Let's turn together to Isaiah
65 verses 17, 18, and 19. Isaiah 65, we'll begin reading
with verse 17. Well behold, God says, I create
new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered,
nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and joy in my people. And the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice There is a day coming soon, appointed
by God, a day which no man knows, a day which we will not pry into,
but a day appointed by God, soon to come, when Jesus Christ, our
God and Savior, shall come again, when he has finished all that
which he agreed in the covenant of grace Now I recognize that the Lord
Jesus Christ, in his great work of redemption, atoned for the
sins of his elect and for them alone. Our Lord Jesus Christ
specifically died for and redeemed his people, that he might justify
us, that he might save us, that he might cleanse in which the Lord Jesus Christ
died to redeem, save, and justify those who perish under the wrath
of God. To suggest such an absurdity
is to say that Jesus Christ died in vain for some men. We know
better than that. Our Lord Jesus, by his death,
has effectually accomplished the redemption of his people.
He made atonement for those who shall be saved by his blood. demands that all those for whom
Christ Jesus made satisfaction be with him at last in heaven's
glory. And yet, having said that, and
said that emphatically, the word of God does plainly teach us
that Christ came not only to save God's elect in the world,
but he came here as a man, the last Adam, to restore that which
the first Adam lost and ruined. He came here the last Adam establish
again God's glory in the earth. The Lord Jesus came here to incur,
to restore to God's creation that which was lost by the sin
and fall of our father Adam, and to restore to God's creation
that which the creation itself the earth because of Adam's transgression. And so the earth itself, God's
creation, incurred a very great deal of judgment because of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
has finished with this world, shall have completely and perfectly
restored God's creation to paradise state. Even beyond that, he shall
have restored God's creation involved in sin, corruption,
or curse. And so Isaiah is here describing
for us that which will be the climactic conclusion of God's
unfolding drama of redemption. Now the title of my message this
evening is Four Great Creations. I want to show you was ordained and purposed of
God and brought to pass by God because of that which he purposed
to perform at last for us and for the glory of his name. And
in the accomplishment of that, he performs these four great
works of creation. We'll begin back in Genesis chapter
1. I'm going to come back to this. This will be the last text we
look at. But turn to Genesis chapter 1, and let me show you
these four great works of creation. We'll begin here in the beginning.
Genesis 1 verse 1. In the beginning God created. Creating. Creating. That's a
work that only God can do. Creation in reality, in the strictest
sense of the word, means making something from nothing. is not eternal. Only God is eternal. And this world was created by
our God. I just read Jeremy Taylor's statements. I read it to Rex, one of the
men back there a minute ago. He said, talks about the world
evolving by chance. He said that is such a ludicrous
thing to suggest that this world just kind of happened to be the
heavens and the earth, and all the intricate details of creation. When man, by all his philosophy
and science, and the earth. And the earth
was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. Now, these opening two verses
of Genesis chapter 1 tell us of the origin of God's creation. They suggest something happening
in God's creation that calls the want to read into the Scripture
what is not there. But many have suggested that
between Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis 2, there is that which
men recognize or teach as a gap period. That is, there is a space
of time between the words in the beginning God created Scripture says the earth was
without form and void. If we should understand this
text to mean that God created the earth as a mass of confusion
without form and void, it would be the only thing ever ascribed
to God as being created that way. The word was is normally
translated became. And so you can read it like this.
And the earth became by God's judgment. Became possibly because
of the fall of Lucifer. The earth became without form
and void and darkness, darkness, darkness was upon the face of
the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. And God then begins in verse as it was restored by the hand
and purpose of God from the beginning. Now the restored creation was
so fair, so lovely, so beautiful, that even when God himself looked
upon it, as he looked upon the creation and looked upon man,
he was the crown of creation. The Lord God said, look down on the earth, and look
down upon Adam and Eve, that special pair whom he planted
in the garden, that man and that woman whom God made in righteousness
and holiness, and God looked upon Adam and Eve, the earth,
the fields, the sky, the stars, the sun, everything, all the
animals he had made, and God said, this is good, this is very,
very good. But it didn't remain that way
for very long. Man, who should have been the
glory of creation, fell. And by his fall, our father Adam
brought the curse of God upon the earth. And that's the reason
we're in the mess we're in now, insofar as the earth is concerned. Turn to Genesis chapter 3, let
me show you. Genesis 3 verse 17. unto Adam, he said, Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of
the tree which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of
it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow thou shalt
eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field. the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, till thou return to the ground, for out of the trouble, the difficulty that
comes upon men just by life in this world. The sorrow, the trouble,
the difficulty we meet with just in the natural world, just in
the physical world. All these things come as a result
of Adam's transgression and of Adam's sin. Men and women looking
for hurricanes and the tornadoes and the floods. Last week I saw
one of the silly, blasphemous, atheistic some comment concerning the various
things that have taken place in the wars and the difficulties,
the floods, the pestilence, the hurricanes, the earthquakes,
and ask it. God, this is your prayer. You
need some help. You need some help. Understand this. These
things come to pass, buddy, because man has stand. And God judges
man's sin. He began in the beginning judging
man's sin. And with every stroke of providence
in judgment, God warns us of judgment to come. And yet, even
in this thin, cursed earth, the finger of God is so evident that
the unbelieving are all without excuse before him. for the wrath
of God, the apostle writes, is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, to hold the truth in
unrighteousness. Sometimes you will meet with
men and women who loudly profess to be atheists. They loudly profess,
I don't believe in God. If I believed in God, I wouldn't
believe what you do about God. And they loudly claim their atheism.
