Let's turn back in our Bibles
to Revelation 21, actually chapter 20 and chapter 21. That hymn
that Ryan just sang couldn't have been more appropriate for
our message tonight. And I didn't tell him to sing
that. He didn't ask me. But that's a beautiful hymn.
But it could not really have been more appropriate. It almost
preached the message. The sands of time are sinking.
Now, we realize that, don't we? In our lives, we know this world,
this world is winding down. We know our time is winding down,
some closer than others. We don't know the appointed time
that God is going to call each individual one of his sheep home,
but it's coming. It's set. He knows. But this
world is winding down, too. The sands of time are sinking. And there's several lines in
that hymn that you sang, Ryan, that are just so appropriate
for what we need to understand in the message of God's Word. One of them, he said, I stand
upon my Savior's merit. I know no other stand. And I
pray to God that I don't know any other stand but standing
upon the merits of Christ. And then he said in the last
part of that hymn, it said that the glory of the Lamb, all the
glory of Emmanuel's land is in the Lamb. And that's really what
Revelation 21 is about. The title of the message is Christ
makes all things new. Christ makes all things new.
But to see the beauty of it. You see the glory of it, you
have to sort of contrast it with what John had just concluded
in the last part of chapter 20 concerning final judgment. Look
back at verse 12 of chapter 20. He said, now this is speaking
of the great white throne judgment, final, final judgment. And he said, I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God, standing before a holy holy
God who judges according to the truth. And the books were opened. And another book was opened.
And this other book that was opened is the book of life. Now, the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the book. Now, there he's
talking about those who died in unbelief. Those who are found
at the judgment without Christ. They're judged out of the books.
And how are they judged? Look at it. According to their
works. Now, my friend, the theme of
last week's message and the theme of these verses here is this.
There is no greater horror imaginable than to be found at the great
white throne judgment without Christ. We can't even imagine
what that would be like. But it's going to be a horrible,
horrible, horrible day. The Bible uses the word terror
to describe it. The terror of the Lord. To be
found at judgment without Christ. They can't even begin to portray
that in a movie or in a book. or in some haunted house. There
is just no way. To stand before God, and think
about this, to stand before God thinking that everything's okay. That thinking that you're at
peace with God. Brother Don read a passage back in the study.
Let me read just a part of that to you. I told him it was so
appropriate to tonight's message. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And it says in verse 1 of that
chapter, it says, But of the times and the seasons, brethren,
you have no need that I write unto you. For you yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief
in the night. Now what Paul's saying, there's
no use for me going into that because you know that it's going
to come in God's time when God says no man knows the day. And
it's going to come as a thief in the night, unexpectedly. Now,
it won't overtake us, Christ said, as a thief. Because we
live in continual, constant anticipation of the coming of our Lord. That's
those who know Him. But it says in verse 3, for when
they shall say, peace and safety. Now that's the message of false
preachers because it's peace and safety without Christ. Who
is our peace? Who is our refuge and our safety?
Now, this is the way people are, you know, like those false preachers
that came to judgment and said, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied
in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? See, their peace and their safety was wrapped up in their
works. Well, they're going to be judged according to their
works. And what they're going to find is there's no peace and
safety there. None at all. And he said, when
they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon
them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not
escape. But you, brethren, Paul writes,
are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a
thief. We're to live in the light of the Lord, the light of His
grace, the light of His truth, the light of His love, the light
of His gospel. We know what's coming. We don't
know when it's coming. But we know what's coming. We
know who's coming. We don't know when he's coming,
but we know he's coming. We know what to expect. He says
it right here. Look back at Revelation 20. Those
who die without Christ, who stand before the judgment without having
been washed in his blood, without being found in his merits, his
righteous robe, his righteousness imputed, those who stand before
God, having their own works, will be judged according to their
works, and they will be condemned. They will be sentenced to eternal
death. It says in verse 13, the sea
gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire, that temporary abode, and it gave way to the
second death. This is the second death. That's
eternal, eternal perishing. No end to it. And verse 15 says,
and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. Oh, that our names are written
in the book of life. That's God's book. That's the
Lamb's book of life, isn't it? And I want you to think about
that because when we consider this scene of the final judgment,
of sinners without Christ being judged according to their works,
of those whose names were not found written in the Lamb's Book
of Life, the terror and the horror of being found before a holy
God without Christ. Some of the most religious people
will be there. Some of the most well-respected
people of the earth will be there. Some of the most famous and the
most well-liked people. Our Lord looked at the Pharisees
in Matthew 23 and He said, Serpents, generation of vipers, how can
you escape the damnation of hell? Well, they can't without Christ.
