Our God governs every move and
every breath of every life that has ever lived or will ever live
on this earth. And nothing will ever take place
by chance or by luck. Everything is moving toward what's
set forth in Revelation, especially 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22. Because
in those chapters we have the destruction, of the harlot church, Babylon. Oh, how wonderful it will be
when all false religion has come to its end, when all lying lips
of preachers have been closed forever, when no false gospel
will ever be preached again, when free willism and work salvation
and self-righteousness will be forever buried in hell. That's
what's set forth especially in 17, 18, and 19. All of the enemies
of God and all of our enemies will be conquered. Their doom
is promised. And the day of their destruction
has already been set. And everything that's evil is
going toward that point, that goal that God Himself has set. of destruction. As we get into
Revelation chapter 20, we have the destruction of the beast,
the false prophet. We have the destruction of Satan.
God's going to cast him into hell. And then we have the destruction
of the wicked. All of those whose names are
not written down in the Lamb's book of life. And make sure you
understand, all of you here and all of you who are watching,
there are no new names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
All of the names that are there were written from old eternity,
ordained in the covenant of grace. We were chosen in Christ unto
salvation. All things were ordained and
fixed and determined And it's a determination that cannot be
frustrated. Everything was determined in
the covenant of grace. And all of the enemies of God
shall come to their bitter end. At the end of chapter 20, we
have the great white throne judgment. And I'm sure you have read that
passage of scripture. It's great because it's the judgment
of God. It's said to be a great white
throne. Pure justice. I said Sunday,
at the judgment, there will be no mercy. There's no grace at
the judgment. Strict justice. Justice according
to the perfection of God. And we're gonna be judged, all
will be judged by that. That measurement of the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in Acts chapter 17. God's
appointed a time, a day when He will judge the world by that
man. That man who was crucified, buried,
and risen again. That man who satisfied God's
law and justice for His people. who established for us by His
obedience in life and death, a perfect righteousness that
even God Himself can't find any fault with. The judgment will
be according to that strict, strict standard. Great white
throne judgment. And then once all of that has
been settled, now all of the enemies have been destroyed.
As you get to chapter 21, Now John sees a happier vision. And I say happier, the other,
the destruction of the enemies, I'm thankful for that. Now it's
more of a glad tidings that he sets before us in chapters 21
and 22. I've selected as my text tonight
the fifth verse. where he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. Right, for these words are
true and faithful. So my subject is all things new. Seems fitting at the beginning
of the new year to talk about all things new. See, our Lord,
having accomplished The work that he came to finish has been
exalted. And as you know very well, he's
been made both Lord and Christ. Having finished the work, his
exaltation is set forth by his resurrection, his ascension,
and his enthronement at the right hand of God, where he sits till
his enemies be made his footstool. And someday, I don't know when,
we're not looking for signs. You're not looking for a sign,
are you? I'm looking for a person. For a person. I'm looking for
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look up for your redemption draweth
nigh. We're not looking to see what's
happening in the Middle East. We're not looking to see what
China's doing or Russia's doing or anybody else's doing. We're
just waiting for Him. With this assurance, when all
of the purpose of God has been fulfilled, when the last of the
sheep that was bought by the shepherd has been safely gathered
into the fold of salvation, and there shall be one fold and one
shepherd, then I believe the end will come. And our Lord Jesus
will come back in power and in great glory. ever since our Lord
ascended. The children of God have lived
in eager anticipation, expecting for Him to come, looking for
the glorious end of all things. And John sets that end before
us here. Since the enemies of the Lamb
of God have been conquered, that opens up the door for a new heaven
and a new earth. Soon our Savior will come and
old things shall pass away. And behold, all things are become