But the apostle makes us to understand that no man, no man in his heart
can deny the being of God. God has made himself so evidently
known that every man must acknowledge him. But what they do is they
hold the truth down. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them. For God has showed it unto them,
for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power in Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
And even now, it is altogether proper for us to rejoice in the
beauty, splendor, and grandeur of God's creation. A few years
ago, Brother Mahan and myself and several others were sitting
out at Cherokee, North Carolina in the fall of the year. The
foliage was just spectacular, just spectacular. The mountains
of North Carolina were in their glory. And we were sitting around
chatting, and Brother Mahan said to us, he said, this wouldn't
be a bad place to spend eternity if sand was taken out. Will you
understand that? When God has restored the world
to its first being today, we shall then dwell in the new heavens
and the new earth, in the presence of God perfectly, perfectly,
in a world altogether without sin. Now let no one misunderstand
me. I have no use for the palm-kissing,
tree-hugging, ozone protectors of modern infidelity. with their
great learnings have only returned to the religion of the barbarians
who once We're not inclined in any way
to look upon this earth as being Mother Nature or Mother Earth
giving us anything. We recognize all things to be
the hand of our God, given to us for our benefit, our use,
and His glory. But while we live in this world,
let us understand this is God's creation. And God made this world,
and one day He will make it anew, as we shall see. only without
sin and without the possibilities. He has made this world for the
accomplishment of redemption, for the unfolding of his everlasting
purpose of grace for us. And when he's finished, he'll
make all things new. Now secondly, turn with me to
Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. The children
of Israel, in their disregard for God, roamed about from country
to country, kingdom to kingdom. The Lord compares them to a backsliding
heifer. And he entices them to return
to him, to return to their land, to return to his word, to return
to his worship and his ordinances. And he does so with this prophecy
in Jeremiah 31 and verse 22. Here the Lord is bringing this
prophecy in conclusion to the statement he had made concerning
the everlasting covenant and the abundant grace and mercy,
or effectiveness rather, of the covenant that he would make with
us and reveal to us in Christ the Redeemer. How long wilt thou
go about, O thou backsliding daughter? For the Lord hath created
a new thing in the earth, a woman. shall compass a man. A woman
shall compass a man. Here the incarnation of Christ
is described by God as being a new thing created by God in
the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, our Messiah, our Redeemer, is here described as a man. He
must be a man, otherwise he could not suffer for the sins of men
as a substitute. He must be the God-man, a man
of infinite worth, merit, and value, else he could not satisfy
the justice of God and the demands of God's law as our substitute. And this mighty man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is himself Jehovah's own fellow, one who is Jehovah's
equal, one with him. For this man is himself God. Behold, a woman shall encompass
a man, and the man who is encompassed in the womb of the virgin, as
he is in the virgin's womb, a man of vain so tender, so really
like us, so really one of us, that he cannot possibly live
without the fluids flowing to him from his mother's womb. Yet
that man is called a man. wonder of wonders, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. Finally, Jesus Christ is himself
God. This great almighty God-man,
our Savior, was born of a virgin. He was conceived, contained,
and encompassed in the womb of the virgin by the power of God
the Holy Spirit. Turn to Luke chapter 1. There
are a number of passages I want to look at, but we'll just limit
ourselves to this one. Luke chapter 1, verse 26. Luke, the first chapter, verse
26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel to a virgin, a spouse to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's
name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her
and said, Hail Mary, thou art highly favored of the Lord. Thou
art highly favored of the Lord. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. Now, let me pause to say that
does not suggest that Mary is somehow blessed above all of
the believers. In fact, our Lord We too are highly favored of
God. But God chose her as a special vessel in whom he would bring,
or through whom, he would bring forth his son. He does not suggest
somehow that Mary was purer, holier, more righteous, better
in any way than any of you ladies sitting here. She was a sinner
saved by grace, just exactly as we are. And when she saw the
angel, she was troubled at his saying. and cast in her mind
what manner of sagitation this should be. And the angel said
to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and he shall
be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob. There shall be no end. Then Mary
said, then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be? How? How? Seeing I know not man. What she's saying here is I have
never slept with a man. How can this happen? I'm a virgin. How can this happen? And whenever
somebody starts to balk and deride this teaching concerning Scripture,
don't you dare crack a smile. It's not laughing matter. This woman speaks with astonishment. She says, but how? How can I
be the mother who is God's Messiah? I don't know a man. Listen to
the answer. In the angel accident said unto
her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing
which is born of thee shall be called the Son of God." God said,
I've created a new thing on earth. This has never been done before,
and will never be done again. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
must be a man who is of the seed of woman, as Genesis 3.15 prophesied. He cannot be the seed of a man. If he is the seed of a man, he
would have the corruption of Adam's blood and the corruption
of Adam's nature, but he is born by the power of the Holy Spirit
of the seed of woman, and he is born in the world as that.