Nobody can. You can't. I can't. The best
men on earth, the best woman on earth cannot escape the judgment
of hell without Christ. In Romans chapter 2 and verse
3, Paul speaking of the religious Jews who boasted in the law,
He said, do you think this, O man, that judgest them who you consider
to be sinners, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape
the judgment of God? What makes me think that I'm
going to escape the judgment of God in that day? As we said
here, and read in 1 Thessalonians 5, they say peace and safety. But their peace and their safety
is a refuge of lies. I'll never forget hearing the
Mayhem preach that message, a refuge of lies. That shook my foundation. I'm going to tell you something.
And you know what? Aren't you glad, you who know
the Lord, that God shook your foundation and your peace and
your safety before you come to judgment? I used to walk out of here mad.
I mean, I was mad. Well, who was I mad at? I was
mad at God. That's who I was mad at. I just took it out on
the preacher. That's right. But I was mad at
God. Because, you see, I had everything. I had all my ducks in a row,
I thought. And I thought everything was okay. Oh, I had my problems,
and I had my questions, and I had some confusion, but I thought
I was saved. I mean, I'd been baptized. I walked an aisle and
got in the water at 12 years old, and the preacher there told
me I was saved. I'd accepted Jesus as my personal
Savior. But my friends, I didn't know
the Lord, and when somebody came along and told me that and preached
the true Christ to me, it upset me. Well, I thank God that it
did. I'm serious. I thank God that
it did, because the Holy Spirit used that to show me that my
peace was no peace at all. That my safety was no safety
at all. That my refuge was a false refuge
of lies. And I thank God for it every
day. I do. Somebody said, don't get mad
when somebody rocks your boat. Would you rather have it rocked
today or later? Don't get mad when somebody challenges
your faith. Would you rather have it challenged
today or later? I had a fellow come to me one
time in Albany. He was upset because somebody
had questioned his faith. And I told him, I said, well,
why are you upset? You ought to say, come on, bring it on.
Let's look into the Word of God. Be ready to give an answer. The
Scripture says, for them that ask you for the hope that you
have. Do you have a hope? Is it based on the Word of God?
If it is, nobody can shake it. Nobody can budge you out of it.
If it's God's Word, if God puts you there, and right, it'll stand
the test of the judgment of a holy God. It'll stand the test of
these little religious people that come around trying to upset
you today. Don't worry about them. These
people are standing before God. Well, you'll stand before God,
too. I'll stand before God, too. Not to be judged. We've already
been judged in Christ. But it will be declared and it
will stand that test if we're in Christ. That's right now. Are you looking to Him and Him
alone? Well, you don't have anything
to fear for judgment. 1 John. Look at 1 John chapter 4. He's speaking of love here, and
I want you to see this. 1 John chapter 4, we quote one
of these verses quite often, but let's quote the rest of it
here, or the whole passage here. He's speaking of fellowship with
God in Christ, and he says in verse 17, herein is our love
made perfect. Now, if you look in your concordance
there, literally, here's the way it would read. And this is
a better translation of this. Herein is love with us made perfect. And I believe what he's talking
about there is as we look to Christ, we experience and see
by the power of the Holy Spirit the perfection of love. And I'm
saying that this now, our love grows. Now, we love God. If you're
born again of the Spirit, you love God. You love God's people.