new. He who made all things shall
come again And that which is evil and wicked shall be done
away with. And that which has been defiled
by sin shall be purified by our Lord Jesus Christ. You'll notice
first of all, and I'll just give you a few things here, there's
going to be a new heaven and a new earth. The serpent has already been
bound in hell back in chapter 20. and the sin that He brought
into this world, that awful, slimy thing of sin. When we get
to chapter 21, it's been done away with. No more sin. No more sin. A couple of things
here. First, we know as the children
of God, dwelling in the Lord Jesus Christ by free and sovereign
grace, by the appointment of God, in Him we have no sin. Right? In Him is no sin. Those who are in Christ, as God
beholds us, He beholds us in Christ. And we have no sin in
Him. But the second thing is, we have
sin in us. And we only know that to a very
small degree. We really have very little understanding
of the depth of our depravity, even as small. even as the children
of God. But there's going to come a day
when there will be no more sin. If there's one thing in this
whole wide world that I'd like to see done away with, it's the
sin in me. You know, it's easy to say, It's
a filthy world. It's an ungodly world. Now, I'm
not going to argue with you on that. I agree with that. But
the thing that troubles me the most, and I suspect you as a
child of God, the thing that bothers you the most is your
own sin. Oh, what a wonderful day it will
be when we worship perfectly, without any sin, without any
distraction, when we can worship without any weariness. You know, I was thinking today
as I was working on this message, when we get to glory, every thought
will be in subjection and submission to our Lord. And we'll never
have a rogue thought of sin ever again. I can't even imagine what
that's going to be like. to be able to worship without
losing your track of mind. To have in the fullness of your
consciousness, in the fullness of your mind and your body and
your soul, to have only thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
see Him in His glory, to see Him in His magnificence, and
to visit with Him and hear Him preach to us. Oh, I fully believe
we'll be perfect in heaven, there's no question about that. But I
don't think that means we're gonna have perfect, absolute,
thorough knowledge of all things. I think we'll be taught by the
Master. as He breaks open the Word of
God to us. Oh, how refreshing that will
be and how wonderful that will be when He breaks open the Word
of God like the woman who broke open the alabaster box of sweet
perfume. And we shall worship the Savior
forever and ever. That day is coming. And when
our Lord comes back, Satan having been destroyed now and the wicked
having been turned into hell, our Lord Jesus is coming back
and he will renovate heaven and he will renovate the earth. It
will be destroyed. Someday, every trace of sin in
God's creation is going to be eliminated. And in Romans chapter
8, you know, Paul writes, and he presents the creation as groaning,
groaning, travailing. Oh, creation, what's wrong with
you? Why do you travail? The curse,
the curse that's upon the earth. And the curse will be lifted. Someday every trace of sin will
be erased from God's creation. There will be a new heaven and
a new earth where dwelleth perpetually righteousness. Where everybody loves the gospel. Where everybody loves the message
of grace. Where nobody defends free willism. When nobody defends work salvation,
there is going to be a day when there will be a new heaven and
a new earth. And nothing unrighteous will
ever be seen again. That sin that Satan introduced
into this world, it will be erased. Erased. just like it's been erased from
us. Though sin seems to be indelibly
written upon our hearts, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And someday we'll be cleansed
from the very experience of sin. And the earth is going to be
renovated so as to be a fit place for the bride of heaven and the
bridegroom from heaven to dwell in. It's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth. In this new creation, the old
world with its sinfulness, with its sorrows, with its troubles,
In verse 1 it talks about there was no more sea. The sea represents
troubles, distresses, divisions, none of that ever again. All will be purged by our Lord
Jesus. No more thorns, no more thistles,
no more troubles. And then he says in verse 2,
he talks about the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem. The word new
is put in here to make a difference between the old Jerusalem and
the new Jerusalem with its walls and gates will be the perfect
city. Because we are the city of God.