Holy thing, created in the virgin's womb by the power of God the
Holy Spirit. Otherwise, he could never be
our Redeemer. This is said to be a new, unheard of, extraordinary
creation, a work of almighty power. The human body and soul
of our Lord Jesus Christ were prepared and created by God the
Holy Spirit in the virgin's womb. specifically to be a serotonin
sacrifice acceptable unto God for us. When our Lord came into
the world and he brushed up the kid, he said, A body has thou
prepared for me. Sacrifices and offering for sin
thou willest not but have So Christ's human body was created
by God to be a sin-atoning sacrifice for his allege. Now thirdly,
turn with me to Galatians 5.17. Galatians 5.17. I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 5, 17.
Here the Holy Spirit tells us, therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new. Now this is the sure inevitable
consequence of our Savior's incarnation, His obedience to God and His
death. Those who were represented by
him shall be made new creatures by grace at God's appointed time. All believers are in Christ. I don't know how on this earth
to describe that as clearly as I want to describe it. We are
in his hands as our surrogate. The father trusted us to his
son. Bobby asked us before the world began, God gave you into
the hands of his son and said, I trust you as his surety to
bring him home. And what it did for you, he did
for every one of his people. We're in his hands. So that Christ
as our surety, listen to me now, Christ as our surety became responsible
to God for our everlasting salvation. I would not be anywhere else.
The Lord Jesus Christ being our representative, we are in him
in a legal manner as a representative standing before the bar of law.
We are represented by him in the court of heaven. We are in
him as our great high priest as he intercedes in the holy
of holies on our behalf. We are in him as our mediator. Our Lord Jesus Christ has made
us accepted in him, justified in him, sanctified in him. We
have ascended into heaven in him and we are glorified in him.
All of this we are assured of in the scriptures because we
are in Christ. Now if we are in Christ by grace,
we are new creatures in Christ without question. There is reference
to this, the spiritual new creation, in the last two verses of Isaiah
65. There the prophet says, and it
shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer, and
while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf shall lie down
with the lamb, or the wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall
be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor That simply means when a person
is born again by God's Spirit, a radical, radical, radical change
takes place. The persecuting lion and the
ravening wolf is converted by grace and made to be a child
of God to lie down with the lambs of his fold. When a person is
born again by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit gives that person
a new A new heart, a new will, Christ is formed in him. However,
this passage here in 2 Corinthians 5 has given me trouble, as it
has many over the years. I read in the next lines, Behold,
all things are passed away, and behold, all things are to come
again. Brother Don Amos and I were talking this afternoon after
lunch, The fact is, in my experience
that's not so. In my experience that's not so.
Old things haven't passed away, have they with you? And I'm being
honest. My lusts haven't gone. They haven't
diminished. They haven't even declined. Old
things haven't become new. I haven't suddenly become angelic. I haven't suddenly become a man
without sin, without corruption. So this passage of Scripture,
both in its context and in its experience, in the experience
of it, must refer to something other than regeneration. It refers to our reconciliation
with God. That's what it's talking about.
Read the whole chapter. The whole chapter is talking
about our redemption by Christ. When he tells us that all things
have passed away, and behold all things are become new, he's
simply declaring to us that before God Almighty, we're accepted
again on the basis of a new covenant, we have a new name, we have a
new relationship, we're made to have a new record in heaven.
Our old record of sin and depravity and corruption has passed away. And God beholds no sin in Israel. And he has made all things new.
So that in the record books of heaven, of Jesus Christ to us. God who
created the world to be a stage upon which he would accomplish
our redemption. Created the human nature of Christ
to accomplish that redemption and it creates us new in Jesus
Christ the Lord. Now turn back to our text in
Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65 verse 17. I create a new heaven and a new
earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind
but be ye glad and rejoiced forever in that which I create for behold
I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy and I will
rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people and the voice of
weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of pride."