You don't love them perfectly, though. Your love's still tainted
and contaminated and struggles. And you're shamed of it so many
times. I know I am, of my own. And I
pray, Lord, help me to love more. That's right. I want to love
better. Now, I know if I do love better, that's not going to make
me holier. That's not my hope. You see, Christ is my hope. You
see the difference? But what he's saying here is
when we look to Christ and when we experience the union and the
fellowship that we have with the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit in Christ, we experience and we see the perfection of
love. And he says, look what it says
in verse 6, that we may have boldness when You see that? In the day of judgment. My perfection
is Christ. Now, doesn't that give you boldness
in the day of judgment? What's God looking for, so to
speak, at judgment? Looking for perfection. Is He
going to find it in you? No, sir. He's going to find it
in Christ, our advocate, our propitiation. Christ is my perfection. And that's what will be declared
at judgment. And he says, because, now listen
to this, verse 17, because as He is, as Christ is, so are we
in this world. In Him, I'm as holy as He is. I'm as perfect as He is. I'm
as righteous as He is. Now that will give me boldness
in the day of judgment. Isn't that assuring? Isn't that
a blessing? My hope. Built on nothing less. Look back at Revelation 20. Now,
that sets the tone of the message of evangelism right there. Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 10 and 11, that we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. That it may be declared there
what all have done according to the works of their body, what
was done in their body, whether it be good or bad. All who are
in Christ, good. All who are not in Christ, bad.
And he says, knowing therefore, brethren, the terror of the Lord,
we do persuade men, we preach, we beg, we plead with sinners
to look to Christ and believe this gospel. He told the believers
in the Hebrew church, listen to this. He says in verse 3,
he said, how shall we escape if we even neglect so great salvation. Now, it's one thing to openly
deny it, but it's another thing just to neglect it. You know,
there are people who claim to believe it, but they neglect
it. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which
at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed
to us by them that heard it. And then in Hebrews 12, verse
25, when he's comparing the judgment of God against sin, with God's
judgments under the old covenant. And he says this, he says, see
that you refuse not him that speaketh. Now who's speaking
there? He's talking about Christ because
we're ambassadors for Christ. So that when the gospel is preached,
you're to look upon it as the word of God and not the word
of men. When the warnings and the encouragements of scripture
are given, you're not to look at it as the word of Bill Parker,
but you're to look at it as the word of Christ. And check me
out with the scriptures. You test me, don't you? Don't
fail to do that. Don't fail to test this preacher.
The old boy said, am I on trial? You bet you are. When you stand
up behind that pulpit and you say, I'm speaking for God, somebody
better test you. But now, use the right standard.
Use the scriptural standard. If they speak not according to
this word, there's no light in them. And so he says, for if
they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, that was
Moses. When they didn't listen to Moses, what happened? They
were swallowed up in wrath. And so if they escape not who
refuse him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, the eternal
Lord of glory. Well, it's something to consider,
isn't it? But now let's go to chapter 21. Now, as there's nothing
more horrible than to be found at judgment without Christ. By
the same token, there is nothing more glorious than to be found
at judgment in Christ. And that's the theme of tonight's
message. Because Christ makes all things new. He starts out
here in verse 1 of chapter 21 with the new creation. There's
going to be a new creation. He says, and I saw a new heaven
and a new earth. A new heaven. When you look up
into the sky at night, that's what he's talking about, that
heaven. And you look at this earth that we stand upon, walk
upon, live upon, that's what he's talking about. All of this
creation is going to be made new. He says, for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. You see, final judgment follows
the destruction of this world. The new creation follows immediately. final judgment, and then it replaces
the present heaven and the present earth as we know them today.