That's the thing. We're the city of God. John said
he saw the holy city. Well, who is our holiness? Well, Christ our Lord. He has
been made of God to be our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification. What's that? Holiness and redemption. It's the holy city. You see, holiness is not what
you do, It's what we are in Christ Jesus. As He is our righteousness, He
is our holiness. He always has been and He always
will be. This New Jerusalem is the entirety
of the church of God's elect. The church of the Old Testament
blended with the church of the New Testament. Really just one
church. and this great city would become
the habitation of somebody else. Look at verse 3. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. There's
another occupant in this city. In John chapter 1 in verse 14,
and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled among
us, John said. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. But there was a temporary dwelling with us in His body. But there's coming a day when
the God-man will literally, actually, visibly dwell with the church
of our Lord Jesus Christ, this perfect church, this new Jerusalem,
this holy city. He will dwell with us and never
forsake us, ever. The tabernacle of God is with
men. It was utterly amazing that He
tabernacled with us in His first coming. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh
and He tabernacled among men. And now, after every how many
years, it will be to the end, He's going to perfect us Body
and soul. He will raise our bodies from
the graves. Our souls will have been glorified
when we died, and our bodies will be glorified when He raises
them. And we're going to come back
with Him, and He's going to be in the midst of the people of
God. He will be the object of absolute worship. He'll be in
the midst. He'll be in the midst. He shall
dwell with them. And He won't be ashamed to call
us His people. He will be our God. And the second verse, don't let
me, I don't want to miss this. This holy city is prepared as
a bride for her husband. This describes the church of
our Lord Jesus Christ in her eternal glorified state, beautified
in the holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ and in his righteousness.
You see, this is the goal of God in the covenant of grace. He predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of Christ Jesus. And in the end, There will be
our Savior, and all around Him will be His perfect church. I had a person tell me this one
time, Jim, I don't understand. If there are going to be thousands
upon thousands and thousands of believers gathered around
Him, how shall we all be able to see Him? I said, well, I wouldn't
worry about that if I were you. You say, well, I can't explain
that. I can't wrap my mind around that.
There's a whole lot of things I can't wrap my mind around,
but I don't have to. Because He's got His mind wrapped
around all things. But I promise you this, He will
work it all out. You see, here's the glory of
heaven and earth. The people of God will be with
the Son of God forever. I'm not looking for anybody else
in heaven. One writer said after he visits
with the Lord for about 10,000 years, he might go talk to Abraham. I don't know about that. I know
that we'll know even as we're known, but the soul The person,
the soul, being of our worship and our adoration in heaven is
God our Savior. He is the glory of heaven and
He will be the glory of earth. In John 1 it says, He came unto
His own and His own received Him not. Oh how blind, oh how
blind were the children of men, and still are today, when the
Creator, the Magnificent One, came down here and veiled His
deity with flesh, and nobody recognized Him. Not even the Jews who said they
were looking for Him. And I'll tell you what, in this
eternal day, we'll all know Him, because we'll see Him face to
face. And you'll notice this in verse
five. Well, in verse four it says,
no more tears, no more crying. Tell you what, the children of
God shed a lot of, we shed a lot of tears in this world, don't
we? Weeping over our own condition,
weeping over painful circumstances, But He's going to wipe away all
tears. There's not going to be any more
pain. I'm sure there are things in
your life that bring you great pain and sorrow. The former things, He says, are
passed away. Gone forever. And in verse 5,
He uses this word, Behold, I make all things new. Everything old is passed away.
I'm thankful. Everything old will have been
passed away. And he said unto me, write. I bet John got his
ink pen out in his legal pad. He started to write. For these
words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It's finished. It's done. He said that one time before. He said that upon the cross of
Calvary. When He finished the work He
was sent to accomplish, when He had put our sins away, buried
them in the depths of the deepest sea, when He had justified us
by His blood, when He had brought in for us a perfect standing
before God, He said, it's finished. We were justified. And now He
says, in the end, once again, it is done. What's finished now? The purging of sins. from all
of His creation, and the gathering of all of His elect around His
throne. And we shall be with Him forever
and ever, and He will be with us. As you go through chapter
21, you read these descriptions of heaven That which makes heaven to be
heaven is our glorious Savior. If He weren't with us, there'd
be no heaven. Heaven's where He is because
He's our joy and He's our Savior. Let's sing a closing song.