What a great and glorious prospect this is. Our God declares that
when he has finished with us, when he has created the new heavens
and the new earth, when our salvation is complete and consummate, we
will enter into an everlasting state of joy. The joy that replicates
all the joys we've ever known in this world. That's something. That's something. Shelby and I just celebrated
our anniversary. Boy, I remember that joy. It's going to be better
than that. It's going to be infinitely better
than that. I remember the day my daughter was born. Oh, what
joy! What joy! It won't even come
into mind. Won't even come into mind. This
is a joy that eclipses everything that has been. The former things
shall not be remembered or come to mind. That simply means these
two things. Number one, our sins will not
be remembered against us by God Almighty. And number two, our sorrows will
not be remembered by us as sorrows. We'll then see things as God
sees them. We'll understand things as He
understands from his standpoint, from his perspective, not perfectly,
not omnisciently, oh no, we will never become gods, but we'll
see things, Rex, through his eyes. And the sorrows, those
sorrows, all those sorrows, those heartbreaking,
soul-wrenching, gut-wrenchings. Oh, preach your hat, I don't
have any idea. I just, I don't have any idea. But we'll understand
that heaven's glory owes much of the blessedness that we enjoy
there to the sorrow that we experience here. The trial of your faith
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth shall
be down to praise and honor and glory. unto our great God in
that great day. And in that great and glorious
day, our God will make us perfectly joyful, and he will rejoice in
us, with us, and over us. As a bridegroom rejoiceth over
the bride, so shall our God rejoice over thee. Listen to this in
Zephaniah 3. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will say he will rejoice over
thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He
will joy over thee with singing. And in that great and glorious
new creation, God will wipe all tears from the eyes of his people
forever. Turn to Revelation 21. Revelation
21. 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. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem. This is what our text has been
talking about. New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. I don't know,
I'm sure most of you have seen them, these prophecy charts. You know, when we were in school,
we had a book called Dispensational Truths. These charts of a city, hovering
down over the earth, you had a picture of a city. Now, please
understand, he's not talking about a literal city. A literal
city is not prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. He's
talking about the church of God. He's talking about you and me,
the kingdom of God, coming down to Christ out of heaven prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven say, 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. Now look at it, verse four.
And God shall wipe away all tears. Put a star by that, underscore
it, do something, call attention to it. all peoples. Oh, God, what can that be? From their eyes. And there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain. For the former things, all of
them, are past due. All our past sins. Say, well, you're talking about
sins before you say, no, my soul, no. When we get over yonder,
everything will be past. All our sins are past. All our failures. All our missed opportunities. and all our neglected opportunities, all our faithlessness, the rest of it. I have no doubt we will remember
those things, but we will remember them only
in such a way as to cause us to rejoice in God's goodness
in forgiving our sins. Only in that way. People who
talk about heaven, a place of sorrows, a place where believers
weep, a place where believers spend eternity moping because
of their sin. Why, that's utterly contrary
to grace and utterly contrary to this book. All our past experiences
None of them will cause us any sorrow or any tears. What about our lost loved ones
forever damned in hell? There'll be no weeping for them. No weeping. You see, then we will understand
things like God does. And we'll understand God's justice.
And we will acknowledge his justice and his righteousness, even in
the damning of the soul dearest to us in this world. Johnny Cash used to sing and
bring tears to everybody's eyes. Will the circle be unbroken,
by and by, Lord, by and by? No, sir. Not the circle that
counts. That circle is impossible! Of
God's family! Of God's elect! Of God's redeemed! Not one shall be missing. And buddy, when that day comes,
that'll be the only family circle that'll matter. The only one. Now let's look at one more passage
about this new creation, and I'll wrap this message up. Turn
to 1 Peter, 2 Peter rather, chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. I won't try to expand it, I'll
just read it to you. Verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to us which, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. When will Christ come? Just as
soon as the last one of his elect has come to repentance. That's
when he'll come. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night, unannounced, suddenly, into which the heavens shall
pass away with great noise, and 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
ye to be in all holy Oh, walk soberly, righteously,
and promptly in this world. This day is passing away. Looking
forward and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein
the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements
shall melt with a fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
the righteous. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent, that you may be found
of him in peace, without spot and blameless. After I finished
typing out this message, I sat down and thought about what I
was going to preach to you tonight. And my heart is simply overwhelmed
with it. I wrote out this hymn. We'll
sing it for a little bit in a week or two. behold what glory shall
appear to our awakening eyes. The earth and sea shall pass
away, and God divides the skies. The church descends from heaven
above, adorned all white with grace. The new Jerusalem comes
down, a bride for the Prince of Peace. Heaven and earth shall
pass away, all former things shall cease. creates for us a
world of righteousness. Tender veil. God shall dry our
tears and we shall weep no more. For sins and pains and griefs
and fears and death shall be no more. Amen. God hasten the day. God hasten