In fact, the destruction of the present heaven and earth prepares
the way for the new heaven and the new earth, and it's described
here in this verse. This is the age for which the
whole creation has been groaning and prevailing in pain together,
as Paul described it in Romans chapter 8. Do you remember when
he said that? He said, the whole creation groaneth. and trebellus
in pain until that glorious time. You see, when Adam brought sin
into this world, the whole creation fell. Not just man, but the whole
creation fell. And what he's talking about is
this. This world, this earth that we live on, had to suffer
the consequences of the sin of man. That's when the thorns and
the briars and all of the disasters that came about They are the
consequences of sin that Adam brought on this world. Sin in
Adam. Well, it's going to be made new. And this is the beginning
of what we know now as the age to come. Paul speaks of it quite
often. The age to come. The age to come. Well, this is
it. The world to come. This is it.
The new heavens and the new earth. We live in this present evil
age. Somebody said one time, there's
nothing wrong with this world except one thing. S-I-N. And
that's right. Well, this world is going to
be destroyed, and there is going to be a new order of things.
Peter described it in 2 Peter 3. Turn there with me. And this
is all the fruit and result of the person and the glorious work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not the result of somebody
finally building a temple in Jerusalem. This is not a result
of some nation over there in Palestine finally getting their
act together and becoming obedient. This is God's appointed time.
It's already been set. It was set in eternity, in the
covenant of grace, and here it is. Peter deals with it here.
Verse 10, look at it. He says, but the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night. That is, unexpectedly. We don't
know the time. But he said, in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise. The elements shall
melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to
be in all holy conversation in godliness?" You who know Christ
now, you who know the story, His story, you who know the judgment
of God and have experienced it as you look to Christ, what kind
of people should we be? That's what he's saying. Because
we know that this day is coming. He says in verse 12, "...looking
for, and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for the new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness." There will be no sin in that new order. There will be nothing but righteousness. So he says, "...wherefore, beloved,"
verse 14, "...seeing that you look for such things, Be diligent
that you may be found of Him in peace without spot and blameless. Paul said it this way in Philippians
3, Oh, that I may know Him. Oh, that I may be found in Him. That's what we look for. Let's
concentrate. Let's look to. Let's worship. Let's serve. Let's talk about. Let's lift up Christ and Him
crucify. Be diligent in that. Follow Him. Follow Him. Now, go back to Revelation
21. Now, no sin or unrighteousness
or unholiness can dwell in this new heavens and this new earth.
So this is the day of which Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 when
he said, we'll all be changed. There's going to be a change
that we have not yet experienced. That change is final glorification. That's when this old body, which
is going to be decaying in the grave probably, unless the Lord
comes back in my time, But this old body is going to be cast
away, and I'm going to be given a new body, a spiritual body,
without sin, without the consequences of sin, without the influence
of sin. You know, I don't know what that's
like. Do you? You don't know what that's like. Sin will not
influence my thoughts. It will not influence my motives.
It will not even enter into the picture when I think something,
say something, or do something. It will not contaminate anything.
My love will be perfect love of God by the grace of God. My
obedience will be perfect obedience without any hint of falling short
of the mark, which I do every day today. I hear people talking
about believers don't live continually in sin. Well, I know what most
people mean when they say that. What they're saying usually is
that a believer is not an openly, continually immoral pervert,
basically. But my friend, let me ask you
a question, and be honest now, you don't have to answer it out
loud, but just be honest. Have you ever lived one second
of your life that you would call a second of sinless perfection?
No, you haven't, and neither have I. Now, that sounds to me
like a continual life of sin. Now, we grieve over sin, not
as much as we should. We sorrow over it. There's a
godly sorrow over sin. And we repent of it. But that's
by the power of God. That's not of our own, is it?
If left to ourselves, we would just go merrily our way to hell. But thank God He didn't leave
us to ourselves and leave us alone. He arrested us. Stopped
us in our tracks. Just like He did Saul of Tarsus
on the road to Damascus. And He showed us the glorious
light of His grace in Christ. And I'll tell you what, it's
never been the same since, has it? But we'll be changed. Now,
listen to me. Now, our sins were legally put
away by Christ on the cross. And they were literally, in the
eyes of God's law and justice, done away with. Literally, now. That's no fiction. That's not God playing like they're
gone when they're really here. No, in Christ now, legally, as
to our standing before God, our sins were put away at Calvary. We were redeemed by the blood
of Christ. We were justified by His righteousness. And then in time, we've been
given the Spirit of life, the Holy Spirit, who calls us and
motivates us continually to look to Christ, to rest in Christ,
to believe in Him, to have our assurance and our peace and our
safety in Him, to follow Him, but we have not yet been made
holy and perfect and righteous within ourselves, within our
minds, our affections, our wills. That just hasn't come about.
You don't know what that's going to be like, but I'll tell you
what, it's coming. Think about it, it's coming. That change,
that glorious change of Paul spoke of. Right here, we have
the presence of sin, the influence of sin. But here, it's going
to be removed. Now, here's what John said about
that in 1 John 3. Now, let's go to the Word of
God. I know what men say, and I know
what they're trying to say, and I know what they want us of.
But let's go to the Word of God. Look here at 1 John 3. And here,
John speaking by the Holy Spirit. He says in verse 1, He says,
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we, such wretches as we are, should be called the sons
of God. Now, when are we sons of God? Right now, in Christ. Adopted
into his family, born into his family spiritually, therefore
the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now
listen, beloved, now are we the sons of God. And it does not
yet appear what we shall be. That hasn't appeared yet. But
here's what we know about it. Now here's John saying that by
the power of the Holy Spirit, now he says, now this is what
I can tell you about. And now I've often said this. I said, now listen, now what
we're going to do here is we're going to speak where the scripture
speaks and we're going to shut up where the scripture shut up.
And I think that's a good policy. I know it is. But listen to this,
he says, now here's what I know, he says, when he shall appear,
when Christ comes this second time, as related here in Revelation
21, he says, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is. We're going to be perfectly conformed
to Christ. We're going to love as he loves.
We're going to think as he thinks. We're going to obey as he obeys.
Now that's a glorious moment. Go back to Revelation 21. Now
why does that have to be? Because this new heavens and
this new earth cannot tolerate unrighteousness. It cannot tolerate
sin. This is a new order that's populated,
a new world that's populated with nothing but perfected, righteous,
holy people. And made so by the power of God.
It's not populated by those who have made great achievements
in their lives. It's not populated by those who
get more rewards than others because they did more than others.
No, sir. In fact, go back to Revelation
20 there, that book of life. Listen to me now. In the book
of life, there are no names recorded. There are no works recorded.
There's only names. Those who are in Christ. And
the only work that will be seen is the work of Christ. His death
on the cross and His righteousness in Peter. That's what will be
said. And then we'll be changed. In the twinkling of an eye, the
scripture says, we'll be changed. Well, Christ said it. He said,
Behold, I make all things new. Now, this present, the present
heaven and earth is temporary. We live in a temporary world.
It's destined to perish. But the new heaven and the new
earth belong to the age to come and they're eternal. This is
a world that will never end. they'll never perish. And just
like the present heaven and earth, our bodies are also destined
to perish. We're living in physical bodies
that are perishing. This is temporary. Because of
Christ's bodily resurrection, and His resurrection is called
the firstfruits, remember, one day we'll be raised like Him,
imperishable. And just as our bodies will be
raised without loss of our personal identity, so too the new heaven
and the new earth will be completely recreated while at the same time
maintaining some of the presence of heaven and earth as we see
them, will know them. In other words, although they'll
be completely recreated with every trace of human sin gone,
removed, totally obliterated, purged, the new heavens and the
new earth will be recognizable in the same way that our resurrected
bodies will be. And I can't explain all of that,
but I know it's so. We'll spend eternity in resurrected
and glorified bodies, dwelling in a new heaven and a new earth,
in the presence of God, fulfilling the end for which we were originally
created, to glorify God. I hear people arguing and talking
about, what are we going to be doing? I don't know. Maybe something
like what Adam did before the fall. I don't know. We just don't
have that information. So allow me not to fill in the
blank tonight, okay? Let's leave it blank if scripture
leaves it blank. I know that we will be occupied.
It's not going to be like laying around in hammocks drinking pineapple
juice or anything like that. I mean, we were created for a
purpose and that purpose was to serve and to glorify God.
We won't be laying on clouds with halos and wings playing
harps. That's not scriptural. That's myth. But we will be occupied. We'll be a busy people. But the
labor will be a labor of love. It won't be by the sweat of our
brow. It'll be a glorious, joyous, loving labor, glorifying God
in some way. I'll tell you exactly what you're
going to be doing. You'll be doing what God tells you to do, with
no argument, with no murmuring and complaining. How about that
one? No murmuring or complaining.
You see, a lot of times we'll do what we're told to do, but
we don't do it without murmuring and complaining or thinking we've
got a better way. Well, that stuff will be gone.
We'll be doing exactly what God says to do. Well, look here. Now, he says
back here in verse 1, there was no more sea. Now, why is that?
Well, throughout Revelation, the sea has been described as
the abode of the dragon, Satan. It was the abode of the dead,
the center of commerce for unbelieving nations that were doing the service
of Babylon the Great. So it's been represented symbolically
here as an evil thing, a place of evil. And the sea, we know
it physically as a place of storm and tempest, cold and dark, frightening. You think about the people back
in John's day when they saw the ocean. It was a frightening thing
to them. It was a place of terror to them.
We don't think of it that much today because we fly over it
or whatever, but it's still a place of a tsunami, Tidal wave is still
a place of terror and destruction. But in the new heaven and the
new earth, there's no longer any seed. Now, that's not because
God hates oceans and the creatures who live in the ocean, but in
the new heavens and the new earth, there'll be no place for the
dragon. There'll be no place for Satan to hide. There'll be
no abode for the dead. There'll be no death. There'll
be no unbelieving nations doing the service of Babylon, the great
whore. Because that will be gone, no
longer will storms sweep the earth. Therefore, in the New
Jerusalem, there will be no more sea. Now look at verse 2. Here's
the New Jerusalem. He says, And I saw, I, John,
saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Now, is there any
doubt, just in that verse, what the New Jerusalem is? It's not
a physical city here on this earth. It's the church. Here's
a city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.
That's His saints coming with Him. You remember, He'll gather
them up. That's what people call the rapture. And that's so. Rapture
just means a gathering up. That's what it means. Now, you
can argue and fuss and fight on when, where, and how many
days or whatever. That's not the point. We'll be gathered
up by Christ. He's coming to gather His church. And we'll be changed and we'll
come with Him. We'll come down from heaven with
Him. to the new heaven and the new earth, and it says, coming
down from God out of heaven, this and this. Now, here's your
key, prepared. You'll be prepared. There'll
be no lack of preparation here. There'll be nothing missing.
There'll be no incompleteness in you yourself. Now, right now,
we're completing Christ. But not yet in ourselves, but
then we'll be complete in ourselves. We'll be complete in every way
right then. And prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband, wearing the wedding garment of his righteous
robe that he brought together and wrought out for us here on
this earth. So it's not a literal city, but it's the church. It's
the church of the living God in its complete, perfect, glorified
state. No tears here. The tears have
been removed. No mixture here. No divisions
here. Many times in the Old Testament,
the Lord speaks of His church as Jerusalem, the city. It's
spiritual Jerusalem. And this new Jerusalem, this
church, this glorious church, is our permanent, eternal residence. It's where we're going to live
forever. It's our place of eternal refuge and safety. It's our eternal
home, our eternal family, our eternal fellowship. fully realized
in every way. It's our eternal joy. Coming
down from God out of heaven, when Christ returns in all His
glory and power, the saints coming with Him into His new creation.
Jude 24 said it this way, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands,
plural, of His saints. Ten thousands, plural. Not just ten thousand. Ten thousands. That's a big number. How many?
I don't know. But it's going to be all whom God chose, all
whom Christ redeemed, all whom the Spirit called, all whom Christ
glorifies at the end. Look at verse 3. He says, I heard
a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. They shall be
his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God,
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Listen this
now, there shall be no more death. This is not just poetry, folks.
This is reality. There'll be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the
former things are passed away. You know what he's talking about
there, the tabernacle of God? That's God's eternal presence
with his people. You know, I think about Adam
before the fall. He had uninterrupted fellowship
in the presence of God. And he lost that when he fell.
We lost it when he fell. But that eternal, blessed, joyous
fellowship in the presence of God will be right there eternally.
He'll dwell with men. That is his elect. The great
covenant promise that God made first to Abraham and then to
all of his people throughout history, the redemptive history,
it's a reality now. That's what he's saying. The
promise has become fulfilled. Now, Christ is with us even now.
The Scripture says that. It speaks of Christ in you, the
hope of glory. Actually, in Colossians chapter
1 there, he's speaking of the church collectively. Now, Christ
does dwell in the hearts of his people, by his Spirit and by
his Word. But there in Colossians 1.27,
when it says, Christ in you, the hope of glory, the literal
translation is Christ among you. He's speaking of the church.
Christ dwells in his church. Well, here's the full completion
of it, right here. in his second coming, in our
glorification. But here's the fullness, the
perfection of God's presence. This is perfect communion with
Christ. This is perfect conformity to Christ. Just like he said
in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, the old things are passed away now. Totally. And then he begins to describe
this new heaven and new earth. And think about it. Can you imagine
a day where there are no tears at all? A day when there's no
death. I imagine that you're like me
when you read the paper. You get through the obituaries
pretty quick. See if anybody you've known,
anybody that's a relative or anybody in the church or anybody
that's related to somebody in the church has died. Well, there'll
be no obituaries in the new earth, in the new heaven. No sorrow. This world is full of sorrow.
Job said, man is a few days and full of trouble. No sorrow, no
trouble. No crying, neither shall there
be any more pain. No pain. Somebody said you get
older, the pain, you get the same pain, it just moves around.
Then pretty soon it's all over from head to toe. Well, there'll
be no pain here. Can you imagine that? No pain. where the former things are passed
away. Look at verse 5. He says, And he that sat upon
the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. Now, this is
the work of God. This is the work of our Savior,
you see. This is not the work of man.
It's not conditioned on anything in or by or done through man.
It's Christ and Him alone. I, Christ, makes all things new. Now, that tells you one thing.
If Christ makes it new, it's new. And it'll be forever new. It'll never grow old. It'll never
perish. It'll never fade. It'll never
even diminish in one iota. You see, when Adam was in the
garden, he had righteousness, but it was creature righteousness.
It was human righteousness. Ever, ever subject to change. The best that man can be represented
right there in the garden, and Adam fell. But you see, we will
stand and live and operate in this new heavens and new earth
in the person and work of Christ, by his power and his grace. And
there's no chance that it may fall or diminish or grow. He said he makes all things.
The salvation is of the Lord even here. Salvation is of the
Lord in our election, in our redemption, in our regeneration,
in our conversion, and in our perseverance. Salvation is of
the Lord by His preserving grace, and salvation is of the Lord
in our glorification too, from beginning to end. It never changes,
and thank God for it. Well, he's sitting up on a throne
here. What does that mean? That means he's powerful. That
means he's able. That means he's sovereign. That
means he's in control. And he says, Behold, I make all
things new, for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in
him amen. He says, I'm making all things
new right now. That's literally the tenth of
the verb. You see, Christ is right now in the process of making
all things new. What that means is this, God
is right now working all things after the counsel of his own
will. He's given us the Holy Spirit
as an earnest of that beauty and glory to come. And then he
says, write, write it down. For these words are true and
faithful. That's the same as saying, mark it down. You can
put that in your book. It's true. You can mark this
down. It's so. For he's true and he's
faithful. God has never failed to keep
a promise. He's never failed to execute a threat. Mark it
down. Write it. And then look at verse six. He
said unto me, it's done. It's done. When God purposed
it and God spoke it, it's a done deal. It's as good as done, because
God's Word is law. I think about Christ when he
was on that cross. He said, it's finished. That
means it was finished. Now, what God purposed before
time must have its fulfillment in time. But when God purposed
it and God spoke it, it's as good as done. And he says this,
I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. You
see, that's his name. That's who he is. That is, God
determines all things after the counsel of His own will. He's
been operating in history from the very beginning of the creation
of this world to do what He purposed to do. And He does it all on
purpose, not by accident. Nothing takes Him by surprise.
There's no contingency plan. There's no plan B. God never
did anything wrong. He's never had to have a contingency
plan because His only plan is right. He's the Alpha and the
Omega. Now who's that referring to?
That's referring to the Lord Christ. That's how he identified himself
to John at the beginning of Revelation. God works through his Son. He
said, I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of
the water of life freely. My friend, are you thirsty for
the water of life? I'm not talking about thirsty
for religion. I'm not talking about thirsty
for a group or a companionship. I'm not talking about thirsty
for some kind of a ceremony. Are you thirsty for the water
of life? Well, Christ is the giver of
the water of life. He's the fountain of life. He
told that woman at the well, those who drink of this fountain
will never thirst again. And He gives it how? Huh? If
you'll do your part. No, He says He gives it freely,
unconditionally. without any qualification or
requirement from you. He gives it to those who are
thirsty. And I'll tell you something about those who are thirsty.
They were made thirsty by the power of God's grace. I didn't
even know I was in a desert until God opened my eyes and showed
me what was around me and what was in me. I didn't even know
I was thirsty. I thought I'd been drinking all
that time, and I found out I was drinking the sand. And it was
killing me. I didn't even know it. But then
when I drank from the fountain of life, Christ, O my soul, then
you'll never be the same." Isn't that right? You'll never be the
same. And he gives it freely, even in God's judgments coming. But you who are thirsty, blessed
are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. That's what he says. And he says
in verse 7, look at it, He that overcometh shall inherit all
these things, and I will be his God. He shall be my people."
All believers will overcome sin and Satan in the world, because
all believers are more than conquerors through Christ. He's the overcomer. He told his disciples, he said,
you're going to have trouble and tribulation in this world,
but don't despair, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
Christ has. And overcoming by the blood of
the Lamb, every child of God will inherit these things. It's
an inheritance. It's not what you earn. God's
not going to shell out rewards based upon the good things that
you've done. You're going to receive an inheritance,
folks, based upon what He's done. That's what grace is all about.
Don't come there expecting to say, well, I want more than Ron
Trabant because I did more than him. That's not the kind of thing
that's going to be dealt out here. This is the blessings of
grace. We're children of God by election, redemption, adoption,
regeneration. And we're heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. And that means that all that
Christ possesses as our Redeemer and as our Mediator and as our
King, we'll possess in Him forever. Blessed with all spiritual blessings.
And then look at verse 8. He says, but the fearful and
unbelieving, the abominable, murderers and whoremongers and
sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in
the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death for those who refuse to hear Christ. That's who he's
describing there. We know these sins are still within us. We know what we are. We know
our frame. But think about having that sin without a mediator. Without a substitute. Without
a Savior. Without a surety. That's who
he's describing in verse 8. Men and women without Christ.
The best of them and the worst of them without Christ. There'll
be no hope without Him.